Articles

Muay Sangha follows the footprints of Lord Buddha

Ajarn "Nuat Boran" and Kruu "Muay Sangha" Villalobos journey to ancient places

Muay Sangha in search of the Ancient Religions

Ajarn “Nuat Boran” Ong Dam Itthidet Manarat and Kruu “Muay Sangha” PedroVillalobos went for a month to China, Tibet and Nepal following the footprints of the Buddha. Here is the report of this great adventure for anyone up there that wish to know what happened.

April 30th 2005, Chiang Mai airport, 12:30 pm and ready to go; Ajarn Ong Dam and Kruu Villalobos are getting inside the plane. Their destination is Xixhuangpana, a small city located in the Southwest of China in the Yunnan province, from where some of the Lanna people (Northern Thai) came from.

When we arrived, Ajarn suddenly went to an area where sand and vegetation was abundant, then with his left hand, he hit the floor hard and putting the same hand on his head. He taught me that every time that you come to a new country you need to say hello to mother Earth and she will protect you. That was my first lesson in this incredible trip.

When we get out of the Airport we found a cheap guest house and we went out to find some info about the location of the first Buddha’s Footprint. After asking many people and searching in different maps, we found the location and the next day we went to Damailong city, where at the top of a mountain, the first footprint was waiting.

Few days, finally and after of a long journey on a dirt road for many hours we arrived to Damailong village. It was a beautiful day, the Sun was shinning like never before and fresh air was around us all the way to the top of the mountain. The footprint was there…It was inside of a stupa to be protected against erosion. We did chanting, some meditation, some flower offerings and we walked, around the stupa clock wise 3 times. When I was at that place, I felt that a lot of power was returning from somewhere to me, making me feel more clear about what I came to do in this life.

With a powerful clarity of mind and an incredible sensation of awareness we descended the mountain having achieved the first goal of our journey.

Walking down the mountain we arrive in Damailong village again and some farmers advice us that few kilometers in that direction (pointing with the finger in the opposite direction from the first footprint), was another footprint inside of another temple. Suddenly Ajarn and I, we look each other and smiled.

The next day we went to this new temple. We walk more that 500 stairs up and finally we arrived, nobody was there except a very old men with no teeth left, but a great smile on his face. He was the guardian of the temple. The temple has a strong energy and looked very mysterious.

Finally and after searching the place, we found the second footprint and we proceed the same way that we did before. Chanting meditation and walking clockwise around the stupa.

Why are we walking around, I asked Ajarn?

So next life you remember how you practice and where you were, answered Ajarn.

I was more confused after his answer but I know that Ajarn doesn't’t like many questions so I decided to just observe and perhaps later I will find out more about the meaning.(Actually I did!!)

We return to the Xixhongpana city and start to search for the next Buddha footprint in the West of China. We came up North visiting many different towns covering hundreds of kilometers but without any positive result. We arrived in a small city almost at the border with Tibet, when we found that our next target was in the west end corner of the Himalayas in Tibet. The foot print was located in a very difficult location. The Kailash mountains.

After many hours of traveling in bus, train, horses, tricycles, 4x4, and a lot of more other vehicles we arrived in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. From there, we checked how many days it will take us to reach Kailash by 4x4, because no buses were available (bad roads and difficult climate).The answer from the travel agencies was not pleasant 750 USD per person and it will take about 5 full days to go and 5 full days to come back plus 5 days that we had to stay over there.

Ajarn and I decided to change our plans in not going to the Kailash mountains because we didn't’t have a lot of time left, and certainly because we didn't’t have that amount of money to spend.

The full Moon day of the Visaka Phuja was close (the Birthday of the Buddha), so we decided to enter in the country of Nepal, go to the capital Katmandu and after spend few days at the birth’s place of Lord Buddha, Lumpini Park, while his birthday.

We cross Nepal from top to button until we arrived in Lumpini. The park is located 30 kilometers north of India and the weather was extremely hot (more that 50 degrees in the afternoon).We spend, before returning to Katmandu, 4 full days and nights at the Lumpini park, the birthday of Buddha and at the birthplace of the Buddha. It was great. I felt that I was in the right place at the right time.

We had the opportunity to see, how many different Buddhist countries chant, meditate and practice their own way of Buddhism. And of course Ajarn and I we did some chanting, offerings and meditation as well.

The trip has been a great experience and opened many doors inside me.

After Lumpini, we return to Katmandu and we visit many temples and monasteries and how we did in China and Tibet we observed the way that the people had practiced his religion. Nepal is a great country and the whole city is full of stupas, figures and sacred places. Nepal is a Hindu country and Shiva is the main God that people worship.

It cached my attention that Buddha was born in Nepal, but Nepal is mainly an Hindu country.

We arrived in Bangkok on the 30 of May at 6:00 pm, I am happy to be in home but I need to admit that this trip gave me an incredible edge of knowledge.