The Lotussing of Amanda and Rich at Angkor Wat and Other Stories

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Someone has unzipped me from the crown of my head, down between my eyebrows, down the bridge of my nariz, lips, chin, to chest. I think it was God. From my eyebrows a lotus flower has bloomed, like the image of Diego Rivera's face on Frida Kahlo's forehead. Majesty: elephants in bas-relief. We have been playing on the temples of Angkor for several days, and I think it's best if we stay here forever. I'll join an archaeological team and Rich will take the perfect photo of himself dangling from the tallest lotus tower. And we will climb - feeling the sandstone with our hands, clinging to it for strength, pulling life from inside it. We are kids again. Or maybe since we are really now adults I should say that we've fully embraced Aldous Huxley's concept of concrete materialism in being "materialistic on the wordless levels of seeing and smelling, of tensed muscles and dirty hands." ("Island," p. 151). I feel like I want to know every inch of Angkor Wat, like I used to know every blade of grass in my backyard, every crooked nail in my treehouse. J. Boisselier said of Angkor Thom: " is not an architectural miracle... It is in reality the world of the gods springing up from the heart of ancient Cambodia." (Dawn Rooney, "Angkor" p. 147). And to me these could only have been the product of divine inspiration.

We try to imagine it new: reliefs freshly painted and gilted, flowers everywhere, jasmine (girls were selling them at sunset at the entry way), women dancing over the steps, through the corridors, one chamber into the next, music echoing throughout, lanterns shining. It is easy to be there covered with jewellery, smiling, as I am right now. (I'm covered in jewellery now too, but not enough, never enough until I have as much as the apsaras born from the Churning of the Sea of Milk with the goddess Lakshmi and a three-headed elephant and a white horse, and some other good things). Which leads me to the beginning of my story. Do I always have to start at the beginning? Forget it, this is an everything is everything story, an enlightening experience, Deepak Chopra talking about "one reality," so let me get to the good stuff:

There is a little boy with a red t-shirt that occupies the library on the left side of the main approach to Angkor Wat. He makes throatal noises like bats and birds and other little creatures, and when we first heard him we weren't aware these sounds were coming from his small body. He climbs up to the ceiling, bracing himself barefooted between column and wall, so comfortable in the stone palace - bright eyes smiling. We gave him two coconut candies from the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, but I could have given him everything.

And then there are the apsaras, "celestial nymphs," dancing ladies adorned from head to toe in deep bas-relief. They dance on every surface throughout Angkor Wat - jumping out unexpectedly, smiling at you. There are over 1500 apsaras in the galleries thought to have been born from the Churning of the Sea of Milk. I can hear their ankle bracelets jingle. I have never seen relief like this - it is truly invigorating. I'm having one of my art history moments - love at first sight. Mrs. Small at Gettysburg College running across the art history lecture room transforming herself into a human flying buttress. Enlightenment: a sleeping sophmore in the second row wakes up -- someone finally caught my interest after two years. We study Egypt. Mrs. Small explains parataxis - how figures of ancient Egyptian art are drawn deliberately anatomically out of wack. No human can stand with feet to one side, pelvis forward, torso the other way, etc. Mrs. Small has us all stand up (even the sleeping lacrosse players in the back row). "See! Try to stand like the figures in the slide." We all try. We all can't do it. We get it. A deliberate visual choice to make the figures look stonger, more rooted, powerful. Almighty Egyptian. The apsaras feet do the same thing. I go into the paratactical positioning story I've just told you, articulate my best guesses for the apsaras' parataxis and am quite impressed with myself.

We dance through the bas-relief galleries hiding between columns, jumping out at one another in unexpected places. Here is Krishna, Vishnu's reincarnation. Here is the Battle of Kurukshetra from the Mahabarata. Here is an ancient Khmer battle. Here is the Churning of the Sea of Milk! Here are elephants! Elephants are very well-suited to bas-relief. They move slowly through the scene, steady, lovely serpentine trunks! We walk through reliefs in reverse order (what fun is chronology?). We jump through doorways, scale staircases, jump into windows of the Gallery of 1000 Buddhas. Then we reach the center of it all. 70 degree staircases. 40 steps each on the depth of my flip-flop. Rich has a revelation: "The apsaras' feets had to be sideways, it's the only way to walk up these stairs!" I love it when art theories disintegrate into the mist. It's so simple and so real! How else could they dance around the halls and stairs? A professor once told me, "theory can trap you." I've been trapped in theories too long. I'd forgotten how much I just love flying buttresses, and other good things like that.

