Farewell 987 Souls!

The boredom and loneliness piles on me after I am done away with my breakfast swiftly slipping into my stomach. What is my next agenda for the day is the haunting, ghostly question, which I have to find solution immediately. The self- motivation to study is already dead and gone from my mind and heart, but thinking how to kill my free time alone in the room. The immediate solution for my free time is to fly away to temple and earn some merits and dedicate to all the mankind for peace and prosperity on this earth. This motivation is generated from the deepest of my heart with zeal  and trust to Lord Buddha where no one did push me to go unwillingly. The natural willingness is always invoked in my heart and mind to visit temple for countless times.  Hanging on my small bag containing my pocket and mobile phone, I would ride on the scooter to reach me nearby the fly-over bridge. 

My eyes could capture what people are doing in the morning street life during my walk towards the temple. I can see meat, fish, chicken vendors cutting their products with loud noise to attract the customers to their shops. The street cooking business is another beautiful scene I can enjoy with varieties of foods and curry packed in the plastics. The display of fruits, clothes and books along the way is normal busy market day. The beggar with one leg is lying flat on the road holding a plate so that kind people could donate him some food and coins. Women with her small kid on her lap too sits nearby the road with plates on her hand, symbolizing begging time for meals. My eyes could scan some beautiful ladies along the street too as another amazing events to remember. 

Having entered the shop where I could buy small bottle of cooking oil for butter lamp to be offered in the temple, whereby, the shopper could immediately pick up two bottles of oil and rush off after making payment and continue next shop to buy garland and incense sticks where an old lady with Indian musics played on her tape makes me feel as if I am at Bodh Gaya street to visit Lord Buddha. With those items I moved towards the temple to make my sincere payers and lay man wishes.  It is normal thing to see my old friends in the temple and say "Swadi Khap" folding my hands as Thai culture. 

My little offerings are made to Lord Buddha and merits that I could earn is dedicated to all sentient beings without expectations in my mind. The sun oust side the temple is beating so hard on my head and hunt to shed rest. Luckily, the big temple's ground floor door is open today for some death ritual purpose. I have an golden opportunity to enter inside  and saw many name plates with photos of those death people pasted on the walls. The flowers are hung on the frame as an offer to their beloved ones who left them sadly. Gazing at different photos of old man, women, lady, men and kids send back chilling effect on my backbones. Indeed, I have no connection with these death people personally but I felt as if all are my parents and friends who are looking at me with their sad heart and gloomy eyes who need merits to pull from sinking under the mud" Hellish realms".

I was counting the numbers of name plates pasted on the temple wall and it ends with 987 after making one round. This indicates, 987 people died and were burnt in this small temple and their ashes and names are inscribed on the cement plates as the last memory of human life live in Thailand. I could see even Chinese faces among the  death people. Death indeed has occurred to all across the ages. Since the images are all mixed of old, young and pretty girls indicating death has no partiality but differ on schedules.  I realized that I was looking at the dead-end of human life where we work hard to earn money, fame, power, position, love and sex forgetting that we are here on this earth for  the great  mission to get enlightenment as human being. 

I was wandering, what did these  987 souls could have taken with them after hoarding lots of money in the banks and shares in the stock markets for whole life. Now they are gone and bidden farewell with just small name plate and garland on it. How pathetic is our human life that we all applaud as success and achievement as Scientists, Engineers, Doctors, Executives, Managers and Educationist that all goes naked from this world and wander in the intermediate state "Bardo" without direction and guidance for billions of years. Tears roll down my checks feeling very sad while I see their faces printed out just in "black and white" color only. It means, you are gone and no more human being. You, 987 have lost your brightness, life, beauty and power on this earth but back to poor state of lonely journey that you travel with terror and fears.

Nevertheless, you, 987 taught me very good lesson on the impermanence and death as truth that we all should accept with happy face. I know one day or other will follow your foot step and may not even have my own name plate inside the temple for sure I can predict my predicament. It would also serve as great teaching to other fellow beings who clings so much to their bodies and power. Just a glimpse of you 987 souls can change the mind of the deadly non-believer on Buddha Dharma could convert and follow the right path. I as lay man, would like to dedicate all my tiny merits to 987 souls and may you all attain the land of pureness and shower me with your love, compassion and blessings to achieve my dreams and wishes to spread Buddha Dharma on this earth.  May I become great human being who can dispel the sufferings of the sentient beings.

