Nothing But Peace

 In many issues, the West gives clues of the direction of the civilization. A lot of things happened in the West before they plagued the entire world, such as industrialization and democracy. One prominent sign taking place in the West for a half century is the severe necessity for peace, indicated among others by the abundant numbers of books suggesting peace in their title such as one of Thich Nhat Hanhs works entitled Peace is A Step, Thomas Mertons Thought in Solitude, and the most beautiful work of Eckhart Tolle which is Stillness Speaks. All are discussing about the wonderful peace and silence.

Bali also frequently identified with peace and silence. This is not merely a result of tourism promotion, for it is also related to the Balinese elders spiritual legacy. Observing the way the elders conclude a conversation (especially in formal circumstance), one will distinguish the pronouncing of Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Om is a sacred word. It represents many things, those are all symbolizing holiness and peacefulness. The word shanti (peace) is even pronounced three times, as if inspiring that the purpose of the discourse (spoken, written, prayer) is to invite peace and tranquility into the heart.

All beings want to be peaceful and serene. Pay attention to the names parents give to their child those are all beautiful. Never will a Hindu name his/her child Rahwana or Duryodana. No Buddhist is given the name Devadatta (Gautama Buddhas cousin that many times attempted to kill him out of envy). This means that in the aspiration level all people desire peacefulness. In Bali traditional villages, people still have the names like Wayan Sabar, Nengah Tenang, Nyoman Terima, and Ketut Polos. As if delivering a message that anyone wants to be peaceful should not forget to be patient. Patience is the key into calmness and the one enables human to accept life without wailing. Finally, life flows innocently as it is.

All Climb to the Same Peak

Among many religious days in Bali, Tumpek Landep is a sign. In common language, Tumpek Landep is a day to consecrate sharp objects like keris. A point of view deserves to be respected. From another perspective, sharpness is similar to the summit of a mountain which can be climbed both from the left and the right side. This reminds to the story of two mountain climbers making their journey from different directions; one from the east while the other is from the west. From the summit, the teacher asked the direction of the sun rise. The one climbing on the eastern side answered that it is from the back, while the one from the west replied that it is from the front. And loud was the argument between the two. Front-back, back-front... Meanwhile, the master silently smiles and prays on the summit. When both climbers arrived at the summit, they understood and were embarrassed for their blaming each-other.

Speaking frankly. The story of the two climbers is the story of most people. In Bali no one dares to claim him/herself walking the left path; in a case of misfortune one could get his/her house burned down by such statement. Most people will declare that they are walking on the right path, and busy judging people they hate with the left predicate.

And the story clearly illustrates that not all people traveling on the left-hand path end up in hell. Walmiki in Hinduism is a beautiful story. After spending a lot of times robbing and killing, one day he was happened to rob the house of a holy sage. The wise requested Walmiki to go home and asked whether his families were willing to compensate his sin. And eventually they werent. Thus Walmiki prostrated in the feet of the saintly figure, and then meditated until his sins were redeemed. After some times, his body was covered by ants thus one among the meanings of Walmiki is nest of ants. At that point, a new horizon of Walmikis life was revealed so he was then able to write the holy story of Ramayana.

Jetsun Milarepa in Tantra experienced the similar thing. After his father passed away, all of his inheritances were confiscated by his uncle and aunt thus her mother was consumed by grudge. When Milarepa grew older, his mother sent him to learn witchcraft in order to take revenge. After accomplishing his training, Milarepa sent evil energy to his uncle and aunts house. As the result, a festive wedding party was turned into a bloody incident by the crumbling of the house. Tens of people died.

Grave remorse made Milarepa swore to compensate his evils. And he did. In the hands of his master he experienced years of literally bloody training. In the end, Milarepa experienced advanced spiritual realization. Many times people saw him fly to the sky. When he was old, there was a gathering on the summit of a mountain and it was impossible for him to go up there. However, the power of his prayer made the mountain bowed before him. When he passed away, lights were emerging from every directions. In the lineage of Tantra masters, Milarepa is recorded as one of the most prominent masters after Tilopa, Naropa, and Marpa.

The point of this story is certainly not to practice black magic, but a sequence of inspirations that not all of the so called evil people conclude their life terribly. In the stories of Walmiki and Milarepa, wickedness was merely an opening door to repentance, followed by the using of the remorse as an energy to practice in order to experience high level realization. This is also a contemplation material for those who like to judge, so they are not easily stain their self with rebuke and revilement.

