It was early April, just another day in the Corona virus lock down. To break the monotony, occasionally the wife and I would take long drives. Most of the drives would be to different forest preserves, around our suburb. Here there is usually less traffic and fewer people. Though the vegetation was still very dry and barren, there were early signs of green shoots.
This one particular day, we drove up north to the edge of the Des Plained river to visit the Lloyd Lewis House, that is listed in the National Registry of Historic places. This Usonian house was built in 1939 by the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. This Architect is still world famous for his “Organic” style of designing structures, that was in harmony with humanity and it’s environment. After viewing the building and its surroundings, we headed back home.
It was late afternoon and the sun was lazily setting toward the west. The drive was very pleasant since the road was very narrow and winding. The area was heavily wooded. The homes were on huge lots of maybe a few acres. As I turn the corner, out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw the head of a Buddha statue. I casually looked to the left while I was driving, and all I saw were rows of trees. I kept driving but that image stayed in my mind. Since this was a single lane road I found a safe place to make a U-turn. My wife obviously was quite perplexed. I explain to her what I thought I saw and wanted to go back and verify.
I pulled up the car around the area I thought I saw the statues. I got out of the car and walked around the edge of the property line. Lo and behold about 100 yards in front of me were distinct Buddha statue heads. All I could see were outlines since I was viewing between trees and shrubs. In a month or so this view would not have been possible because the vegetation would have been much thicker. They were definitely Buddha statues in black stone about 10 feet tall.
For most people it would not be a big deal. For many believers in the Buddha teachings the finding of his statues in the middle of the midwest, in the middle of US is really a big deal. The world over, there are many Buddha statues in memory of this saint. We have many Buddha statues in my house and we have traveled to many parts of India, Thailand, Cambodia and other parts of the world to visit his monasteries.
Sidharth was the original name of this Indian prince, who gave up his family, kingdom and all earthly possessions in search of enlightenment. As he travelled, along the way, people followed him and his teachings. His followers soon became so wide spread, that even after nearly 2000 years, Buddhism is now the third largest religion in the world.
We drove home. We were determined to come back and see if we could get a closer viewing. After a few days, we came back to the property and this time drove up to the house. I rang the bell a few times but there was no answer. It seemed eerily quiet. There was a mailbox on the road, so I left a message requesting permission to enter the property and view the statues.
Will I get a response? What is the story behind the statues? Stay tuned!
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