Gatherings, Protests, and Celebrations

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts …
- William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”

 

Young Monks at Tashi Lhunpr, Xigaze, Tibet

 

New York City, USA

 

Croatia

 

Via Condotti, Rome, Italy

 

Mumbai/Bombay, India

 

Druze elders, Lebanon

 

Debating Monks at Bylakuppe, Karnataka, India

 

One of Mumbai’s laughing clubs, India

 

Peshawar, Pakistan

 

Kashmir

 

Shia Mosque, Kabul, Afghanistan

 

Rajasthan, India

 

Monsoon Festival, Kathmandu, Nepal

 

 

Kumbh Mela Festival, India

It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining.
- Mark Twain

Temporary pontoon bridges across the Ganges River help to facilitate movement of some of the thirty million Hindu devotees who will take part in the Kumbh Mela Festival,  Allahabad, India.

 

Thrissur Pooram, Kerala, India

Thrissur Pooram is the most extravagent and colorful festival in Kerala.  Attended by tens of thousands of devotees, the festivities include dozens of caparisoned elephants.  These Indian elephants are loved, revered, groomed, and given a prestigious place in the state’s culture.

Thrissur Pooram, Kerala, India

 

Ganesh Chaturthi festival, Chowpatty Beach, Mumbai, India

 

Yangon, Burma/Myanmar during the Thingyan Festival

 

Jokhang Palace,  Lhasa, Tibet

 

Niger

 

These young Wadabi men are taking part in the Garawal, an annual marriage ritual performed by the tribe. In this event, dramatic make-up is applied to the faces of the men, who dance and make exaggerated expressions in an attempt to attract new brides.

 

 

 

 

A Matter of Faith

 Girl praying at a mosque, Kabul,  Afghanistan

 

 I have seen many manifestations of  faith during my travels over the past three decades.  Some have been spontaneous, some have been part of a liturgy, some have been prescribed rituals, some have been in magnificent buildings, others have been outside under a tree.   Some people’s faith is embedded in the way they live their lives.

 

 

 

Shaolin monks training, Zhengzhou, China

 

“Just as the body cannot exist without blood, so the soul needs the matchless and pure strength of faith.”   Mohandas Gandhi

 

 

Prayers and teaching, Peshawar, Pakistan

 

 

 

 Sikh holiest site, Golden Temple,  Amritsar, India

 

 

 

 

Sri Lanka

 

 

 

Prayer Flags, Lhasa, Tibet

 

 

 

Charlotte, North Carolina

 

 

 Religious Instruction – Jewish child  in Yemen

 

 

 

Srinagar, Kashmir

 

 

 

Brazil

 

 

Camino, Italy

 

 

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.  To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”   

- St. Thomas Aquinas

 

 

India

 

 

Thrissur Pooram, Kerala, India

 

  “Faith is a bird that feels dawn breaking and sings while it is still dark.”

    - Rabindranath Tagore

 

                                                                       

Tibetan Prayer Festival in Bodh Gaya, India

 

 

Pilgrim praying with monks at the Buddhist Academy of Larung Gar, Kham Province, Tibet

 

“What is Faith?  When your good deed pleases you and your evil deed grieves you, you are a believer.”

- Prophet Muhammad

 

Monk at Jokhang temple, Lhasa, Tibet

 

Nature’s Great Masterpiece

The relationship between elephants and people goes back millennia. Elephants have been an integral part of history, religion, art,  and culture in many parts of Asia.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

“Th’ unwieldy elephant, To make them mirth, us’d all his might, and wreathed. His lithe proboscis.”
-John Milton, Paradise Lost

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Kerala, India

Elephants have been important in both Hinduism and Buddhism. Ganesh, the Hindu elephant God, is worshipped as the lord of success, education,  knowledge, wisdom and wealth.

Mumbai, India

Angkor Thom, Cambodia

John Kistler’s book, War Elephants,  pointed out that for over a thousand years, generals used elephants as tanks, bulldozers, and cargo trucks long before such vehicles existed. Elephants built roads, swung swords, and terrified opposing forces.

Burma/Myanmar

Burma/Myanmar

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Aristotle called the elephant  “the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind.”

India

“Nature’s great masterpiece, an elephant – the only harmless great thing.”

-John Donne (English poet, 1572-1631)

Calcutta, India

Varanasi, India