BUILDING WITH THE
BREATH OF LIFE - Tom Bender - revised
draft text 8 Jan.1999
* What we imagine happened (Mesa Verde)
* What people actually intended and what actually did happen
* Other things that really happened that the people involved weren't aware of
* Totally new patterns we are somehow inspired to see
* Various combinations of the above
All can be useful.
<<<>>>
The last twenty years have brought a total revolution
in our understanding of the energetic dimension of how other cultures have
used and related to their surroundings. Chi energy and access through it
to the spirit world have been shown to play central roles in society after
society.
The Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Africa, like others, achieve
through dancing. Other cultures achieve the same through hypnotism, pain,
psychoactive drugs, or sleep deprivation. Kung descriptions closely mirror
those of awakening kundalini energy in yoga and other spiritual practices:
"You dance, dance, dance, dance. Then num lifts you up in your belly and lifts you in your back, and you start to shiver. Num makes you tremble; it's hot. ....But when you get into kia, you're looking around because you see everything, because you see what's troubling everybody. Rapid shallow breathing draws num up....."
"In your backbone you feel a pointed something and it works its way up. The base of your spine is tingling, tingling, tingling, tingling. Then num makes your thoughts nothing in your head."1
During kia (trance state), the Kung do extraordinary things - performing cures, handling and walking on fire, seeing the insides of people's bodies and scenes at great distances from their camp, or traveling to the home of gods. But most important, they do these things to heal sickness in individuals, to restore community emotional intimacy and spiritual harmony, and access the wisdom of the world of spirits.
<<<>>>
The patterns of accessing altered states of consciousness
and their function in community health is amazingly consistent from culture
to culture. Native American s undance rituals, South American shamanism, Mayan community
ritual, tribal practices from Africa and Siberia as well as certain practices
in Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, share very similar territory.
Malidoma Somé reports similarly on the role of ritual and access
to the spirit world to community health in modern tribal Africa:
"Whenever a gathering of people, under the protection of Spirit, triggers a body of emotional energy aimed at bringing them very tightly together, a ritual of one type or another is in effect. People prepare the space for the ritual and its general choreography. The other part of ritual cannot be planned because it is in the realm of Spirit. That part is a spontaneous, almost unpredictable interaction with an energy source, and a response to a call from a nonhuman source to commune with a larger horizon. "
"A sense of community grows where behavior is based on trust and where nobody has to hide anything. There are certain human powers that cannot be unleashed without such a supportive atmosphere - powers such as the one that enables us to connect with ancestors and to unlock potentials in ourselves and others far beyond what is commonly known. When an individual feels connected to an entire community, this connection can extend far beyond the living world. A healthy connection with one another can spill over into a connection with the ancestors and with nature. In a tribal community, healing of the village happens in ritual."2
And his wife, Sobonfu, speaks on the role of community and ritual:
"The whole concept of the intimate is p rimarily derived from ritual. Outside of ritual, nothing can be truly intimate. Which is why, in the village, every emotion is ritually understood. So human relationships, when they begin to deepen, enter into the canal of ritual.
"In the village, everybody is addicted to ritual. There people experience intimacy not just with their partners, but with the rest of the village, at all times....There's such a high from this ....Maybe that's why they don't care about television.3 "
Ritual, community, and the spirit world are essential to both individual and community health. They permit trust, deep opening, emotional melding, giving, support from others and the spirit world - resources that are unavailable to an individual alone.
The community of people, nature, and the spirit world,
The healing and nurturing energy of chi,
Intimacy of ritual,
Cathartic resolution of conflict,
Healing emotions of shared grief, passion, joy, and pain,
The ever-present support and caring of friends,
Experience of intense human connection and attention, Access to parts of our souls and wisdom from which we are otherwise walled off
The fullness and freedom from worry coming from abundance of life
All these are parts of the web of community, chi, and health. It is these things which have caused society after society to create unique and powerful places designed to access and enable this community.
<<<>>>
Because energetics of place has not been part of
our own recent tradition, we have never even considered looking for its
role in the monuments of the past. Archeological and anthropological studies
have now uncovered incontrovertible evidence concerning the role of energetics
of place in the shaping and use of people's surroundings in many different
cultures.
Along with detailed study of practices from other traditions, work applying
energetics of place in our own culture has been going on for a number of
years now. This has given us both a broad range o f techniques to apply and verifiable
achievements in our own world which affirm the historical record. A glimpse
at a few examples of these different cultural practices can give a good
sense of the foundation we have upon which to build. We will examine others
in later chapters.
MAYA COMMUNITY PORTALS TO THE SPIRIT WORL D
Breakthroughs in deciphering the Mayan written language in the last ten
years have brought a transformation in our understanding of both the nature
of their ritual centers and in the events that transpired there. Emerging
is a picture of a society living with an amazing degree of intimacy with
the spirit world - where the soul and the supernatural were physically present
phenomena in all aspects of their lives.
In the Maya world, all things are alive and imbued with sacredness - a sacredness
especially concentrated at special places, like caves, mountains, and ritual
centers established by the people. The principal pattern of power spots
was established when the cosmos was created. But within it, a complementary
human-made matrix of power points is generated by the actions of the community.
