The Buddha Shrine is finally done. My little Buddha, rescued this summer from the back of a truck full of junk, now sits in splendor, cross legged, quietly contemplating the lotus flower I have bestowed upon him. Will is sure his expression is now one of serenity with just a hint of a smile. All problems have been solved, all has come to it’s inevitable conclusion, all is as it was meant to be.
Well that’s pretty well how it seems to me now, now that it’s all done. The dishes I thought I needed, I didn’t need. The dishes I had and the decisions I made now all seem right, destined even.
I suddenly came to a conclusion about the back and just filled the space with green and blue turquoise dishes. Dishes, I might add, that were in my kitchen cupboard all along. Sometimes I use dishes meant for mosaic for a while and I’d totally forgotten they were there to be used.
The color fit well with the front of the shrine and it also leant a quietness to the design. So another problem solved with no effort.
The edge was done with the little scraps of gold tile I had left and the skinny little pieces seemed to be the right design solution after all.
So yesterday, Will and I donned our rubber gloves and slathered on the grout. The grout color was somehow fittingly called Green Tea, to which I added water colored with just a bit of Phthalo green paint. I wanted the grout to be more turquoise. Oddly that didn’t work either but the color actually became an almost exact match for the Buddha’s antique finish. Another strangely perfect conclusion. I was actually quite pleased when we finally glued him in place and grouted around him, just how well the grout color fit so well with the Buddha.
So here it is, all done. Candles lit. Shown here as he is in daylight.
And then here as he is at night with the glow of the tea lights flickering on his meditation.
Now all I have to do is find a spot for him or a new home where he will be appreciated, where his serene meditation of a lotus flower in front of the tranquil green rippling pond will remind an onlooker to slow a bit and quiet their thoughts. And realize that everything has a way of flowing, just as this little shrine did, to it’s inevitable conclusion.
