Buddhist Spaces of
Southeast Asia
An Online Journey through Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar
Exploring Southeast Asia:
An Adventure to Remember
Join me on an immersive live virtual tour as I embark on
a journey through Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar.
Starting from my home in Siem Reap, accompanied by my Cambodian assistant,
Mr. Sim, you are invited to follow us on a real-time online adventure through the captivating landscapes and cultures of Southeast Asia.
Engage with us through community posts and exciting live feeds to share in
our daily activities as we explore the rich culture and heritage
of these enchanting destinations.
- Journeys on the Mekong River from the floating villages of Cambodia to the Buddhist caves of Laos.
- Ancient sacred sites such as Angkor and Sukhothai and modern places of cultural history.
- Explore Buddhist monasteries, talking with monks, learning about the contemporary traditions of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist practice within the context of the spiritual, religious, royal, and social origins of ancient Southeast Asian Culture.
- Social Tensions: Buddhism as religious practice and tourist commodity
- Meeting families in the villages across the countryside of Cambodia and Thailand. Beliefs, struggles, appreciation of life.
- French colonial architecture in Luang Prabang
- Contemporary and historical art galleries, museums, and artist studios
Journey and Course Itinerary
This is more than a tour. This is an online course in the Buddhist practices and cultures of Southeast Asia.
The Buddhist Spaces of Southeast Asia include the natural environment, the Earth herself. We will walk the forests, climb the mountains, and traverse the land.
Mekong River, Luang Prabang, Laos
OUR JOURNEY AHEAD
Below is a video introduction providing insight into our upcoming journey, featuring the destinations we will explore, the people we will encounter, and the experiences that await. In this video, I introduce myself, as well as my assistant, Mr. Sim, while providing an overview of our four-week exploration across Southeast Asia.
[The video was recorded in late 2023]
What is a Buddhist Space?
Space and Place. The two are sometimes confused. A landscape is a place defined by an immensity of space. Sometimes we think space has measurable dimensions. The space in a water jar is smaller than in a room. Here we are confusing the container with what we believe it contains. In Buddhism, space is potentiality. A space exists, or is defined by, what goes on, not in. Yet, space is not merely a setting. It is the spirit, or 'vital essence' that is unique to a place.
The sound of walking, for example...
"When I was a little boy I had a passion for maps.
I spent hours looking at South America,
Africa, and Australia, and
I would lose myself in the glory of travel."
Joseph Conrad - The Heart of Darkness
Our desire to travel begins in our imaginations early in life. Like Conrad, I poured over my atlas with the coins I had gathered while traveling through Europe with my mother. By the age of 12, I was reading Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, and de la Montaigne.
Over the years I have learned to travel with purpose, humor, risk, and curiosity.
That is the beauty of the virtual journey. With the correct guide - I assign myself - and a well-planned series of destinations, not to mention an array of learning opportunities, you can settle back in your armchair and dream of embarking on your next voyage while you study and follow me on mine, sorry, I mean, ours.
CAMBODIA
Land of the Ancient Khmer and Contemporary Theravada Buddhism
OCTOBER 1 - 7
Religious and Spiritual Heritage
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Angkor Wat, Sunrise
A royal kingdom based upon Indic religious beliefs built on the scale of the universe. That is Angkor Wat. Such grandiose projects defined a small nation one thousand years ago.
THAILAND
Asian Megacity to Ancient Siam
OCTOBER 9 - 15
Monastic Training
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Sitting Buddha - Meditating Monk. Bangkok
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LAOS
Kingdom of a Million Elephants
OCTOBER 9 - 15
Spirit of the Buddha and Place
This town, mostly situated on a small peninsula extending into the Mekong River, is a UNESCO Heritage site. Luang Prabang means "Royal Buddha Image" and was once the capital. Today the town is a mixture of early twentieth-century French colonial architecture and Buddhist temples dating from the 16th century.
Lotus
Throughout the town there are contemporary art galleries representing artists from around the world and all whose art is connected to the traditions of Laos.
