It’s quite early Monday morning in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I’m still adjusting to the time, even with a bit of JetZone homeopathic help, so I woke at 4:00 am and meditated, just like we’re advised to do by many advanced teachers and texts. The hotel staff gave me tea gratis, and I’m enjoying it in the garden as a few early rising mosquitoes are enjoying a bit of breakfast gratis from me.
The hotel is beautiful. There’s a huge Christmas tree in the lobby, which seems oddly incongruous, but all traditions are One. The American popular Christmas tunes are not as enjoyable, but they are a polite nod to the traditions of other lands as well.
The garden has an inner courtyard with an elephant head in each of the four directions, and is built on the same mandala pattern we see in so many places, a four-sided square, like the hotep in Abu Ghurob and Dahshur, and the center altar in the Coricancha in Cusco which I believe is where a spring rises. This is the hotep at Abu Ghurob. I promise Cambodia pictures very soon.
The trip was long and arduous, and even though I slept a lot on the plane in spurts, I think I’m getting too old for 30+ hours of continuous travel. I’ll break it up next time I’m coming to the other side of the globe. Travel, sleep, then travel some more. But I can say that when we landed in Siem Reap in cloud cover that finally broke to show us a green countryside, I felt a deep, deep peace come over me. My focus shifted from the content of the surface world to using that as a means to find the One Awareness beneath all that activity. Each moment is an opportunity to find Home, I was reminded. Something about this place releases me and tears come easily. I’m sure this will pass into a gentle peacefulness.
The tour starts tonight with a meeting and tomorrow we go to Angkor Wat to start our exploration of these ancient temples. Today, my friend and I are going to the local artisan’s market and then to a silk farm.
The sun has won the day as I type and perhaps the mosquitoes have as well. The lights in the restaurant have come on and more people have joined me on the terrace.
May the peace which passes all understanding be with you always.