Monday, March 16, 2009

Golden Fingers

Sukhothai, Thailand

7 comments:

Space Bar said...

lovely! this needs that monkey king's five finger mountain story to accompany it.

km said...

Great picture!

//so does Buddha give a monkey the middle finger, Space Bar?

Roxana said...

that's a truly marvellous picture.

what is that monkey story?

Space Bar said...

The Monkey King on Five Finger Mountain:
At this point the Buddha intervened. The Buddha made a wager with Monkey, betting him that he could not jump out of Buddha's hand. Should Monkey win, he demanded the Jade Emperor's job; should he lose, then he would be banished to Earth for centuries to learn some humility.

Monkey cloud-flew to the end of the universe, where he saw five pink pillars, which he took to be the end of the world. On the middle pillar he wrote "The Great Sage Equal of Heaven reached this place", to prove beyond any doubt he had reached this spot. Figuring it was a long trip back, and being the irrepressible individual he was, he also urinated at the base of the first pillar. Then he returned to face the Buddha. To his shock, the Buddha informed him he had never left Buddha's hand - and to prove it, showed Monkey the writing on his middle finger and the distinctive smell at the bottom of his smallest digit. Monkey tried to renege on the bet, but before he could escape, Buddha pushed him out of the Gate of Heaven, then Buddha changed his five fingers into the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire and earth). They became the five-peaked mountain under which Monkey was trapped, leaving only his head and hands exposed.

Roxana said...

thank you, Space Bar :-) yes, you are right, it is perfect for this perfect.

Szerelem said...

thanks all - and hi from Hoi An - so many picture posts coming up, you have no idea.

spacebar: I didn't know that story - it's lovely, thanks for sharing!

Beth said...

Wonderful photo - I'm enjoying your travel journal a whole lot! (More food photos please!)