Halloween dream

This morning I dreamed I went shopping for a Halloween costume. I dreamed I was with my brother, picking out an outfit for the event. Just like it can be in dreams, what I wanted was right in front of me, so effortless and perfect, no long lines, wrong sizes, out of stock problems, etc.... I put it on and happily walked out with it.

When I woke up, I realized it must be the 31st, Halloween, one of my favorite days second to Christmas.

Medicine For Others

I made it back to the monastery last night at 7:30pm. The front doors were locked and I went through the back. It took awhile to pick up my bags because the bag check was locked too. The clerk did not enjoy being pulled away from his TV during his off hours to let me in to pick up my bags even though it only took two minutes. Everything was locked and no one was around to answer questions on housing for the night for me. I heard sounds of the evening ceremony and parked myself on a bench hoping to catch someone who can help me on their way out at the end. I saw monks sitting on chairs facing each other across a rectangular table. There were lay people kneeling during the ceremony. I waited and also kept my eye out for passersby.

Then I saw two people who I mistaken as ones I met earlier in the morning and inquired about getting a room. They had me go to the second floor where the even reception was. The reception was unwilling to let me have housing until a monk approved because I held a US passport. Then a monk showed up and let me check in. I paid 10 yuan for a bed in a three bedroom room and I was the only occupancy for the evening. I was so relieved to have the whole room to myself because I really needed to spread myself out in order to repack my pack and privacy to apply medicine on my injuries.

My Fujian Province neighbors befriended me. They consisted of a group of 5 women and one man. They were very nice and took care of me. My ancestors are from Fujian. They were kind in walking me to the showers since I didn't know my way around in the dark and they were curious as to where the showers were too. They helped me to figure out how to get the how water going. I stayed in the showers for a long time disregarding the long shower line outside the door. The group forgot to bring battering charger for their camera and needed to find some one at the monastery who had the same camera and also has their charger. Fortunately for them an Aussie was in the shower line and I asked her if she had one and amazingly she did. The women were so happy and thanked me for translating for them.

This group of women were mostly in their middle ages except for a daughter who was a young professional. They were all vegetarian except for the daughter. One of the moms really want her daughter to be a vegetarian when she heard that I was too. I told her, it has to be an individually inspired choice in order for it to be a long lasting joyful experience.

This morning I knew I needed to head out early in order to do Lushan and then head to Chengdu by early afternoon. I got up and made to early breakfast hours just in time before they shut down the meal. I saw my Fujian neighbors and sat with them. I even finished off their vegetables. I knew I had a day of bus travel and needed to eat well because breakfast would be my main meal for the day. plus unfinished food would just get dumped out and wasted this way. Well, I like pure, clean, monastic vegetarian food, it's so plain and simple. I think it is just so good and satisfying.

I went back to my room to pack up and kept watch on the time. One of the woman came in to ask for medicine for a man in their group who has had diarrhea all yesterday. I poured out half a bottle worth of pills for them. I had two bottles and haven't had to use for myself. This was pretty much the case with all the medicine I brought, it ended up being for someone else except for the Neosporin. I showed the woman how to go about putting pressure on some points in the body that may bee swollen to help speed up the healing. This group was one in unity, they have the all or none mentality. They decided to cancel their hike up the Emei peak to wait for their friend to heal because at this point he can't walk far. The man was very sick and personally came to thank me. He felt he had to return the favor by telling me where to visit in China etc.... I kept looking at my clock and knew I was pressed for time. I didn't care for his advice because he didn't have any personal experience in those places he recommended nor did he have a good understanding of the in's on Buddhism. I told them to come and visit me in US and they would find me at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery where I volunteer regularly. They were shocked that anyone volunteers at the monastery. I don't know why it is so shocking since it's a big part of Buddhist practice, giving of service for others. I don't know how it is done here in modern China to have them to be so shocked.

Time was closing in on my departure, an hour that was set aside for reorganizing and packing went into listening to chatter politely. I ended up stuffing everything into my pack and ran with it down the hill out of the monastery. On the way out, I saw the guard Shr at the door and he said he waited for my return last night. I apologized that I was late because I got lost and things just ended up taking longer than had planned. I thanked him for waiting for me. He said the bus driver that leaves nearby who always passes the front door on his way to this first shift had already passed and I would have to find my own way to the long distance bus terminal in town.

