Hidden gems and the sound of peace

Having taken advantage of the thunderstorms and lightning to stay in my room in Chiang Mai to catch up on my school and lab work, I was excited to visit a well-known Buddhist temple within Chiang Mai, Wat Phra Singh Woramahawihan. According to the tour I booked, the plan was to see a few temples and landmarks in the city and arrive at the main temple in time for prayers at sunset. While that did happen, it was more a structural framework for an amazing conversation that carried from temple to temple and moved into absolute silence when we finally arrived at the top of the mountain to listen to the monks chanting. The tour consisted of the guide, myself and two Spanish economists who also were philosophers. Standing at the first temple overlooking Chiang Mai, we discussed global economics, holistic health and our ethical responsibility to each other. For nearly 5 hours, we discussed humanity, prayer, global responsibilities, so many philosophers on their take on what it means to be human and the oddity that we only break boundaries to speak with one another when we are not in our normal routine. Whether we were listening to the short-lived annual cicada call from the jungle(they’re only around for a few days each year) or to temple gongs resounding and echoing through the mountain temples as we stood next to creeks and gurgling water, we acknowledged that at home, our conversation would never have started because we would never have followed up on the questions we heard each other asking the guide. When was the last time any of us struck up a conversation because we overheard someone else? It isn’t done, but when one travels, many social conditions are weakened or don’t exist.
We learned that there are upside-down flowers, cinnamon trees and eucalyptus in Thailand. We learned that almost every person who identified as a man in Thailand has been a monk for at least 3 months of his life, and the same for every woman as a nun. As the sun sank behind the trees and the golden temples began to glow in that special light, we spoke of what it is to choose to be a monk over a soldier, what it means that an entire nation has learned how to sit in silence, what it means to love, and the strangeness that we place so many conditions on such a global emotion. As we observed the ease of our communication, despite having little in common, we chose to pray together and follow the Buddhist practice. We walked around the temple 3 times in near silence, whispering the prayers given to us. Others also had come to pray and walk, so people from many nations, languages and cultures walked around the temple with focus and mindfulness. As the monks rang the gong, the quiet was broken, people smiled at each other, and everyone moved to their interests. As in Vietnam, I observed Buddhists coming to pray to their preferred Buddha, stepping around tourists, or waiting until the area was free. As the day turned to dusk and to dark blue skies, the cicada’s song seemed to dim with the light so that all we could hear were people whispering, praying and moving, along with the odd frog or birdsong. We all seemed to flow together, no rush, just ease in the jasmine-scented night sky, ease in the unfamiliarity of the golden glow, peace in the sound of synchronicity. As we moved to observe another temple, we realized we had yet to introduce ourselves after so many hours of talking and sharing experiences. And so, in the last hour, as we moved back to the city, we used each other’s names sparingly…as we said goodbye, one of my companions said, we are all like hidden gems walking around, walking right past each other. On that note, good night to each of you hidden gems. I hope you are all well and that we will each dream of jasmine on the humid air, gold against a midnight blue sky and the peace of whispered prayers.