On September 28, 2013 at the recommendation of my friend, Telesia from Australia, I visited a Buddhist monument called Amitabha Stupa. A stupa represents the embodiment of Buddha, where the core of structure is solid cedar wood, and blessed many thousands of times over by monks. What I experienced was something that can only be described as "utterly joyous".
I ended a day hiking amongst the red rock and plenty of green trees by visiting the Amitahba Stupa, as I was right near it where the previous trail ended. There was a simple trail that led up to it, as it consisted of a single set of steps along the way with a bannister made of a thin branch on the side for safety. There was also an informal lot for cars to park, but I did not see any that day.
As I walked up the trail, past some prayer flags off the side of the trail, I caught sight of the top of the stupa, a metal conical roof, that had 4 strings of prayer flags diverging in 4 directions, like a diagonal cross, coming down the sides. Seeing this from a distance, the top against the azure sky, brought immediate joy and peace to my countenance - all thoughts of the mind, the chatter, worries, preoccupation, negative energy, and emotions immediately stopped like a rapt audience falling silent quickly when the performance of their admiration comes onto stage and quietly awaits to begin. That was how quick the Silence and joy came. I stared in wonderment as I continued to approach the stupa; and as an experiment, I decided to see if I could conjure up some of the thoughts and preoccupations that were banished by the stupa - and to my amazement, no matter how hard I tried, I could not conjure them up. The Silence stayed present, unmoving in the face of mental effort.
Amazing does not even begin to describe how I felt upon witnessing the anti-thesis of our nature for incessant mind-chatter.
Upon reaching the clearing where the stupa stood, on one side were two large bulletin boards that explained the story of the Stupa, its construction, and some suggestions on spending time here; and of course, donation directions to support it. Along those board on the ground was a long path of bricks with individual names or parties of said donors; and a wooden post with a guestbook inside, which I signed. On the other side of the entrance was a shaded pavilion painted forest green, and a few stacks of white comfortably curved plastic chairs that visitors could quietly sit. There were several others there, including a few burly tattooed biker men who were sitting quietly watching and sitting with the Silence and Majesty of the site.
I read on the bulletin board one suggestion, which was to think of any positive thoughts - sending prayers of love to loved ones; friends; or to bless the moment and beautiful day; or to think of the well being of the world; while walking clockwise around the stupa at least three times. The suggestion sounded like a great idea, so I thought of many positive thoughts as I calmly and slowly walked around the stupa. As I did this, I witness other visitors doing the same thing, and was astounded to see their auras, and energy field being manipulated by the stupa - I saw and felt all the black energy (negative) being drawn out, and simply DISSIPATED, while positive energy flowed from them towards the center of the stupa, and them being shot out of the top of the stupa like a spray broadcast, like a fountain - the amount of energy being "broadcasted" was much more than the energy being drawn, so like a broadcast tower, it was amplifying the "signal" and sending it outwards, enveloping the entire area.
I knew this was also happening to me, I felt nothing but joy, peace, bliss just enveloping me, everyone else, and the entire area - like swimming in a warm sea of goodness, where we can freely breathe, drink, take in, let flow of this "water". There was absolutely no way to have any negative thoughts, no matter how hard you tried; and I saw the same sentiments mirrored on the other visitors.
The absolute best kind of "high" one can ever have, no substances involved!
After a long while, I went to sit in the pavilion, and just.... sat there, enjoying the advancing sun march towards the western horizon - letting the joy, peace, and bliss simmer, savoring this buoyant feeling, until it felt time to go. I looked for another path out that was not the same as the way I arrived in, and found such a path, that led downwards via a series of gentle curves that eventually led back to the parking lot. There are other stupas out there, so if anyone is intrigued, check out this page. There are some on the east coast, so I am definitely going to go visit at least one of them on my way back to the South - to New Mexico next month.
As I walked up the trail, past some prayer flags off the side of the trail, I caught sight of the top of the stupa, a metal conical roof, that had 4 strings of prayer flags diverging in 4 directions, like a diagonal cross, coming down the sides. Seeing this from a distance, the top against the azure sky, brought immediate joy and peace to my countenance - all thoughts of the mind, the chatter, worries, preoccupation, negative energy, and emotions immediately stopped like a rapt audience falling silent quickly when the performance of their admiration comes onto stage and quietly awaits to begin. That was how quick the Silence and joy came. I stared in wonderment as I continued to approach the stupa; and as an experiment, I decided to see if I could conjure up some of the thoughts and preoccupations that were banished by the stupa - and to my amazement, no matter how hard I tried, I could not conjure them up. The Silence stayed present, unmoving in the face of mental effort.
Amazing does not even begin to describe how I felt upon witnessing the anti-thesis of our nature for incessant mind-chatter.
Upon reaching the clearing where the stupa stood, on one side were two large bulletin boards that explained the story of the Stupa, its construction, and some suggestions on spending time here; and of course, donation directions to support it. Along those board on the ground was a long path of bricks with individual names or parties of said donors; and a wooden post with a guestbook inside, which I signed. On the other side of the entrance was a shaded pavilion painted forest green, and a few stacks of white comfortably curved plastic chairs that visitors could quietly sit. There were several others there, including a few burly tattooed biker men who were sitting quietly watching and sitting with the Silence and Majesty of the site.
I read on the bulletin board one suggestion, which was to think of any positive thoughts - sending prayers of love to loved ones; friends; or to bless the moment and beautiful day; or to think of the well being of the world; while walking clockwise around the stupa at least three times. The suggestion sounded like a great idea, so I thought of many positive thoughts as I calmly and slowly walked around the stupa. As I did this, I witness other visitors doing the same thing, and was astounded to see their auras, and energy field being manipulated by the stupa - I saw and felt all the black energy (negative) being drawn out, and simply DISSIPATED, while positive energy flowed from them towards the center of the stupa, and them being shot out of the top of the stupa like a spray broadcast, like a fountain - the amount of energy being "broadcasted" was much more than the energy being drawn, so like a broadcast tower, it was amplifying the "signal" and sending it outwards, enveloping the entire area.
I knew this was also happening to me, I felt nothing but joy, peace, bliss just enveloping me, everyone else, and the entire area - like swimming in a warm sea of goodness, where we can freely breathe, drink, take in, let flow of this "water". There was absolutely no way to have any negative thoughts, no matter how hard you tried; and I saw the same sentiments mirrored on the other visitors.
The absolute best kind of "high" one can ever have, no substances involved!
After a long while, I went to sit in the pavilion, and just.... sat there, enjoying the advancing sun march towards the western horizon - letting the joy, peace, and bliss simmer, savoring this buoyant feeling, until it felt time to go. I looked for another path out that was not the same as the way I arrived in, and found such a path, that led downwards via a series of gentle curves that eventually led back to the parking lot. There are other stupas out there, so if anyone is intrigued, check out this page. There are some on the east coast, so I am definitely going to go visit at least one of them on my way back to the South - to New Mexico next month.