Looking for Nirvana. Part 1

Kids,

In the fall of 2011 one rainy Saturday evening me and Angeliki, intern from Greece, decided to visit a Buddhist temple in Malang. Just so you know, Buddhism is nowhere near the leading religions in Indonesia (1% of people, still gives you roughly 2 million).This story will involve looking for enlightenment, being in the right place at the right time and meeting many strangers which at least for a second had impacts on our lives.

Thus after work (yes, we work on Saturdays) we got into a public transport carrier (it is NOT to be called a bus) which looks something like that:

And yes, they do drive with open doors. If you fall out, it’s your own fault. Just be sure to pay before you do.

Usually these “carriers” are not so empty and you have trouble squeezing your buttocks somewhere between screaming kids and Muslim women too lazy to motorbike and too poor to take a taxi. And it’s never boring in public transport. You can, e.g. play a staring contest with kids (usually kids win) or talk with strangers on the carrier. They aaaalways talk, trust me. That particular night I had the luck to sit between two babies one of which was kicking my leg and the other was pinching my arm. Ahh, that damn romantic and cheaper than nothing (0,2 euro) public transport…

After getting out, we were greeted by the amazing view of the temple at that stormy night:

And also by some Buddhist nuns which are somehow really adept at noticing bule’s (white men in bahasa Indonesia). Common, we’re not THAT different..are we??? They started talking to us and asked if we wanted to see their “headmaster” (I have no clue how the highest Buddhist monk in rank should be called..). So here he is:

 A happy old man. Free of all the physical desires. Or so he should be.

After a short small-talk with the chief monk (later I heard he’s the chief of the chiefs, has the highest rank in all Indonesia or something) we met a nun called Mutia. I’d like to elaborate more on her since she’s definitely an outstanding personality you don’t meet on every corner. To begin with, she was Hindus, then converted to Christianity and then chose the path of a Buddhist monk. On top of that, she studied medicine. An extremely smart and helpful woman who finally found her path.

Here she is, lighting the incense:

She offered us an hour’s worth of Buddhism wisdom and generosity as well as invitation to stay at monastery overnight. Unfortunately we couldn’t benefit from this offer because of host families which patiently wait for their kids to come back home before the curfew. Still, we found out more about Buddhism that we ever would from books.

The guy standing with hands put for prayer besides Budha (cf.picture above) is supposed to be both holy and to have superpowers. If you’re holy, you don’t necessarily have superpowers or the other way around. The guy was a lucky one apparently. Or so I thought until I found out what his superpower was. And it was to transform into a dragon! (naah, please, I wouldn’t take this superpower even if someone offered..) But this superpower was beneficial for him and Budha as, while in dragon form, the guy defeated the other dragon which was plaguing the village.

 BUT apparently there are some monks which have cooler and more useful in everyday life superpowers, e.g., mind reading. Mutia assured us that she has experienced that superpower herself as there are a few monks in the monastery who can do that. She asked us half jokingly if we would like to meet them. Would we? I wasn’t so sure. But damn.. mind reading superpower. Kinda tempting to convert to Buddhism, isn’t it? 

The monastery keeps the cremated remnants of Buddha’s body under the glass: 

The unenlightened skeptic within me was wondering how many more Buddhist monasteries in the world pride themselves in having remnants of Buddha’s body. Doubts aside, the room itself had an amazing atmosphere of calm and serenity. Mutia lighted three sticks of incense which symbolized Buddha, his teachings and the holy path of brotherhood (being a monk or a nun).

Then Mutia told us about the meditation, that monks have to partake in.

WARNING. The picture below depicts atrocities and gore.

Ok ok I know, it is not that bad. Not when you look at it. But imagine that you would have to sit a long period of time, clear your mind of everything around you and contemplate the death and decay of your body for hours. How you die, how your body starts to collect gas, how you rot and decay, how your rotting body attracts animals, the animals and weather contribute more to the decay until there’s nothing more left than a few white bones glinting in the sun… I feel bad only writing about it, and thinking for hours???? The purpose of it is to realize the temporality of your physical body and gradually become free of it, not to be reborn anymore and be able to reach enlightenment.

Since that night we couldn’t stay long, Mutia offered us to come early Sunday morning to witness a ceremony of ordination of 11 new monks novices that happen only once a year.

To be continued….