Travelling Buddha Statue

Recently I completed an extended journey. Over the course of six months, I traveled in India, Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Uganda. I visited my spiritual friend, Vimalaji Thakar, in India and made pilgrimages to Lumbini (Nepal), Bodhgaya, Sri Lanka, ancient pagodas in Yangoon and Mandalay (Burma), and other places. I practiced intensive insight meditation with Sayadaw U Pandita in Burma and attended a course in Buddhist psychology and philosophy with Sayadaw U Nandamala in Sagaing Hill near Mandalay. Finally, I returned to Uganda to visit my mother and introduce Buddhism there.

This page tells some of my experiences in Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Uganda. In Sri Lanka, my host, Dhammaruwan, gave me a large Buddha statue which I intended to take back to Uganda with me.

Before going to Uganda, I visited Kenya for a week. To protect the statue, I wrapped it in a monk’s robe. I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, the morning of March 14.  After answering many questions about the Buddha statue in Bombay, on board the plane, at Kenya immigration, and a nearly five-hour layover in Bombay, I felt exhausted. The Buddha statue had broken from its seat, perhaps due to constant handling. The immigration officials had a lot of questions. "Is that a baby you are carrying? Where is its boarding pass?" asked one official. "No," I insisted, "it is a statue." Another officer asked, "Is this your mungu (god)?" "No! In Buddhism the statue is not the God." "Why do you cover it? You do not want other people to see it?" "No, I cover it because it is fragile and to avoid scratches."

When I placed the statue on the counter of the immigration officer in order to hand over my travel documents he asked, "What is this? It is scaring people - please remove it." "It is a statue." I replied. I now had a dilemma. I could not both hold the statue and show my travel documents, but if I left the statue sitting alone the authorities threatened to destroy it instantly. When I rested it on the counter, people feared to come near it! The official continued, "It looks like African magic, weird things of witchcraft. Why are you carrying this statue? Open it, can I see? Are you carrying things inside of it? Possibly drugs?" "No! It is simply a Buddhist statue." "Do not sell this statue in Nairobi!!!" he ordered. "It is not for sale," I replied. "It is beautiful," he said. I thanked him and went on my way.

After I arrived in Kenya, I decided to wrap the statue with newspapers and put it in a bag before leaving for Uganda. On March 21, I arrived at the Entebbe International airport in Uganda. While at customs, the official asked me why I was dressed just like the Masai even though I am not one.  Almost 95% of people in Uganda and Kenya perceived me as a member of the Masai tribe, not as a Buddhist monk.

Later I saw my mother for the first time in six years.  She was very happy to see me. Then came questions from Ugandans. "Come here!" someone demanded. "You, Masai, are you selling medicine?" "No!" "Are you married?" "No!" "Is Buddha God?" "No, he is neither God nor messenger, not even the Son of God. He is the Awakened One." Someone else observed, "It is strange that you eat at 11 am when for most of us here it the time we are about to finish our breakfast. We eat lunch at 2 or 3 PM and dinner at 10 or 11 PM." "Well," I said, "I do not eat after 12 noon, not until the next dawn." "Eh. I am surprised!" "We are used to it." Then he objected, "I do not believe in the incense used in Buddhism." "Incense is used as a symbol during devotional services. In fact during the two month retreat in Burma, we did not use incense." "Why do you give water to the Buddha? Does he drink the water?" a neighbor asked my sister. "No," I answered. "Water is a symbol for quenching the thirst of craving."

The Buddha statue arrived safely, and now has a temporary home in a meditation center started in Kampala with the assistance of several converts to Buddhism among my family and friends. We hope to give it a permanent home in a temple we are planning to build nearby.