Old Groves At Hung Cun Si

After the monkey attack, all I wanted to do was to head out of this mountain as soon as possible and chuck out the itinerary I had for the day on Emei. I was very hungry and stopped at a noodle stand. Unfortunately the shop keeper is more French than anything else who could not stand tourists who are the financial providers of her livelihood. She resents the existence of tourist because they are the sole reason to her misery, which is work. She was mean and complained right out loud with lots of attitude.

On the trail down I ended up going on the wrong trail and found myself going west instead of south. Well, everything has a reason and there are no true accidents. My legs continued to swell up and scream in pain from the deep monkey bits. I applied medication I had on me every other hour. Every time I stopped I was in more pain. I realized the only way for me to heal quickly and move the chi is to walk.

I came across a man named Andreas from Frankford, Germany. He is a software product manager who is biking all over china on his vacation. He plans to bike into Vietnam and Thailand, both countries I would also like to visit one day. We ended up partnering up and walking for the next 8 hours together. It wasn't what I had planned but I knew that when I stopped walking I would feel the pain, I knew if I kept walking I can get the blood circulating more and heal the wounds.

His goal was to locate particular specie of frogs found here and old trees at Hung Cun Monastery. To do this we would have to pass a designated monkey area. I told him about what happened earlier and he said he would be ready with knock out a monkey with rocks in his hands and pocket. That he had experience with this on Huang Shan earlier in his trip before coming to Emei. He said that all you have to do is have rocks in your hands and make sounds with them. The monkeys will stay away from you when they hear the sound or see that you have rocks.

These monkeys seemed more like apes they didn't have monkey tails and they didn't have baboon noses but they were the size of monkeys in the shape of apes. It started to rain. Upon entering this area of the mountain there were peanut stands selling food for you to feed to the monkeys. There are also workers at this area who had sling shot to aim at the monkeys who are very good at going for tourist bags. A lady with a shopping bag of snacks experienced a grab and run by the monkeys. She was not injured but she screamed and all the park workers ran and aimed shots at the monkey who was successful with rewards of the theft. Something is very wrong with this picture here, encourage the sales of peanuts by feeding the monkeys with it, this encourages the monkeys to go for humans with food on them, and it encourages monkeys getting attacked with rocks flying out of sling shots.

We passed the monkey area to reach the area where these special frogs are found. We were both on an adventurous search. These frogs are said to be only two inches long and are known for the sac they have over their mouth to enable breathing under water. Sounds cool huh! Well, we tried hard looking in the water and also under foliages, we did not spot these cool looking frogs. We did end up seeing beautiful birds flying here and there with amazing colors and patterns that I have never seen before. I like watching birds and these were beautiful birds who flew over our heads and hung out on the rocks over the river bed. It was fun, in the rain and all.

This part of Sichuan reminds me of Taiwan, lush, green, humid, and beautiful. There are mini waterfalls, creeks that ran through beautiful sceneries, crystal clear water, and lots of interesting things of nature worth taking the time to stop and look at.

I realized Andreas only picked up 30% of my English. He was a gentle, polite, quiet kind of fellow who appreciated the fascinating details that the nature provides. I enjoyed his company. At one point he picked up a butterfly who had one wing stuck onto the wet ground to put it aside for safety until its wings dried enough to fly. I was amazed at such care and regard for nature and all its creatures he showed and wondered if this applied to his meals.

Andreas had an elevation meter reader on him and he was able to see how high up we were. It was his way of figuring out where we were and how long we would take to get to places because distance on the map can be off but the elevation of the mountains are usually correct. What a handy tool to have and I think I would like to add that to my backpacking kit. I wonder if they sell this at REI or is it a German thing?

We made it to Hung Cun Monastery where these old trees are suppose to be very old and amazing. Well, that really was not the case. There were tress labeled for its kind. They were old but not as old and ancient as we thought they would be. It wasn't a big disappointment but it didn't hit the spot either. It didn't live up to the hype.

