Time seemed to be very precious these days; I could not buy more time nor ask for extra time off from my hectic routine. So, I had to try my best in managing myself under limited time. The energy around the full moon on Chinese New Year was so disturbing and odd that I had to ask a friendly monk whether he could pick up the same vibes. As soon as I mentioned the strange vibes, the monk responded with detailed description of how he felt about the disruptive energy early in the morning. He had to go to pray in the main hall of the temple that day. I had to find somewhere with sources of holy or protective energy to get some healing and protection. So, I headed towards the old temple, Wat Boworn, to do some meditation in the main hall. But I felt there was something missing or lacking. I didn’t know that I was supposed to do next so I just walked along the quiet road to find the answer.
As I was getting really puzzled about my next move, a voice told me to go to the old shrine by the canal opposite the temple. I saw the old shrine in passing three years ago but it was closed at that time. Walking towards the canal brought back lots of memories of my Thai grandmother whose old house was about five minutes’ walk from this old canal. I could no longer recalled where her house was located, I was too young when my mother took me to visit my grandma. But I was very impressed by the teak Thai house with lots of fruit trees in the garden. Unfortunately, I was not encouraged to get close to my grandma as my mother was not on good terms with her. But I could feel that my grandma would like to get to know me. I wondered why grown-ups didn’t act like matured adults and had the courage to work out their emotional problems. I was too young to help them with their problems. My mother couldn’t have realised that her pride had not worked out in our favour. I felt that I could have gained my grandma as my close friend and got to know other relatives in her family circles. I had by chance met my distant relatives who all became wealthy millionaires several years ago. They all wanted to know about my mother and her family. But time never waited for anyone, life flew by.
Walking the old path which my grandma would have walked daily in her days made me wanted to turn the clock back and amend all the hurt and mistakes that adults often made out of pride and prejudices. But I still had the pictures of some good moments with my grandma. Her eyes told me lots of things, hidden feelings and longing to be loved by her only daughter. That’s probably why she was showing lots of attention to me as the eldest child of the family. Looking around the area, I could see changes which we could never stop. So I had to let go of what should have been and live in the present. There’s no use crying over spilt milk; life must go on!
A small bridge led me to an old Chinese shrine built by local people over a hundred years ago. The old wooden shrine has been replaced by bigger and nicer shrine built with donations from local people. The atmosphere was very quiet and houses along the canals seemed to be under sleeping spell by the black witch. These houses used to offered cheap rooms to backpackers and there were several small eateries by the canal. I saw an old Chinese vendor sleeping on the floor of a shed with his two baskets laying by his side.
I quietly took some photos while feeling sad for his way of life in his old age. He reminded me of my Chinese grandfather who migrated from China to make a better life in Siam. My Chinese relatives used to tell me about the horrendous boat journey where people had to fight for their food rations. My uncle lost one of his toe nails after he successfully scrambled for some food for his parents. Dead people were thrown over board while other passengers had to hold on to each other during storms. Many Chinese immigrants went through such horrible boat journey to Siam. They had to learn to speak Thai to get some work and to start doing business. The opportunities were limitless in those days for hard working people, several of them have become the top tycoons in Thailand nowadays.
I hesitated whether I should wake the old man up so that I could but the rest of his stuff. I had no idea what’s inside the lotus leaves but I knew he had to sell all these packets before he could go back home. He was probably given the task of hawking some snacks made by an old lady or his daughter at home. Unfortunately there weren’t many people walking around and tourism had disappeared, so it was rather distressing for poor people to making an honest living. I decided to walk back to wake him up! He was quite pleased that I offered to buy the rest of his snacks in lotus leaves. He told me it’s called ‘khao chae’ which was a kind of fermented rice with some alcohol content.
I used to taste this kind of fermented rice as a kid; I didn’t like it as I couldn’t appreciate the intoxicating effect of this rice. It reminded me of drinking warm sake later on in my life. Actually I thought it was forbidden to sell this kind of alcoholic or fermented rice! I later distributed all these packets of lotus leaves to security guards at a shopping center. People from the countryside loved this cheap stuff which could make them feel light and high. I really must try to get more accustomed to this fermented rice and learn to make rice moonshine one day, just in case a world war broke out and I needed something available locally to sooth my spirit.
