Sunday, February 1, 2015

Borobodour Tour, Indonesia (Dec 2014)


Indonesia was once a Hindu country which later became a Buddhist country. And today, it has become a Muslim country. The ancient Central Javanese embraced three religions as one; there are historical artefacts that showed them practising meditation in the past. Today, the people on the streets and shopping malls of Central Java are friendly people who obviously look happy and very approachable, whose state of minds resemble those of a true spiritual practitioner. There are some practitioners who think highly of themselves but end up falling into the Demi-gods Realm (Asura) and there are more practitioners who end up in the Hell Realm, let alone the commoners who are non-practitioners.   
Our local tour guide looked very young and pretty, with no wrinkles on her face, although she was already 70 year-old. That was reflective of her good state of mind – she aged so gracefully. Her state of mind was reflected on her face. On our way to the Mt. Merapi volcano, she requested me to sing some spiritual verses of supplication because she saw many of us falling asleep in the coach. So, I started singing my heart mantra and the mantra of Vajra Kilaya. She was very happy and filled with spiritual joy when she heard the singing of the mantras.
When we did our prayer at Borobodour, Shao had a vision of the appearance of Indra and Ganesh, among others. We have a spiritual connection with these deities and that was the reason why we need to make this trip to Borobodour.
In the spiritual realm, the late King of Jogjakarta was less important than the late King of Solo because the latter was a national hero of Indonesia, respected by the peoples and the spiritual beings. At the Solo Palace, I twisted my angle slightly and then my head knocked against a tree. A flower fell from the tree and landed on my head. Someone wanted to remove the flower from my head but I told him not to do so. However, later Mayumla came along and just took the flower off my head as she did not hear my instruction earlier.
Shao had a vision of the royal guards in the spiritual realm welcoming our arrival. They pushed me a little, showing their gesture of appreciation, thanking me for blessing this place. The spiritual guards presented a flower as an offering, adorning my hair. That was the reason behind the physical appearance of the flower and my unusual physical movements.
After leaving the palace, we came to an antique shop. There were a few pieces of ring in the shop but none of our members took interest in them. When I picked up one of them, I knew instantaneously that this was a very special ring – one being offered by the heavenly realm. I blessed the ring and put it on my finger. The original colour of the stone turned from white to purple, after I wore it for a while. When we stepped out of the shop and stood under the sun, there were rainbow colours reflected around the edge of the stone. Later, when we boarded our coach, a rainbow halo appeared circling the sun. There were three layers of rainbow this time! Our tour leader, Christie, wished for the appearance of rainbow during this tour as she heard so much about X-Tours in the past that rainbows appeared each time during the trip. She ended up seeing three rainbows this time and she felt very thankful.
At night, I used this ring to do a special Celestial Eye Empowerment for the group during our group prayer. “Buddha Eye” actually appeared right within the ring (stone) in the form of rainbow light. I called it “Celestial Eye” for those who have not developed Celestial Eye yet at this stage. Everyone will start from Celestial Eye Empowerment. For those who have already developed Celestial Eye, this empowerment served as Buddha Eye Empowerment instead. It can be used for either Celestial Eye or Buddha Eye Empowerment – it is very special and has inconceivable power!
Chan asked me why did the heavenly beings offer me their Jewel Crown of Heaven (the ring)? Actually, Grand Master mentioned in the past that King Brahma, King Indra, Jade Emperor and God were the manifestations of the same being no different from a highly enlightened Bodhisattva of the Profound Ground.  They offered their most precious jewel to me upon our arrival. However, because of their act of offering, they will get something even better in return. They will not end up poorer because of offering. Actually, those who joined the tour were brought into the heavenly realm and obtained lots of jewels. Did Shao have any vision? (Shao replied, “During the empowerment, when I shut my eyes as instructed by Buddha Master, Acho Rinpoche, I saw something like an eye which was brown in colour. There was a black pupil right in the centre and it entered my eyes. It was a very wonderful sensation! Later, I saw light! Any my vision became clearer than ever.”)
After seeing this ring, it will make your visualization easier in future because of its vivid colour and clarity. You can visualise based on what you saw and even visualize your own transformation into the rainbow light. It has a very great blessing power. When you enter the state of samdadhi, you can visualize it and see the light – inconceivable rainbow light. That’s its power!

Ganesh asked me why one of the members who ought to turn up for the tour but did not do so? Our X-Tour is just inconceivable and it is hard to come by, for the merits accumulated by one who joined the tour is simply inconceivable. Every X-tour is the same. When the conditions are right, those who can afford it should not miss the X-Tour in future.
Our visit to a village completely destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Merapi reminded me about the impermanence of life. It makes you realize that regardless of our efforts – from childhood to adulthood, education, growing up, career, family etc., they will vanish completely upon the eruption of a volcano. The whole village was completely destroyed by the volcano eruption. The power of karma is indeed inconceivable. We are absolutely insignificant in the face of karma. You might think that you have tried your best to work hard, study, build a family etc., but you will lose all things in life in no time when the power of your karma ripens. All efforts could turn into emptiness in no time! We witnessed the reality of impermanence when we saw the village destroyed by the eruption of volcano. You should strive to develop a profound sense of impermanence, as that is the key success factor for your spiritual practice. If you are still trapped by your worldly concerns, you will never be able to rise above samsara (cyclic existence of birth and death). Please practise with vigour. I would also like to thank all members who joined us for this tour and Chan who fell very sick during this trip for the later part of the tour.
Thank you.