Read The Art of Lying Down Online
Authors: Bernd Brunner
The Art of Lying Down (16 page)
One of the world’s largest reclining Buddhas is 150 feet long and 50 feet high. Made of plaster and brick, the statue is covered with a fine layer of gold leaf and sports intricate mother-of-pearl inlays on the soles of its feet. For more than two hundred years
it has lain in the Wat Pho temple complex in Bangkok’s historic district. Stretched out on his right side, the Buddha supports his head in his hand, removing pressure from his heart. He sleeps, and even in this position his vision pervades him so fully that he stays perfectly relaxed. No unrest can touch him; he is pure mystic calmness. Is he still here or already elsewhere? Let us stop for a moment at the end of our journey to take in the sight of this enviable serenity.
“What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to lie down and stare”: 150-foot reclining Buddha
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with the kind permission of the Fondation Le Corbusier /
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All other illustrations and photos are from the author’s personal archive or a source that could not be determined.
My sincere thanks to Wolfgang Hörner, Peter Brandes, José João Carvalho, Olaf Dufey, Detlef Feussner, Herbert Gebhard, Petra Heizmann, Thomas Kluge (Ravi Inder Singh), Thomas Laser, Ulrich Meyer, Stanislaus von Moos, John Newman, Severin Perrig, Sebastian Posth, Florian Ringwald, Philipp Sarasin, Evelin Schultheiss, Hari Steinbach, the Sigmund Freud Museum, and my parents, Helgard and Siegfried Brunner, who first taught me the art of lying down.
My thanks also to Valerie Merians, Dennis Johnson, and Kelly Burdick of Melville House, who took an early interest in bringing my book to English-speaking readers.
Last but not least, I was delighted to work once again with my friend and frequent translator Lori Lantz, who writes exactly as I would if my native language were English.