Living in a forest meditation cave (photos)

Seth Auberon, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; Majorie Chiew (thestar.com.my, 2011)

Cave-dwelling Theravada Buddhist monastic under crot or hanging mosquito net

(Ajahn Cagino) Photos from the exhibition on the wandering Forest Tradition life

Scaling new heights: Sometimes there are no roads in the forest so climbing the rocks to get over to the other side becomes necessary to continue the journey, explains Ven. Cagino. Once he pulled this stunt and fell off the ledge. Fortunately, his fall was broken by the branches of a tree before he landed by the riverside.

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Venerable Ajahn Cagino, 43, lives in a cave with two snakes and eight bats.

 

The cave is 1.2 miles (2 km) from the nearest village in Mae Hong Son, northern Thailand. Nestled in a deep valley hemmed in by high mountain ranges that border Burma, Mae Hong Son is isolated from the outside world and is covered with mist throughout the year.

 

“I’ve had enough of wandering,” says the Malaysian monk practicing within the Thai Forest Tradition, which is a branch of Theravada Buddhism.

 

For 12 years, Ven. Cagino had been walking through the remotest jungles of Thailand, before settling down in a cave. It was all part of the spiritual training of a forest ascetic.

 

All those years in the forest have brought out the best in him. Ven. Cagino, who is back in Malaysia on a vas (a three-month annual Rains Retreat observed by Theravada practitioners during the Asian rainy season), is out to raise funds to build an orphanage in Thailand.

 

“When I was a forest monk, the villagers gave me food as alms. Now I want to give back to these impoverished tribal people,” says Ven. Cagino who hails from Seremban....

• Dwelling apart -- free and liberated (sutra)

Life in the Wilderness

Floating to the other shore: Meditating on a bamboo raft for spiritual tranquility.

 

[Ven. Cagino was once an award-winning photographer.] “What used to be the best photo was not the best anymore. At the next photo contest, you’ve to improve your skills and get the winning shot,” he says. “Nothing seems to be the ultimate.”

Mr. Cagino was miserable and disillusioned and wondered if there were more to life than its never-ending challenges. At 27, he turned his back on all material pursuits, sold off his worldly belongings, and eventually became a Buddhist monk.

Over the next two years, Mr. Cagino visited forest monasteries in Thailand and New Zealand to learn more about Buddhism.

Ven. Cagino was ordained as a samanera (novice) at 29 and stayed at Ang Hock Si Temple in Perak Road, Penang, for the next year and a half.

He trained as a forest monk under Thai master Ajahn Ganha for five years and was re-ordained at Wat Pah Nanachat (The International Forest Monastery), a Buddhist monastery tailored to foreigners in northeast Thailand, in the Theravada Forest Tradition.

 

The monastery was established by the late Ven. Ajahn Chah to provide English-speaking monastics the opportunity to train and practice in the way Buddha originally taught his disciples in the forests 2,600 years ago.

 

The Thai Forest Tradition stresses meditation and strict adherence to monastic rules (Code of Discipline). Known for its orthodoxy, conservatism, and asceticism, the Thais greatly respect monks who observe this tradition.

 

A photo exhibition offers a rare glimpse of the lives of Theravada Buddhist forest monks. Silence in the streams: A monk practicing sitting meditation by the running waters of a waterfall (courtesy of Ajahn Cagino)

   

“I want to be a forest monk because Buddha himself spent much time dwelling in the forest. It is a strict, disciplined path,” says Ven. Cagino.

 

During the past 12 years, he was in and out of the forest with other monks. But six years ago, he set off alone into the deep wilderness to experience what it was like to be a forest monk. All he had with him were five pieces of cloth, an alms bowl, cup, umbrella, mosquito net, and walking stick.

“The stick is important as we can make some noise to warn snakes and other creatures of our presence when we’re walking through the forest,” says Ven. Cagino.

 

He described his wandering years as a journey of exploration and discovery, not a time of hardship.

 

“I enjoyed those years even though I know not if there was a meal for tomorrow or where I was heading. I just walked on to see the world,” he says.

 

A forest monk leads a nomadic life as he moves from one place to another to find the ideal location to practice meditation. He usually camps by the river for easy access to water supply.

 

“We stay 15 days at the most at one place -- not too long as we’re not supposed to feel attached to a place,” he explains. “If a place has ample food and shelter but is not conducive for meditation, we must leave promptly. If the place is great for meditation, the forest monk will stay a bit longer. It allows us to enhance our wisdom.”

 

Meal for the day: Monks returning with food offerings from their morning alms round.

 

Sometimes Ven. Cagino would ask villagers for directions to caves where monks had previously stayed. “There may be a fireplace and an old kettle left behind. Sometimes I will borrow a hammer and nails to make a seat for meditation,” he says.