MYANMAR
To see life. To see the world. To see and be instructed. To see and be amazed. (Henry Luce)
OCTOBER 17 - 15
Pilgrimage and Devotion
[as of 7-7-24] While tourism there is now possible, we are studying the logistics of visiting the country during this tour due to the political and military situation in Myanmar. It would sadden me if I cannot show you "Live from Old Burma" the joys of life I have known there for so long. I am leaning toward going to Yangon at least. If we determine entry is not practical, we will still present a series of videos, photographs, interviews, and other materials based upon my travels through this fascinating country, which began in 2005.
View of seller and Htilominlo Temple
In 2005 I made my first journey to Myanmar. I would visit the country three more times before the military coup of 2021. During that first trip I photographed across the Plain of Bagan with my 8x10" view camera.
FIELD NOTES
Reflecting On Our Journey
The Journey
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Sunset, Cosmic Ocean, Angkor Wat
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What You Can Expect
- Daily Updates in my field notes, short videos, community posts. Scheduled Live Feeds such as...Live From Angkor Wat!
- Engaging topics along the way about where we are.
- Gotta question? Post in the course Community Forum.
- Let me be your eyes and ears. Wanna see something specific where I am? Let me know what it is and I'll attempt to include your request.
- I follow something of an itinerary, but the best travel experience is also spontaneous.
- Enrich your learning experience with access to downloadable educational materials and optional quizzes for self-assessment.
- At the journey's end, each participant will receive a copy of my journal illustrated with photographs I make along the way. By the time you eventually make it to Southeast Asia yourself, you will have already created memories.
LEARNING Content
29 THEMED LEARNING TOPICS
VIDEO AND AUDIO PRESENTATIONS
INTERACTIVE LEARNING MEDIA
BOOKS, ARTICLES, READINGS
ILLUSTRATIONS AND
PHOTO GALLERIES
LIVE ON LOCATION AND SCHEDULED WEBINARS
How My Courses Are Presented
Please visit the WanderSight course features to explore your learning experiences during our journeys through Southeast Asia
This video was recorded during the pandemic. This was a magical time to explore Angkor. Few tourists and lots of space to roam.
Student Comments and Recommendations
Fred has been teaching these online journey courses as a college professor since 2009. He's got this dialed in.
Read what his students at the College of Southern Nevada have to say about his teaching and presentation of topics.
"I have gained something beyond knowledge: awareness. I also find myself contemplating the world with an awareness of artistic thinking that I did not have when this class began. Professor Sigman has posed the question “why” again and again in our lessons, encouraging us to question the world around us and how we think about it."
"The Professor's videos are so beyond outstanding. His candor and candid retelling of his life - pulling art and memories together - he let us in and showed us this whole new world."
"What I now understand through studying the culture and art of Bali is that we need to start appreciating and respecting nature for what it gives us. The art visualizes how we should be living in harmony with the planet."
"Fred delivered an unbelievable experience to his students. Taking us, not only on his personal & professional journeys abroad - but he created a place online that brought new worlds to us while we sat wide eyed viewing all the landscapes, architecture and lives that he shared."
Professor Sigman, I'm reaching out to extend my gratitude for your guidance and support throughout this course. Online courses can be a challenge for everyone involved but your commitment to student success, knowledge and passion for this subject is evident in your videos, and excellent resources/material. Not to mention the great choices in movies! Thank you for helping me be successful!
"If there's anything I've gotten from this course, it's that you've inspired me to travel even more. From the very first video you presented, I was surprised how we got a nomadic professor, and I was also a bit jealous that we don't get to travel with you. It would've been very immersive."
Everyday we will have a story to share.
You will laugh, wonder, and learn.
Journey Themes and Takeways
Like travel itself, my courses are arranged as any global journey would be. Interesting, interactive, and surprising. Many of these features are designed and recorded along the way in whatever course you are in. These platforms and learning methods have been used for a decade in my college courses.
Below are some of the topics and issues we explore during our journey.
