The comfort of Pho

[pegkerr]

I did not feel at all well tonight. Physically, of course, but more than than, mentally. I didn't want to cook, so I took the girls out for pho soup. We went to a restaurant minnehaha K introduced me to, and I watched them wtih covert amusement as they struggled to eat the rice noodles with chopsticks. They were cheerful at the treat, and I found myself soothed by their pleasure. "I like pho," I told them. "It's one of my favorite comfort foods. What are your favorite comfort foods?"

They considered the question seriously. "I like pho, too," Delia said. "And I like that Throat Coat Tea when I have a sore throat."

I smiled. "You know, you have minnehaha K and B to thank for both of those. B told me about Throat Coat, and K was the one to teach me about pho."

"And I like to chew on ice cubes when I have a stomach ache," Delia added.

"I used to chew on ice cubes, too, when I was your age," I told her solemnly. "Compulsively. I'll tell you what my mom told me. It's very bad for your teeth. But I understand the attraction."

The girls looked curiously at the little statute of Buddha with the cups of water and incense sticks near the front register. "What's that?" they asked me.

I explained.

"Oh," Delia said. "It's a God thing."

"Yes, it's a God thing."

We left the restaurant. It was still raining. I still felt dark inside, but a little warmer, too.

No doubt it was the pho.

Comments

[psychic-serpent.livejournal.com]

"Oh," Delia said. "It's a God thing."

"Yes, it's a God thing."

Well, technically--no. Although this might be hard to explain to kids who are used to religion always including a god. Buddhists aren't deists. Buddha isn't a god. Meditation, which might be repitition of a mantra, focus on a koan (most famous one--"What is the sound of one hand clapping?"), martial arts, yoga or some other method, is supposed to, ideally, lead to a person suddenly having a glowing moment of achieving enlightenment ("nirvana"). That's the simplified version, without the details about the Fourfold Noble Truths or the Eightfold Path to Enlightenment. But the various Buddhas (there are more than one) and other figures of inspiration for Buddhists are not really gods. Some cultures that absorbed Buddhism, in the Far East especially, sort of incorporated their indigenous gods into the religion and there's some confusion about the difference between a god and a Buddha ("enlightened one") in some places, but pure Buddhism has no gods to speak of.

--Your friendly neighborhood interfaith geek