Just to be clear…. Buddha is not my thing!
I am convinced in Jesus for Salvation alone!
But when something seems this out of place it might be an interesting stop. Finding the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas on a Native American reservation in Montana is not the first place one might think to find a Buddhist shrine, but there it is!
Established as an international center for peace in 2000, the 750-foot circular monument sits on ten acres of rich natural land comprising the garden. The signage says the statuary is arranged in the formation of a "wheel of dharma" meant to represent the "Noble Eightfold Path" which encompasses the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
Eight symmetrical concrete spokes radiate from a central shrine where a colorful 24-foot statue of Yum Chenmo, the Great Mother, sits in peace. Each of the eight spokes is topped with a portion of the titular thousand Buddha statues, which are constructed of stark, white concrete. The inner wheel is surrounded by two semi-circular walls which are themselves adorned with 1000 identical white stupas, or temple effigies.
I enjoy taking pictures with leading lines, balance, symmetry, and lots of repetition. This was also a fun drone site from above. But, I will confess that it did not exude peace for me, but rather it seemed to represent a colossal misplaced hope (times 1000 over?).