Ceremonial centers were considered not so much places for ceremony,
but places which are centers because of ceremonies
performed in them by creating sacred space and opening the portals to the
Otherworld. Individuals - whether kings, shamans, or warriors - who could
enter and leave the spirit world at will and who could manipulate its forces
and bring its wisdom to the rest of the community - held central power in
the community. 4
Visionary rituals involving the whole community, possibly somewhat akin
to today's "raves", were a central part of life. Unlike
many other cultures where trance journeying was done in seclusion, here
it was performed by the rulers in public, experienced and affirmed by the
entire community. With the use of dance, drumming, song, sleep deprivation,
and psychoactive substances, both individuals and large groups went into
altered states that allowed both personal transformation and communication
with the Otherworld.
The most important interactions, they held, are not between people and objects,
but among the innate souls of persons and material objects. Ch'ulel,
itz, or k'awil - all referring in some way to chi energies -
are central to their language and culture. It is hardly surprising that
they called their kings ch'ul ahaw, "lords of the life-force".
Warriors and deities from the spirit world took major part in military battles.
The K'iche Maya account of the battle where thousands of their warriors
were defeated by the Spanish under Pedro de Alvarada with only 720 men reads
as a battle of worlds and the gods who ruled them. The battle took place
with the warriors of both sides, but also with their spirits guides on another
level.
The K'iche leader, Tekum Uman, transformed into his way, or spirit
companion, and fought - along with the wayob of their gods and ancestors
- as a sorcerer and an eagle against the magic of the Spanish supernaturals.
He was ultimately unable to kill Alvarado because of the Spaniards' defense
by a floating maiden (the Virgin Mary), many footless birds (angels), and
an exceedingly white bird (the Holy Spirit) - who blinded the K'iche warriors
and forced them to fall to the earth.5
In Maya public architecture, the operational spaces were not the buildings,
but the plazas, courtyards, and exterior spaces surrounded by the buildings.
The buildings themselves acted as ceremonial definers of space which contained
the rituals, dances, and processions at the heart of Maya life. Their small
interior spaces held gods, ancestral images, regalia and equipment for ceremonies.
Temples were frequently built in the image of mountains or witz -
the volcano being a powerfully experienced gateway of the vital forces of
creation. Caves, or interior spaces, were often used as places of conjuring
ancestors.
Plazas were seen as portals, or Spirit World gateways, opening onto the
Primordial Sea - with special areas being paved with rare stone several
meters deep to concentrate energy. Their ball courts represented the crack
in the earth where humankind emerged, and they went into this crack to contact
their ancestors and consult oracular deities. Treaties and transfers of
power to new rulers took place there in the presence of beings materialized
from the spirit world. They negotiated and sealed alliances in the ball
court, and captured kings died by sacrifice there. Tombs, such as that of
Pakal at Uxmal, had "spirit channels" built in so the spirits
of the dead could continue to communicate with the living in the attached
temple.
Sacred precincts were often entered by a ceremonial path - "sak
beh" or "white road" - corresponding to the Milky Way
giving access across the stellar realm to the spirit world. The names and
sculptural imagery on their ceremonial structures leave no doubt as to their
nature. Fixed portals to the spirit world were called "pib nah".
"Kunul" were conjuring or bewitching places. Sorcery houses
were "Itzam Nah", often marked by the winged Itzam-Ye
birds. "Waybil" were dreaming places, and "kyxan
sum" were sculptural representations of the umbilicus connecting
individuals on earth to the spirit world.
Words, or ceremonial objects like sculpture, were not merely a preamble
to a magical action or way of describing things, but an essential conduit
of the forces of the cosmos which are embodied in them. We may look at statues
as "symbols" of something else, while the Maya and other cultures
have demonstrated that they can actually be embodied by a force or energy
which can connect us to the supernatural.
To the Maya, "Nothing important is just made. It also has to be born."
All things made by the gods during Creation were imbued with sacred force
and an inner soul. Places, buildings, and objects made by human beings,
however, had to have their inner souls, their ch'ulel, put into them
during dedication ceremonies.
Dedication rituals, accompanied by depositing ceremonial plates of sacred
objects below the floors, was part of bringing the k'ulel, or life-force,
into the buildings or ritual spaces. With them, they opened portals to the
spirit world:
"When the Maya materialized their gods and ancestors through these portals, the spiritual beings left residual energy in the buildings and the objects that opened the portals. Thus very old buildings, very sacred rituals, and very powerful people affected this energy in proportionally greater ways, so that the oldest portals contained the most intense k'ulel of all. The Maya kept building over these portals for hundreds of years, so that their buildings were like onions - layer after layer accumulating over the sacred core."6
As long as they used these objects, that power was safe. But when a ruler died, when a cycle of the calendar finished, when a sacred area was abandoned, the Maya performed special termination rituals to protect the community or put that power "on hold". A new ruler or period of time would bring construction of another layer over the existing, and ceremonies of reactivation of the portals.7,8
The Maya spirit world was a powerful part of their everyday lives in a way
difficult to even comprehend today. But their ritual centers remain as testimony
that such a world exists and can be brought into our lives in many different
ways.The ritual center of Chichen Itza includes ceremonial plazas, temples,
residential areas, and two great cenotes, or sinkholes in the underlying
limestone giving access to the underground rivers that flow through the
area.