At Hung Cun Monastery I met a monk who liked being a monk and liked cultivation. He lit incense by the hour, bowed, circumambulated, and sat by the alter to hand write a sutra. He had a peaceful smile on him, he was someone who minded his own business and did not turn the sanctuary into a circus show. It was quiet there because there was no one there. it's too far and high up. I like the quietness.

Andreas had the plan of walking all the way to the west and then heading south down the mountain to Bao Guo Si. Well, it turned out the map is just relative and it took a lot longer than he thought. It was dinner time and we were hungry so we stopped by a food stand that was closing up and ate 14 yuan worth of persimmons, potatoes, and tofu. But the shop keeper charged us 20 yuan instead of 14 with a wide grin on her face. We paid for it anyways even though we were being cheated. Both Andreas and I were tired and didn't want to deal with it. The light was disappearing and we picked up our pace in heading down the mountain in hopes of finishing before all the light goes away. Well, it was dark, pitch black dark and we were still on the trail. At the point we had to slow down big time because we could not see at all. Neither one of us had lights on us for some reason. I really didn't enjoy being in the dark. There were weird sounds coming out of the mountain, like groans, and shrieks. We both heard it, it wasn't just me. They were sounds we did not recognize as originating from animals. They were more like sounds of the creatures or spirits of the night. We didn't like it and convinced each other it may just be water in the mountain moving through or something of that sort. We ended up walking in the dark with my cell phone as the flash light. This last part of walking in the dark with the very dim light coming out of my cell phone screen was stressful for the both of us. We made it out of the trail at 7pm. Andreas and I bid our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

Monkey Bits At Wan Nian Si

I was hungry and wanted to sit down for a bit before I exited the monastery. I noticed that with all the tour groups running around people did not have hand bags or back packs on them. I figured they just left them in their tour bus to make the trek easier. I saw a pavillion with a tour group to the left, in the middle, there were monkeys around being fed by other visitors with fruit. I didn't know there were monkeys here. It was surprise for me and I felt it was safe to sit away from the monkey to the left. I sat to photograph a monkey and then all of a sudden, all three monkeys jumped on me and attacked me. I jumped up asking the monkeys why they are doing this to me as I sped away.

Everyone was laughing off their seats and no one came to me to help me in any way. I was in so much shock and pain that my legs trembled and I could hardly stand. My pants were full of brown muddy monkey paws. I got badly bit in five different places on both legs. I was black, blue, and red. I couldn't believe I was bleeding and that this was all happening while everyone around me just continued to laugh.

I looked right into the eyes of the big monkey who seems to be the head of the gang. I saw that in the past we were all humans and I was also a member of his gang along with the other two monkeys. I decided to leave the gang and not follow him and his unlawful habits. He was mad that I left the group and no longer followed him as a leader. I told him I don't regret parting with the group because I would have ended up as a monkey like them continuing in their monkey habits under his leadership. I'll just call it debt paid.

I like animals and still do, but now,.... monkeys, no way, no more Jane Goodall and all her primates.

Chicken Cat Fight

I headed up to Emei mountain by taking the local public bus for 1.5 yuan. It dropped me off at an intersection on the mountain and I had to walk to the entrance. My walk was a lovely one. I really enjoyed looking at small patches of farm lands and all the luscious foliages everywhere. On the way to the entrance I heard sounds of children laughing. I followed the sounds and saw a small preschool of two classroom's worth of students dancing in the courtyard. It was very cute. The sounds of children laughing and playing are so joyful to the ear.

At the entrance I saw lots of tourists and the lines for the cable car were packed. Lots of people were being carried on bamboo seats by a pair of men. Back in the old days only the noble class could afford such a service. I hear from others that they want such a service now to get a little taste of it. Some people looked sick from their trip in tour groups that they needed to be carried. Some people could not hike the trail. Whatever each person's reason was, there are plenty of people whose livelihood depended on such an income. The locals like to make fun of Taiwanese travelers. They are labeled as having weak legs with money. Upon the sounds of Taiwanese tour group arrival at the entrance, all the workers make a mad dash down the trail in hopes of picking up a rider. It was interesting to watch how they put down their customers so terribly and in the same time could not live without them either.

