Beauty of Buddha

Inside this Buddha Temple is where I participated in an offering to and blessing from a monk.  As Ruth Ann's brother, Lloyd, has said, "The more tickets you punch, the better chance you got of getting there".  

In all seriousness, Buddhism is a way of life for the great majority of Thailanders.  It is a faith that is not exclusionary.  The precepts are commitments to; abstain from killing living beings, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and intoxication.  Gay and transgenders are not prohibited by Buddhist teaching and are sometimes seen as the result of a past life's gender asserting itself in the present.  Non-violence is the first precept to Buddha teaching, men and women are equal and there are four gender types.  Buddhism is a faith of attraction and it is attractive to me. 

Me and the monk.  I found it to be a meaningful spiritual encounter.  Ruth Ann did not participate because of the physical posture one must take to approach the monk.  She did accompany me to the temple.

Jummy was our guide during our overland trek in Thailand.  He was a novice in the Buddhist temple throughout his teenage years.

Tonight, we're meeting the Fun Girls from Mount Pilot for dinner.  The fun girls, Daphne and Skippy, appeared in three episodes of The Andy Griffith Show.  We became friends with Melanie and Becki during our overland trip in Australia.  We share life values, easy conversation, laugh easily and they are just "fun girls". 

As I have written in a previous blog, Ruth Ann and I always have and continue to hold hands.  Here is the chorus from Hold My Hand by Hootie and the Blowfish;

(Hold my hand) Want you to hold my hand
(Hold my hand) I'll take you to a place where you can be
(Hold my hand) Anything you wanna be because
I wanna love you the best that, the best that I can