As soon as I entered the shrine, I realised that I ought to have been there long time ago. The peaceful vibes and stillness there put me into a
limbo of actions. I just didn’t know where to start but when I looked up and saw the names above the shrine, I almost bursted into tears. The shrine was dedicated to King Taksin who freed the country from Burmese occupation and Phraya Pichai who was the king’s most trusted soldier. It’s the name of Phraya Pichai that triggered a sudden sense of sadness; it was as if I just went to his funeral. I knew he was well known for fighting with two swords with the Burmese soldiers till one swords was broken in halves. But he did manage to defeat the enemies and defend his border town in the north. A few days later, I found the time to do more research about his life.
The old King Taksin statue was a wooden carving made by Chinese sculptor, this was probably made in China and brought over by Chinese merchant’ ship. The Chinese artist had no idea how a Siamese king would look like that’s why the statue was looking more like a Chinese than a Thai king!
The statue of Phraya Pichai with his broken sword.
The old wooden statue of King Taksin sat in contrast to the modern Thai statue.
After the execution of King Taksin by his best friend who was the head of the army, Phraya Pichai was asked by the new king to submit under his patronage. But Phraya Pichai told the king that he could only serve one master and asked the king to have him executed so that he could follow the fate of his master King Taksin. So, he was beheaded and his body was placed under a pagoda built for his resting place by the new king. I knew, through meditation and past life knowledge, that I was a top soldier during that time, that’s probably why I was never afraid of guns and swords as a kid. I could tell whether a person I met on the train were fellow soldiers from past life. These people usually got on with me like old acquaintances and became very helpful during my journeys.
There were so many fellow warriors who died on battle fields while I could survive the bloody scenes. I always felt that I owed them great favour and I did pay respect to their spirits whenever I had the chance to visit the old battle fields. I could still feel so many spirits waiting for their time of crossing over to the other dimension or to be reincarnated. That’s why I had arranged for two big ceremonies to be performed for these spirits in temples close to old battle fields in two towns many years ago. I could remember how the old monks could feel the presence of hundreds of spirits surrounding the ceremonial ground. Local soldiers came to join the ceremony and were all affected by the strange vibes. Everyone became very quiet and solemn. I knew I still had to repay my debt in other old battle fields when fate was ready to take me there.
In the old days, white jasmine flowers and yellow jampa flowers would be made into curtains; spreading lovely fragrance inside the room. These days, people used plastic ones for decorations. But in royal ceremonies, fresh jasmines are still used for decoration.
Divination sticks or fortune telling sticks. Just make a wish or ask a question, then close your eyes and shake the red bamboo box till one stick has fallen into the ground. The number on the stick could give the answer to your question; I would look at the interpretation in the relevant numbered sheet. If it’s a positive answer, I’d keep a copy. If not, I’d ask another question and tried to be more specific!
So, entering this shrine had taken me through a portal back to one of my past life. I sat quietly and pray for those old friends and soldiers; I asked for forgiveness for not being able to protect them as they did for me in the past. All I could do was to send positive energy to support them in their dimensions. The old wooden statue of King Taksin in this shrine indicated the respect local Chinese people had for the old king. Perhaps it was partly because King Taksin was half Chinese and could speak several Chinese dialects. In the old days, Siamese Kings would also be able to speak our neighbouring languages such as Burmese and Khmer languages. I did my prayers and made peace with my inner scars from the past.
The old design of the wooden windows and doors at the shrine reminded me of how people used to live a few hundreds years ago. It always amazed me how much respect Chinese people here had for our Kings in the old days. They could probably feel the hardship and heartache of being under Burmese colonisation. People always strived for freedom to live and to make a living according to their best abilities. When they were pushed too far, some people would start the process of overturning the oppression. That’s probably why I had been warning my friends to be prepared for some upheavals before the end of this year. If some politicians were smart enough, they would know when to back off from corruption which has been eating up the country and causing much suffering to the people. But too much greed and power would make it almost impossible for anyone to let go. I just had to pray more often at temples and old shrines for divine protection and positive vibes.
There’s also a shrine for the tree spirit!
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
@dswigle