Peace in every step

Peace in Ayuttaya. Photo: Hong My

Thailand for me is a place of relaxation and peace. From Bangkok to Ayuttaya, Sukhothai, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin... I have leisurely visited many Buddhist relics of your country. And I have absolutely no desire to ask for anything, just feel at peace walking among the compassionate look of the statues...

Many years ago, I once found myself in Ayuttaya! I was very young then. I saw a large Bodhi tree embracing the head of the Buddha with its huge roots.

I can't remember clearly my feelings at that time, surprised by creation and history, happy because of the discovery that I thought no one but me had discovered this strange thing! And peaceful because the Buddha's face had a faint smile...

Admiring how time has preserved such beautiful things. When the long rows of Buddha statues around the temple have all lost their heads, perhaps following the footsteps of antique dealers to new lands…

Where did the statue heads go? And where are they now?

I imagine Buddha statues lying quietly in luxurious apartments, glass doors, air conditioning, listening to Jazz or other types of music every day. Maybe in Hong Kong, New York, Manhattan, Paris…

Perhaps somewhere in the shop filled with masterpieces of man and time, covered with a layer of silver dust despite being constantly cleaned, soaked in the scent of incense burning in ceramic vases.

The remaining headless Buddha bodies are still peacefully meditating for thousands of years. There are Buddha bodies with new heads that have been tried to be recreated but none of them fit.

But all the human affairs of the world seem not to move the anger and hatred of the souls deep inside the ancient statues. In their smiles, there seems to be a mockery of all levels of human greed.

Ultimately, peace does not come from the outside. Peace comes from within you… It takes many years, many events, for you to realize it, or you may never realize it at all.

Many years have passed since I left Thailand to return home. I have almost erased all traces of my old life, short but full of events, adventures and regrets…

But I still know, somewhere there is a bell that I hung on top of a tower in the middle of Bangkok, still ringing softly, to forgive, to cleanse, to pray for peace.

I also know that in Ayuttaya the statue's head still lies surrounded by the roots of a hundred-year-old Bodhi tree, still smiling, still with that melancholy aura.

I got a new passport a few years ago.

In recent years I have been traveling back and forth to other lands rich in Buddhist traditions…

But for many years, I have not had the same feeling of peace and clarity as the day I set foot in Ayuttaya, as when I stood before that Bodhi tree. Only in that period of my life did I feel protected and embraced, and that was the sweetest feeling of peace.

If peace and luck are like a savings book and I have only used up a small portion, then right now, I want to use a large portion of it. In the years to come, I will use the rest sparingly…

The idea was bizarre, but it made me laugh.

When I smile, my heart feels much lighter...

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/binh-an-trong-moi-buoc-chan-3140548.html