The life of a forest monk is not without its challenges. There are times when they have to track through muddy paths, cross streams and rivers, or climb down cliffs. One can easily get lost in the jungle, too.

 

The forest monk will usually stay 1-2 miles (2-3 km) from the nearest village so that he can go for alms in the morning. He accepts only food, never money. More

A Photographic Journey of the Dhammafarers is an exhibition of 99 photos by Ajahn Cagino to raise funds for Dhammagiri Foundation to build an orphanage in Thailand. The exhibition took place  at White Box, Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, Malysia then Citta Mall, Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Sept. 8-20; Bandar Utama Buddhist Society, 3, Jalan BU 3/1, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, from Sept. 25-Oct 2; and 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Petaling Jaya, Oct. 8-9.

Yeti: Hunt for the Buddhist Wildman (video)

Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; National Geographic; Bhutanese guides; Nepalese Sherpas; Telegraph.co.uk; Arthur C. Clarke; Sasquatch Central

(National Geographic) "Yeti: Hunt for the Wildman"

  

The Yeti or Migoi (BhutanCanada.org)

In our search for apemen, other species of humans, human-hybrids, and cryptoids, Western researchers get more than they bargained for -- the preserved body of a Yeti [Migoi, pronounced meh-goor, a Yakṣī (यक्षी)] in Buddhist Bhutan. What is a Yeti to the Bhutanese, inhabitants of the world's last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom? A Nat Geo team of investigators went looking for concrete evidence "like DNA," says Oxford's Dr. Bryan Sykes. Strange tissue so far recovered turned out to be a subspecies of brown bear never before seen. Of course, that sample does not explain the five-toed, clawless footprints and the many eyewitness accounts of something that is much more than a bear. Bhutanese Vajrayana Buddhists call them "demons" (rakshasas) and consider Yetis killers. As a result more than one has been killed, and their remains are kept as cautionary relics, 100% proof for locals who fear them alive.

Nat Geo goes to Buddhist Bhutan

Mark Evans with cast of Bigfoot print (NG)

But wait. Nat Geo now believes in the firm scientific basis for Yeti? Yes, but to please the powers that be, the question has been shifted to, Is it a type of officially extinct bear? To find out for sure, Nat Geo sent Mark Evans and a team to the spectacular Himalayas. They went in search of the legend and discovered that Yeti creatures are deeply embedded in local legend. Meanwhile, Oxford Professor Bryan Sykes had some extraordinary samples to test: hairs from a Nazi Yeti killed in Tibet in the 1930's, samples from a Tengmo (the Yeti of Ladakh, in Buddhist India) shot in the early 1970's, and a mystery hair collected in Bhutan in 2001. When Prof. Sykes reveals the results, they are surprising, and could potentially identify the biological identity behind the Yeti legend. More
 
The World's Missing Apemen

(MW) "Hunt for the World's Missing Apemen" with Arthur C. Clarke from Buddhist Sri Lanka

  

Bigfoot corpse (Rick Dyer)

This classic episode of Mysterious World is a lively documentary investigating evidence for the Himalayan Buddhists'  Yeti and the North American "Bigfoot" (Sasquatch). Lester Davies talks about finding Yeti footprints that lead from snow, across water, to snow on the other bank. Davies estimates the Yeti to be 840 lbs. (60 stone) and 8 feet tall, for it crossed the waterway by simply stepping out onto two legs after having been in frigid water in which Davies sank down to his armpits. Dr. Grover Krantz, an anthropologist at Oregon State University, tracks Sasquatch. The academic is attempting to kill a single specimen for science after carefully studying footprint evidence and sightings by reputable witnesses.
  

In 2013 Oxford scientist Dr. Bryan Sykes reported on his DNA analysis of samples.

  
"Yeti lives"! Abominable Snowman still roams the Himalayas
Telegraph.co.uk

Some Yetis are brute cannibals (yakshis)

Research by an University of Oxford scientist has found a genetic match between an ancient polar bear and samples said to come from the Yeti -- suggesting the creature known as the "Abominable Snowman" is definitely still living in the Himalayas. More


 

Man-bears are humans not bears (wired.com)

But the word for "bear" is widely used for black bears in lower altitudes, brown bears in higher altitudes, the Wildman (Migoi) or "man-bear," and also the Mitchim. This use of the general word "bear" does not limit it to our Western nomenclature or classification system. There are human creatures that are not bears, ogres who are much bigger with human features, conical heads, chimp noses and otherwise bare human faces, with bodies covered in hair. They have their own language and calls, which ordinary humans are incapable of making.

