The Insight Necklace

 The Forest-Monk Medallion necklace has been with me for almost thirty years and represented the end of one unusual pilgrimage and the beginning of a much different one. 
 This Forest-Monk necklace is made from medallions I received from Forest-Monks in northern Thailand. A senior Monk escorted me there from the Bangkok temple of Batrabopit in the winter of 1979. The reason I was visiting these especially gifted and nationally revered people was that I had passed an Insight Test given to me by the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand at that time. The fact that I was the first western person to have passed such a test in the four hundred years or so westerners have been traveling to Thailand (Siam) has gone completely unnoticed. With the lifestyle choices I have made over the last forty years or so I’m not sure that my political and social skills would be effectively resilient enough at being notices anyway. Unfortunately, I may not have much of a choice in the matter, too many people know of the uniqueness of this necklace, its possible monetary value, its spiritual contribution to healing confusion and cultivation harmony as well as other significant influences. An old Thai restaurant owner in Albuquerque, New Mexico told me, with tears in his eyes, “The necklace was priceless and impossible to translate its spiritual significance.”  
The Forest-Monk necklace itself is only an external acknowledgement from my completely gracious Thai hosts to there rather grateful western guest. At the time I was in a state of almost constant euphoria. To be around people who actually knew what I was talking about as well as in a culture that supported people who had made similar lifestyle choices was astounding. It took several weeks to find all of these Forest-Monks, even the driver had to ask directions to their remote retreats. There were other tests, several blessings, a number of mystical encounters, and few genuinely spiritual moments that I can only understand and appreciate esoterically.

Another consideration is that the necklace represents a spiritually historical moment between an ancient Buddhist culture and a newly emerging one. At the time of this remarkable event there were no pictures taken for the press, no official announcement, no documents signed nor testimonials given. As far as I could tell absolutely no one expected such an unusual event to have occurred, nor were they inclined to make it other than a spiritual unique moment shared between a few individuals from different cultures, times and conditions; I maybe the only person alive today who was actually there. The fact that I am the only westerner to actually have such an unusual artifact implies something special did take place at that time and was culturally and officially acknowledged by taking me to visit, be recognized and blessed by these very special and gifted Forest-Monks.
Passing the Insight Test was, for me, possibly stranger that the historical account of the Forest-Monk necklace itself. I passed the test because I was happy, even overjoyed to be in the presence of such an extraordinary meditator as the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand. What made the interview interesting was that he was able to look inside my mind and body in a completely convincing and unbiased way, exposing my entire life, as well as my karmic stream and cosmic connections – everything. There were absolutely no barriers anywhere. What I suspect got his attention was that I was completely comfortable with him being in my conscious awareness. I was joyous, with tears in my eyes, for the entire interview. As far as I was concerned he could have looked at me forever and I would have been content.
The events that led me to the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand in the first place unfolded in the thirty-eight hours I had spent in Bangkok before the interview. It began when I got off the plane at Bangkok International; it was warm, friendly and full of wonderful wonderment. What was also true was that I hadn’t the slightest idea there existed a Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, Forest-Monks, medallions, or an Insight Test.
My entire pilgrimage strategy was to be in Bangkok by November 1979. The rest of the itinerary was left vague. As it turned out this was an excellent plan. I got off the plane at 1:00 am Saturday morning, went to the taxi stand and asked them to, “Take me somewhere,” which they did. It was a small but pleasant hotel in down town Bangkok. I asked the desk person to sign me up for a floating market tour, and then went to bed.
The next morning, after six hours of sleep, which seemed to be enough, we floated down the Chiopia River and other, around the corner, river market places. The tour ended at about noon. I asked the guide if he could take me on a temple tour and he was certain that he could. The last Temple we visited, in the late afternoon, was the Emerald Buddha Temple. I want to assure the reader that there is no equivalent place in the western world or my mystical-spiritual experiences.
To say that the Emerald Buddha Temple had a Thai-Asian-Buddhist atmosphere misses the point entirely. It felt as comfortable as an old couch in a home full of kids and cats, with wonderful kitchen smells. It was busy and noisy in just the right way that made being there and doing what you did there just right. It was like coming home after growing up and finding everything just as you remembered it. I just sat there for quite some time, did a few prostrations, sat back and looked at the Emerald Buddha thinking, for the size of the alter, it wasn’t very big. Upon returning to the hotel I asked my guide if he would take me on more temple tours the next day. He said that he would be happy too. That night I had an extraordinary vision.

I am not accustom to having experience with life altering, dramatic, in your face, visions, though this didn’t seem to matter. Late that night I sat up. Not just – it’s time to sit up kind of a sit up, but a spring awake sit up in a instant or possibly faster. Sitting on the foot of the bed was a life-size version of a dynamic, dramatic Emerald Buddha. It was vibrant and aware and possible frustrated with me for some reason. What was shared with me from mind to mind was the condemnation to – “DON’T THINK LITTLE MIND!!!”
I want to assure you that I hadn’t the remotest idea what to do with this information, what it might mean, or why I should be having a vision at all.
The next morning the tour guide showed up, I took him to breakfast, and told him about my vision. He listened patiently, we finished breakfast, he hailed a cab and off we went. He took me to Wat Batrabopit. We entered through a nondescript door in an immense wall into a wren of passageways, hallways, temples and classrooms, gardens and canals until we came to a room under a set of arching ornate stairways framing an exterior door. The room was not large but dusty, full of books, papers and an old Monk. I couldn’t remember anyone’s name, they all seen unusually long, complicated and I’m not very good at remembering even short names. I was asked to tell my vision to the old Monk. It seemed that the old Monk was a former teacher of my tour guide. He listened patiently as my guide translated my story then left the room for an hour or so while we sat around looking at old magazines. When he came back he said that I had an interview with the Supreme Patriarch. I asked my guide what that might mean and he said, “It was good.” I had no idea what that meant either.
I suspected that my guide/translator was a bit of an opportunist, although I can hardly complain. I don’t think he translated very well either before, during or after the interview. Mostly he said that things were going well and not to worry. I know that Asians tend to prevaricate as a culture and my guide/translator was very good at it, never the less I had my interview with the Supreme Patriarch at 2:00 pm on Sunday afternoon, thirty-eight hours after arriving in Bangkok. After we left the interview my translator said that I had passed the Insight Test as well as a number of other tests, none of which he elaborated upon. When pressed to explain he simply stated that, “It was good,” and kept walking.
It has been twenty-seven years since that interview and the night of intense vision. I can’t say that I have been very good at sharing my experiences about insight or the necklace or making myself available to answer such questions. I have spent more than half my time in the woods, on top of mountains, or in the deep desert of the western half of North America. The rest of the time I spend preparing to go to these places. If I could afford it I would never come back. Although, I still wonder about what - “DON’T THINK LITTLE MIND,” might mean. It maybe that I’m suppose to share this story with my western family, although I’ve had considerable problems trying to do so, or I should bring the necklace back to Thailand or it could mean something else entirely.


30 October 2010
Wat Subchaom
Phra Putthapat, Sara Buri, Thailand
Yasha