If You Find the Buddha

Whether in the heart of Asia or a farm in the American heartland, the Buddha image never seems out of place. As a reminder to stop and live in the moment, it is as appropriate as a charm around the neck of a young Thai soldier as on a car dashboard. Photographs of the Buddha in various incarnations—traditional statuary, toys, garden ornaments, jewelry, tattoos—demonstrate that the Buddha is seemingly everywhere, if one cultivates the proper awareness. By turns beautiful, quirky, ironic, and meditative, Kalisher's images in If You Find the Buddha speak not only to the omnipresence of the spiritual icon, but also to our capacity to be surprised and delighted by the unexpected. With an insightful essay by noted author and traveler Jeff Greenwald, the striking photographs in this book delight and enlighten in equal measure.