Kate Moss: Celebrity Buddhist

By Dharmachari Seven

"Everything is uncertain. Don't cling to anything" -- famous words of a Thai meditation teacher.

In 2006, Fametastic speculated about the waifish supermodel's relationship (Kate Moss is back together with Pete Doherty) and her possible motives: "She's hoping that getting her [rockstar] boyfriend off drugs will improve her karma rating."

Apparently the woman voted voted best dressed in the world has been drawn to Buddhist philosophy and its teachings since she was photographed ingesting cocaine -- which might explain her figure -- the year before.

According to Grazia Magazine: “Kate feels Buddhism will get her through the dark times.”

“She’s been reading up about karma and is fascinated by the idea that your behavior comes back on you.”

“She’s thinking about doing charity work to get good karma in her life.”

The Dharma seems to have helped because the following year Kate Moss, who once dated Johnny Depp, and Pete Doherty were unofficially married in a Buddhist ceremony while on vacation in Thailand, although her rep issued a statement denying it, saying:

"Contrary to various entirely false media reports today, there has not been any kind of marriage ceremony in Thailand. She is on holiday." Photographs of the ceremony say otherwise.

The Sun reports a Thai priest announced them man and wife as water was sprinkled over their heads and friends cheered, even though the marriage is not legally binding. The real wedding is set for later with friends saying they've been asked to keep the date free but haven't been told why.

According to the BBC, the ceremony did take place: Wedding services including Buddhist prayers, the pouring of blessed water, and entwining of flower garlands are popular among visitors to the Thai island.

But as such ceremonies are not legally binding, British nationals must still undertake a civil service in the UK. Despite the marriage denial, bookmakers who took bets on the couple getting married this year have said the duo are "living on borrowed time."

David Williams, of Ladbrokes, said the bookmaker has closed its book on the pair tying the knot. But he added that the firm is offering odds of 4/1 that the couple will divorce before 2008. [Doherty's out, and Kate's now engaged to Jamie Hince.]

Moss and Doherty's rocky relationship has been staple fodder for the tabloids since they met in 2005. The ex-Libertines singer Doherty was serving a two-year supervision order for drug offences. And Moss's modelling career was flourishing despite being photographed allegedly using cocaine in a music studio.

EnjoyFashion explained her enduring fame in this way: Kate Moss became one of the most popular models of the 1990s, appearing in hundreds of magazine spreads and in popular advertisements... But she also gained a reputation for a stormy personal life, culminating in rehab in 1998 and then a further brouhaha in 2005 when a British tabloid printed pictures of her sniffing cocaine.

Kate's a mother (with Jefferson Hack) who during her pregnancy posed nude for Sigmund Freud's 81-year-old grandson (Lucien). He created a near life-size portrait called "Naked Portrait 2002," which went on to sell for $6.5 million at Christie's auction house.

So is Moss really a Buddhist and what kind? According to Female First Magazine, Grazia Magazine, and interviews, yes! WQ is willing to go out on a limb by speculating that she prefers the Thai form of Theravada Buddhism, whose doctrine adheres as closely as it can to the original words of the Buddha.

Thailand is famous for the generosity (dana) of its people and the insight (vipassana) of its forest tradition monks. And Ajahn Chah, the country's most renowned monk, was famous for saying exactly the sort of thing a supermodel would want to hear:

"People who suffer will accordingly gain wisdom. If we don't suffer, we don't contemplate. If we don't contemplate, no wisdom is born. Without wisdom, we don't know. Not knowing, we can't get free of suffering -- that's just the way it is. Therefore, we must train and endure in our practice. When we then reflect on the world, we won't be afraid like before. It isn't that the Buddha was enlightened outside of the world, but within the world itself."

"If your mind is happy then you are happy anywhere you go. When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look. Truth's all there is. It's like when you've learned how to read -- you can then read anywhere you go."

"Everything is uncertain. Don't cling to anything."