Land of Dhamma ...

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I can not say enough that the 7 days i spend at the convent/mediation retreat were one of the most amazing times in mi life ... i think with my 6 day experience with elephants the end of my trip was definitly in my top three of my journey ... had woken up at 5am to catch the train at 5'50am however there was an immediate delay of 35 minutes so by the time i arrived at the trainstation where i was suppost to get off everyone at the retreat was in the middle of their 'chores' ... as i walked in i sneaked in a few pictures, however i soon was found out and later on i realize why it's forbidden to take pictures and'/or write about the place in detail ... i't just too special to have it be inundated with people who don't belong there as you really only arrive when you are suppose to be there ... anyway i walked across the bridge and immediately felt this is where i'm gonna be reborn (a proces of rebirth which i had started last year and wanted to complete with this journey ... ) i sat down on a stone and waited and waited ... no clue where to go ... long story short ... first i wasn't allowed, however i looked so sad when i tried to explain it didn't matter no one spoke english that the communication was about mi and the cosmos that i was allowed to stay



i spend 5 glorious days and then a 1.5 break and then another 2 glorious days ... i promised to keep my experiences to myself and only write them down for the record for them, as m apparently the first foreigner (a few have passed through) who stayed longer than 3 days (usually the max most people stay) ...



out of respect of everyone and their wished to keep the place protected as obviously one word and or picture can be construed wrong and will give a total wrong meaning to the place ... moments in time i wrote up with my little verses ... here a few

in the temple i fell asleep

and my spirit seemed to leap

into a space of peace

which put my whole being at ease

a moment in time to

sunrise full of expectations ...

treasure and keep

MOMENT IN TIME:

the day i arrived i joined a little group of women to hike up the mountain to the temple which could be reached by a staircase of over 1.300 steps ... a temple build only by women and carried up stone by stone ... it was a few levels high and in the middle level marble benches were woven around the top of the mountain's limestone ... i was so tired and so filled with emotions i lied down in a little limestone alcove, my body on the cool marble, my hands against the limestone and fell asleep ... i know for a fact it was at least once cycle of sleep (90 minutes) however i have a feeling it were two cycles as we went up around 11am and when we came down the mountain it was almost 4'30pm





so here is see two young monks with a cart of splashing fish

and i wonder that this can't be for a vegetarian dish

no the answer without question says it's giving life back to life

so that nature in itself can thrive

for some normal, for others foolish

MOMENT IN TIME:

as i was doing one of mi chores ... sweeping up the leaves at the beginning of the bridge i noticed two yyoung monks (not sure however think there are a few on-site monks and like many women some men come to this place to meditate ... ) they were pushed a HUGE wheelbarrow with alive fish ... i nonchanlantly sweeped my over to them and noticed dozens of fish ... they had been brought / given from the market and now thrown back in the river kwai ... sort of as an offering life for life ... just luv the idea ...



a whole commotion around a tree

nuns, monks and workmen tried to see

the cobra snake curled around a branch

and of course this couldn't be in this mediation ranch

it was caught, driven away and somewhere else set free

MOMENT IN TIME

this kind of speaks for itself ... nuns, monks aurrounding birmese workmen with a huge pole sticking the branches of a tree ... the poor snake it moved from one branch into another and passed 3 adjoining trees like that ... sometimes it would almost fall out and everyone would scatter with screams of excitement ... finally the frightened reptile (it could not be in any other state, being surrounded by all these people) fell out of the tree and i gasped as well ... i think it was at least 3x as long as mi and then realizing a few hours before i walked underneath the tree in the middle of the night ... anyway the workmen managed to get a rope (with lasso) around its neck and it was put in a bag, loaded on the pick up truck and driven off the property ... to be let out free somewhere else in the jungle






When we were in morning prayer

a little squarrel managed to dare

to slip down at the breakfast feast

which buddha food was human and not a beast

we all smile at each other and no one seemed to care


MOMENT IN TIME:

and here we were all on our knees, me being completely lost where we were in the chanting, switching uncomfortably from one side of mi tush to the other, carefully covering my bare skin and feet and here i see a little squarrel joyfully hopping its way down to the breakfast table ... first over the canapees, then down the pole and sometimes you would see it on a dish to disappear again in the 3-table long buffet, to appear again on another spot of the table ... and as we were chanting it got hold of it looked like a piece of babycorn it found its way up again and away to a nice breakfast ... it was deliriously nice to see us all approve with just smiling at each other (after all we were still in the middle of chanting of the morning prayers ... another just luved it moment

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