In a world filled with chaos, evil, and misdirection it’s easy for a person to lose their moral fiber, forgetting their inner voice. With a society all wearing masks, to keep themselves incognito on the outside, it’s hard to know how you fit into the whole scheme of things. In order to find ones inner peace sometimes they have to have an out of body experience to put things into their own perspective. :
I came to this realization one day while watching some robins play around my bronze statue bird bath of Buddha, located in the middle of my strawberry and lima bean garden. I stood on my back porch for the longest unknown time as the tiny birds tossed water on their back and picked at each other’s feathers. A cool breeze blew by casting the smells of roasted barley and the songs of a wind chime danced in the distance. Before I could realize what was going on the world started to melt around me. I soon found myself flying over the highly elevated mountain tops of Tibet, in an EC-120 picture aircraft, with a mission outside the grasp of my conscious mind.
A RAH-66 Comanche Attack helicopter would have been my helicopter of choice, but I had no choice in this matter. Although the EC-120 doesn't have any of the brute style and raw fire power of the Comanche, the Ec-120 has a sleek design and elegance made to handle the objective at hand. Plus, the last thing I need is to frighten the peaceful Buddhist monks of Tibet and have them unleash their cosmic karmic juju upon me while flying 14,000 feet in the air. The purpose of this trip is to have a transcendental conversation, on the existential mind, with the Dali Lama while we sip on butter tea and chew down on smoked yak meat.
I know Tibet is filled with a rich history and oppressed culture, but at my first sight it just seems run down and impoverished, with clay huts falling apart at the foundations and streets filled with vagabonds and derelicts. Beyond Tibet's rough exterior there is a peaceful enriched culture mixed with Chinese and Indian influences. You can see these influences in Tibet's rigid architecture and vibrant art along within their diet of curry's, stir fries, and flat breads.
As I walked through the market place the potent smell of fresh killed animals and half rotted produced permeated the air along with smells of incense and spices. It was intoxicating. I didn’t know where to begin to start my journey. I was lost in a world unknown to me. I turned into an alley way to collect my thoughts when I was bombarded by a vile stench. I looked up to notice a dirty old man putting out his hand begging for money. I reached into the pocket of my silk kimono and pulled out a small bronze statue of Buddha, resembling my birdbath at home. Before I could react the crusty old man swiped the Buddha from out of my hands and ran off historically. I would have just gave him the Buddha, but now I felt violated. I chased after him following the dust cloud he kicked up from behind him.
I couldn’t keep up and had to stop and catch my breath. I leaned against a rock hunched over trying to get fresh oxygen in my now burning lungs. When I caught my breath I realized I was standing in front of a lavishly styled temple covered in gold and silver with giant statues of Buddha lining the gardens and brightly colored tapestries blowing in the wind. The smell of incenses infused around me. I continued to follow the road I was on entering into the temple.
As I walked down the halls monks dressed in deep red and mustard yellow robes walk about the temple, chanting in guttural tones and waning pitches. A few other monks worked in silence stooped over on the cold floor patiently placing millions of grains of colored sand into specific positions, depicting religious figures and designs showing the gates of the universe and how they are all connected.
I continued up the main hallway and came to a set of giant gold doors engraved with elaborate passages of a history far beyond my understanding. I took my fingertips and traced over the etchings when the doors started to open. Setting on a plush pillow was the beggar in the alley, but now he was dressed in an amber robe holding jeweled beads in one hand and the small bronze Buddha in the other. Before I could utter a word he asked if I was hungry and offered up a dinner. My stomach not noticing the lack of any breakfast or lunch started to grumble with pain, and I happily accepted his proposal of staying for dinner.
During dinner we sat on the large plush pillow as monks brought us sweet warm butter tea and smoked yak meat. I had so many questions to ask but didn’t know where to start. He laughed and started to tell me how he hates eating meat and wouldn’t if it wasn’t for his body having jaundice. We both broke out in laughter on the irony of a vegetarian having to eat meat to survive. We continued on like this for hours until it was deemed I had to leave because my time was up.
As I leave, in my EC-120 picture aircraft, silk kimono flapping in the wind with Buddha in hand, I gain a sense of deep inner peace and understanding of the human soul. While taking off over the mountain tops a giant cloud of vibrant colored and engulf the aircraft and I can hear a spiritual opus carried in the wind. The world blurred around me and the last thing I could remember hearing was the mendicants voice whispering, “All major religious traditions carry basically the same message that is love, compassion, and forgiveness are important things that should be part of our daily lives.” My vision clears and the music softens, and I truly realized another dimension of human existence. I then find myself standing back amongst my lama beans and strawberries humbled and enlightened, watching robins play in my birdbath, listening to the sounds of the wind chime off in the distance.
Another funny thing about this dream was when I tried to remember everyone's face when I was awake I couldn't draw them out. It was like when I was asleep they were as clear as day. I could feel who they were and are, but when I was awake they seemed to drift off and blur. I still had a feeling of who they were but their physical form was out of my comprehension.
Buddha has been quoted to say “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present.” In some aspects these may seem like a petty saying, but in others they can be very powerful words. Life does have a balance to it within a certain space and time and you have to take the good with the bad. Instead of getting frustrated, mad, or sad when life throws you a wacky screwball, take a step back and focus on the present and you might see how extra ordinary or extraordinary life can be. That is when life’s complex puzzle will solve itself.
P.S. Sorry but another awkward thing I remember about this dream is that the person I was talking to in the temple kept changing form during our dinner, and his voice would slightly change during conversations. Plus his stories didn't quite fit together chronologically, but that understandable in dreams TIME is irrelevant. Whom ever he was he got his point across.
P.S.S. I've also had a few more dreams inside that Lima Bean and Strawberry Garden.
