Heart of A Buddha

A few weeks ago I became friends with this lovely Italian girl named Simona and she had a copy of this small but amazing book of Buddhist teachings called 'Heart of A Buddha'. Often, when Simona and I were lounging around together, one of us would pull out her book and read the short, powerful quotes/mantras out loud to the other. Every teaching in this book resonated with me and since Simona left, I have been desperate to find a copy of this book.

Here is a quote from the book to give you an idea of what it's all about:

Even if everyone else is not doing good, I alone will.
Even if everyone else is doing wrong, I alone will not.

Or another one...

He (sic) who receives kindness should never forget it;
but he who performs it should never remember it.

I always stop in at every book store I pass, but sadly none have had a copy of what I seek. However, I know that 'Heart of A Buddha' is published by the Amitabha Buddhist Society, a school of Mahayana Buddhism, and it is the book that the society gives out for free to those who are interested. So yesterday, after phoning the society to let them know I was coming, I visited the Amitabha Buddhist Society in Bangkok. I was on definite mission to acquire a copy of this book.

When I arrived at the society, there were 20-30 people sitting at long rectangular tables and each person was attentively listening to a tall, dignified man speaking from the front of the room. The second the speaker saw this tall; shaggy haired; slightly soiled, rolled up jean wearing; wallet chain dangling; long board carrying Farang (foreigner) walk through the door, he immediately stopped his lecture, rushed across the room, and warmly greeted me with a smile, a wai, and then a handshake. Immediately I felt uncomfortable because I interrupted his talk, but he quickly ushered me from the doorway, through the rows of tables, and over to the nearby book shelves where he told me, "We have so many books on Buddhism, please choose whichever ones you like."

Embarrassed, I slowly began searching through the huge stack of written-in-English titles on Buddhism looking for the Heart, while the man returned to the front of the room and continued addressing the group. Immediately, a lady came over to me, introduced herself, and asked where I was from. Then she offered to help me search for the book I was looking for. I told her the title and together we scoured the book shelves. After 30 seconds, another lady came over to the two of us, asked me where I was from, and then asked if I would like to sit and have some food with everybody. The group was just finishing eating lunch and there were plates of leftover noodles, rice, and cooked vegetables on one of the nearby tables. I told her "thank you" but that I had just eaten before I came. She smiled and walked away, but quickly returned with a glass of water for me. Then she began helping us look for the book. Two minutes later, another lady brought me a cup of coffee and also asked if I was hungry. After that, a skinny, very eager man, with a big smile brought over books that he thought I should read. "This is a good one. Oh, and this one, this one is really good too. Please take these." This continued throughout my time there. This beautiful man just kept bringing me one book after the other after the other. While all of this was going on, the tall, dignified speaker kept returning ever few minutes, telling me that they had so many books and I could choose whichever books I wanted.

After explaining to them that I was grateful for all of their recommendations, I described the specific book I was looking for. Sadly, I learned that they did not have any copies of 'Heart of A Buddha'. One of the ladies then suddenly remembered that in another room there were copies of other books and so we went to look for the Heart there. She led me down the hall and into the second room where we began looking but again, no luck. When we turned around to leave the room, a lady was standing there with a fresh glass of water and a plate of watermelon slices for me. I took the gifts and then thanked her several times.

The lady who had originally come over to help me look for the book told me that her son visiting from the U.S. and she wanted him to meet me. She pulled out her mobile, phoned her son, and told him to come down to meet me. Then she asked me why I didn't want anything to eat. Embarrassed, I told her that I only eat raw foods (Since meeting my friend Raphael, who is a raw food advocate, I've been trying to stick to a raw food diet as much as I can; know that I am aware of how unappreciative it may seem that I turned down their cooked food). Once she heard this, she instantly hurried off to the kitchen and prepared me a huge salad of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, green and red peppers, as well as a plate of fruit. I then sat among the group eating, extremely grateful, but also very uncomfortable that she had gone to so much trouble.

The lady’s son then came to the hall and sat with me while I ate. During this time, another lady was on the phone to a different Buddhist society asking them if they had the book I was looking for. Once I finished eating, the son of his mother asked me where I was going next and then offered to give me a ride to the sky train so that I could get downtown. He then apologized, telling me that I would have to wait 20 minutes for their car to show up. Then he took me over to a nearby computer and told me that I could check my email while we waited for the car to arrive.

Once the 20 minutes had passed, the lady, her son, and I all get into the car and headed off (Who do you think got the front seat?). As we drove, they handed me a map of Bangkok to take with me so I wouldn't get lost when traveling from the sky train to where I wanted to go. Lastly, they asked if I had anyone to call in case I ever got into trouble while in Thailand and then offered me their phone numbers to use any time. Once we got to the sky train I thanked them several times for everything they had done for me and got out of the car full of love and lightness.

In the end I left with a full stomach and four books on Buddhism; but I didn't find the "Heart of A Buddha". Or maybe I did.