[Buddha-l] Bewildering temple in Bangkok

[Jo]

On Behalf Of Richard Hayes
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 6:52 AM

On Feb 27, 2013, at 2:42 AM, Chris Fynn <chris.fynn at gmail.com> wrote:

> Perhaps someone here familiar with Thai Buddhism could enlighten me.

If only Asian Theravadin Buddhists would read the Western textbooks, they would know how to behave!

There is a small mostly Thai temple in Albuquerque that is not nearly as elaborate as what Chris describes, but it has more on its altar than the familiar slender Thai Buddha figures. There is at least one Guanyin, an Amida, a Brahm and lots of mermaids. I asked a Sri Lankan monk to give me a tour of all the different images, and he explained that because the Asian community here is rather small, the Asian communities intermingle more than they might in a large city. So this temple tries to make Chinese people, Koreans and Indians feel welcome, hence the Guanyin, the Amidabul and Brahm.
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Ecumenical as all get-out. 
However, if they want to attract folks from India, a Brahma statue might not appeal, in part because last I heard/read, there is only one Brahma temple in the whole of India. He's become sort of otiose so far as puja goes.  One of the top two other deities might do better.
Joanna