If You Find the Buddha

by Jesse Kalisher, Jeff Greenwald

Whether in the heart of Asia or a farm in the American heartland, the Buddha image never seems out of place. As a reminder to stop and live in the moment, it is as appropriate as a charm around the neck of a young Thai soldier as on a car dashboard. Photographs of the Buddha in various incarnations—traditional statuary, toys, garden ornaments, jewelry, tattoos—demonstrate that the Buddha is seemingly everywhere, if one cultivates the proper awareness. By turns beautiful, quirky, ironic, and meditative, Kalisher's images in If You Find the Buddha speak not only to the omnipresence of the spiritual icon, but also to our capacity to be surprised and delighted by the unexpected. With an insightful essay by noted author and traveler Jeff Greenwald, the striking photographs in this book delight and enlighten in equal measure.

Genres: Photography, Buddhism, Coffee Table Books, Travel, Art

128 pages, Hardcover

First published February 23, 2006

Reviews

[Dennis Littrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of art and a delight to the eye

This is an absolutely beautiful book of photographs that have one thing in common: in each of them the Buddha in one guise or another appears. There is a certain playful irreverence in this colorful collection by photographer Jesse Kalisher that is entirely in keeping with the spirit of Zen Buddhism and especially in keeping with the famous Zen admonition that if you find the Buddha by the side of the road, give him a kick.

Why? Because whatever Buddha you meet is not the real Buddha.

Or is he?
Kalisher wants us to decide for ourselves. So there is a photo of a "14K" gold-plated "happy" Buddha for sale in a shop in San Francisco next to a display for LifeSavers candies. Next there is a golden-sun rather serious (but not emaciated) Buddha atop an altar in a temple in Thailand overlooking saffron- and red-robed monks kneeling in worship.

This juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane is a thread that weaves through the 84 photographs. There are photos of Buddha curios and emblems and even a Buddha used as a marker for a golf ball on a putting green. There are Buddhas tattooed on and sand Buddhas and plastic Buddhas on dashboards, reminding me of the Country and Western lyric, "I don't care if it rains or freezes/As long as I've got my plastic Jesus." There are Buddhas in jewelry and there are cartoon Buddhas, Buddhas in restaurants and Barbie Doll Buddhas, Buddhas in parks and the great reclining Buddha at the Wat Pho temple in Bangkok, Thailand in his majesty. There is even (at least in Kalisher's perception) a Ronald McDonald Buddha, which I found not entirely agreeable.

Some of the photos display a story and some a vignette. In a workshop in Thailand a man squats in front of an industrial power drill, one arm pulling the drill on to the top of a metal statue of a seated Buddha--one of many by his side--while the other hand holds the Buddha steady. One wonders how long the man can squat, how many statues he does a day, how much he is paid, and one notes the cotton in his ear. In the backseat of a car in North Carolina three boys sit, the youngest in the center in his car seat looking neglected, the next oldest on the left playing a video game and the oldest on the right reading a book entitled, "Buddha in Your Backpack."

There is a short Introduction by the artist in which he tells how he came to take the photos on his way back from a life crisis; and there is a Foreword by Jeff Greenwald (from Sri Lanka) who understands Buddhism and gives us a hint about what Kalisher is trying to accomplish with his photos of the multifaceted Buddhas. Incidentally, the "teaching" that Greenwald found in a fortune cookie: "We dance in a circle and suppose/The truth sits in the center, and knows" is actually a paraphrase of a little poem by Robert Frost which goes (exactly) like this:

We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the center and knows.

My favorite photo in the book is the same as Jeff Greenwald's, that of the little girl with the hoola hoop. The girl is very pretty, very alive, and full of promise. Off to the side in the grass under a tree as the girl's body sways in concentration sits a fat, delighted, laughing Buddha who knows what is real, what is wonderful, and what is to come.

--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of 50? Photos that hold a picture of the Buddha somewhere in them. Pictures of Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and others are all forbade by their religion. Why? Because your suppose to be thinking acting on the teachings not their prophets.
The title is part of a Zen teaching that says (If you are on the road and meet the Buddha you must kill him. ). The road is your spiritual path. The Buddha may be the Buddha or it may be a false vision - in any case you're not here for that. So, kill the distraction and get on with what you came for.
I break my own path by stopping to judge this persons attempt to understand.

[Steve Goble · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a neat little volume of photos featuring the Buddha image in a wide variety of settings. The photos are casual, slice-of-life images for the most part. Sometimes the Buddha is prominent in the photo, and sometimes you have to play "Where's Waldo." The brief intro text offers a tiny bit of Buddhism, not preachy, and then the book goes directly into images and lets those speak for themselves. It makes for intesting browsing.

[treehugger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is SUCH a cool book! About 1/3 of the pics come from my town, which is neat anyway, but it's really interesting how the author has come up with so many different ways to find representations of the Buddha hidden in ordinary life around the world..

VERY cool artsy book, especially for anyone with a hint of a Buddhist slant :).