Woman found who lives with Yeti

This woman lived with a giant Yeti (NatGeo)

Moreover, Sarah Seymour of the Nat Geo Team found a woman who for six years periodically lived with a Migoi or "Abominable Snowman." Villagers searched for her but could not find her because the creature hid her in a cave. She would go missing for days at a time in the wilderness, where she was unable to fend for herself, yet she would return in perfect condition each time. She claims the creature she stayed with would bring and give her whatever she wanted. (This is exactly like the Buddhist sutra where the Buddha interacted with the Yakkha Alavaka, a Yeti, who had language, preternatural strength and powers, as well as human wives and was called a "cannibal" because of its penchant for eating humans). It is no bear, and she would gladly return to it now to sleep with it in its cave, but the villagers would worry and search for her if she did. It did not harm her and may even, one imagines, have mated with her.

What is the human creature the locals see?

There is a school in Buddhist Sri Lanka named Visakha Vidyalaya. Its motto comes from the Alavaka Sutra. When this creature first confronted the Buddha, he threatened to kill him. The ogre said he would utterly destroy him unless the Buddha correctly answered its questions. One of the questions was, "How is one cleansed?" (Kathansu Parisujjhati?) to which the Buddha replied, "By wisdom is one cleansed" (Paññaya parisujjhati).

• PHOTO: American shares photo of Bigfoot killed a year ago after luring it with pork; DNA tests performed (Daily Mail)

Native Americans know "Bigfoot" (video)

Pfc. Sandoval, Xochitl, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; History.com; EsotericHaven

Yeti, Laos (Jenny-H-Edwards)

Monster quests are fun if a little spooky. Let us now take a look at what Native American legends say about the giant "Bigfoot." The wild man of the woods goes by many names among various First Nation peoples ("tribes"). But Sasquatch more than any other has been adopted into the American lexicon.

Wildmen stories are found throughout the world and among the indigenous US population of the Pacific Northwest from California through Canada to Alaska. These legends existed prior to a single name for the creature. They differed in their details both regionally and between families within the same community. Similar stories of wildmen are found on every continent other than barren Antarctica. 

 

 

Tribal Bigfoot (Paulides)

Ecologist Robert Michael Pyle argues that most cultures have human-like giants in their folk history: "We have this need for some larger-than-life creature."

Members of the Lummi tell tales about Ts'emekwes, the local version of Bigfoot. The stories are similar to each other in terms of the general descriptions of Ts'emekwes, but details about the creature's diet and activities differ between the stories of different families.

(National Geographic) Skeptical research into Bigfoot aimed to debunk sightings, native legends, and forensic evidence. Is there a large bipedal primate out there? Film footage from 1967 captured an image of an elusive hominid. Nat Geo examines the footage and interviews trackers who claim to have encountered the frightening beast.

• Bigfoot: Yetis fighting Bears in Siberia
  (Voice of Russia) Russians are concerned that a growing battle between bears and the "human like" Yeti [yakshi, Buddhist "ogre"] of the forests will cause trouble this winter, when the defeated bears come...

Some regional versions contain more nefarious creatures. The stiyaha or kwi-kwiyai were a nocturnal race that children were told not to say the names of lest the monsters hear and come to carry off a person -- sometimes to be killed. In 1847, Paul Kane reported stories by the native people about skoocooms: a race of cannibalistic wild men living on the peak of Mount Saint Helens. The skoocooms appear to have been regarded as supernatural rather than ordinary terrestrial beings.

Less menacing versions such as the one recorded by Rev. Elkanah Walker exist. In 1840, Walker, a Protestant missionary, recorded stories of giants among the Native Americans living in Spokane, Washington. The Indians claimed that these giants lived on and around the peaks of nearby mountains and stole salmon from the fishermen's nets.
 

Asian wild man ogre mask (mickjim/flickr)

Various local legends were compiled by J.W. Burns in a series of Canadian newspaper articles in the 1920s. Each language had its own name for the local version. Many names meant something along the lines of "wild man" or "hairy man" although other names described common actions it was said to perform (e.g., eating clams). 

  

Check the DNA! I did. - Dr. Ketchum

Burns coined the term Sasquatch, which is from the Halkomelem sásq'ets and used it in his articles to describe a hypothetical single type of creature reflected in these various stories. Burns's articles popularized both the legend and its new name, making it well known in western Canada before it gained popularity in the United States.

Frontiersman Daniel Boone reported having shot and killed "a ten-foot, hairy giant he called a Yahoo." Folktale scholar Hugh H. Trotti has argued that Boone's account may have been the inspiration for some of the early Bigfoot stories told in North America.

(Monster Quest) "The Mysterious Sasquatch Island" (documentary)