How to EXPERIENCE the art and architecture
Guiding photographers through sites like Angkor, I often hear expressed their curiosity to understand what they are photographing. This goes beyond recognizing a deity or narrative while exploring the artistic depictions and connecting with the atmosphere of a Buddhist temple. How can we go beyond the history to experience something spiritualy fundamental?
imagining southeast asia
When traveling to new destinations, I make it a point to carry a literary companion in my shoulder bag. Having someone whose life experience offers insight to the journey, whether or not they also traveled. Along the way through Southeast Asia, I will suggest ways of seeing and capturing the essence of a journey through photography and videography. Two of my literary companions are artist Wassily Kandinsky and philosopher Alan Watts. Both emphasized we need to experience a place with our soul before we can begin to see with our eyes.
TRAVEL AS CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE
There are traditions of Buddhist pilgrimages throughout Asia. Now there are the millions of tourists who roam the grounds and temples of many of the Buddhist monasteries while the monks and devout are engaged in their spiritual practices. How do these two worlds get along with one another?
dharma rain
The wisdom traditions from India which spread across SE Asia all teach our need to respect and care for the Earth. Throughout our region of travel many of the Buddhist temples are adorned with art that represents the teachings from the Lotus Sutra, the lives of forest dwellers, social responsibility, practices of meditation, and the vows of the Bodhisattva.
loss of culture and traditions
In many parts of the world, it is not only the environment that is at risk. So too are local customs, indigenous cultures, and ways of life. Already within the last two years in Cambodia entire villages have been bulldozed and the inhabitants moved off their ancestral lands.
MEETING REMARKABLE PEOPLE
You don't need me to offer tips and advice that are readily available in a guidebook or website. I am here to show you see how I have experienced SE Asia as a long-time voyager and as someone who makes Cambodia his home. One thing guidebooks do not explain is how to meet people and make longtime friends. Such as me and Maung Maung, one of Myanmar's best known photographers.
The Journey is Buddhist Practice
Fred teaching on camera from Buddhist pagoda in Cambodia
We long to make a journey, go on a pilgrimage, find adventure. We travel to learn from the places and people we meet along the way. For the true seeker, we do not want to travel in a vacuum. We want to interact with the places we visit and the people we meet. And…when we return home, we want to feel as though we not only brought something of that place back with us…that is in us…we also want to leave something of ourselves behind. In my travels I have often taken a certain comfort in knowing that a part of me is still back there. A memory left in the people I meet; my own ignorance of a place is replaced with understanding. Maybe I will meet up with myself again....
When I was a tenured professor at my university, I always traveled between semesters and while on sabbatical. One summer I remained in residence at the Shechen Monastery in Kathmandu, living at their wonderful guesthouse. When the time came to go back to the States and another semester, oh man, I did not want to leave. One evening I asked a fellow traveler at dinner, who made annual visits to Kathmandu to study with a Buddhist teacher, how he kept that intense spirit of being at the monastery alive after he returned home to the States. The monk who was eating with us interrupted and said to me, “Your students are with you now.” That is one of those quizzical responses one receives from a Buddhist monk. But now, with these courses, maybe…maybe, I understand.
Wander Thoughts is where I write on topics related to the four areas of learning in my courses: Journeys, Art, the Earth and, the Dharma.
Join Wander Thoughts now and you will have access to our online community. Before the course even begins, you will receive videos and learning materials. In fact you are under no obligation to enroll in any of my courses. Notification will be sent when a course is being offered.
Recorded in Bangkok, Thailand as soon as they lifted entry restrictions. as COVID began to fade.
Fred setting up his view camera with two novice monks looking on. Bagan, Myanmar.
VIDEOS: Myanmar train. Amulet market. Something from Lao. Angkor wandersights
This online journey and course is limited to 50 participants. This ensures a quality learning experience which includes live conversations and student interactions with Fred and one another.
Register here and you will receive a series of videos related to where this journey goes and some of what we will explore. .
Register Now. No payment required. You will receive updates and content leading up to our date of departure. October 1, 2024
"Sometimes one simply doesn't understand
what one is looking at...
To learn a place is like getting to know a person:
it is an exercise in depth psychology."
- Andrew Solomon, from Far & Away: How Travel Can Change the World.
