The End of the Story

We have now come to the end of our 3 week trip to Southeast Asia, and are packed to return home. As you may remember, if you have been reading my blog, we attended a “Baci” ceremony in Luang Prabang, at which we were blessed and had sacred strings placed on our wrists to keep all of the 32 spirits in our body inside and intact.

Now was the time to remove those strings and leave them behind. We did this at another temple, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, which is high in the hills above Chiang Mai. It has a golden pagoda which is said to contain a relic of the Buddha.

Our tour leader had an app that calculated the day of the week on which we were born. I was born on a Friday, my traveling companion, In Ja was born on a Wednesday. This is important because there is a different Buddha figure for each day. We were given the opportunity to pour oil into the lamp before our Buddha so as to keep it burning longer. Here’s In Ja before her Buddha, which is reclining.

Then we were told to remove the strings from our wrists, and led into a small room where a monk blessed us and the strings.

Next we took the strings and laid them in the hand of a Buddha who sits under the “Buddha tree” – the species of tree under which he was sitting when he reached enlightenment. This apparently imparted his direct blessing.

And finally, because it is disrespectful to leave things in his hand, we placed the strings at the root of the tree, where they can disintegrate naturally over time.

O.K., I cheated: I was worried about one or more of my ‘spirits’ getting out during the flight home, so I kept 1 white and 2 orange strings. Our tour leader told me that these are holy items, and must be untied (not cut) and burned when I get home.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

2/4/18

Posted from home, Berkeley, 2/8/18