After my oldest sister found out that I want to write about Buddhism, she gave me a book called Ten Lives of The Buddha, Siamese Temple Paintings and Jataka Tales by Elizabeth Wray, Clare Rosenfield, and Dorothy Bailey, with photographs by Joe D. Wray. The photos are beautiful and below is called The Temiya Jataka from Wat Yai Intharam, Chonburi Thailand.

Temiya tests his strength by lifting the chariot. Temiya’s raising the chariot causes the horses hitched to it to twist their necks around and shocks the gravedigger into looking up. According to the Pali text of this story, the gravedigger does not see Temiya at this point; he continues to dig. The painter here has chosen to ignore this fact in favor of artistic unity.

I am fascinated with Buddhism temple painting and the architecture of the Buddhist Temple (Wat). I often imagine an angel to look like Temiya.

• Lao Damnern Sai