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contemplations inspiration morning coffee talk myanmar Photography religion street photography

Daily Coffee Talk~68/365

Monk with umbrella~ Myanmar

Today I spent a larger part of the day driving around with my daughter from home to school to extra activities, home and school again. We have come to call Monday the ‘fun day’ partly sarcastically because of all the driving, and partly because we never know how it will unfold.

On the last one of today’s drives we both realized that we forgot to eat. This started a conversation that took me to my memories of meeting the Buddhist monks in Myanmar, in Cambodia and in Shangrila amongst others. One of the special things I discovered was that they only ate one meal a day.

Of course they do have their reasons and the discipline they adhere to, but this made me realize how much time we spend obsessing about food , our choices, the preparation, diets and the rest of it.

A dose of simplicity sounds right from time to time, doesn’t it?

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art myanmar Photography Uncategorized

Journeys that pull you back~ Myanmar

compelled-by-gold-yangonthe-power-of-faith-yangontime-traveler-yangon

Memories that persistently remain in your mind, colors that never fade, sentiments that become a part of you, only adding to your life with every passing hour, and an urge to return again and again…

One day…

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celebrations CHINA contemplations Photography religion shanghai

The prayer

going inwards to find it~ Jade Buddha Temple~ Shanghai
going inwards to find it~ Jade Buddha Temple~ Shanghai

We might declare our allegiance to a religion or to a non-religion, but either way, there will be moments in our lives when we just feel the need to close our eyes, turn inwards and try desperately to connect to something bigger, greater and more knowing than we are. No matter how amazing and above it all we feel and think we are, the fragility of our very mortality will at some point in our lives humble us to the greatness of what caused us to be in the first place, regardless of what we may call it.

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inspiration life Photography story street Vietnam

Day 24~ July 24th~ Vietnam

turning to faith

In a world that is so rapidly changing and spinning out of control, more and more are finding their anchor in faith…

A worshiper in a Buddhist temple~ Hanoi~ Vietnam

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architecture art cambodia history inspiration life Photography street

Day 11~ May 11th~ Cambodia

monks at the temple of Bayon

The Bayon, an exquisite temple of great significance. Constructed in the 12th century to face exactly east and roads lead to it directly from the gates at each of the city’s cardinal points, this Buddhist shrine still vibrates with accumulated potency. I visited it a little before sunrise and found myself alone safe for the monks that never stop praying on the grounds of the beautiful temple. Carved with great detail and attention, adorned with many stone faces, built on many intricate levels, this place is haunting and shrouded with mystery.

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art cambodia history inspiration Photography

Day 4~ May 4th~ Cambodia

the faces in the jungle

No matter how prepared you are when visiting Cambodia and despite all the photos you may have seen, meeting the stone buddha heads and faces in the jungles of Siem Reap can be an astounding experience. There is a great serenity in those faces, a wonderful calm even with the sense of eeriness, and they raise hundreds of questions in the mind of any visitor.

Even when the temples are in a state of ruin and natural erosion and deterioration, Siem Reap is visited by thousands of monks who continue to pay homage in this historical place. Something religious is very alive and well in Cambodia and it is quite difficult to miss.

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Photography

Day Two Hundred Sixty Three, October 12, 2011

upholding the faith

At any moment of the day, somewhere on this planet, someone is stepping out of their daily fog and taking a few minutes to try and send a signal, from here to there, from known to unknown, from visible to invisible, from earth to ether. The message is so simple as is their faith, a yearning to connect to something higher. Even in Shanghai, a city of 20 million, there are temples where you can find an incredible stillness and where people still uphold their faith.

photo taken: a man praying at the Jade Buddha temple (a very special place)