Chapter 11 Indonesian Stories (10)

After a few afternoons of reading at the local library, I'm a little puzzled.Wait - why am I visiting Bali again?To pursue a balance between worldly pleasures and spiritual practice, right?Is this the right environment for such a pursuit?Are the Balinese really more peacefully balanced than the rest of the world?I mean, the dances and prayers and feasts and beauty and smiles make them look like they're in balance, but I don't know what's really under there.The police do put flowers behind their ears, but corruption is everywhere in Bali, like everywhere else in Indonesia (I discovered this fact myself the other day when I smuggled a hundred bucks into a uniformed officer to get an illegal visa extension , allowing me to stay in Bali for four months).The Balinese take their image of being the most peaceful, devout, and artistic world quite seriously, but how much of that is intrinsic and how much is economic?How much do outsiders like me know about the stress that may be hiding behind these "joyful smiles"?It's the same here as everywhere else—when you look at the photo too closely, all the firm lines turn into a blur of brushstrokes and dots of light.

All I can say so far is that I love my rented house and that the Balinese people treat me with great courtesy, without exception.Their art and rituals seem to me beautiful and alive; they seem to think so too.This is my experience of being in this place, perhaps more complex than I can comprehend.But no matter how far the Balinese have to balance themselves (and make ends meet), that's up to them.What I'm doing here is maintaining my balance, at least for now, where the nurturing environment is. I don't know the age of the pharmacist.I asked him, but he wasn't sure either.I still remember when I came here two years ago, the interpreter said he was eighty years old.But one day Mario asked Grandpa Lai how old he was, but he said, "About sixty-five years old, not sure." I asked him when he was born, and he said he couldn't remember.I know he was an adult when the Japanese occupied Bali during World War II, which makes him probably eighty years old now.But when he told me the story of the burnt arm when he was young, I asked him what year it happened, and he said, "I don't know. Maybe 1920?" But if he was about twenty in 1920, what is it now? age?Maybe 105 years old?We therefore estimate his present age to be between sixty and one hundred and five years of age.

I also noticed that his estimate of his own age changed from day to day, according to how he felt.When he was tired, he sighed, "Maybe eighty-five today." But when he felt excited, he said, "I think I'm sixty today." Maybe that's a good way to estimate age--you "Feel" how old you are.Honestly, what's more important?Still, I've always wanted to find out.One afternoon, I simply asked him, "Mr. Lai, when is your birthday?" "Thursday," he said. "This Thursday?" "No, it's not this Thursday, it's Thursday."

That's a good start...but nothing else.What month is Thursday?which year?No one knows.In any case, in Bali, the day of the week is more important than the year of birth, so even though Lai doesn’t know how old he is, he has a way to tell me that for a child born on a Thursday, the patron saint is Shiva the Destroyer, and this day is governed by Guided by two animal gods - the lion and the tiger.For children born on Thursday, the representative tree is a banyan tree, and the representative bird is a peacock.Those born on a Thursday always talk first, interrupt others, are a little aggressive, and tend to be pretty (in Lai's words, "a playboy or a playgirl"), but are generally friendly, have a good memory, and are helpful. desire.

When his Balinese patients came to him with health, financial or relationship issues, he always asked them what day of the week they were born so that he could dispense the correct prayers and medicines to help them.Because sometimes "people's birthdays are out of order," Lay said, some astrological adjustments have to be made to bring them back into balance.A local family brought their youngest son to visit Lai Ye one day.The child is about four years old.I asked what was wrong, and Lai translated that the family was worried that "the little boy has a problem of being aggressive. The little boy is disobedient, has bad behavior, and can't concentrate. Everyone in the family is tired by the little boy." Also, little boys sometimes get dizzy."

Grandpa Lai asked the parents if they could hold the baby for a while.They put their son on Grandpa Lai's lap, and the boy leaned back on the old pharmacist's chest, relaxed and not shy.Master Lai hugged him tenderly, resting one palm on the boy's forehead, and asked him to close his eyes.Then one palm was placed on the boy's stomach, and he closed his eyes again.He smiled and spoke softly to the boy from start to finish.The inspection will be over soon.Lai handed the boy back to his parents, and the family left with prescriptions and holy water.Grandpa Lai told me that he asked the child's parents about the boy's birth status, and found that the child was born on the day of the evil star, and it was a Saturday - born on this day, there will be interference factors of evil ghosts, such as crow ghosts, owl ghosts , Rooster Ghost (makes the kid aggressive), Doll Ghost (causes him to stun).But it's not all bad news.Born on a Saturday, the boy's body also contains rainbow and butterfly spirits, which can be enhanced, and a series of dedications must be performed to bring the child back into balance.