We make the climb. It's not too bad until you get three-quarters of the way up. Panic flashes. My feet sweat in my flip flops. Don't give into it. Deep breath. You're almost there. I lay down on the top of the tower, cold stone supporting me. Smile. On the top there is a Buddha statue in the lotus position with a cobra arching up behind him, coiled beneath him as a seat. I lit a stick of incense and thanked my God for bringing us here. I sat on the top of the stairs in half lotus (not full, the climb's a bit treacherous, legs need a rest) looking out towards the east entrance. Total opening of heart, mind, body. Total unity. Total yoga. I smiled as Rich climbed up to join me. (Note: by the end of our time here, we were hopping up and down these stairs like monkeys, the first attempt's the tough one).

My book tells me a lot of great things including how Angkor Wat was "a replica of the universe in stone and represented an earthly model of the cosmic world. The central tower rises from the centre of the monument symbolising the mythical Mount Meru, situtated at the center of the universe. Its five towers correspond to the peaks of Meru, the outer wall of the mountain at the edge of the world; and the surrounding oceans beyond... When Angkor Wat was laid out by the Khmers originally, the distances between certain architectural elements of the temple reflected numbers which were related to Hindu mythology and cosmology. The positions of the bas-reliefs were regulated, for example, by solar movements, scenes on the east-west sides reflect those relating to the rising and setting of the sun." (Rooney, p. 130). A reflection of mythical nature. A microcosm of the world, outer walls with reliefs of epic battles, religious legends, outer layer supporting and surrounding - religion and strength of state - god and king. The parallels with pre-Columbian societies intrigues me - a comparative study for a future lifetime. Nature, religion, true beauty, all taken into consideration here in this place. Everything in their reality, everything Khmer, wrapped up in sandstone, adorned in sculpture. True understanding of their environment, true interaction. We understand the incomprehensible.

The towers are modeled after lotus buds. If you make it to the top of Angkor Wat, you may just become one. At sunset, at sunrise, the light emphasizes different aspects. Sunrise sets the lotus towers on a pink and orange background - a morning dew hugs them to the ground. Nature envelopes Angkor Wat. It cares for it and gives it life. The microcosm of the mythical universe seems in reality all that is all. Meditate to the rising sun - you will nearly fly away.

Now that I've finished my story, let me tell you some more about the middle:

Monks in orange are beautiful. They are smiling and kind, spreading color throughout the sculptural sandstone corridors. We heard "hello" echo from a quiet corner. "Will you sit down?" Sabon, short for Sabonnat meaning "golden flower." Age 20. He pulls his orange robe up over his shoulder and reveals his tattoo of a golden flower on his arm. "You know the flower you give on Valentine's Day, for the love of a woman? You see I will always be close to the love of a woman!" Huge grin, laughter spills out. When we walk away he says, "Happiness to you in the dharma, and for your baby!" Smile. He returns to a quiet corner. At sunset, on the east side of the central tower, we meet Chea. Another Theravada Buddhist monk from the Cambodia countryside, about age 20. He's lived at a monastery with 100 other monks for 6 years, but he's only just become a monk. He's studying English, so he was pleased to have the chance to chat with us. We learn he meditates for 4 to 5 hours a day, from 6 until 8 AM, and again from 4 until 6 or 7 PM. He prays for an hour in the morning and the evening. He eats rice and sometimes fish for his two meals a day: breakfast and lunch. While we're eating dinner, he's walking 1 km to his wat to worship. He tells us there are six color robes monks can wear: orange, yellow, brown, white, and he doesn't know the English words for the other two colors. As we talk a Japanese tourist comes up to us and he speaks a few words of Japanese to her, she takes his photo, and climbs on. For a minute we are back at the Kimi Ryokan in Ikebukuro. He tells us more about the structure of Angkor Wat: the first level as hell, middle level as a purgatory of sorts, waiting for judgment, and the top level, where we sit, is the symbolic heaven.

To see more and more we journey by tuk tuk onto Angkor Thom. Bayon's faces at sunset are really alive. Olmec collosal heads? Could there be a connection? When you start to see that everything really is connected, it's not that surprising -- anything could be. A purple butterfly visits me at the Royal Palace. The elephants! More at the Terrace of Elephants - they just look so good in bas-relief. I want to ride on them. They carry lotus flowers in their trunks. And then, set back in the jungle: Preah Palilay. Elephants carved in the frontons. Earth covers one side of the temple. Massive trees grown out from it. Roots twisting in and around large sandstone bricks. Which came first? The temple gave birth to a tree that's rooted itself in its walls. Did it tear the stones apart or grow in between torn apart stones, or both converged at once to send the trunk up to the sky out from the jungle? We sat. Birds singing in all octaves. Orange butterflies adorn the trees. Someone found this spot centuries ago and built this temple in the sacred spot. Whatever they felt then, we feel now, in discovering it for ourselves for the first time.

