by Greta deJong One snowy day recently, our friends Peter Hines and Karen Fazekas built a Snow Buddha Head (incarnation no. 1) in an open field along the Jordan River parkway. It stood over five feet tall and faced eastward. Peter thought it looked like a cross between a Mayan chieftain and a true-to-form Thai Buddha Head. We thought it looked like Peter. It was late afternoon and the shadows were long by the time they finished. "All in all, we were fairly pleased with our efforts and the end result, though not perfect, was buddhaful," Peter writes.
Peter returned at 8 the next morning to take sunnier photos, but the Snow Buddha Head had already been defaced. "I did feel a certain amount of disappointment," Pete admits, "but then I realized the Buddha was once again teaching me the lesson of impermanence and non-attachment (lessons I keep getting to learn over and over again). Who knows-maybe it was a truly enlightened being who took to heart the saying 'when you see the Buddha on the road, kill him.'"
Peter has not been put off and is indeed plotting the location of the next Buddha head. He says he will invite more friends to help in the next dharma snow creation. Maybe it will be a whole field of Buddha heads.
"Of course, you can incarnate your own at any time," he points out. "But it sure is a fun activity to do with friends."