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Published on January 2, 2008

 Interesting characters from the Lord Buddha's era emerge in vivid profile in Anothai "Oh" Jeersathawong's new Thai-language book based on the teachings of famed monk Paisal Visalo.

As her friends can attest, Anothai is a walking encyclopaedia on the life of the Buddha. In time-travel fashion, she can share numerous tales off the top of her head about his family and associates and virtually everything that happened in his time.

All of this is encapsulated in compelling style in "Kam Kor Ti Ying Yai" ("The Greatest Wish"), on sale from Sabai Jai Publishing for Bt198.

Gautama's Hindu upbringing, complete with the context of caste and royal privilege, comes to life in the book, poignantly contrasted with the commoners' life beyond the palace walls. What the two worlds have in common are selfish desires.

Interestingly, Anothai was raised a Catholic. Her forebears were Portuguese and Chinese who arrived in Siam during the reign of King Rama IV. But she says, had she not learned what the Buddha taught, her life would have been a whirlpool of discontent.

"My life today owes so much to the teachings," she says.

Anothai passes on the favour, coaching children on dharma and meditation and comforting seriously ill people.

"I first met Phra Paisal Visalo when he was a young student at Assumption Bangrak School,"

she says. "He was also brought

up as a Catholic. He learned to continuously develop by studying new concepts."

When Paisal embraced Buddhism, Anothai became a follower, avidly reading his weekly column in Matichon magazine and buying his books. When she talks about achieving a deeper understanding of the faith thanks to his explanations, it's with a serene and grateful smile.

"The more we enjoy our comfortable lifestyles, the more we're vulnerable to suffering," Anothai says. "Suffering tends to be caused by our selfish, craving minds, which rely on outside things and forget what's inside of us. Yet that's the only place where peace is found."

The forms that suffering takes today haven't changed since the Buddha's time, she points out. 

"This is why I write about the old Buddhist tales from his era, to give people today something on which to reflect so they can understand his teachings more deeply."

Two and a half millennia on, people can still find solace and guidance in the Buddha's exhortations to be kind to others and circumspect with ourselves. To place the ego above all and yield to envy, greed and avarice merely traps us in the heart of suffering, he taught.

"I find it interesting that those who learn about the dharma know it at one certain level, while those who practise it will know it by heart," Anothai says.

The Buddha lived in a highly diverse society, as we do. Every new facet of humanity's base nature presented a challenge that had to be understood and overcome, and ultimately folded into the conscious practice of dharma.

"What I have learned," Anothai says, "is that suffering is not a bad thing - it can be a tool to help you find the path to happiness."

 Vipasai Niyamabha

 Special to The Nation