One reality. We keep climbing, keep getting dirty. Only now we've moved on to the muddy caves of Koh Lanta, Thailand.

"'Quite right,' said Dr. Robert, 'I ought to have made it clear that concrete materialism is only stuff of a fully human life. It's through awareness, that we transform it into concrete spirituality. Be fully aware of what you're doing, and work becomes the yoga of work, play becomes the yoga of play, everyday living becomes the yoga of everyday living.'" Aldous Huxley, "Island," 1962, p. 152, New York: Harper & Row.

Quotes about the Temples of Angkor taken from: "Angkor: An Introduction to the Temples," Dawn Rooney, 4th edition, Odyssey Publications, 2004. This is a great guidebook for the temples written by an art historian and widely available in Cambodia and Vietnam.

AEH

Continuing the story, the adventure, the lotussing....
Here are some of my observations from a good time spent experiencing Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom and surrounding areas. Cambodia is a precious place and we feel so fortunate to have visited even for a short time and hope to return.....

I know it's Tuesday, we have plane tickets to leave for Phuket tomorrow (Wednesday). Lost on the top of Angkor Wat temple. How did we get here? It's like we were transported, beamed up, or something out of body. It seems so right. We've always been here, it is only now that we have opened our eyes to see. To see the beauty of this world we are so lucky to be a part of, the Great Buddha, he is everywhere, we have stopped searching for him for fear of never finding him and found him, always with us. These are the things that you start to think of on top of Angkor Wat, zapped by the merciless sun, and opening yourself to the forces around you. Relax, breath, feel the breeze, cool on the back of my neck, tunneling through the sandstone halls, the breeze revitalizes you. It is our savior from the Cambodia heat, by 11:00 it is 90F, we found refuge in the cool halls of Angkor Wat. As we sit with in window and door ways of the temple resting a temple guard approaches cigarette held smoothly in his right hand and sits down across from us and asks us where we are from in a goofy sort of way. This goofiness is just a peaceful happiness so many we met had and he was just happy to talk to us. So innocent. We say America, New York City, and he starts laughing, giggling and then gets up wishes us luck and we wish him luck in return and he vanishes within the labyrinth that is Angkor Wat.

Here we are up at 5:00am this morning to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat - our tuk tuk driver, that we had prearranged the night before after dropping us off at our guest house, stood us up. No worries, however, we were excited to take the ride with him. He was out of his mind. On the short trip to our guest house last night from town we picked up a couple from Australia (very nice people), driver shouting at everyone and laughing the entire way. So, after waiting for him to no avail, we grabbed another tuk tuk and were off. Not a hard thing to grab a tuk tuk even at 5:30am. Everyone asks.. you need tuk tuk, we even had a very nice tuk tuk driver wait for us to finish dinner and try to get us to take his tuk tuk home and when we said no thank you he looked at us with wide eyes and said, "But have you seen my tuk tuk", we replied no we have not seen your tuk tuk and he motioned for us to look behind him and there it was. We must admit it was a very nice tuk tuk as far as tuk tuks go, red silk lined seats and faux flowers in a vase. We thanked him even so commenting that he did in fact have a very nice tuk tuk but we were not ready to return home just yet.

We had our tuk tuk and were off to the Angkor Wat temple to catch the sunrise. Glorious as we approach, pink in the sky, people are bustling along the west entrance walkway hurrying to find their spot for the main event. We walk through the front gate and see the three visible towers lost in a pink glow, unbelievable, so majestic, beautiful, in awe, sublime, heart melts, mind explodes, I'm focused on taking a good shot, futile, I am not able to capture what we are truly seeing/experiencing, sometimes you can, not here, impossible, too overwhelming. We walk to the right walkway away from the main entrance and the crowd. A much better spot to see all 5 towers - lotus exploding, lotussing (Amanda's word) she is practicing a sun salutation, all is silent and right, pure. We walk on around the side, north I think through this little village, and come out right in front of the temple as the day approaches, much brighter. We make our way inside, this is our second visit to Angkor Wat in the last few days so we know exactly where we want to be to finish watching the sunrise. Up high among the towers, on the third level of Angkor Wat. We make our assent, steep steep stairway to the center temple sanctuary. We sling our bags over our shoulders and climb and make our way to the east side of the temple and bam...pinks, reds, oranges, the sky is glimmering, so perfect. Amanda is perched within a stone window frame. I find a spot outside on a ledge dangling in the sky to witness the birth of the sun to the new day - it rises as we rose up the temple steps, stairway to heaven, to what is good, sacred, this special place is said to change all those who gaze upon it. It is quite an expereince to see the reliefs, touch the walls, climb the steps, and be a part of the temple. Unlike other sites in the world at Angkor you can get dirty. We climbed up and over everything and really felt connected.

