“Oh, so the birthplace is in Phanom Sarakham district. Is this *chedi* still there?” I
asked.

“Today, only the ruins of the *chedi* and a low mound remain, located not far from Tha
Lat Nuea temple, along the ancient road connecting Kapilavastu and Devadaha. But this
road has mostly disappeared, with only some parts remaining. If it’s not preserved in
the future, it will all become rice fields.

In addition to building a *chedi* to mark this birthplace, another *chedi* was built
nearby to commemorate his mother, who passed away only 7 days after giving birth.

After that, he also traveled to bury hair relics in his mother’s hometown, at the location
of the current relic *chedi*, which at that time was still a Brahmin temple,” he replied.

“Lord, was Buddhism able to influence Brahminism? Because I noticed that the Buddha
was able to bury hair relics at a Brahmin temple,” I asked.

“You really do ask a lot of questions, but they are good questions. The answer is no,
except in these two cities because they were the cities of the Buddha’s relatives. What
happened at that time was that the kings and Brahmin leaders of both cities ordered all
the deities to be destroyed, turning the temples into Buddhist temples and the
Brahmins into Buddhist monks. If you observe carefully, the deities found near both
cities, including Phaya Asoka’s Kosinarayana, are in very poor condition.
Archaeologists often speculate that earthquakes caused the deities to fall and break.
But that speculation is wrong because the nature of the breakage is into small pieces.
Take a look at the statue with a human body but an elephant head, found near
Kapilavastu. This statue was carved from a large, thick, and solid stone block, but when
it was found, it was in small fragments. There’s no way this statue could have fallen and
shattered like that because stone doesn’t behave like glass or tile. This statue is
currently on display at the Prachin Buri National Museum.

This destruction was a sensational and emotionally impactful issue for the people
because some of the deities were carved in the likeness of kings or princes of that era.
In particular, a four-armed Narayana statue on display at the same museum was carved
from the likeness of Prince Siddhartha when he was only nineteen years old. Therefore,
some deities were spared, and no one dared to destroy them. This destruction of
deities was the beginning for other cities that had faith in the Buddha to follow suit
later, which was a major social change.”

“This change was simple and did not cause conflict with the people because the
Buddha used the method of changing the leaders who influenced the people first, that
is, changing the Brahmins who were like spiritual leaders. When the leaders changed,
all the followers were willing to change. So, everywhere the Buddha went, he would
focus on the religious leaders in that city first.”

“Which is different from what you are about to do this time,” Lord Phoche said, as if
giving me a mysterious responsibility.

“What? What do you mean?” I asked immediately.

“I’m talking about the communication method you will use to tell people in the present
era. When the times change, the factors change, so the methods change.”

“What is the current communication method?” I asked.

“Observe carefully whether the things that create change in your society today come
from leaders ordering change or from ordinary people changing themselves,” he asked.

“Uh… I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand the question,” I continued.

“Let me put it this way: do you think the media is currently in the hands of those in
power or in the hands of the general public?” he added.

“Uh… it’s probably the latter now,” I replied.

“That’s what you have to do to bring about change,” he said.

“What do I have to do? It sounds like a burden,” I continued.

“Don’t worry. Just do everything with a heart of love and goodwill, do it with joy in
doing it, do it with simplicity and straightforwardness, with nothing hidden, do it with
a peaceful and serene mind. The higher-level abstract factors have paved the way and
prepared to support you. And the physical energy level of the world is ready to make it
easy for humans to evolve. Just take action, especially in making everyone know how to
discover and feel the Buddhahood, the sacred original mind, or the God-mind, that is
hidden within everyone, just like what was done in the Buddha’s time,” he replied.

“It doesn’t seem that difficult. I promise to do it, but I can’t guarantee how much result
it will have. But now I want to know more about the places related to the Buddha’s
history. Can you take me to see more?” I replied.

“Alright… which period do you want to see? How about starting from when the Buddha
left the palace to seek the truth?” he asked.

“Good, good…” I quickly agreed.

“That night, the Buddha had arranged with his close associate in advance that he would
secretly leave the city that night to seek the truth, renouncing everything to become a
monk. He chose a full moon night for convenient travel. It was a little after midnight.
The moon began to rise high in the sky. Even though it was very late, he couldn’t close
his eyes to sleep because his heart was focused on the time he would leave that night.
He got up, turned to look at his beloved wife and the young prince who were sleeping
peacefully for the last time. His heart felt so much pain that he couldn’t hold back his tears. He sat down next to them for more than ten minutes to contemplate what he was
about to do from now on.”

“He asked himself many questions: What would his wife be like when she woke up and
didn’t find him? Would she know that he was currently in pain to leave his wife and
young child? She would probably think that he was selfishly pursuing his own desires
and abandoning them. He desperately wanted to hug and kiss his two loved ones, but
he could only sit and look at them with tearful eyes. The tears flowed like a torrent that
broke a dam. His tears soaked his face like a lover had died. He began to hesitate
whether to give up this intention because it felt so painful. If the feeling of loss was so
painful, why would he choose to do it? The questions came rushing in so strongly that
he wavered. But then he resolutely got up and turned away, walking out of the
bedroom.”

“The tears of pain still flowed non-stop, but they had to stop when he walked out of the
bedroom and saw the reality. The beautiful dancers who used to entertain him before
bedtime were lying sprawled in front of the room in unseemly postures. Some had
their clothes disheveled, revealing their private parts. Some had their mouths open,
drooling. Some were muttering in impolite language. It was then that he had no more
hesitation. He firmly intended to set out to seek the truth.”