The Story of Buddha at Tahilla Farm
People often ask me the story behind the large wood Buddha carving hanging in Tahilla Farm's entry. I tell them it started a few years ago in a shop around the corner from our home, Chateau Mango, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
I stumbled across the shop a week or two after we moved to Vietnam. When I say stumble, I really mean that I was lost, a common occurrence back then. A small bust of a woman drew me into the store. I had seen something similar in a local museum and thought it might be a good starter piece for our Chateau Mango collection. Once in the store, I was transfixed by an 8’ wooden carving of a Buddha hanging on the wall above it. I had an insane idea to buy it, and then sanity snuck in, and I thought, “Are you crazy? Where would you hang something like that?” I worried I might later regret purchasing it and not purchasing it.
Over the next month, I went in and out of the shop in a state of “Do I or don't I?" In case you guessed, I am not very good with on-the-spot decisions, especially massive ones. I took Mr. H along for his thoughts a month later; he loved it. That sealed the deal; we bought it. The size and weight (200 lbs) would be a problem for another day.
That day came one day later when three men delivered it and started chatting, measuring, and scratching their heads about the best way to hang this more-than-life-size piece of art in our entry. Lucky for them and me, it was an easy problem to solve since it only had to be raised two feet off the ground. At the time of purchase, Tahilla Farm, our antique/new farmhouse in the woods of New Hampshire, was just a smidge of a notion. I had not started my official house hunt when Buddha came into our lives.
When I found Tahilla Farm two months later, I knew our Buddha would never see the light of day unless we renovated, and fortunately, we did. When it came time to put ideas to paper with the architect, I had one request, we had to allow a spot for Buddha to hang and to do that, we needed to ensure the wall could support its weight. We decided that the entrance was its best shot, and we 'drew it in.'
Buddha welcomed us home to Chateau Mango for four years before it was packed up in a container with the rest of our belongings and shipped to America. When our containers arrived, Buddha was the one item I was most excited to see. Its time had finally come. Our construction crew had heard about "the big one" for over a year. Or rather, I reminded them every chance I got that it was coming.
Once it arrived, I started to worry that it might not work or fall off the wall and nearly gave up on the notion of it hanging at Tahilla Farm. Thinking back, it was a silly thought, for, in fact, the men who planned to hang the art had just built our house. Surely they could handle a 200-pound wooden piece of art. I felt so much better with clarity on the matter.
First, they measured, and I watched...nervously. Then they measured again and brought in reinforcements, and I watched a tad less nervously. And then they did it. Our Vietnamese Buddha had officially found its way home to its rightful wall at Tahilla Farm and has been hanging ever since.
Buddha greets one and all as soon as they enter, just as it did at Chateau Mango.
Peace reigns.
And that's the story of our Buddha and its journey from Vietnam to Tahilla Farm in the woods of New Hampshire.
With peace in my mind
With peace in my heart
Peace in my soul
Wherever I'm going, I'm already home
Living in the moment
Lyrics 'Living in the Moment’ by Jason Mraz
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