I know we are forever changed, forever lost in the jungle in Cambodia to always hear the birds, insects, see the butterflies flutter through the trees, lotus flowers blooming, frogs chirping as the sun sets, the orange of the monks robes against the temple grey, smell of incense, the hot sun....trapped in our heads and our hearts for eternity - magic moment.

We sit and continue to watch the blazing sun rise knowing it's heat will be unbearable later in the day. Amanda meditates and I decide to play a little. All this climbing has turned me on, it's like these temples are ours, we can go whereever we want, climb over and on anything. I decide to crawl over and on, up and down every ledge on the east side of the temple snapping goofy images with the self timer, dashing in front of the camera just before the shutter snaps trying not to slip on the steep ledge. So much fun, so free, so open, so right.

...A bicycle passes by on the road as I write. A boy peddling as a monk sits with both legs over to one side(he's riding sidesaddle) draped in his orange robes clutching a yellow umbrella. So majestic, the colors, everywhere the temple is muted greys so every color pops, the purple of the lotus, the orange and yellow of the monks robes, the bright orange and yellow sashes that cover the statues, the incense sticks burning..so vivid. We sit and we wonder what is to come of us, let us be at peace and hold on to each other and not worry for God will take care of us. Amen.

Mystify me - beautiful Cambodia. The people are so wonderful, "good morning sir. hello madame. you buy postcard, you buy pineapple, so cold, fresh, you buy water. ok ok you buy from me later ok ok."

Angkor maintenance crew wandering around, turbans on head keeping the grounds clean. What year is this, not 2006, try 1050 or 1150, that makes more sense....Quiet, I hear the King approaching now, clear the way. I think the army is preparing for battle. all the men have their armor on and I have heard rumors in town of the Cham army approaching from the south. another battle to defend our king and our gods. music is playing. I can hear it through the stone halls, worshiping and celebrating - so alive.. these walls. Elephants surround us, 9 headed cobras protect us, beautiful women dance all around us, the gods act out their battles before us, Vishnu, Shiva everyone is here, the Ramayana acted out too - behold the majesty of Angkor Wat. All to share in the splendor of Khmer Art and Culture - "..at first you rush around to see everything until you realize you don't have to see anything."- Rich

We spent the entire day at Angkor Wat sunrise to sunset.






Right now we are in Krabi town and headed to Bangkok tomorrow and off to India on March 10. We had a magical time island hopping (it's so cool to say island hopping, and a very different kind of island hopping than hopping on the Staten Island ferry between Staten Island and Manhattan)

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Photos

Terrace of the Elephants
Surrounded by beautiful elephants at Angkor Thom

Offering
Amanda places incense at Buddha statue at west gate of Angkor Wat

Orange Ghosts
Buddhist monks leaving Angkor Wat after a long day of trying to raise money for their studies or their cause

The Keeper of Angkor Wat Library
Boy we met wandering one of the old libraries at Angkor Wat. He was playing and making bird noices to scare away unwanted guests. He was all smiles after we gave him some coconut candy.

It's a part of me
Connecting with the reliefs of the apsaras at Angkor Wat

Apsaras
Celestial nymphs born from the churning of the sea of milk

Meticulous
We witnessed some of the cleaning of the reliefs at Angkor Wat

Descending Monks
Waling down the very steep steps from the third level of Angkor Wat

Bayon
Entrance to Bayon at Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom
In the jungle at Angkor Thom

Which Came First?
Preah Palilay at Angkor Thom.

King of the Mountain
Sunrise climb to the third level of Angkor Wat

Comments

[deleted_10842]

Dad
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cousin Carol]

All is one!
As the universe revolves it becomes clear that all is one and one is all. How wonderful to have a clear vision of this surrounded by the utter universality of this place!

[fiore72]

...
amazing!!!

[Kevin P]

Once again, you dazzle me with your stories of spiritual transcendence. You two are giants! I miss you both!

[channy]

i'm really amazed with ur trip to cambodia...you make me want to take a trip there right now...

[Doug-In-Law]

Unplugged In Cambodia!!
What an experience!! Great job with the blog.....wonderful. "A moments insight is sometimes worth a life's experience." --Olvier Wendell Holmes