INITIATORY TEMPLES OF EGYPT
Our cultural innocence concerning chi energy and the spirit world has caused
us to miss evidence right before our eyes of practices from other cultures.
We've failed to ask questions that would lead us to an understanding of
this unique area of interconnection. Frescoes and carvings give substantial
evidence, for example, that the Egyptians used a variety of dowsing rods
for diagnosis of patients needing healing, for obtaining oracular information,
and for determining truth or falseness in resolving disputes between individuals,
as well as for finding water.
One straight rod was called the "was" wand. Another was
made of a pendulous plant, lupinus termis, whose response was probably
a shaking or trembling movement. Woven wands, of grass or stalks of grain,
became part of the hieroglyphic symbol for "to speak", were shown
in The Egyptian Magic Papyrus, and were probably the precursor of the caduceus
used by Greek and Roman physicians as a diagnostic tool. Another type of
rod, the lotus calyx wands, appears in Etruscan, Minoan, Greek, Algerian
and Christian imagery as well.9
The temples of Egypt were not used for congregational religious assembly
as in Christianity, or merely for homes the Gods/Goddesses or their images.
Their religion was a Mystery religion, focusing on individual initiation
and communication with the spirits in the spirit world. Temples were places
of psychic training and ritual. Statuary was a means of embodying energy
into an image which could communicate on many levels the spirit of the deity
concerned, and become a portal of access to that spirit.
Mystery / shamanic / psychic-centered spiritual practices are connected
to but the obverse of meditational practices common to many spiritual traditions.
They are involved in use of the same chakra-based, chi-centered systems.
But instead of a focus on individual practice of inner quieting, they concentrate
on opening outward to create specific energetic connection with other parts
of Creation.
Brainscans of dowsers show, for example, a significantly different brainwave
activity signature than those of meditators. Dowsers show the coherent delta
wave profile of meditators, but also coherent alpha, beta, and theta waves
- related to creative cognition, contact with the subconscious mind and
the visual component of imagery.10
Success of Egyptian sacred architecture is not measurable in terms of magnificence
or visual drama, though that was often present to a high degree. It is measurable
in terms of success in grounding, in focusing energy, in centering attention
and intention of participants in their rituals and to the success of the
psychic dimensions of the specific rituals being performed. Evaluation of
the overall success of their architecture requires, as well, awareness of
the energetic elements of their design and of effectiveness of the experience
for both ritual participants and onlookers. As with Mayan ceremonial centers,
experiential participation in the kinds of occurrences involved is necessary
to their understanding and evaluation.
Not visible with traditional archeological tools is the sophisticated manipulation
and use of energy fields beneath and within the temples, whose effect can
still be felt today. Site energies were manipulated for protective barriers
around the temples, for creating special environments for working with different
energies and spirits, and places for calling in specific connections with
the spirit world.
Power spots can still be located beneath almost all Egyptian temples - with
the exception of the Temples of Ramses II and Hathor at Abu Simbul and the
temples on the Isle of Philae which were relocated to new sites in the 1960's
to avoid being submerged by the Aswan Dam project. The pioneering work of
Blanche Merz in
documenting these energy patterns has been confirmed by other researchers.11,12
Egyptian religious architecture shows from even its earliest dates an amazing
mastery of masonry constructive techniques. Even those most ancient structures,
such as the Osireion at Abydos and the layout of the pyramid/temple/sphinx
complex at Giza, show a powerful grasp of astronomy, a focus on the same
stars in Orion's belt as in the Maya tradition(!), and brilliant design
to embody connection to the spirit world.
The Osireion, for example, was recessed deeply into the earth (30' below
present grades) so that ground water would form a pool within it. This pool
reflected the night sky and the Milky Way, while also representing the River
of Death which had to be crossed between our world and the spirit world.
The surrounding walls and partial roof shut off distracting views and focused
attention on a particular area of the night sky. This powerful imagery gave
a deep conceptual support framework for trance meditation in the individual
cells surrounding the pool.
There have probably been more theories proposed concerning the purpose and
construction of the pyramid complex at Giza than any human construction
in the world, and no undisputed conclusions yet achieved. Recent studies
appear to confirm that the Sphinx, the Valley Temples in front of it, and
some of the other work on the plateau date back far beyond the construction
of the three great pyramids - as far back as 10,500 BCE! 13
While employing very sophisticated methods of moving and assembling very
large stones (routinely exceeding 200 tons in weight), those temples - along
with the Osireion - appear to have roots in a very different building tradition
than architecture of later Egyptian work or that of most other cultures.
Though built of massive assembled stones, their configuration is that of
"rock-cut" architecture, similar to the rock-cut tombs of later
Dynasties, or the rock-cut temples and monasteries in India.
Individual chambers are hollowed out of the rock with no regard (or need
for regard) of other nearby spaces. In contrast, most built architecture
is concerned with partition of space and the structure needed to support
its enclosure. Every wall built creates usable spaces on both sides of it,
and plans are worked out to make good use of all spaces thus created. Regardless
of the origins of that unique building tradition, it created places for
interaction with the spirit world with immense connection with the earth.
