"Hubris is the arrogance of the human intelligence that thinks it has it. thinks it knows." _ Shunyamurti.
Really! What the hell do I know?! After all these years, I am still thinking!
The T- shirt I wore usd to belong to my twin brother and he gave it to me when I was living on Kapas Island, he sent it along with a wind breaker and a few art materials and a sketchpad and a whole bag full of medications that was his prescription including pills for lowering high cholesterol, pills for high blood and so forth. It says CHAMPION on the chest, a logo which I believe is a company that produces batteries and spark plugs. Coming from him, I could not refuse, and I was touched.
My two young buddies, Rizal and Syafik, owners of the Hin Bus Barrista. Today, I decided to spend some time with my buddy Ben and have him buy me lunch. I met Rizal many years ago when he was bartending at China House on Beach Street, where my daughter was also employed. We would chat while I waited for my daughter to be done with he work. Syafik, I met my daughter not too long ago. Great guys with their heads glued on right for a change.
Never got to talk to the Artist, but his music made good sound on the Sarawakian, perhaps an Iban instrument upgraded technologically, it has a unique guitar sound. The Hin Bus Depot has been promoting musicians from all walks of life, culture, and ethnicity. Sometime in 1989, I visited the Long House at Kapit in Sarawak, and it was during the time of the 'Gawai hantu', which, according to the head of the Penan Tribes who happened to be present for this auspicious occasion. This gentleman once was given the Medal of Honor by the Queen of England for bravery.
For three days and nights from the moment we stepped onto the bamboo floors of the Long House, we were 'coerced' to drink the local rice wine and various other liquor available for the festivities. I was drunk by the second night out of my mind and was sure i was a member of the tribe of headhunters living in the heart of the Borneo Rainforest. Thanks to my twin brother, who was then the Director of the Handicraft Center in Kucing, he made the trip possible for me to take. I took a lot of slides of the events, and upon returning to the United States, where I was a student at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay. The trip itself was my final semester project, where I returned to Malaysia and made a documentary of my trip to Penang, Terengganu, and Kuching, Sarawak. The slides I took are now a part of the permanent collection of the University Archive, or so I was told.
I am aware of the many things my twin brother made possible for me in the past, for without his help, I would never have experienced the life of the Indigenous of Borneo, even if it was but for three days and nights. The solemnity and the sacredness of the rituals and ceremonies touched my heart and mind to the core and being most of the time drunk and sleep deprived, I found myself in a whole different realm of dimension.; the felt the spirit of the Great Hornbill as I flew through the night into the dark forest. By the time i departed from the Long House and its community, I found myself throwing up green peas over the side of the long canoe. I was informed that the Gawai Hantu takes place every 65 years, and it was when all the tribes of Iban congregate at one Long House to commemorate the dead.
Hin Bus Depot, a good place to hang out and enjoy the arts and local scene. It's happening here every weekend. Can you imagine the fact that at this very moment, bombs are being dropped over Gaza, and the children are dying? Do you care? Do I care? If life is an illusion, Maya, what does it matter? Suffering is, None who suffers, the Buddha said so, and Enlightenment is, but none who attains it. What does he actually mean? Right and wrong, good and evil, white or black, are a sickness of my own mind! Yes, I think too much. As a matter of fact, you are/ I am addicted to thoughts...I am still thinking.
Buddha's Way is Unsurpassable, I Vow to Attain it.
Through Right Mindfulness and Right Understanding,
Through the silence of the mind and the presence of being,
I am who I am,
Sat Chit Ananda.
One of my favorite western food - Lamb chops! Ben Ronjen agrees it is by far the best lamb chops around Georgetown - at the restaurant Rumah Kaca or The Glass House.
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