Kissing the lips of Buddha

“Listen kids remember that when you are climbing anything you must climb with your hands. Always have a good grip with at least one hand, in case you slip you will have the one hand to catch you and keep you from falling.” I remember saying this as if it was yesterday. When Monica and Colin were little there was a park near where I was living. When they would visit me on the weekends if the weather was nice we would go to the park, to our favorite tree, climbing the tree we would have a picnic high up in the branches. Each time going a bit higher until we reached a point that tree was so slight it would bend with our weight alone. We would set out our table cloth and sit as we would sway with the tree in the breeze and have our little tea party. This is one of the fondest memories of my entire life. Anyone would think I was crazy climbing a tree with a 6 year old boy and his 7 year old sister to have a picnic but this is, was and who I am. I like to think Monica and Colin hold this memory as dear as I do.
I flashed on this when Mike, my newest friend and I prepared to begin our early morning climb up the primitive scaffolding that surrounds the 150 foot high Buddha that is being built on the highest point of southern Phuket. The Giant Buddha is two years into the construction process. The concrete structure is almost finished and the work to apply the white marble skin has begun. http://www.phuket.com/magazine/big-buddha.htm.
The Giant Buddha is completely covered with the bamboo scaffolding. This is basically bamboo sticks held together with baling wire. The first time I visited the site was on a trip with my good friend Sally. This place is very special to Sally her reverence for the power of the entirety of the space, the intention and the spiritual nature of the building site was beautiful to share with her as I witnessed how it deeply moved her. Sally tells me this is one of her favorite spots in the world, now it is also one of mine. Thank you Sally for sharing with me your intimate connection to spirit. It was healing for me in more ways than I will ever be able to explain but the light will forever shine on my path. Mike my climbing partner and I have only met recently. Mike is in his mid thirties, he is a strong yet gentle man. He is a professional builder and has managed construction sites in some of the most exotic places in the world. He was raised in New Zealand and comes from a construction family. He was telling me a story of his youth this morning over coffee after our decent and intimate embrace of the Giant Buddha, of growing up in New Zealand. His father a construction man himself made sure that there was ample space on the land of their home for a collection of construction equipment. This was supposedly a practical situation but Mike as he looks back on it realizes that his dad did this purposefully so that Mike, his brother and their friends could have a dream playground. Most boys play with trucks as they are growing up but as we all know these trucks are metal and plastic scale models of the real thing but not Mike, he and his friends had the real deal. Mike recounted to me the drag races they would have with any thing that would move, tractors, dozers, graders, and the like. Mike is as I said a big man with a bigger heart. He is handsome with boyishness looks a sort of young Indiana Jones. He speaks fluent Thai and has a very beautiful Thai partner appropriately named Awe. Mike and I met when John a developer who I have become friendly with took me to the site that Mike is currently managing. A collection of some of the most beautiful homes I have ever seen. I asked Mike if he would come to visit the site that Sally is developing and give me some advice regarding some issues I questioned. He, Awe, John, and Johns partner Dwa spent the afternoon with me touring the Sally site both of them providing many good ideas on some of the issues I was confused about. Building in Thailand is very different than in America. After our tour we had a wonderful evening sharing dinner a fantastic bottle of wine John had brought all the way from the UK. We had some good laughs and a healthy amount of conjecture, speaking of culture, the economy, religion and politics, my favorite subjects and my favorite way to spend an evening; good people, smart people and good food and great conversation. Thank John for the sharing your special stash of wine and for getting us all together. It was at this time I mentioned that I had been to the Giant Buddha telling them that before I left the island I would climb the scaffold and give the big guy a kiss. Mike jumped right in and said that sounded good to him so we agreed that the next morning at first light we would share the experience. Typical construction guy that he is Mike was right on time, I was not. I had set my alarm wrong and so we were an hour off. But regardless of my tardiness Mike waited for me, we joined up and off we went. We arrived at the site an hour after planned but still very early in the morning the sun still bathing us in its golden morning glow. It has been raining here at monsoon levels but this morning the gods blessed our intent with a stunning display of color light and no rain. Upon our arrival we survived the site looking for the best way to make out accent. We did not want to attract attention and we were also looking for the safest path to the top. Within no time at all and no hesitation our path revealed, pausing for just a moment, I told Mike “I understand that you have climbed many sets of scaffolding in your life but I must remind you due to the climb before us “Please remember to always climb with your hands” flashing on the tree climbs with Monica and Colin so many years ago. He thanked me and off we went. We climbed up the bamboo it was surprisingly strong. At one point Mike said “I will go right, you go left” I told him “if you fall yell as loud as you can!” We met at the backside about two thirds of the way up. The view was incredible we just sat and soaked it all in we able to see a large portion of southern Phuket from this vantage point and the sun was still providing us with the beautiful light, I felt 10 years old and at the same time as old as the universe itself. The construction of this big Buddha is a huge feat. Not only is it an engineering marvel but the communal support is inspiring. The whole project is being funded with donations from all over the world the estimated cost is over 40,000,000 Baht. We could not build any building of this magnitude in America for even a fraction of the cost. We soon we realized that we were too high. You cannot go higher than the eyes of Buddha, it is disrespectful. We stepped down twenty feet or so and were then at the nose. The placement of the marble has begun to take place here at his face. Mike and I took turns giving respect and then kissing the lips of the Buddha. As soon as we did we smiled and connected in a way that we will both remember for all of our lives. We began to climb down as we did we the crew was on their way up. All smiles, shoeless they welcomed us and we talked of the building process and the honor of contributing to the building of such a landmark one that will be visible from most points of southern Phuket as well as a spiritual symbol inspiring all. After Mike and I finished the climb we went into the temple at the base of the Buddha. We both knelt and prayed let our donations and turned to leave. We were approached by one of the Monks who lives and works at the site he invited us to stay as the head Monk was soon to return. In minutes a truck with a covered bed arrived and a team of orange robed Monks began to step out of the truck bed. They were returning from their morning walk through the community gathering donations of food flowers and money. We were invited to have a moment with the head Monk who spoke with us reminding us to be good people. He made us simple bracelets he tied them around our wrists and with a bunch of small broom like switches dipping the broom in a pot of Lustral Water, http://www.thailandlife.com/lustralwater.htm, he sprinkled the water on our shoulders and heads blessing us with health wisdom good luck and many children.
We bowed, stood and walking backwards exited the altar area.
We were again approached by a monk in attendance and invited to have breakfast with them. We were delighted to do so, a table set up as a buffet was filled with various options all gathered during the morning walk through the community. We took what we wanted and sat to eat. We spoke of many things and as we were finished and ready to leave the monks gave us even more food. I brought the over flow back to Sally’s house and shared with Sunan, Duan, and Bamalee.
A day to remember to be sure, sharing a bonding experience with a new friend, having breakfast with the Monks and of course Kissing the lips of Buddha.