Category Archives: Religious Practice I love food – all kinds of food. I live for food. I run so I can have an extra piece of chocolate; cycle so I can have a glass of wine with dinner. Why am I telling you this? Because I cannot begin to imagine enjoying life without the pleasures of food! And, with […]  “Then, a golden mystery upheaved itself on the horizon, a beautiful winking wonder that blazed in the sun, of a shape that was neither Muslim dome nor Hindu temple-spire. It stood upon a green knoll, and below it were lines of warehouses, sheds, and mills. Under what new god, thought I, are we irrepressible English […]  Thailand is rich with the textures of life and history. I’ve talked before about our recent visit to Sukhothai, or more properly, the UNESCO-listed “Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated Historic Towns”. One of those “associated towns” is Si Satchanalai (or Sri Satchanalai, depending on whose transliteration you follow). Fifty-five kilometres north of Sukhothai along country roads […]  The beauty (and frustration) of living in Thailand lies in the ability of people to hold mutually incompatible ideas at the same time, and to never speak about some things which everyone knows. Take Sukhothai, for example: that most revered of ancient Thai cities. Sukhothai was originally a trade centre, enjoying a degree of autonomy […]  The temples of Thailand are extraordinarily diverse; nowhere is this more true than in the north. From the black and white expressions of modern Thai artists (Two Artists: Contrasting Visions), to Golden Buddhas with their backs to casinos and drug trade (Golden Ratios and the Sublime); I’ve said before that Thai temples are not all the […] |
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