In the language of the sages, all are growing. Walmiki and Milarepa started on the left path. Even though experienced insults and intimidations, in the end they attained the advanced realization. Most of the holy persons indeed take the right path: stop doing bad things, do more kindness, and purify the mind. Mahatma Gandhi and Vivekananda in Hinduism, His Holiness Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh in Buddhism, Jalalludin Rumi and Kabir Sahib in Islam, Thomas Merton and Santo Fransiscus in Christianity were only some examples of holy persons walked the right path. But criticizing the left path disciples overly is not the characteristic of right path people who have found wisdom.

In Tajun village, Northern Bali, there is a tradition that every oldest son is addressed as kolok (mute). Pay a careful attention to the word kolok. It reads the same both from left to right and from the opposite way. As if giving a message that left and right will end at the same place. Perhaps that is the cause why in the last days of his life, Ida Danghyang Dwijendra wrote a beautiful work entitled Dharma Shunya. Dharma does not exist only in the hilarity of words but also in the depth of the silence.

From Silence to Silence

Every Balinese who frequently prays in Pura knows the elders teaching to do panca sembah (paying homage five times). The unique thing is, it is started and finished empty-handed (sembah puyung). Nevertheless, the perfect emptiness is something nearly impossible to be described by words. In a friends message, constructing emptiness is a mistake. However, no matter how a mistake it is, a lot of masters have to do so for words are the communication means for most people. And especially because the teaching has to go full circle.

There is a story about a wise man who lived on the edge of a forest. His daily life was filled with only silence, smile, and prayers so all villagers respected and loved him. One day, a girl in the village was found pregnant, and people did not know who should be responsible. In the midst of intense public anger, the frightened girl put the blame on the old man. Spontaneously people got mad and brought the girl to the man. They cursed, abused, called him a hypocrite, and then left the girl to live with him. The wise man simply said: Okay.

A few years after the child was born, the young mother was depressed with deep feeling of guilt. She went to her parents crying and admitted: It was not the wise man. I am really touched by his kindness in all these years. He never disturbed me for even once.

With the girls confession, the villagers again came to the old man and begged for his forgiveness, to which the man replied with the same Okay! This is the true emptiness, the true silence. The state of mind which is perfectly clean and clear, unshakeable by any rebuke and intimidation.

In the path of Advaita Vedanta, this is called Nirvikalva Samadhi. In simple way, Advaita means the condition without duality (good - bad, holy - unholy). And Nirvikalva Samadhi in meditation term is simplified into the fourth position. Not the left, the right, and also not the middle, that is Nirvikalva Samadhi.

In the paths of Tantra, it is termed as Rigpa (nothing positive to attach, nothing negative to reject). There is no pleasure that bonds and leaves suffering upon its departure, as well as there is no sadness that makes the adept suffer. It is a state of mind which is free and liberated.

Flow, Silence, Peace

In one scene of the life of little Rama, the little Sugriwa wailed because he never win a fight against Subali. Taking pity on Sugriwa, when Sugriwa and Subali were exchanging blows Rama shot an arrow to Subalis foot from behind a tree.

Later on, when a holy person was distinguished by a shining golden mark of lotus on the feet, Rama was reincarnated as Shri Krishna. One day while he was sleeping in a forest, a hunter saw the mark on his foot from afar and mistakenly recognized it as an eye of a deer thus he shot it with an arrow. When he realized his mistake, the hunter knelt and begged for forgiveness while Shri Krishna merely smiled seeing how the wheel of karma works.

This is the value of a master with advanced spiritual realization. No advantage that may cause arrogance and no misfortune that might arouse anger. It is as well presenting a beautiful secret: flow with karma, because there lies hidden the secret of the beauty of life. Balinese elders open the gate through Rwa Binedha. Two things those are different and yet the same. Happiness and sadness are different still they are actually the same, and so does with the couple of heaven and hell. For ordinary people, they seem different (happiness is sought, sadness is banished, heaven is worshipped and hell is condemned) thus they experience turbulences throughout their life. For the Yogis, happiness becomes more profound/ meaningful because there is sadness, and heaven is shining because there is the darkness of hell. When there is no happiness to be sought after, there is no sadness to be thrown away. No heaven to be worshipped nor hell to be denounced. By this, Yogis experience the calm and balanced mind. This is also

why one among the fruits of meditation is the boundless capacity to suffer. All things are greeted in silence, smile, and prayer for the happiness of all beings. In Balinese elders word this is called Embang (the perfect silence), a state might happen when someone has flown perfectly with karma. It also brings inspiration, this is the Parama Shanti (the ultimate peace).