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China Excursion 2010 Epilogue - Memories & Reflections
Last update: 11 November 2010 11:52AM (GMT+08:00)
Reported by Sherwin Ng.
'Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now...'
Airplanes and Shooting Stars
In this lifetime of mine, I have seen three times a shooting star. These things take you by surprise - you don't plan it - so you blurt instinctively the first thing that comes to your mind. And so three times I had asked for the same thing (silly me!) - Please let me learn great things from great teachers...
This year's China/Tibet Excursion would have to be another one of those great moments for me.
I saw how temples, religious buildings, play a role in people's lives and brought people together. Some temples have 'divine-intervention-on-sale'. Some temples operate on fear. Others, on hope (wish-machines?). Very rarely, you find one that calms the hell out of you (pun intended) and you know instinctively that this experience will change you forever. And the best thing about all this is that the Feng Shui land formations can tell you which is which - the commercial from the spiritual - and from the political.
No cheating as far as real Feng Shui can tell.
For example, at Green Dragon Mountain, you will feel like you are stepping into the very palm of Buddha himself. Each careful step (careful - for you are not used to this feeling) brings you closer to marvelous wonder, until you reach the 'release of vein' and see why the main shrine was built INTO it. Standing in this little cave, you feel the Buddha-hand enclose around you gently. But there is no mistaking that power. The classics clearly stated that if you see so-and-so features (Fairy Bridges, Praying Palms, Fire Stars) in the surroundings then you have found yourself an emperor-making Feng Shui spot - or direct broadband access to the Buddha-realms.
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Namucuo Lake, the last day in Tibet, is a vivid image that has burned its way into my mind's eye forever. The impressive size of that body of water in the middle of nowhere, its caressing waves, and being surrounded by snow-capped mountains - and at one point, the sun shining gold upon and across it - beckons one to forget the lack of oxygen, to forget all petty matters, and to forget all so-called enemies.
They told me that in Tibet, walk slowly. Talk slowly. Do not anger. Do not rush. Trust me, it worked. Feels good being forced by the lack of oxygen to move as if underwater. But hence, you think clearer, see clearer, and feel clearer. You remember things that you have forgotten when you were moving too fast.
To think that such 'power spots' are readily created by nature and the universe is simply a mind-blowing realization. What better way to learn Feng Shui that actually BEING there - seeing is believing at this point. Total immersion, as Joey put it. Even if your eyes and theoretical knowledge fail you, every cell in your body has memorized the feeling of being in a certain location. How wrong can you go here henceforth?
If you have heard me say this before, I will say it again: Feng Shui is somewhat like an acquired taste, not something you actually calculate. Now you know what I mean?
Hear Ye All Friends
I had a memorable - though fleeting - moment with each student, whether during the day on-site, or in the evenings during dinner, and sometimes in the morning between breakfast and boarding the bus. If the places did not change you, these people will. They carry with them a fragment of their birthplace and life experience, all precariously wrapped into their open hearts with careful hands, brought to this journey by uncertain feet.
Every word exchanged is an energy impulse transmitted, unregistered it may be to the logical mind, but like I've said, the cellular memory retains such experiences. So at the end of the journey, you carry home with you bits and pieces of one another, not so much by choice, but some sort of crossing of paths - affinity, if you like.
So I must say that, on some days, on many occasions, I had the chance of becoming your student for a moment. Thank you for your kind teachings. At least one shooting star did not die in vain...
Assuming that every person you meet is meant to teach you something, then every word exchanged and laughter shared (tears, there were too), is a growing moment for you and me both. We just might not know it yet. I've realized early in my life never to underestimate every encounter, be it with one stranger with unwashed hair amongst hundreds of unknown faces in an unfamiliar territory, beneath a host of prayer flags, vibrant-multicolored tapestry, golden temple rooftops and stone-white stupas - all quietly framed between ranges of Fire-form mountains and one very, very big blue sky.
That's Tibet for you. The Kingfisher will see you all in Bali very soon!
Reported by Sherwin Ng.
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