I did the trail that would end up in WanNianShi. On the trail I met three woman, an elder lady and two younger ones who was in their late 20's looking in their 40's. The elder woman was carrying a freshly dead whole chicken in one hand and leeks on the other and was visiting her sister that owns a tea farm. She invited me to tea and to introduce me to her sister. She said she would pour me tea once I get there and I would not have to buy anything she says. The elder woman trailed behind while the other two walked with me.

On the trail I was like a hot cake. People all were curious of me and in the same time also wanted to sell stuff to me by connecting to me as a friend. But were they genuinely interested in a friendship or did they just want my money? The trail was a bit tight for the three of us to be walking side by side. Two was fine but three was a crowd so the two ladies started to fight over who would walk by my side. It got so bad and they were on the brink of physical violence that it was scary for me. It was a combination of a nasty chickens bickering and cats pouncing each other in a fight. The two fought over who could walk with me,.. weird, just weird! Maybe it's all the spicy food they eat here in Sichuan, too much fire? But the previous Sichuan people I met in Yubeng and Lijiang were all sweet, mellow, nurturing, and full of humor.

The elder woman and I came across her sister's place, it was a tea stand on the trail. She sold tea there. She came through with her promise. I had tea, two kinds of tea. One was said to be herbal, meaning good for your health. I didn't like the taste of this one. The other was a cross between a Dragon Well and a Mao Feng. The fresh tea leaves smelled good, they were properly harvested, roasted, and stored. Unfortunately these tea sellers didn't know how to bring out the potential of the tea leaves and burnt them, they were bitter and cut the throat on the way down. Silly isn't it for a tea grower to not know how to brew tea. Maybe they were imposters? I sincerely wanted to buy tea but didn't due to the bad serving of tea.

One of the ladies who were involved in the fighting was born on the year of the rabbit. She insisted on wanting to tell me the story of the fighting that just went on and that it was the other person's fault. That no one can mess with her and get away with it because she can defend herself. Let's just call this lady Rabbit. I told her that I was there and saw everything. She felt comforted by that somehow and mistakenly interpreted my response as support for her aggressive, competitive, mean spirited ways.

Afterwards, Rabbit decided to tell me about her life. She works at the hotel right outside the entrance gates and has a 7 year old son who lives with her mother. Her husband chops bamboo and then sells it for 1 yuan each. He recently got injured and can barely work. He complained of her unwillingness to care for him and visit him at the hospital. She complained of him spending his money on gambling all the time. Rabbit said she married her husband at age 21 because she felt touched by his meager background that someone who was raised this way would know how to cherish others and take care of others. They are now separated.

On this day, Rabbit is hiking up the mountain for her lover who died suddenly in a car crash in August and not for her injured husband. She met her lover while she was working at a university in her late teens. He was her manager who she regarded as her soul mate. I asked why she didn't marry him or stay with him if he was so important to her. She said she was too young to understand these things and that it wasn't till later that she realized he was her best friend, her love, her soul mate but by then she had married her husband. She hopes by making a pilgrimage up the mountain, she can help him move into the heaven by burning incense and making a wish. She said there is no love in her life anymore and if it is not for her son, nothing is worth living for. I felt sorry for her, for all her sadness, bitterness, pain, regrets, and blaming everyone else for every misery in her life.

As we approached the steps of Wan Nian Monastery, Rabbit switched gears into her sales pitch mode. She talked about skin care, on how she takes care of her skin by drinking tea and water. She asked me if I want to be beautiful because she has a relative who is in the cosmetic care industry and can save my yellow, tanned skin so that I can be beautiful like her. I'm Chinese, I am genetically born with yellow based skin. I live in California, it's known as the sun state. I love being under the sun, to swim in the ocean, to hike in the mountain or to just sit in the gardens to have tea and read a book. Yes, aging and the deteriorating of the body is a fact of living and dying. I am fine with the face I've got. Yes, it ages, and changes colors too. I showed no promising interest in buying her sales and right away she was no longer interested in me. So we parted upon the door of Wan Nian Si. I later met rabbit again on down trail and she had that very feisty poisonous look on her face again. Too bad, such a young person yet looking so toxic and old and insisting that is what beauty is made of.

