Bangkok Tattoo published in 2005: the story of a Royal Thai policeman, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, who with his mother manages a brothel.
Sonchai is a devout Buddhist, able to accept the corruption of the system, the violence in society and his own position in the Bangkok sex trade with true Buddhist mindfulness.
"You are a
remarkable collection of coincidences held together by a desperate and
irrational clinging, there is no center at all, everything depends on
everything else, your body depends on the environment, your thoughts depend on
whatever junk floats in from the media, your emotions are largely from the
reptilian end of your DNA, your intellect is a chemical computer that can’t add
up a zillionth as fast as a pocket calculator, and even your best side is a
superficial piece of social programming that will fall apart just as soon as
your spouse leaves with the kids and the money in your joint account, or the
economy starts to fail and you get the sack, or you get conscripted into some
idiot’s war, or they give you news about your brain tumor. To name this amorphous morass of self-pity,
vanity, and despair is not only
the height of hubris, it is also proof (if any were needed) that we are above
all a delusional species."
excerpt from Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett.
namaste
the Ol'Buzzard
