Trees Rule
In Thailand, trees rule. You can’t escape them.
A tree in the middle of a road
Even in Bangkok you can be walking down the sidewalk and suddenly you will be confronted by a tree. If there is a sidewalk in America to be built, they simply murder trees for the alleged communal benefit.
Here, it seems to be the opposite.
Trees take on more communal benefit in Thailand than the straight-line walking rights of humans. For most Thai’s it is a known fact that the security and well being of a tree is of ultimate consequence for shade, beauty and often personal remembrance. All of us have specific memories, history in our lives that happened under a tree.
The most admired Thai aspect of a tree? It is alive.
Therefore, we have the tree run-in. Suddenly, there will be a large living tree and the sidewalk will be curbed around it. You have to walk around it or into the street to get around the tree.
Even cops play by the respected rules
__________________________________
Over the Wall
Through the wall and onto the sidewalk
Over the wall
There is also the wall obstacle. What do you do if you have a wall and a tree begins to grow next to it? Trees are given privilege. I have seen multiple walls knocked aside by a large living trunk. Often walls will be rebuilt to meet the tree trunk – or just left in shambles.
__________________________________
Bodhi Tree
Some of the most beautiful trees are those of the Bodhi tree [ficus Religiosa]. This is the species under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. The tree under which his enlightenment was said to have happened is in Bodh Gaya, India. As Buddhism extended over Asia 2,500 years ago, branches were said to have been taken from that very tree and spread to the different regions accepting his message.
Bodhi tree leaves
Every Wat [temple compound] in Thailand has a Bodhi tree.
Most all of the Bodhi trees have branched sticks supporting their limbs. These have been added during important events or holidays. People wishing to make merit by giving the tree added beauty and help from limb loss add them in. More importantly, they are often wrapped by families or owners with colored cloth or sealed with gold or silver foil.
In addition, Bodhi trees will often have colored cloth wrapped around the trunk of the tree. This is a sign of total commitment and indicates that the featured tree cannot be killed. This same wrap is often seen on a multitude of trees and will often be performed by monks. The cloth is of a special type made only for this occasion.
At the base of Bodhi trees people will also leave a multitude of damaged or broken relics such as spirit houses, Buddha statues, cracked vases – even bed frames. These pieces of broken remembrance live out their days at the trees base. Eventually they will be absorbed into the roots as the tree expands its girth into the world.
When an ubosot at a temple compound is built, large metal balls called Luuk Nimit are buried at the site. If the ubosot is destroyed or torn down the Luuk Nimit are pulled from the ground. These are the only ones I have ever seen placed under a Bodhi tree in Chiang Dao.
For more temple info see Art in the World
____________________________________
Shade
One of the most known and loved contributions of trees is its shade. In a tropical climate, shade is a saving grace. Desert people too, recognize shades significance.
Vendors set up shop in the shade of a tree. People nap there. We picnic there. We love there. We fight there. Games are played. Children scream. Food is made. Animals prowl and rest. Camels kneel. Birds nest. Insects hover. Bees make hives.
The shade of a tree is our original home. Our very roofs are the copied source of a shade tree. It saves us from the sun which, coincidentally, is the life source for the tree. And us.
Shade is a source of enlightenment.
Bangkok nap time
Fruit vendor along the highway
Amulet seller at a rural temple
Flame trees [Delonix Regina] line a Bangkok canal and shade the alley market
Trees were covered with orchids during the King’s Coronation
The Agricultural Dept. gave away thousands of trees at the King’s Coronation
_______________________________
The Natural World
The natural environment is being cut down and destroyed all over the world. Dead trees serve us daily. They predate our plastic intake. We don’t even recognize the fact that the tree structures of food – shade – fuel – beauty – safety, all harbor the very elements that we design our lives around today.
Every minute, hour or day we can read about the destruction of the natural world.
What we do against nature is nothing new.
Thailand is no exception. Although trees here are widely respected, there is still the increased avalanche of world-wide, human pressure. The need to increase production and money by eclipsing the natural world around us has never been this apparent. Humans have always sought after their personal needs through necessity, greed, destruction and money. Vast segments of the natural forest are being cut down in Thailand to sell the lumber, or burnt away for farming.
This is not new.
Yet, no matter how many times we are told how to alleviate and save the next generation from the downfall of the natural world, our human wants and needs play against it.
Our children are more important to us than the natural world.
Our cars are more important than our trees.
Our air-conditioning feels essential to our well-being.
Our use of plastic dominates our daily lives.
Our elected officials champion public Fast-Food and Circuses [TV] over subsidy.
Our corporations seek any destruction, human or natural, to advance their profit.
Our business-elite seek to ban employee owned entities.
Our modern use of drugs and chemicals wash down our rivers and into the sea.
Our children feel all-important as extensions of our future personal-selves.
__________________
Children will be the ones to suffer deeply from our current destruction of the natural world.
Currently, with corporate takeover worldwide, immigrant annihilation at every Western border, racial segregation and different religions claiming God as their reason to subjugate people and take over the world, the destruction of the natural world can pale by comparison. Yet, of all things, it is of tantamount importance.
In America they say slavery ended. If we can’t save the natural world, tribal slavery will seem like a utopian democracy.
_______________________
However, I don’t mean to sound morose. I love the world and hope humanity can find a solution – a way to save it from itself. In the future, children we know today should be able to praise us for our courage and determination to end environmental destruction. To help them to live in the natural world it is our current, some say only, responsibility.
Even under a tree.
________________________
Says the man who flew a plane for 24 hours to get here.
<>
Under a Tree
Forest trees
Tree by a stream
Trees by River Wang, Lampang
Trees near the Royal Palace, Bangkok
Temple trees in Chiang Dao
Rubber Tree [Ficus Elastica] in Chiang Dao, Thailand.
One of the most beautiful trees I have ever seen.
<>
Being from the desert you probably appreciate trees and the shade they give more than most! In the Pacific Northwest we don’t need the shade so much, but the trees are what make it so beautiful here and bring a quality to life that affects health and happiness and is home to so much diversity of life in the forests here. Great thought provoking post!
Nice photos (and commentary), Gary-san.