Wat Po
The Reclining Buddha
February 2004
This temple, near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, is where you will find the Reclining Buddha, a huge statue depicting the Buddha in the position he was in when he first attained Nirvana through years of meditation. There are smaller shrines situated all around the statue.
He must have strained his neck gazing up at this behemoth statue.
On the other side of the reclining Buddha was a simple, yet effective system in which anyone, and I mean anyone, can relax the mind. There were about 100 or so metal pots situated on tripods at waist level, all in a row. You would start at one end and throw these small coins, one at a time, into each of the pots. As you move along, listening to the coin clink into the bowl, you slowly start to focus on nothing but that sound. Ken and I did so, and it was very hypnotic. A simple but effective way of calming the mind.
