"Without our traditions, life would be as shaky as..."

Recently I've been thinking about the power of religious tradition. Much of what we see here in Thailand seems incredibly strange to us. I may have already written that the kids have been fascinated by the spirit houses they see on certain street corners. In Animist tradition, there are spirits that live in the ground, the water, in the trees and the rocks. When you build a house you displace the spirit that lived in the ground, and so you build a small house for the spirit to reside in and offer it food, beverages, and incense. If you do not do this, you run the risk that the earth spirit will become angry and begin to cause you problems.

Each day on the river-taxi ride down into Bangkok we pass several Buddhist temples along the riverbank. I've noticed that when we pass these temples, certain people will turn towards it, wai the temple, and then raise their hands over their heads as if to allow the aura of the temple to wash over them. Thais believe that holy sites, and especially holy people, radiate a purity and goodness that can be absorbed based on your proximity.

These centers of holiness include temples, amulets, revered monks, ancient ruins, and of course - the king. People will line the roads and streets whenever they know that the king will be passing by. They often hold up their Buddhist amulets in the belief that as the King passes by his munificence will radiate outward and be absorbed by the amulet. From then on, that they believe that amulet will protect and enrich their lives.

In Mormonsim we don't believe in idols or amulets, or that inanimate objects have inherent spiritual qualities. But we have peculiar religious traditions nonetheless. I remember a professor at BYU telling me about a family that he hometaught, whose nine-year old boy had a leaf he had taken from the Sacred Grove. No doubt with this parents encouragement, he had the leaf framed and displayed prominently in his room. Is it not strange that such a telestial artifact would be a reminder of spiritual identity? It's a leaf from a tree, and probably not even a tree that was there when Joseph Smith was alive, since the original forest was cut down and had to be re-planted. It's more than just a connection to history and ancestors. For that boy, the leaf possesses certain inherent qualities because of its proximity to one of the most holy events in Mormonism.

Do Mormon temples or leaders also radiate purity in a similar fashion? As Latter-Day Saints we often visit or drive past temples even if we're not going in. We place them in as prominent a position as possible, often on mountainsides or hilltops, so that they can be seen by everyone -so that nothing interferes with the connection between symbol and interpreter. We all love to see the prophet, on tv is nice, but in person it feels much more powerful. And who doesn't love to tell a story about when they shook the prophets hand? I was once in a large-group meeting in the MTC in which people who had shook the prophets hands were invited to share their experiences. Is this because his purity and spiritual power is somehow passed on to us?

Mormonism and Buddhism are obviously very different religions but our common humanity leads up to develop comparable religious conceptions. Mankind has a universal desire to create tangible connections with the divine.



The money tree. Thais love to publicly donate money to worthy causes such as building a new temple. The more you donate, the greater merit you earn. Coincidentally, this is also how Andrew Carnegie tried to buy back his soul.