Connection with the spirit world played a vital role in Egyptian culture,
as it can in ours today. The energetic world of chi says that we live on
in our energy bodies after death. Those souls can see into all of our hearts
without the attachments and singular viewpoints we inevitably hold. Their
wisdom is invaluable to the many difficult decisions of life and the pivotal
events of a society. Past rulers with demonstrated wisdom and love for their
community while on earth can be a particularly accessible and valuable resource
to their present descendants.
Individuals able to reach through the veil between the worlds to contact
these souls and other deities perform a vital role in the health and well-being
of society. The techniques available to them are many and varied - oracular
readings, out-of-body journeying to the spirit world, dream walking with
the spirits, channeling their voices, bringing their presences into the
gatherings of the living are but a few.
While we are far from any real understanding of the role of the unique constructions
of the great pyramids and their accessory structures, or even whether the
bodies of any of the Pharaohs were ever interred there, there are certain
things of which we can be sure. One is that physical entry into the pyramids
for ritual purposes would never have been essential in a tradition which
could achieve that same access by psychic journeying.
Another is that the "mortuary temples" connected with the pyramids
probably constituted an ongoing ritual base for psychic access to the spirit
world and the soul of the deceased pharaohs using the embodied energy of
the adjacent pyramid as a vehicle. And finally, we can be sure that the
immensely powerful intention which these constructions represent would have
vast capability of enabling and enhancing any attempts at joining the powers
of the earth and the heavens.
Even today, consistent and unique experiences occur to people at various
places in the archeological remains of the Egyptian spiritual tradition.
They beg for a reexamination of the role and function of those temples,
the spiritual practices which they housed, and what that heritage can contribute
to our lives today.
SETTING INTENTION OF A NATION IN HAN CHINA
The archeological world was set abuzz in 1974 with the chance discovery,
near Xi'an in central China, of an underground army of terra-cotta warriors.
The underground vault of earth and timber eventually yielded more than 7000
life-size terra-cotta warriors and their horses in battle formation and
with more than 10,000 real weapons treated to remain sharp even to this
day. The terra-cotta army, of extraordinary artistic workmanship, dates
from the reign of Qin Shihuang, the "First Emperor", who unified
China in 221 BC and established the Han Dynasty.
Historical accounts in ancient texts of Qin Shihuang's tomb describe it
as containing palaces filled with precious stones, ceilings vaulted with
pearls, statues of gold and silver, and rivers of mercury. The walls of
the inner sanctum were supposed to be 2.5 km in length, and the outer walls
six km. in length. The texts also speak of the terra cotta army, and hint
that other ones exist on other sides of his tomb facing the other cardinal
directions.
Qin Shihuang is known also for construction of the Great Wall of China,
linking up separate walls of former independent kingdoms to keep out marauding
nomads. Most commentators consider the terra-cotta army as a symbolic defense
of the ruler's tomb, and make no connection of it with the Great Wall. The
tradition of feng shui in China, dealing with the energetics of place, suggests
a somewhat different interpretation.
Feng shui suggests that the clarity and strength with which an intention
is expressed plays a vital role in its success in achieving its aims. Qin
Shihuang's aim was a unified China which would endure. The vast effort,
in time, material and artistry which he marshaled into creation of the Great
Wall, his tomb, and the known and possible other terra-cotta armies, represents
a massive commitment to achieve a strongly held intention.
The armies symbolically are prepared to defend the kingdom he created against
encroachment from any of the four directions, while acknowledging their
own success in battle unifying the country. The tomb, if its configuration
follows its position relative to the known terra-cotta army, would embody
the relation of the ruler, the people, and the country to the Cosmos as
in the archetypal Chinese city plan or Ming Tang ceremonial center. The
Wall represents more than anything a statement of edge, boundary, distinction
between what is and is not China. Its potential value as a defensive structure,
however questionable, is probably far less than its value in defining for
the Chinese themselves a distinctive image of their collective self.
From an energetic standpoint, Qin Shihuang's tomb and its surrounding armies
represent a powerfully protected and held point of access to the source,
now returned to the spirit world, which sparked the creation of this vast
new self of the Chinese. It is an immensely powerful statement, radiating
out in all directions and infusing the entire country with the energy of
unity. It is a unity of image which has held, through vicissitudes and change,
for over 2000 years and remains strong yet today.
If excavation of the remaining parts of the tomb complex bring to the surface
what is suggested in the Classics, it will reveal one of the most extraordinary
efforts ever taken in history to manifest and project into the future an
idea and a dream of what a people can become. It will also stand as the
most forceful example ever of feng shui practiced on the level of an entire
country, focusing its energy into the future.
FENG-SHUI OF CHINESE CITIES
Mirrors of the Cosmos
In the feng-shui process of locating and laying out a Chinese city, the
view of the cosmos upon which city location was based spoke symbolically
in terms of four Godsone dwelling in a stream to the east, one in a plain
to the south, one in a highway to the west and the fourth in a mountain
to the north. A site with these surroundings was felt suitable. A rectangular
plan was made in the symbol of the cosmos, reflecting the rhythms of the
sun and the seasons which most strongly affected the land.
