Fancy

The theme at Photo Friday this week is Fancy. So I thought I'd enter these two pics of one of the two carved wooden doors leading into the Sala (meditation hall) at the Wat Buddha Dhamma retreat centre, where I recently did an 8 day meditation retreat.

[A full entry about the retreat is to come, but in the meantime there are pics and descriptions of the beautiful bushland setting here.]


Sala door, with images of a stupa and the wheel representing the cyclical nature of rebirth. Wat Buddha Dhamma retreat centre, Wisemans Ferry, New South Wales. April, 2005.


Sala door, with images of a lotus and someone meditating. Wat Buddha Dhamma retreat centre, Wisemans Ferry, New South Wales. April, 2005.

These doors were large and heavy, but beautifully balanced so that they were not a chore to push open. They gave an appropriate sense of 'occasion' on entering the hall. You can't see them in these photos, but the handles were tree branches that had been polished and lacquered but were otherise left pretty much natural.

Beautiful and, I thought, very fancy.