Buddhas in my pocket

I still feel stirred up after yesterday’s trip into the city to hand out buddhas.

The first flush of spring was in the air but the concrete pavement was still cold to sit on.

I noticed the young guy had a few coins in his hat as he sat on his piece of pavement . So I offered a few coins from my purse and asked if he was okay  if I sat with him a while.           His mouth and eyes smiled as he quickly moved on from his surprise and said, ‘Yes, of course.”

After exchanging names he told me about his two years of living on the streets.                    As with a few of the guys I have spoken to, this man had come out of a public housing situation that turned toxic and chose to go back onto the streets.

A man with a severe alcohol problem was sent to live with him and it got so bad this guy felt he had to leave.  For him sleeping out rough through a Melbourne winter was a better scenario than putting up with a belligerent housemate.

Largely its due to the friendship, safety, connection and sense of community they feel with each other that these men stay sleeping rough. They can choose who they share a laneway with and move on if the atmosphere becomes intolerable.

I wonder how any of us would feel if we were given a roof over our heads but then had to accept anyone the authorities sent along to live with us.

My new friend was delighted to choose a Buddha. He liked its colour and he said it looked like something slightly mummified. He had a keen interest in ancient things.

He told me about his most recent home- a laneway that had become a Melbourne tourist attraction due to the vibrant graffiti art covering all the walls.

Walking tours of tourists now visit this section of laneways constantly.

My friend lives there with a changing population of 3-6 other guys.  They had been relatively warm as they slept in the building alcoves but in a bid to save the tourists the unpleasant sight and reality of homelessness the authorites had recently boarded up the alcoves, expecting the men to move on.

But they didn’t. My friend said, “Why would we?  It is our home.”

They especially liked being around the art and colour.

Someone had come along at some stage and cut holes in the boarded up alcoves so these guys could climb in for some warmth. But not wanting to risk forced eviction they took their crates and rubbish bins full of possessions and set up down one of the side alleys.

The man with the hat had told me he often pointed out special features of the paintings that new tourist guides usually missed.

“Look out for the reflection of the cityscape in the eyes of the old aboriginal man in the painting on the right,” he would tell them. He had spent hours lying and looking at these works and he knew every inch of the painted walls.

He encouraged me to go and visit his ‘home’ in the laneway . So while he kept his hat open for business on the main street I wandered to the laneway that draws scores of visitors each week.

I recognised his spot easily. Another of his friends was sitting there and also another sleeping body was wrapped tightly in a duvet. When I mentioned having just talked to his friend with the hat I was invited to sit and talk with this guy, who was a 10 year veteran of sleeping rough. I found both guys I spoke to were open, honest and very humble.

Another Buddha was chosen by my second friend. This man liked the weight and solid feeling of it.

He said they had just got used to the fact that their very basic, exposed home was walked past by thousands of tourists every month.

On finishing my conversations, both men had thanked me very warmly for taking the time to talk. I constantly get the impression that these guys are not used to ‘ordinary’ people sitting down talking with them. Not welfare, not police, not people wanting to save them but just people willing to give time for friendly conversation and connection. They seem very happy to have these conversations.

As I began to leave the laneway I looked back at the cage-like structure made of crates and bins and at the tourists wandering by with their selfie sticks, listening intently to tourist guides about the significance of this artist or that painting.

I watched as many of the tourists’ eyes dropped down with a jolt of recognition as they realised the graffitied rubbish bins were in fact the walls of an open roofed bedroom for men sleeping rough.  It was the men’s living room they were wandering through and some of them were currently at home.

The visitors largely didn’t know what to do at that moment of realisation so they would just hurry a bit faster to the next wall so their eyes could be thankfully drawn away from this unpalatable reality.

There was some uncomfortableness for me in taking these pictures but the men have said  to me they feel like the the world would prefer they be invisible. I am sure you know they exist in every city of the world. It only takes a warm greeting and some time to chat to help them feel less invisible.

As I made my way back to the main street I literally started to feel shaky and stirred up.