The Emperor was placed in the north, as he always faced the holy southin
alignment with the growth-granting forces of the earth and sun. Temples
were built in the northeast to a guardian deity, as that direction was felt
to be unluckydevils dwell in the mountains (as well as enemy troops). Buddhist
temples often were placed in the west, as it was felt that Buddhism had
a tendency to proceed eastward. The entire geometry and detailed layout
of the city symbolically reflected and reinforced their understanding of
the cosmos.
Thus sites were selected with mountains to protect the city from winter
winds, and monasteries were founded in the mountains so the city could be
warned of attack. Southern orientation brought sunlight, warmth, cheer,
and sanitation. Fresh water and air were provided for, and the commerce
and food supply of the city assured. At the same time, every activity in
the making of the city, of living within it, and participating in its life
reminded a person of the forces they felt in the world. They became aligned
with those forces, and gained nourishment from them.
This Chinese tradition of placing themselves and their places of living
clearly within a pattern of the forces of the universe followed also into
similar configuration of the Ming Tang, or "Bright Hall"
where the Emperor followed a progression of ritual within the circle of
the seasons, and into the inclusion of that design into the pattern of tombs,
possibly including that of Qin Shihuang.
WATER, CHI, AND THE SPIRIT WORLD IN KHMER WATER TEMPLES
Monuments in the Khmer capital of Angkor in Cambodia give us a record of
design with chi to achieve dimensions of power and function which
extend far beyond today's conventional design concepts. The Khmers created
a unique and integrated structure of myths, sculpture, temples, royal cities
and palaces, reservoirs, irrigation systems and local shrines which both
provided irrigation water for their fields and created a powerful and ubiquitous
image congruent with their beliefs. It also permeated the water with ch
i energy,
and interfused their entire physical world with creative power from other,
more primal, energetic dimensions of existence.
Agricultural productivity in the Mekong region is impacted by the seasonal
nature of the rains. During spring melt and the monsoons, the flow of the
Mekong River is so great that it reverses the flow of the Tonle Sap, backing
water up into the Great Lake in the central basin of Cambodia. During the
wet season that lake changes from a shallow, muddy chain of pools to a great
lake, eighty to one hundred miles long, fifteen to thirty miles wide, and
in places forty to fifty feet deep. As the waters recede, they leave millions
of fish stranded in the many muddy pools and bayous.
The Khmers worked out systems of sophisticated reservoirs and irrigation
canals to distribute the stored water during the dry season, and to function
as communication and transportation routes as well. A primary role of the
government was to ensure the prosperity of the country through developing
and maintaining this sophisticated system.
The systems of canals, levees, and water-works were executed on a scale
which dwarfed monuments and shrines, such as Angkor Wat, which are themselves
of impressive size even today.14 The
temple and royal palaces from which the water systems radiated acted both
as celebration of vast achievements and as moral guarantee of success for
a deeply religious people.
On another level, chi was considered of central importance to the entire
culture of the Khmers. The seven-headed (seven chakra) hooded cobra, or
naga, became one of the central themes of their art and mythology. Their
creation story was a tug-of-war between the gods and the demons, alternately
tugging on the serpent Vasuki encircling Mt. Mandara. This caused
the mountain to revolve like a giant churn in the primal void, or Sea of
Milk, drawing forth the amrita which ensured the welfare of the king's
subjects.
In the layout of their temples and waterworks, the temples and royal city
represented this central mountain; the gods, demons, and snakes formed giant
balustrades for the causeways giving access to the gates of the city or
temple; and the reservoirs and canals distributed the chi-charged
water to the fields themselves.
In this, the Khmers succeeded, like many cultures, in creating a powerful
image and symbolic representation of the spiritual beliefs of the society.
From the viewpoint of our culture, that was all. But to the degree that
chi does play a significant role in health, it was a wonderfully practical
system also.
However, if we change only one factor in our beliefs, a totally different
picture emerges.
If it is true that the kings after death are merely "on the other side",
then they remain in touch with and able to help their descendants and their
subjects. In this situation, it follows that the rulers' tombs and temples,
and honoring the rulers after death, take on real meaning with substantive
effects on the lives and welfare of the people. The Chinese practice of
locating tombs at places with good chi and using them to honor their ancestors;
and the effort exerted by the Khmers to make their mortuary temples a part
of their "chi-irrigation" system are then far more than symbolic.
The dead, and the necessary arrangements for remaining in connection with
them, are then an integral part of a functioning support system for the
society. They are a valuable means of tapping into the wisdom of the rest
of the society living on the "other side".
From this viewpoint the wonderfully coherent Khmer structure is one of the
most powerful and effective examples of cultural or psychic infrastructure
ever created. Given the existence of the breath of life vital to healing
and connection with the rest of life, and our on-going existence in "energy"
bodies punctuated by periodic incarnations on the physical plane,15 a very different meaning and function
for buildings emerges. With it, many of the peculiarities of design in Khmer
and other cultures are suddenly explained.
