Hanuman's image was painted on the green door at Wat Suthat

Standing before the gates of Wat Suthat in Bangkok, one is immediately enveloped by a striking, unified world of emerald green. Painted upon the temple door is a scene from ancient myth. There, rendered in exquisite detail, is Hanuman. The monkey deity is locked in fierce combat with a serpent, presumably a Naga. While the exact details of this celestial battle remain elusive to me, it is almost certainly a fragment of the epic Ramakien, Thailand’s own rendition of the Ramayana.

Originally rooted in Hindu mythology, Hanuman’s vivid presence within a Buddhist sanctuary might strike a foreign observer as a paradox. Yet, in Bangkok’s temples, his figure is a common, almost comforting sight. This stands in stark contrast to Japan, where Hanuman is virtually unknown in religious spaces. The divergence lies in the paths Buddhism traveled: while Japan received a version filtered through China, Thailand’s Buddhism grew alongside Hinduism, absorbing its rich iconography and intertwining the two traditions over centuries.

As I gazed at the intricate painting, a distant, whimsical memory drifted back to me. In my childhood, I happened upon a bizarre cinematic crossover: The Six Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army, a film where Hanuman shares the screen with Ultraman. To my young eyes, however, this monkey-faced deity was impossible to recognize as a hero of justice. With his feral features and otherworldly expressions, he didn't embody protection; he embodied absolute, terrifying mystery.

Decades later, standing in the quiet dignity of Wat Suthat, that childhood fear dissolved into admiration. What once seemed frightening on a cathode-ray tube now possessed a breathtaking, timeless grace, fighting his eternal battles in a sea of emerald and gold.