What is the collective noun for Buddhas?

I’m in Thailand, and of course Buddhas are everywhere. But I hadn’t realised, till I started looking, that Buddhas come in so many shapes and sizes.

I think this is the Buddha that is most instantly recognized by those of us in the West?

Many of the older, stone Buddhas also have him in the traditional pious pose:

And then today I found something that made sense of some of the differences: Buddha, it seems, strikes a different pose for each day of the week. Wednesday looks like hard work:

Maybe to make up for Tuesday:

I hope the Thai information below this cheerful Buddha suggests he can enjoy himself any day:

And this wandering Buddha doesn’t seem attached to a day either:

It was a passing comment in a book I’m currently reading by Thubron, on his travels in Northern Nepal, when he describes a ‘generous field of salvation and a hint of variegated Buddhas, bodhisattvas and Hindu deities in disguise.’ Given that Thubron was struggling to disentangle it all, I don’t suppose I’m going to get very far in one month, Oh well. 

And this is still my favourite (in a temple in Ayutthaya): a stone statue fell and the head became entangled in tree roots. I can’t help wondering what this Buddha makes of all those magnificent gold images:

 In 

So, it seems I can only observe all these magnificent Buddhas - I’ve seen a few on my travels, marveled at many, but still have only a flimsy understanding of the depth of feeling he engenders in his followers. 

And for now I’m Buddha’d out. What next …?

Noooooooo! I can hear my daughters from here. ‘Mum, you’ve been trying to cook for over 60 years and still can’t produce a decent omelette. What makes you think you can make a Pad Thai?’ They are right. Perhaps I’ll save myself the embarrassment.

So, do I go to an ‘ethical elephant experience.’ Of course, all the elephant parks describe themselves as ethical. So I’ve tried to unpick what’s on offer: all the parks invite tourists to engage with the elephants in some way. We can feed them, bath them, roll in the mud with them … apart from the mud bit, it all looks very inviting. But I spotted the small print at the bottom of a news article the other day: a tourist in Southern Thailand, at one such experience, has been killed by an elephant. I don’t know the whole story, but the postscript included a warning that engaging with different groups of tourists day after day is not normal elephant behaviour, and can be stressful for them. They should be foraging, in matriarchal groups, protecting each other from all comers. Why should they have a bath to order? or roll in the mud just so someone can get a good photo? (To be honest, I don’t think I’d be too impressed if half a dozen strangers tried to jump in the bath with me every day and offer to scrub my back.)

I know elephants have been used in tourism, one way and another, for a long time. At its crudest, they need to earn their keep. And I’ve been privileged to see elephants in the wild, doing normal elephant things; many have not been so fortunate so I understand the appeal of an ‘ethical elephant experience.’ But I think I’ll pass.

Maybe I’ll just sit by a lake with a mango shake…