The ornamental organization on Khmer temples, for example, is quite sophisticated.
The texture and rhythm of ornament, the positioning of sculptural images,
the layering of plinths and entablatures; and the rhythmical vertical and
horizontal bands of ornament are handled beautifully and with great refinement.
Yet a peculiar thing happens when we come to a doorway into a Khmer temple.
An abrupt and sharp transition occurs - almost like a knife cut. The molding
bands at the base of the wall end abruptly, though returned around corners
everywhere else. The pilaster capitals and the ornamental entablature over
the top of the opening similarly are abruptly sliced off on the side of
the opening. And within that opening almost invariably is a second surround
of pilaster and entablature, far more richly and finely ornamented with
an almost "vibrational" layering and rhythm of ornament.
The same abrupt separation occurs on the terracing and stairways giving
access to these doorways. The three-dimensional sculptural surfaces of the
terraces are rent apart, with the steps almost always "let in"
or recessed behind the surface planes of the terraces. In combination, the
effect these two elements give is one of the surface of the temple being
cut through and slid apart, revealing a glimpse of an "inner temple"
and an "inner access" to that layer.
In most cultures the rooms or spaces inside a sacred structure represent
one of two things. In churches, cathedrals, and some temples, we find a
congregating space for adherents to the religion to gather in worship, meditation,
or other religious activity. The other kind of space is a "Holy-of-Holies"
- a space belonging to and acting as the home of a God, Goddess, or other
representation of spiritual power.
Khmer temples represent a different configuration. The interior of their
temples are neither spaces that people walk into like the interior of any
other building in the physical world, nor the property of some distinct
and separate "Higher Being". Instead, they represent that within
the surfaces of everything in the material world there is contained
a finer, richer spiritual inner existence. Entering into the temple is entering
into that inner "energy" body which transfuses all of Creation.
Khmer temple design reminds us that "functional" role of sheltering
our activities is often secondary to more vital functions. Important structures
have a more important role - to access power, to give a clear and potent
representation of its efficacy, and to transmit that energy out into the
surrounding world.
In Khmer culture, funerary temples and sculptures dedicated to an individual
were not, as often viewed, an egotistical attempt of self-aggrandizement
or a selfish attempt to better their personal afterlife. The Cambodian images
of persons living or dead were intended to contain their "essence",
or "vital principle". When consecrated, they acted as a "bridge"
between the person "on the other side", and those on this side
of the veil. King Yasovarman, a Khmer king of the 10th - 11th century. is
quoted, "Guard this dharma
which for me is like a bridge"16, suggesting their conscious role
in connecting the material and non-material world.
The temple or statue, then, acted as a kind of architectural body substituted
for the flesh and bones previously inhabited by a now deceased 'cosmic person".
Through it, their soul can continue to be accessed, prolonging their connection
with the embodied community. 17
The giant sculpted faces of the king facing in the four directions surmounting
the central Bayon temple and the gateways of the royal city were not, as
often described, the faces of a "Big Brother" king watching every
movement of his subjects. Their eyes, as in the vast majority of Khmer sculpture,
were actually closed in meditation. These were, rather, images manifesting
and conveying out into all corners of the kingdom, the chi or breath of
life. This was chi channeled from the energy dimensions of existence to
the material one through the king, in trance, in his sacred role.
In the Bayon also, we see these giant faces not as sculptures of independent
objects or persons, but as a manifesting of inner consciousness or spirit
within the material (rock) of the temple. They represent a human
connection with that source of energy.
This central focus on the breath of life is dominant everywhere in Angkor.
Headdresses on sculpture represent "flame emanations of aura energy."
A sculpture with a hooded cobra headdress gives the kundalini or serpent
image of that same projecting of chi energy. Three-headed "Vishnu"
sculptures give a sense of simultaneous multiple-exposure, male/female,
multiple existences, or simultaneous occupation by different manifestations
or dimensions of existence.
The temples themselves are virtually covered with fine-grained banded profiles
and layers of ornament. Particularly when looked at with the "soft
eyes" of meditation, this gives a feeling of being manifested by sound
or vibration - a sense of time-lapse emergence, of vibrating from or towards
a medial resting, of emerging from or transforming into something else.
The bas-relief Creation story of the Churning of the Sea of Milk in the
enclosure of Angkor Wat contains an equally unique sense of chi energy manifested
in itsdesign as well as in its story. The top figures seem to bounce in
vibration - almost like a plucked string. The central composition of rows
of gods and demons tugging on the sacred snake again produce a graphic sound-vibration
rhythm pouring out to both sides from the center.
The sacred traditions in India are well known for having used yantras -
geometric compositions - or sculpture based on space and time divisions
of geometry to entrain a person's mind into the energy of the non-material
world . In
the Khmer world of Angkor, this was not necessary. Being within the web
of its "chi-irrigation" system of temples, sculpture, causeways
and canals created an equal envelopment and permeation by the flows and
the power accessed through its configuration and meaning.18
With that, we see another facet of the entire Khmer society. With no meaningful
distinction into secular and sacred roles, every part of a Khmer's
surroundings functioned to connect and empower them through their spiritual/governmental
system. A temple is not an isolated, separate "spiritual" place
to go to. Instead, it is part of a complex environment imbued with spiritual
power which reaches everywhere within the kingdom.
