From the beach walk side of the Hyatt Regency Resort beyond the beautiful pools and water slides, are a network of streams, waterfalls, ponds, grottos, gazebos and a long bouncy rope bridge are lagoons and creeks that meander around and through a Japanese garden replete with lanterns and statuary, while ducks, white and black swans, doves, red-crested cardinals, African golden crowned cranes, and other exotic creatures walk the grounds.
One of my favorite things to do during our annual vacations in Maui is to mindfully explore the elaborate museum—quality Asian art and sculpture collection that is tastefully displayed in the inside corridors and amidst the lush manicured Japanese gardens of the Hyatt Regency Resort. The sculpture that first gets my attention is the white marble standing Buddha on the far left side of the front entrance whose hand gestures called (mudras) symbolize fearlessness. Many of the sculptures—are from the Thai and Chinese Buddhist tradition. The simple message of inner peace that the artwork inspires, is responsible for the appeal of Buddhist art among people around the world. In the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., the time of the great thinkers such as Plato and Socrates in Greece, Lao-Tzu, and Confucius in China, India had its own great philosopher, thinker, and inspirational teacher: called the Buddha (The Awaken One), who achieved enlightenment while meditating under a banyan tree.