It was like walking in a space between two realms.

And I felt more at home in one of them than the other.

Buddhas donated by Apada , Dantacitta and Siladasa  Melbourne

The largest two Buddhas in my bag landed in the hands of two little princesses (well they did have princess skirts on).

Four and six year olds don’t fuss much with detail and I discovered they make their minds up really quickly about anything.
When I asked them what was it they liked most about their Buddhas they both said in unison, “All of it!”

Sister one ” I am going to put mine under my pillow.”
Sister two ” I am going to put mine on the bench in the kitchen so Daddy can see it when he makes us pancakes!”

Buddhas donated by Tegan and Amitasraddha, Melbourne Australia

He was rummaging through a couple of shopping bags looking at his purchases as I sat down next him at Fed Square.
I am beginning to wonder if the loving kindness practice is slowly transforming my sense of what’s an appropriate gap to leave when sitting near strangers.
Because as I sat down I noticed he turned his back on me slightly, like he wasn’t used to someone sitting so close. But rather than rejection it felt like he was being polite and sensitive to me in a way that he thought might be needed.
After a few minutes I spoke to his turned back, ” Your shoes are amazing!”
He spun around with a broad grin and eyes shining and replied,
“Yes, they are aren’t they!”
Those gold sneakers looked like they wanted to be noticed even if his body language said otherwise.
This man with very kind eyes then showed me how the sneakers even had little USB ports in the side of each shoe and when charged up the soles radiated disco colours. He was disappointed this feature had recently broken as he wasn’t sure I really believed him.
I relaxed into easy conversation with him and he told me where he was from, what he had been shopping for, and all about his not so easy childhood and family dynamics.
He showed me the tracheotomy scar from the serious accident he had as an 18 year old many years ago. And I heard how currently he was living in the garage on his property as he’d had a house fire earlier this year and was still waiting for the insurance company to settle.
His last purchase today had been a polished stone cross from the big city Church nearby. I helped him thread it onto the rope necklace he had just purchased so he could wear it straight away.
From that first moment he had turned around to reply to me he was open, honest and engaged. Sharing words made the space between us so alive and interesting.
He then asked me what I was doing in Fed Square and I told him about the Buddhas in the Pocket pilgrimage.
Before I could get them out of my bag and offer him one he laughingly asked,                  ” Can I have one !?’
As I revealed the little pile of Buddhas he went straight to the white Budai.
We talked about its meaning and he liked the fact this Buddha depicted generosity and abundance. He said, ” I try to lead a generous life.”
At the end of our conversation I gave him a card so he could look at the blog and see what I would be writing about our time together if he wished.
We were leaving on warm first name terms so it felt natural to give him a parting hug.
I know sometimes the people I meet often seem to relax because I am so open with them but today it felt like this man had a purity and uncomplicatedness that was a gift to me .
Memory of it still makes me smile.

Buddha donated by Alison Melbourne

I have been given a number of Laughing Buddhas to give away on my pilgrimage.
I have learned that he represents a Chinese monk from around 1,000 years ago, believed to be an incarnation the future buddha (Maitreya),
Laughing Buddha is known as Budai in China, Hotei in Japan.  The name means “cotton/cloth sack.”
As protector of the poor, weak, and children he traveled with an everlasting sack of food handing out to those in need, or collecting and taking away the suffering of others.
Budai became known as the god of contentment and abundance.

This Buddha was chosen by a young Vietnamese woman I met recently who has been living in Australia for about a year. The bowl held above the head can carry fruit or a pearl of wisdom. We discussed Budai’s connection with abundance.

May her time in this country be supportive and growthful.