Upon entering the monastery I noticed that it was filled with tour groups. I had originally wanted to stay and meditate and maybe stay at the monastery but I ended up just doing a few bows to the famous Samadhabadra image in Wan Nian Si, walked around it a few times quietly singing the new repentance song in English and then left.

Bao Guo Si

I learned that my train drops me off in Emei station at 4:10am. The good thing about sleeper berth in China is that the ticket collector will come and wake you up. As soon as she woke me up, I jumped up and got ready to exit. It was really early in the morning and I could have used more rest.

The stars were still out when I landed at the station and only a few people were exiting the train. I learned the public bus did not operate till 7amm in the morning. As I headed for the exit, I could see the cab drivers all hanging over the railing waiting to pull in a rider. I was approached by a driver who promised to drive me to Bao Guo Si for 5 yuan. On the road he kept telling me to check into his company hotel and take his company tour bus up Emei for 120 yuan and that lunch would be included but not the entrance fee, etc... I said," no, take me to my monastery." I guess he was unhappy with that and he dropped me off at an intersection insisting that cars are not allowed to go to the monastery, which was a bunch of crap. I seem to have lots of affinity with getting dropped off middle of no where or some where that is not my destination like we agreed on. And since I haven't been at these places before I would discover the difference until later.

I was out on the middle of some intersection at 4:20am. There were no cars and no one on the road. It was pitch dark with one street light. I had no idea where I was. Everyone was still asleep this early in the morning. The road was very quiet. I stood in the middle of this intersection pondering what I should do. Then I heard bells being rung and it was the sound of monastery bells. I followed the sound of the bell and walked in the dark until I finally found the monastery. But the doors were locked with operating hours posted to it. I had three hours to wait before the doors would open.

I decided to sit outside and meditate. While I sat in meditation, I can feel all the bustling of tourists from the day before. Many people left themselves here. The morning ceremony really cleansed the air. It's like rain, washing and grounding everything down. The air cleared and it was lovely to sit in mediation. I found myself falling asleep in the cold off and on. I learned that I can sleep while meditating out in the cold.

As the light was being turned on in the sky, I watched neighboring residents pass by before they headed to work and made bows to the front doors. They all seem to refuse to talk to me. Or maybe they thought I was a ghost and got scared. I was wearing my white polyester jacket and had the hood on. It took me awhile to realize this in the dark.

I chased a man down and asked him questions. He continued to walk and he bowed to the tree next to the door. I asked him why does he bow to the tree. He said he didn't want to tell me. I asked him why. He replied, "In life there are too many whys, that's why." I stopped chasing him, not because I was satisfied with his smart reply, it was because I can't stand people who try to make thing secularly exclusively mysterious and unnecessarily complicated. He then circumambulated the front square three times and made full Tibetan prostrations three times and then left.

I decided to would get up to stretch before doing a set of Tai Chi Chuan. I saw simultaneously, a front door guard approaching the gates along with a lady stepping out of a taxi who is in Sichuan for a conference. I was able to get in with them. The guard's name is "Shr" like rock who gave both the lady and I a tour of the monastery. He set me up with storing my bags for the day and gave me a heads up on where to go on Mt. Emei including where to eat. I think I was treated with extra care because I tagged myself to the business woman who was finely dressed and looked to Shr with authority on Buddhism.

In Shr's little introduction on Buddhism, he talked about sincerity that it's not the size of the incense stick that matter but the heart. Didn't this just sound good and proper! Well, we went by the Gilding Image Hall where everyone has the opportunity to express their sincerity by making a donation for gold leaf to post on the image to increase good blessings and end bad karma. I was then instructed to bow on the middle cushion first then move to the left then to the right to bow three times this way. No, I didn't do as he instructed. I made my three bows all on one cushion that was to the right and avoid the center in general. No, I did not buy gold leaf to paste on the images for life times of endless blessings and lessening of my bad karma. I think if the images were in need of repair then I would, but these images were very bright and gold already. I am one incompliant person, stubborn and hard to teach.