By Louie Ferrera

In this photo, Buddha’s eyes are closed in a state of silent meditation, his head tilted downward as he contemplates his navel, his body glows in stark contrast to the dull grey fence behind him. Buddha’s hands are in his lap, his thumb and forefingers touch in a flowing ohm moudra, he wears a robe that’s open to his navel revealing an oval of bare skin and ripples of fat where his breasts and tummy are. His tight fitting skull cap is decorated with a repeating pattern of raised, circular design. Where Buddha’s “third eye” is a bindi has been placed.

I wonder what Buddha is thinking or if he’s even thinking at all? The whole point of meditation is to empty one’s mind in order to reach some pure, blissful state. I meditate occasionally and find it calming and centering for sure but the “emptying my mind” thing I have yet to master. Buddha, though, appears to have reached that elusive blissful state. Gotta say, I’m a bit envious of him. My mind always seems to be racing but Buddha? He’s got this all figured out. To look at Buddha you’d think that he’s doing nothing, but of course doing nothing is doing something. In the western mindset, when you set out to do anything, quantifiable results are usually expected. Not so with Mr. B. His inner journey is invisible to us but I’m sure it is a long and arduous one filled with setbacks and successes, a hard day at work no doubt. For anyone who’s ever traveled, inward or outward, you learn very quickly that the journey is the trip; getting there is half the fun. 

There are two types of Buddhas: serious and contemplative like the one in this photo or the happy and smiling type with pendulous earlobes and a prodigious belly. If I could choose one or the other, I’d choose “happy Buddha” because he seems content in a very joyful way. He’s a cross between a happy grandpa and Santa Claus. One thing that both Buddhas have in common is they’ve got it figured out! (whatever it is). To figure it out I think is the Holy Grail of human existence. To reach the highest possible state of consciousness is a lofty goal that is only obtainable to the true Buddha. But alas, don’t despair, there’s a little of the Buddha in all of us. Just because a goal seems too difficult to obtain doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for it. Buddha knows something that we don’t know, he radiates a calmness and inner peace that I’d like someday to experience. In our culture of immediate gratification, where nearly anything we could want is just a tap or click away, quiet meditation seems like such an antiquated concept. In a society on hyperdrive, who’s got time for this? The crazier our world gets, and It seems to be getting crazier by the day, the more I find myself heading in the opposite direction, to the ways of the Buddha. Trying to find peace within myself seems more obtainable than finding it within the confines of the modern world.

Amidst all of this the Buddha sits, joyous and bouncy or quiet and introspective, he knows something that we don’t know.