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Published: January 22nd 2011
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If you don't feel you have one inside of yourself, or rarely venture there, monasteries and, the true temple of God, nature, these serve to lead us to the eye within ourselves, that is ever present amidst the storm that is the human mind as it is connected to the flurrying world.
After many months in the storm of Shanghai, which at times I did and at times could not ride, I finally had a time to vacate, not only my body but my mind, from that cancerous city.
I was so intent on getting to the metropolis of Hong Kong only to plunge into its national parks, its hills that rise o'er the ocean about, into relatively pristine oceanated skies. But on the crowded, stinky, 2nd class train down, my foot got nailed by some kind of infection. Strange. I could barely walk on it as a cut I had there was throbbing with intense pain whenever I put weight on it.
It was a very ginger walk through customs, across the border, onto the train and into Kowloon, imagine slow motion. A week later, I arrived in the city. No, it only took a few hours.
I found my room in the little India of Hong Kong, Chongqing Mansions. I decided then that I think I'm done riding on 20 hour train rides without a sleeper berth. I'm so ashamed of my softness. 😊
I did some energy healing on my foot, and could feel a stream of energy flowing from the wound...or was it from my finger to the wound? Regardless, that attention and intention worked, as did the nutrients and water I drank, as well as ice. The next day I was set.
I took the ferry across the strait...no matter how many times I am in Hong Kong I never tire of the Star Ferry. And I never stop wishing that I was with someone I love, besides Jesus (no offense Jesus).
I headed across the bay to the big island and started my climb. All day through the natural landscape...ahhh. Back again. How could I be so deprived of the natural world in Shanghai! How could I let myself avoid a train ride to the neighboring garden city of Hangzhou. Influenced by the collective mind trends, as we often or almost always are. Ah but in nature, now I
can connect with the patient, grace-filled, wisdom saturated mind that fills the cosmos, the finer collective energy present beneath our busy city minds, which in nature one can sense, if you haven't gone numb.
But it was a pain in the ass. I went to the summit and stupidly camped there, amidst unending wind roaring. The good part was that I finished the astounding book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Read it if you want to understand the frame of thinking that we use as a result of western history and science. And to remember the essential thing: Quality. Brilliant author.
I didn't sleep and awoke grumpily (see photo). I decided to keep plunging on. So down the mountain to the little valley between the two breast like, enormous though they be, mountains that occupy the island. Down I went and up the other side. I wasn't quite loopy but was loosing water fast.
But I made it to the top and down again, and then...back to the temple.
No need to learn more about Buddhism, to study anything, any information. The whole purpose of the time there was to let go of the
tendency to get involved in information, to dwell on thought, to dwell in thought. To simply be, to be present as my being, as my self, with the other beautiful selves that surrounded me, to be present enough to hear the gong that when struck every minute penetrated the tree filled silence that pervaded the temple area. I wasn't going to think about how it is a superstition that they believe that the gongs help to save hungry ghosts from the hells and send them positive karmic energy, and that inspite of this superstition their intentions are beautiful....no. No analyzation of religion, of what is true and not, intellectually, linguistically. That has its place, but I've done enough for now. It is time to be with the truth, with the reality of the present moment and whatever it brings, those vibrations of life of the universe, of the souls of eachother, of the divine nature within all and the joy it emanates, without getting involved in the words we use to talk about this reality. Just to hear that gong whenever it rings out, and the bountiful and beautiful silence between.
They are so celibate in that temple, really.
Almost there..
Where mountains meet the sea The more I travel, and the more I travel to distinct places, the more keenly aware of the collective mind of a particular place and its unique tendencies I become. You might want to read that one again. But man are they celibate. I sat there astonished at the asexuality of the nuns. I tried to imagine what their pretty faces would appear like if framed with long, beautified hair. Hard to imagine. They are so non-sexual, you can't even be sexually attracted to them, which is fine by me. Mindless sexuality is one of the main driving forces of the storm, and a cause of broken families. I didn't go to the temple to hit on nuns. Though they are impressed with my Chinese.
But it felt like the moment that I left the temple and came into the city I could sense just how prominent the sexual energy, tendencies and thoughts were. Those impulses reign unchecked usually. Wow. And its a fact. Whereas in the mountains the only ones having sex are, I don't know, some birds, of course in the city its going on all over the place...lots of prostitution in HK too.
So I
was back, but not after the silence and purity of mind was uncovered within more fully once again. And I took that right back with me to Shanghai for my last 3 weeks there...and of course it was tough to maintain....
It sounds a more epic journey than it was though...listen and imagine an excited Australian or British accent.
So, I took a train south surrounded by Chinese villagers and factory workers, for 20 hours, through the night, across the country side of China and after I arrived in the port town of Hong Kong, I magically healed my foot. The next day, I took a ferry to the great island of Lantau, whose breast like mounds rise into the mists. While there, went over these two voluptuous mountains. On the way, I came across a poisonous cobra. I managed to grab by his spade and screamed gently in his ear "You're gonna be my dinner!" before I skewered it and had a mighty feast (that last part is added for dramatization..the whole snake bit) Then, after the mystical journey over the island mountains, finally, rest and silence in the Zen temple for a week. I guess that
is just the life I live when I'm not trapped in a city and the lifestyle it imposes.
I stayed there in Shanghai, working and what not and then went to ....TAIWAN!!! I had always wanted to go there, and always felt drawn there. I knew that this trip I would visit, and it finally manifested...till next time...
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anonymous
non-member comment
G, Great story and adventure. You had me with the Cobra part. funny! You should go hang with Dave E. in Burma. You're ready for that. Love, Dad