Goerwitz

This photo of the main Buddha image in Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat doesn't capture its full radiance. Many Thais think this is the most beautiful rendition of Lord Buddha in the country.

I remember this place best, not so much for the Buddha image, but for the Chang liquor sold outside, on the temple grounds. When I asked if this was OK (Buddhists technically shouldn't drink any alcohol), I was told it was OK, sort of—as long as you don't drink it there.

This, along with seeing monks buying and selling things in the marketplace (monks aren't supposed to be handling money), and watching the amount of meat that gets eaten not only by lay people but also by monks themselves (the prohibition against killing is fundamental to Buddhism), continue to puzzle me.

But I don't think it indicates any fundamental flaw in Thai people. After all, we in the United States have been making quite a living starting wars lately. And our best soldiers tend to come from the Bible belt, where Jesus' words "blessed are the peacemakers" get creatively reinterpreted to mean "blessed are the guys who blow all their enemies away, thereby ensuring peace."

People are complicated.