One Buddha, Two Buddha, Red Buddha, Blue Buddha

Before this trip, I didn't know there is more than one Buddha. Turns out, most Buddhist countries have their own unique image of him.

In my mind, Buddha was a jolly older guy who sat with legs crossed in front of his big round belly. Turns out that's the Chinese image of Buddha (and there are plenty of Chinese living in SE Asia, so you'll see that image here from time to time). This photo was taken on the banks of the River Kwai in Central Thailand.

For the Thais, Buddha is much younger, has a long face, long earlobes, and is thin. The Thais also have a unique image of their young, thin Buddha for every day of the week. One day they worship a sitting Buddha, the next day a reclining Buddha, the next day a standing Buddha, etc. This photo's of a sitting Thai Buddha from the caves along the River Kwai.

And now that I'm in Laos, I've discovered they worship a female Buddha! She's tall and slender with long, beautiful fingers, and they focus a lot on her hands, so her finger positioning (which does change) must mean various things. This profile shot shows a Lao Buddha in a cave along the Mekong River just outside of Luang Prabang.

Anyway, just thought it was interesting to know there's more than one Buddha out there. Clearly, I have zero knowledge of the Buddhist religion. Perhaps I'll find some informative reading one of these days while I'm over here.

Mere