In the build up to Christmas this year, I have managed to maintain some equanimity. This is the first time in years that I haven’t dreaded the arrival of Christmas. Partly, this is the influence of my blogging, where I am required to focus on the present and the task at hand. Even so, there are moments when I want to flee Christmas; all of it, the commercial and the religious. Such a moment happened on Wednesday, so we took ourselves off to the Wat Buddhasamakhee on Marshlands Road. Here there was respite under the peaceful gaze of the Buddhas.
I love the openness and the clean, clear lines of these monastery and Temple gardens. They lend order and simplicity to life but, at the same time, allow for the accumulation of everyday chaos, evident in the children’s toys abandoned exactly where a child would naturally leave them.
This is a pathway to the Temple.
Here is a closer view of the Temple. There is a wonderful orchard behind the Temple as well as retreat rooms. Chillies, and even banana plants, grow in the huge tunnel house.
Here is a view towards the road
And this is a view of the newly constructed, mandala shaped rose garden. It is a work in progress, bordered by bricks and weeds.
A new version of a stone wall now separates the rose garden from the road. (There used to be a fence of tall trees.) It doesn’t separate the roses from the traffic noise, however, so a certain amount of tranquility is lost from that area. It is interesting, though, to watch the traffic travelling by as if they were driving along the stone fence. . 
The animal menagerie continues to grow and gives new meaning to the life of plants.
The sky was a soothing blue during our visit. The golden lamp bearers looked like glittering jewels on high, though you wouldn’t guess that from this photo where the golden effect appears tarnished.
Away from the main rose garden, I found this beautiful rose with deep fiery colours,
lighting up the sky, as if it were nature’s very own candle.
© silkannthreades
Is that the buddhist temple in Marshlands Road???
Indeed it is. 🙂 In the summer time when the roses are out, I love to go and sit there.
There are at least two Buddhist centers in Austin, one of them only several miles from where we live. A few years ago we attended Buddha’s birthday festivities at the closer one.
I haven’t been to any of the festivities here. Sometimes a Buddhist friend brings us food from various celebrations but mostly I prefer to visit the centres when they are in quiet mode.
What a wonderful place. looks peaceful to wander …. thank you for sharing the pictures and nice briefing note.
Glad you enjoyed it.
This is lovely to relax and reflect. Near a museum in London we have aspiritual garden, much smaller , walking htrough and stopping is like we are in another world. Peaceful! Thank you for sharing htis!
These tranquil places are real treasures. It’s great we can find them wherever we are.
Just beautiful! Very tranquil looking 🙂
What a wonderful place – I hope I get to visit it some day. In the meantime, it will remind me of the benefits of mindfulness.
🙂
I love that stone fence. Think I’ve seen that before…
Yes; when I saw your garden the other day, I had just come from the temple gardens and I was amused that we had both been “sitting” on the same fence, in a manner of sitting!
What a wonderful place to linger and drink in the quiet solitude and beauty. “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” Buddha
Thanks for that lovely quote. I did come away with a refreshed mind,body and spirit.