What the Khmers created was a framework encompassing, enfolding, and transforming
the entire material world of the kingdom. Wherever one was - on roadways,
canals, levees, in fields, towns, between temples and reservoirs - one was
surrounded by, one was within, a framework or connection system manifesting
the spiritual world within the material one and bringing the material one
into full congruence with the energetic/spiritual one. 19
All things - buildings, sculpture, ornament and yantras in particular -
can contain and be imbued with the energy to jump-start our personal
and community access to that deep font of creative power. They can twist
that boundary between worlds to create a cusp, to bring the matrix of the
other dimensions into reach within our physical dimension. At minimum, they
can act as momentos or testimonials - like the crutches on the walls at
Lourdes - that confirm the real existence and efficacy of what lies behind
the veils .
LEARNING FROM THE DAGARA TO HEAL OUR ANCESTORS
Our individual root intentions come from the spirit world. And that world
contains all of the ancestors that have come before us. Energetics connects
with that world, and allows its wisdom to be drawn upon by those who are
open to it either by gift or by practice. Thus care and consideration is
given to places which are gateways to those worlds. Ernest Eitel says, in
reference to Chinese energetics:
When, through exhaustion of the vital breath, the body is broken up, the animus returns to heaven, the anima to earth; that is to say, each is dissolved again into those general elements of nature whence each derived its origin and the temporary embodiment of which each was within the sphere of individual life. The souls of deceased ancestors therefore are as omnipresent as the elements of nature, as heaven and earth themselves."20
When we consider relationship with ancestors from
an energetics standpoint we move into what is to our culture a totally foreign
realm. Energetics (whether from a Buddhist, Taoist, Vedic, Yoruba, Hopi
or other philosophical or religious context) says that an incarnate person
begins as an intention in the eternal energy body of that soul. That intention
joins with chi to create an etheric template or auric body, around which
material structure gravitates and coalesces into our physical form.
When we die, that energy body or soul remains in the energy realms, altered
by its recent material life. So we rejoin our ancestors on death. But these
cultures also claim, and willingly demonstrate, that the doors are not closed
between these earthly and heavenly realms. Through specific techniques,
the veils can be parted, we can communicate, journey, and work together
between the worlds.
To feel that directly from a living culture, listen to the words of Malidoma
Somé from the Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso in West Africa:
"For the Dagara, every person is an incarnation, that is, a spirit who has taken on a body. So our true nature is spiritual. This world is where one comes to carry out specific projects. A birth is therefore the arrival of someone, usually an ancestor that somebody already knows, who has important tasks to do here. The ancestors are the real school of the living. They are the keepers of the very wisdom the people need to live by. The life energy of ancestors who have not yet been reborn is expressed in the life of nature, in trees, mountains, rivers and still water...."21
Out of this, Somé also provides an interesting perspective on our relation to our own ancestors:
"In many non-Western cultures, the ancestors have an intimate and absolutely vital connection with the world of the living. They are always available to guide, to teach, and to nurture. They represent one of the pathways between the knowledge of this world and the next. Most importantly - and paradoxically - they embody the guidelines for successful living - all that is most valuable about life. Unless the relationship between the living and the dead is in balance, chaos results.
When a person from my culture looks at the descendants of the Westerners who invaded their culture, they see a people who are ashamed of their ancestors because they were killers and marauders masquerading as artisans of progress. The fact that these people have a sick culture comes as no surprise to them. The Dagara believe that, if such an imbalance exists, it is the duty of the living to heal their ancestors. If these ancestors are not healed, their sick energy will haunt the souls and psyches of those who are responsible for helping them. Not all people in the West have such an unhealthy relationship with their ancestors, but for those who do, the Dagara can offer a model for healing the ancestors, and by doing so, healing oneself."22
With variation in nuance in different cultures,
this is the universe acknowledged and inhabited within energetics. We will
look in a later chapter at the fundamentally different role that religious
buildings, tombs, and homes play in such a world.
But here we want to acknowledge only that ancestors and the spirit worlds
exist, that we can communicate with and be nurtured by them, and that this
is part of the philosophical, and if you wish, scientific, framework of
energetics. It is part of this framework shared by Chinese geomancy, Celtic
magic, and the Japanese Emperor speaking with (not praying to) his
ancestors as part of his inauguration. It underlies the heart of Mayan culture.
It is part of shamanic initiation rituals worldwide, and part of our own
dream worlds. It underlies the care given by the Chinese and others in locating
tombs for good chi, and the attention given to "celestial" influences
in many forms of geomancy. 23
Interestingly, at least the English language literature on China (Needham
included) gives a somewhat subdued tone to the Chinese relation to ancestors.
Mention is made of speaking with them, considerable energy goes into tomb
siting, household rituals are performed. But there is nothing of the emotional
intensity, power of experience, immediacy, and involvement in everyday life
that one feels from Somé, or from Suzanne Wenger's emotionally compelling
Yoruba shrines in neighboring Nigeria.24 And there is none of the vitality of nature spirits inherent
in Aboriginal, Japanese, Native American, Celtic and other traditions. [Wenger
photos]
The role of communication with ancestors in energetics of place gives at
least an inkling of the spiritual domains tapped into in an energy-based
universe and the kind of sustenance gained by those within cultures built
upon that basis.
