The Library gathers the written works of Lucas Varro — journals of the temples, meditations on myth, and volumes of shadow and silence. Here words stand beside images as offerings: essays, retellings, and field notes from Angkor and beyond.
Within these shelves you will find many rooms — journals of Angkor, mythic retellings, meditations on apsaras, and essays on the meaning of sacred stone. Wander chronologically, or enter by theme.
Library
When the Scissors Fell: The Buddha’s Renunciation in Stone
He lifts the blade, and the world holds its breath.
Stone bears witness. The past dissolves.
At Preah Khan, renunciation is not an ending,
but the soft beginning of the path to stillness.
The Silent Gate of Awakening: The Buddha’s Great Departure
A prince steps into silence beneath the hands of gods.
Stone softens. Mist lingers. The world holds its breath.
At Ta Prohm, renunciation becomes a doorway—
not of loss, but of luminous becoming.
What the Celestial Ladies Are Called
They do not ask to be named.
Carved into temple stone with smiles that cross worlds, they invite us to let go of labels—
and simply kneel
in wonder.
The Four That Opened the Gate
A prince sees age, sickness, death—and then serenity.
Stone holds what memory cannot: the hush of becoming, the moment before renunciation, the gate just beginning to open.
The Light Before the Path: Buddha’s Uncarved Beginnings
Walk the hush between stories—where lotus blooms unfurl, and the child who would awaken steps through heaven unseen. In the stillness of uncarved stone, memory glows.
The Hell Without Rest: On the Avīci Realm at Angkor Wat
Beneath the stone cries of Angkor’s gallery, the condemned fall—not into eternal fire, but into memory and reckoning. Step into the shadows of Avīci, where judgement carves silence, and even the darkest soul still waits for light.
The Goddess Who Twisted Her Hair
Beneath the carvings of Ta Prohm, a goddess wrings her hair and the world is cleansed. Follow the silence where stone remembers, and the flood of truth flows not from force, but from presence. A meditation on earth, witness, and the sacred gesture that washed death away.
The Elephant Who Bowed to Silence
In a forest temple rarely visited, a fierce elephant kneels beneath the Buddha’s hand—carved in stone and veiled by time. This luminous meditation reflects on Theravāda resilience, the Hindu Reaction, and the miracle of wrath transfigured by stillness.
The Spirit of Banteay Samre Temple
Step within the quiet walls of Banteay Samre, where time softens and the gods dwell in stillness. Not a place to marvel—but to remember, to kneel, and to be received by silence older than the stone.
The Construction of Sacredness at Angkor Wat
Step beyond stone and shadow into a place where silence was carved with devotion. A temple not only built for gods—but made sacred by centuries of offering, story, and light. Let each breath lead you deeper into the mystery of how sacredness is born.
The Vanishing Buddha: A Silence Carved in Stone
There are wounds in the stone that no rain can wash away.
Walk slowly among the vanished Buddhas—
where silence remembers what belief once tried to forget,
and the soul still bows before what is no longer seen.
The Caress Between Lifetimes
She did not smile for the sculptor alone.
In the Cruciform Galleries of Angkor Wat, two apsaras lean together in golden hush—an eternal caress remembered through stone, through time, through light. This is their story, and the silence that first called me to them.
