Chan ling

24.05.10

.monday.

Today i went to Chan Ling.

or more accurately after i google it...

the name of that peaceful place is

Santavana Forest Hermitage..

Actually i went there just to accompany my aunt.

My aunt will be going back to Taiwan tomorrow

and she wishes to go there before leaving here.

The hill to that place was very sloopy.

i used to drive til up there.

but today,

suddenly feel scared.

suddenly feel nervous.

but then my aunt start chanting hopefully we're OKAY!

hahaha...

the sifu there welcoming us...

and there were no other visitors there since it is weekday.

my aunt had a long sharing with the sifu.

& i am just listening there..

we plan to go back kk before noon.

but the sifus insist want us to stay and have lunch there.

11am. lunch time.

this is really a new experience for me.

there is this term "gong seng"

the translation some kind like....

dengan hormatnya beri makanan kepada sami.

i thought sifus and normal people are the same.

when we want to eat..

we just go to the kitchen and take our food anytime we want..

BUT...

sifus life is different...

they have their allocated time.

for santavana sifus,

the lunch time is 11am- 12pm.

other places sifus will have different time...

there are 4 people doing this "gong seng" today.

1. we need to use a mask to cover our mouth.

this is for the hygiene purpose.

2. we need to kneel down.

this is to show respect to the sifus.

3. the sifus will queue up according to their status aka pangkat.

the elder sifus will come first.

4. what we need to do is...

when sifus coming with their bowl and cups..

we need to served them.

if they want sayur...they will point at it using their bowl..

and we will served them. not standing but kneeled.

they cannot take the food their own..

thats the rule.

today, i served the sayur to the sifus.

i can feel my hand shaking.

heart beating fast.

because this is the first time!

everyone is no making any sound.

even the sifus also just pointing using the bowl..

no words come out.

so i just remain silent...

very carefully coz i scare making mistakes..

wuarghhh.....

then as usual...

seat is separated by gender.

after lunch,

we ask for permission to go around the place.

there is this one place.

its a garden.

but its like heaven.

so peaceful.

its for meditation.

there were 3 huts and every huts got buddha statues inside it.

i wish i can capture down all the scenes but maybe next time.

there is a hut.

which is i forgot the name.

got 2 coffins inside.

1 is sample of skeleton inside.

1 is for human to sleep.

it is not cursing u to die.

but u can sleep one night inside the coffin.

that is another learning of Buddhism about life and death..

which i dont really understand...

but my aunt said..

agak2 like this la...

"by sleeping inside the coffin, one can reflect his/her life.

the perception of life and death..."

there are some place that we not yet visit.

along the path...can see that there are still many small path dont know

lead to what place...

but due to the weather so hot...

and we running out of time....

we called it a day..

the sifu invites me to become a volunteer on wesak day this coming friday.

there are not enough hands to help.

and for the next 3 weeks.....

but i am not really comfortable and willing to become a volunteer.

i am a lazy person bah...........

sigh.

maybe next time...

no "yuan" still.

left santavana and heading home.

its a great day~

im loving it!

click this to see some of the pretty view of the woods from the officially website:

禪林風光

黃昏

^^