LIVING IN THE BELLY OF A BIRD IN A KAWAKIUTL
VILLAG E
Every form of life is a different facet of the jewel of Creation and has
particular characteristics which distinguish it from other life. Those attributes
give it unique perceptions, powers, and relationships with the rest of existence.
Through trance, mimicry, and opening psychically to these different lives,
we can enter within and experience their unique nexus of the universe and
even assume some of their powers. This ability to connect with all Creation
on the energetic level and in the spirit world deepens our resonance and
harmony with the song of life, and enriches the wisdom with which we move
through life.
Other cultures live intimately with and commune continually with this world
and these powers. Some of these cultures, such as the Aborigines in Australia,
rarely build, and commune directly with the spirits within the special natural
places they inhabit. Others make places - homes, communities, and whole
regions of the earth - where human action has come to dominate the nature
of the physical world. In such surroundings they have proven able to retain
and even to make more accessible and powerful the connection to the
spirit world of their surroundings. This depth of experience and relationship
with other life transforms everyday existence, giving immense richness of
meaning and knowing to every action and community of support for every situation.
Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest work and live closely with spirit
totems in all of their art, aspecting their nature with compelling masks
and dance, and imbuing their dwellings with the power and imagery of the
family totems. Family association with the spirit of certain animals, birds,
fish, or other forms of life extend back tens of generations into the past,
creating a depth of support inconceivable to our world.
Massive cedar posts supporting roof beams of their dwellings are carved
in the likeness of the spirit totems, and embodied with their energy to
shelter, nurture, and empower the family and community. One doorway in a
Kawakiutl village in British Columbia filmed by Edward Curtis was carved
in the image of a raven - associated with their Creation story. The dwelling
was entered through the mouth of the raven, using the lower beak as a ramp.
As a person crossed a pivot point, the beak swung shut, and the person was
"swallowed" into the belly of the raven . A person coming out
of the dwelling was similarly "born from the belly of the raven",
emerging through its mouth into the village.[Curtis photo]
Susanne Wenger's expressive Yoruba shrines in Nigeria give an equall y potent imagery to
the spirits connected with them. The mouth, trunk, and ears of an elephant,
the symbol of Obatala, are visible under the roof of a shrine sculpted in
the "spirit image" of the orisha, transformed and energized by
its hot passion. [Suzanne Wenger]
Knowing their role and what they embody energetically, we now realize that
the fierce figures located in the gateways to Japanese temples are not intended
to frighten visitors but to embody shielding protection of those within
the complex connecting with the spirit world. And even in the European Christian
tradition, a place of sanctuary and shelter is promised by the sculpted
images greeting us at the gateway to a cathedral. [Japanese temple guardians][Notre
Dame entry]
Masks in ritual and ceremony shut us off from our conventional world and
help us open to the spirit of the life we assume. That new awareness carries
on into our subsequent actions. Incorporation of spirit guides and guardians
into our own homes and community places can today give connection to the
same fonts of life. The carved eagle head on the ridge beam of this living
room, for example, combined with the shape and materials of the ceiling
to give a forceful sense of being protectively sheltered under the wings
of a powerful bird. [Venice mask shop][Rombalski eagle ]
VISITS OF THE KAMI AT IZUMO SHRINE, JAPAN
The Izumo Shrine is the most ancient Shinto shrine
in Japan. Located near a small bay on the west side of Honshu, across from
Hiroshima, the shrine has been venerated for well over a thousand years.
Every year in late fall the kami, or earth spirits, of Japan leave
their normal homes throughout the country and gather for a week at the shrine,
where thousands of pilgrims celebrate their arrival and visit. The period
of the kami's visit is known as kami-arizuke (period with the gods)
at Izumo, and kannazuki (period without gods) in all other parts
of Japan.
At the time of their 1998 visit, an experiment in remote dowsing was performed
to see if any change in the chi energy of the site was perceptible during
their visit. Dowsers Sig Lonegrin in Europe, Joey Korn and James Sullivan
in North America and Hitomi Horiuchi in Japan dowsed a map of the shrine
precincts before and after the arrival of the kami. All found major change
in the energy of the site, which reverted to its earlier state after the
departure of the spirits.
In spite of the Westernization of Japan, the kami still exist and continue
their annual visits, carried out for probably more than a thousand years.
Their presence is still perceptible to visitors, and people still gather
from around the world to honor and celebrate their presence.
<<<>>>
Various cultures have stumbled upon one or another of the diverse means of accessing the energetic dimensions of existence. They seem to have, understandably, stayed with those means of access although far simpler and less painful means of doing so may exist. Our unique opportunity today is of gathering in, sorting out, and amalgamating this richness of techniques and their unique or similar achievements to develop a unified and comprehensive science of the sacred .
TOM BENDER
38755 Reed Rd.
Nehalem OR 97131 USA
503-368-6294
© 8 Jan 1999
tbender@nehalemtel.net