Some I was going to discard but decided not to

[The_Traveler]

When I have some excess time with nothing specific to do, I go back through folders, culling photos that I'll never use/print/show.

These seemed to have some promise at least as illustrations - taken Feb, 2015 in Bangkok at the Grand Palace compound.

Decorations on temples inside Grand Palace compound - blazing hot and bright. That gold is gold.

In the Theravada Buddhist tradition, practiced in Southeast Asia, incense is placed as an offering in front of a statue of the Buddha. Practitioners always burn three sticks of incense at once, one for the Buddha; another for the Buddha's teachings, known as the Dharma; and a third for the community of Buddhists, the Sangha. These three principles are collectively called the Triple Gem or Three Jewels in Theravada Buddhism, and many devout Buddhists make a formal commitment to live by them.

Buddhism is impressive in that it seems deeply embedded in people's lives and that it provides some real guidelines for thought and behavior that float above the mundane day-to-day proscriptive rules that most religions cling to.
Without getting any further into it, I find it calming and comforting to think about my approximation of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism: 1) Life is suffering 2) Suffering comes from attachment 3) There is relief from suffering 4) the path to this relief lies in behaving decently, cultivating discipline, and practicing mindfulness and meditation.

 

[The_Traveler]

Young monks going back to the seminary after swimming