Big Buddha

DAN

I wanted to spend one whole blog post on Nara, though in some ways I don't know why. It's hard to know the reason for writing these blog posts sometimes. Maybe it's so that we will have a record of this holiday to look back on, maybe it's for all the people that we know to read about what we've been up to. Anyway, it feels a bit weird writing about things. Our holiday has been so packed with amazing and weird experiences that it's hard to even know what to say about them sometimes.

Today we were in the biggest wooden structure in the world, staring up at the biggest bronze Buddha in the world. Sometimes it's hard to even know what to think, standing in a holy place, asking myself "what the fuck am I doing here?" The one thing I can certainly say is that I didn't feel holy at all. I didn't try. I stared up and that big statue and I thought "isn't that cool that someone did that?" Then I took some pictures. And I wasn't alone. The were thousands of people next to me with their phones in the air, taking the same picture that must have been taken a million times before.

And what is the big Buddha there for anyway? Surely it's to remind you how small and crap you are. How the stupid bullshit worries you have are the same size as the worries of the frantic ant that finds itself trapped on your hand, spinning round and round with no escape, just when it seems like it's reached the end. Well, the Buddha does a pretty good job of that, but the fact that you're a dumb tourist, standing in the world's largest shed with thousands of other people gawping at a big metal fat guy does the job even better. It makes you feel like a bit of a loser.

Maybe that is a holy feeling in a way. It's probably good for me.

Maybe it's the Buddha's plan.

As well as the world's biggest bits, Nara also has the world's most tourists and (I assume) the world's coolest deer. These deer really don't give a shit. Actually, shitting is about the only thing they do do.

They are so relaxed it's weird. It's almost creepy. It's one of the first times when I've been around animals and felt like they are somehow human. It's like they are reincarnated spirits of all the people in the world who can't be arsed to do anything. It leads to a very pleasant atmosphere. It's only really dawning on me as I write this, but these deer choose to come down out of the mountains every morning and just hang out with everyone. Isn't that weird?

Anyway, the little temples are the best. They are after all a microcosm and as such they have the same power of a big temple but in a smaller space. The shinto temple that we found ourselves in at sunset was much nicer than the busy Buddha and was the first time that we got to really relax.

As you look out over the valley, you're aware that behind you lies the forest and mountains and nature and death. Then you realise that even this immaculately managed space, with nodding deer and little men who make sure that you move along won't last forever. One day none if this will be here. These thousands upon thousands of people and lights and colours will all be gone.