Buddha-Man Rules

The ever observant Jake noted that I have a new Buddha-man in the garden, so I thought I'd post about him. A co-worker is marring a very religious man, so she was passing out her home decor that might indicate she thought about any other religion than his and I managed to score the Buddha-man. (Missed out on her Madonna-era rosary collection though . . . ) He has almost always been in the plan for the corner garden, even though he didn't exist in my life until just a few weeks ago. My personal life philosophy is a bit more Bacchus than Buddha, but I love the Buddha-men. They represent internal joy and happiness to me. They are a little reminder that true happiness can only be found within, and that we should take time to think about the natural world around us. But enough of the seriousness. Besides collecting them, I also collect weird little rules for them. I'm taking you deep into the bizarrely quirky brain of mine, so hang on:

1. I must call them Buddha-men. (I know this can be annoying, but I enjoy it, therefore it is a rule.)

2. Buddha-men must have something natural to contemplate. Personally, I think this is just common sense. I always have a flower, plant, rocks or even sticks in front of the Buddha-man for him to contemplate. It is perfectly acceptable for Buddha-men to to ponder all states of nature, including death, which is handy for the Buddha-men who reside inside my house.

3. I don't buy Buddha-men. They are always given to me, which is one of the reasons it took me so long to get this one. (I suppose I could have stolen one and it would have complied with this rule, but I'm too chicken, err I mean, moral to try it.)

4. Ok, I haven't admitted this before, but all my Buddha-men have names, preferably ones that make them sound a bit like vacuum cleaner sales men. The one by my bed, a kind of nerdy fellow, is Simon Buddha-man. The little pot-bellied one on my desk at work is Ralph Buddha-man. And the one above, since I didn't already have a name for him, shall be here forth know as Jake Buddha-man. :D (Love ya' Jake!)

The ultimate score: A frog Buddha-man. If anyone sees something this, let me know. I'd probably have to break rule #3 for it.