In 1998 Nina and I took a vacation to Bangkok, Thailand. We had a delightful time and thoroughly enjoyed the country and people. When we visited the National Museum in Bangkok, we were privileged to have as a tour guide an American woman who was in Thailand accompanying her husband who was an oil company executive. She volunteered at the museum as a docent tour guide and was very knowledegable about Thai Buddhist Temples and the artwork to be found in these temples.
We learned that the type on Buddhism practiced in Thailand, Theravata Buddhism, was more conservative than that practiced in Japan:
… there are four major forms of Buddhism which seek to reach the goal of Nirvana through various routes. The Theravata Buddhist seeks to take responsibilty in his life by inculcating habits of disciplined simplicity. This would involve simple rituals, meditation, and moderate asceticism. The Mahayana Buddhist meditates under the direction of a disciplined teacher, who in his own wisdom and achievement is able to guide the student in therapy wisely and with discretion towards enlightenment. The Amitushu and Zen Buddhist also submits to a teacher, who guides him on the path to satori through overcoming the enemy of words and concepts which confirm and foster the illusion of self. A Zen teacher might supply a koan, a self-contradictory or illogical statement, to help the student along this path. Tibetan Buddhists often seek more immediate and sudden enlightenment through visualization, the use of mantras (repeated words or phrases that accompany meditation), or the art of intricate mandalas (see wywy.essortment.com/buddhismhistory_reyf.htm).
A characteristic of the Theravata Buddhists are the colorful and ornate temples found throughout Thailand. Adorning the walls of every temple in Thailand are a series of panels with paintings depicting the life of Sidhartha Guatema, the man who became Buddha.
This is an fairly poor picture of four of these panels on a temple near the bridge over the Kwai River (it was taken with my first digital camera). These pictures are essentially scriptures for the Theravata Buddhist. Each panel will have several images, all symbolic of Buddha’s life and teachings. Each panel has one major, overriding picture. That scene will have red jagged lines over the top of it. In these panels, the jagged lines are all parts of rooftops. The panels are not necessarily in order. Inscriptions below the panels helps to guide those who can read to the order in which the panels are to be considered. Buddhist priests teach from these panels to help folks in their search for enlightenment.
As we visited Church History sites in Kirtland and Winter Quarters a couple of weeks ago, my visits to these Thai Buddhist temples came to mind. In both places, the tour started with a very new video presentation. These were wonderfully done with excellent photography and material. I was disturbed, however, that we in the Church are indeed progressing from Reality to Legend and perhaps boardering on Myth. These video presentations used actors and props to depict scenes from the 1830’s and 1840’s as the Church was driven first out of Kirtland, then out of Missouri, and finally out of Nauvoo, Illinois. The acting was good, in fact, too good. People were depicted as smiling all the time and were happy, even in the most dire of circumstances. The clothes were new, clean, well kept, and plentiful. A missionary leaves carrying three brand new, nicely tooled leather pouches, well outfitted with warm clothes, new boots, and more than sufficient clothing. The snow was only a couple of inches deep and melting quickly. The oxen were well trained and responded properly to every command. What was knee-deep mud for forty or fifty miles in Iowa was depicted as small puddles that splashed when the iron-clad wagon wheels went through them. I had the feeling that those early saints would not be all that pleased with how their enormously difficult circumstances were portrayed. They in fact struggled mightily (and with enormous faith) in their extreme poverty, through epidemic illnesses, and murderous persecution.
If I were to tell a Thai Buddhist that the true story of Sidhartha Guatema has evolved from Reality to Legend to a Myth of heroic proportions, they would consider me to be a heretic. To them, the idea that Sidhartha’s mother was walking across India while she was pregnant and when it came time for delivery, she held onto to a tree branch and Sidhartha issued from her side, able to walk and talk is truth and nothing but the truth. One of the panels (and I unfortunately don’t have a picture, even a poor one) depicts the scene. There was no labor, no pain, no blood or water, no incision, just one moment pregnant and the next conversing with a newborn son. It would be interesting to see what this story has evolved into in another hundred years or so.
I would hope that we can avoid this slippery slope. Perhaps depicting life as it really was is too depressing, too graphic, and would drive people away. But, perhaps not. It would certainly be better than making the story into a heroic myth which would cause any thinking person to question the story and all the doctrine associated with it. Meanwhile, I’m not terribly interested in sitting through another one of these visitor center video presentations.
On the other hand, visiting Kirtland and Winter Quarters and touring the facilities and museums is absolutely worthwhile. The material, exhibits, restored photographs, and models are delightful and very educational. I didn’t know much about the ashery until this visit. I thought it was just a soap making facility and learned that it was a major money-making venture, paying much of the cost of building the Kirtland Temple. The information about Winter Quarters and then Kanesville and Council Bluffs was outstanding and I learned a lot. I could have easily spent more time there. We’ll be back, but I’ll be skipping the videos. I’d much rather become better acquainted with the reality rather than the legend.