Mindu Wangdi

"Love" The Powerful Bait

The "Divine Mad Man" who is popularly known as Lam Drukpa Kuenlay in Bhutan declared the mass  crowd in Tibet during 15th Century stating that "The Karmapa has lost his mind discipline now" by falling love to a beautiful lady present during the ceremony of  empowerment seating at the highest level of throne offered by the devotees. What if such greatly revered master Karmapa (future Buddha)  even became the pray of "love" for a short while and lost his pureness  and discipline of pure monk life. The "Divine Mad Man" could read the mind or current of thoughts generated in His Holiness  Karmapa at an instant through his Yogic power and wisdom eyes. It was happily accepted by His Holiness Karmapa and requested Yogi to compose some poems on this event which came to be known as "Mani Na Chung Ma" This is just an historical depiction of love for charming ladies and its bait that every being falls into and die unwanted death. Everyone of us are swimming in the oceans of "cheating love" and end up with suffering and pain that follows like a shadow aftermath.

The whales, dolphins and fishes in the ocean has to die when a cheating colorful bait is eaten as food but got hooked and fished out by the cruel fishermen for selling their meat and skin to make more money. It is our attachment for such beautiful object like bait "love" and trusting it blindly brings us the disaster and destruction. Indeed, I am haunted by many dead lovers in my dreams with their sad stories and need solutions and help from me for it. They do visit me during my dreams and share their stories of love and sex that occurred before they get into troubled and killed each other as an end game. 

The game is not still over even they killed each other and become formless. It seems they are meet even in the intermediate (Bardo) state and continue their revenge on each other and vicious circle never ends. What a sad lesson to learn from them and made me cautious of my emotional breakdowns and risking of such events in the future. It could refresh all my past failed love affair memories during my schooling period that are not happy to recollect and rejoice and future looks so gloomy in the field of married "love and Life". Love is always accompanied by cheating and mistrust that boils us to highest level of stress and pain at heart. This "love affair" is the most complicated subject ever I dealt with for many years with little options available in it. It slowly dries up your lifeblood and everything  gets mess up after few years of relationship and living together.

One beautiful lady complaint to me that she was murdered by her boy friend in my routine dreams. She wants some help from me in this matter to end her game for bad revenge on her lover. She is still looking for ways to hurt and murder her boy friend who is alive and enjoying with other damsels. Therefore, she feel very jealous and sad even if the ex-boy friend may not see it. The jealousy in her mind and soul is burning like fire and she wants to razed her man to the ground. This very risky game of love that we human beings play and try to find some craziness in it. To support my dream as truth; one of the foreigner guys did kill Thai his girl friend by throwing her from the fifth floor balcony of V.M Mansion several year back was shared by our manager as reliable source. How sad it was to hear such story, that women ends up at hands of man in course of making money  and life from strange foreigners in Thailand. That man was hunt down by the police and sent jail for human murder case.

As a gesture of help to this dead lover girl, I visited the temple nearby to light butter lamp, incense stick and garland to Buddha and dedicate all merits to this unknown and strange women who haunts me in my dreams. It was really a magic that worked; this lady did not come to my dreams again and throw her frustration and suffering constantly. She could have already reached the land of thousand Buddhas or heavenly Gods by the power of Lord Buddha and little merit that I gave her through my simple process even my pocket is running dry every time as a student life in Thailand. This is how I have to help her and request her to forget and forgive her boy friend rather than looking for chance to revenge on him by waiting in the intermediate state.  

Through this experience, I could conclude that we human beings are "Hooked in the bait of love and sex" without any limit and which can turn into nightmarish event by murdering each other at certain point of hatred being developed. The love last for only for three days after marriage or engagement ceremony and vanes like the full moon into half and completely black night. The hatred for each other will rule on and plan for murder and separation comes like thunder dragon. Love and affairs are dangerous game that we human beings play which can turn into poison one day and it never works as we wished for but frustrates more and leads to many unwanted events of suicide and murder each other. Therefore, we should have some limit on playing such life risking game of Love and marriages  and make our life more meaningful by practicing Buddha Dharma which is the only true friend that accompanies us after we die and walks alone in the hellish realms. I would like to request  to all youths and adults not to get addicted to "Love Game". If it does not work, don't push but leave it behind and enjoy alone with the Nature!!!!

Mindu Wangdi