Great Big Buddha

Today we walked to the great big Buddha whom we’ve noticed has been sitting on a mountain above Thimphu these last several days, encased in scaffolding. We walked on a road built especially for the Buddha and it all seemed easy enough until we noticed that the Buddha always remained just a little further on, much like enlightenment, I suppose. Himalayan peaks which are not visible from the city rose into view as we ascended, and several of us remarked how impossible it is to capture the beauty of these mountains on digifilm. When we reached the site of the great big Buddha, steel gates prevented us from getting any closer (it being a construction site, after all) but after some time had passed a wonderful Bhutanese fellow (aren’t all Bhutanese wonderful?) invited us into the site office for tea and then suggested when tea was done that we enter the site and roam at will.

The current landscape that the Buddha inhabits is lunar and sandy; today the winds came from below and enveloped the place. The Buddha sits atop a four-story building with one eye peeking out between scaffolds and netting. All of us scattered, pointing our cameras first to the Buddha, then to the breaktaking vistas around us. This setting will become a garden by the fall of 2010 and will surely be one of Thimphu’s tourist attractions. But thinking of this I wanted the Buddha to remain a golden secret, visible only to the people in the valley upon whom his gaze rests, undiluted and pure.

During a halt on the walk back home, my colleagues and I discussed the advantage of taking a shortcut between the switchback roads. With favorable opinion of my ability, I led the way. Within seconds I was sliding out of control and then rolled once or twice before stopping. Andrea noted later, “you were laughing, which didn’t necessarily mean you were okay, but that—at the very least—you were breathing.” Within those several seconds I lamented that I would fall off the mountain in an inglorious end to my journey to Bhutan which had only just begun. My ankle is on ice as I write—a little swollen, but none too damaged. Hugh, an orthopaedic surgeon also staying at the Yeedzin Guest House, visited my room several minutes ago and assures me that the damage is minimal and all will be well in two or three weeks time.

So: the journey is the destination, and there will sometimes be a nasty spill, but there is always something wonderful to walk towards.

You can read more about the great big Buddha at the Buddha Dordenma Project .