Buddha donated by Alison, Melbourne Australia

Update on the story which saw myself and a friend Julie give out two Buddhas to the same young guy in Melbourne in March . We were both unaware that we had chosen to offer the same person a Buddha on separate days.
He was an impressive young man. I usually don’t get to know what happens to the Buddhas once they move on to new pockets.
Recently I commented on a Facebook page called ‘ Humans of Melbourne ‘ which mentioned homeless on the streets in Melbourne. I was really surprised to get the response below from that same young man. I am delighted to hear things are going well for him. May it continue 🙏🏼

He said …
“I’m sure the picture of the hand you posted on “humans in melbourne” is my hand holding the Buddha. I still carry it in my pocket and was so grateful for our chat that day. At the time I was homeless and sleeping on the street, meeting and talking to people such as yourself is what really helped and inspired me to get through that tuff time in my life.
I now sell the Big Issue and am no longer homeless. ‘Humans in Melbourne ‘ have done 2 or 3 stories on my journey.
How is your pilgrimage going?

I will forever cherish the Buddha statue you gave me, i have 2 of them now as a friend of yours gave me one also. The one which represents prosperity is the one I carry around as a good luck charm. Thank you once again”

My first activity after breakfast today was to answer a personal computer message I had received from a monk in Sri Lanka who is following the Buddhas in my Pocket journey.  He lives in a temple with three other monks in the capital city, Colombo.  With neither of us fluent in the other’s language it was our understanding of the Dharma that kept the thread of communication going. He teaches meditation, I teach meditation. I am learning a little about the life of a Sri Lankan monk and he knows a little bit more about my Dharma practise with Triratna.

Late this afternoon,  my mother suggested I try handing out some Buddhas at the large shopping centre complex near my father’s care home. I could drop her there for a visit with Dad and then instead of going into Fed Square in the city centre I could try and find someone at the shopping centre that might like a Buddha.

To be honest I wasn’t initially keen about her suggestion. I often have to work hard to peel through the energies found at large shopping complexes, with their constant music and visual messages trying to coax people to part with money.

So yes Mum , a perfect place for a metta walk.  Tuning in firstly to my resistance, turning towards it with metta, letting the ‘me’ bubble defuse and allowing connections with other human beings …actively inviting them in.

Within 10 minutes of walking around the many levels of shops ( GPS needed to find my way out to my car later!) I sat down near two adults and a young primary school aged boy, (perhaps their grandchild).  I started conversation by opening my bag of Buddhas. We were then joined by the middle generation mother and daughter of this family unit.

Together, we tentatively worked out that all of us were  Buddhists. They had all been born in Sri Lanka and the whole family was now living in Australia. After admiring the various Buddhas the grandmother, granddaughter and grandson each chose one they felt connected to.

So thank you to Sri Lanka, beautifully perfuming the start and finish of my day.

Buddhas donated by:

Padmasiddhi-Melbourne, Australia,

Malini- Waiheke Island , New Zealand

Akashamani -Port Fairy ,Australia

On New Year’s Eve 1991,  a friend from my home town of Emerald was walking along a beach in state of distress. She was in the grip of deep grief following the loss of her mother and her marriage.

As she walked for hours along the beach in despair she called out for guidance.

Her foot touched something in the sand. She bent down and a small Buddha was unearthed. It looked like it had fallen off a key chain. Although she had not had any previous connections with Buddhist teachings, she resolved that day to find out more about Buddhism.

In March 1991 she found herself at a party at my house.

Deep into the night of festivities I heard her voice call out over the top of the music,

” Who wants to come and find out about Buddhism with me?”

In my inebriated state I heard my own voice calling back enthusiastically, “Me. I will!”

I have no idea why I responded.  I had never given a moments thought to exploring any religion.

So began an amazing journey that has brought such freedom and richness to my life.

25 years later I find myself showing this dear friend the bag of Buddhas that I take on my pilgrimage.

And she connects immediately with a beautiful white Buddha.  She loves its long neck and peaceful face.  She said it was as if the head rose elegantly above samsara allowing for a clear view of how things really are.

I know its time to complete a circle in the sand.

All these years later after she introduced me to the Buddha,Dharma and Sangha it was a delight to send one home in her pocket…..wrapped up in deep gratitude.

Buddha donated by a shiny new Order member Pasadadipa UK.