Welcome to my photolog of our recent trip to the New England Peace Pagoda. If you have time, follow some of the links I'm providing. Otherwise, I hope you'll enjoy this ride-along. Before we left the house on Saturday, I prepared a small offering bundle to leave 'at the right place'.
I'll share some pictures of the passing road scenes some time later in the week. For now, let's get right to the day's central purpose:
Actually the first sign you see is the one from yesterday's post. You can read more about Shin Buddhism here.
We begin our walk with sharply elevated consciousness. I'm torn between living the experience and documenting it.
informal prayer stupas made from local rocks are everywhere.
The walking grade is fairly steep. This adds to the pilgrimage quality of the ascent.
Here, the atmosphere vibrates with intentional liberation through peace. It took some time to get my bearings. I grew even more torn between cellular experience and its documentation. Read some interesting details about the pagoda's construction here.
As we approach the pagoda we pass the newly built dojo. I leave my offering bundle at the base of the carved prayer below.
To avoid the potential aspects of contention that arise when too much focus is given to specific spiritual dogma, I am keeping my remarks about the pagoda very sparse. I refer to the buddhas not by meaning but by the compass point they were facing.
Southern Buddha
The pagoda is filled with lotus replications
Western Buddha. I spent a long while in prayer and silent contemplation.
You can almost feel the chill in the shadow, can't you?
Northern Buddha
My first view of the tibetan prayer flag grove.
Eastern buddhas. Please join me later in the week for a tour of the Japanese garden and the prayer flag grove.
Peace pagoda tales from Spirit of Change.
Prayer stupas! I have seen these in my travels, I never knew they had a name or a meaning! Thank you for the journey!
Posted by: tongue in cheek | October 23, 2006 at 21:16