Do what you love for a living!

Garden of Buddhas came into being 26 years ago because:

First: I wanted to love what I do while I make a living and to firmly integrate my work with developing my Buddhist practice and knowledge of Buddhist art.

Second: I simply love creating and working with beautiful things and to support artists who do careful, conscious, beautiful work. It feeds my soul and brings me complete joy.

Third: I derive enormous satisfaction by being of benefit to other people by participating in the creation something that brings pleasure to every one involved. (Among other things I used to be a chef, but that became too much of a study in impermanence! ) For many years now I have love working with the statues and artists. It’s sometimes hard to not sell my very, very favorites when someone really wants them. So, I have reproduced them and now many people can have them! But more about that in the next blog.

Third: I feel at home in Southeast Asia. I don't know why. I loved living in Northern California in the small town of Gualala, on the Mendocino coast, which is still the home office of Garden of Buddhas. (It is a lot like the west coast of Ireland.) Then I visited Thailand, Bali, Burma, Laos etc. and felt so at home I packed my bags and moved here. I have never doubted for a second that I am in the right place. It’s a huge mix of smoking volcanoes and barking dogs and quiet breezes rustling the golden bamboo leaves, mosquitoes and dengue fever, otherworldly beauty and laughing people, traffic jams and temple bells, priests chanting and blaring speakers, languages I do and don't understand, fragrant incense wafting from the daily offerings to the gods and spirits. No better place for me to learn my lessons than in the land of patient, kind people and black magic.

Fourth: I ended up living in the hills of Ubud, Bali because of the amazing quality of the art and artists in Bali. And the joy of working with them and their creations. We are surrounded by art in Bali. Baroque in the style of the endless fantastic temple carvings and details and Wabi Sabi in the down to earth original architecture created to the measurements of the owner and materials from the land.

Fifth: And there is no shortage of lessons to test my equanimity. Wood cracks, words fail to communicate the pictures in my mind and on paper, mold happens, money doesn't, the electricity goes off and so does the internet with my access to my web site. It’s all a test. It all is simply what is. It is like this. When I can laugh and ride the never-ending waves of reactivity back to the still place, before I offend anyone, I am so grateful for it all.

Thank you to Michael O in Ireland, of Shopify 'Help', for suggesting the telling of the story of how our statues and other treasures came into being.

Watch for the next blog: The story of our reproduced statues.