Battambang, resistance fighters, and rip off busses.
After arriving in Battambang on a bus which had a VIP price but no VIP seats and unsuccessfully arguing for a three dollar refund on Friday afternoon, Martin, Khem, and I found a hotel and went and got dinner.
Today, we went out to the outskirts of Battambang and met with Sun Vitun, 51, a former resistance fighter, painter, and current tattoo artist. As we arrived in his village my eyes were drawn by Khem's call and the brightly colored paint to a sign that stated his profession. He began hanging up all of the artwork he has collected and drawn on the wall to show us what he had to offer. Many tribal tattoos and Chinese characters along with all the signs of the Chinese zodiac and many mythological beings from Hinduism and Buddhism.
He himself is covered in tattoos. His upper arms and chest are a massive geometric patterns surrounded by many smaller tattoos and his left forearm is marked as well. His feet and legs all the way to the hips are also covered in lines of Pali script. We sat down for a few hours and he graciously answered all of the questions I had put forth. He answered questions about the ritual involved, where the magic comes from and how it is transferred and maintained. He explained the different kind of yantras; tattoos, amulets, magic cloth, and talismans.
His faith in this magic is strong and he prays to his teacher everyday so that his protection will not wain. Vitun explained to me that once he was walking through a field when he stepped on a mine. The explosion threw him and he began to crawl away when he tripped another mine which exploded underneath him. After getting up and not heeding the warning of his brothers in arms to stay put he made his way back to them and set off a third mine. He now has a two centimeter long near his knee where he was hit by shrapnel.
I was told what is necessary to prepare for a yantra tattoo and two things stand out: the first is the teacher is the one who decides the worthiness of a person and therefore the being deserving of a tattoo and the second is that you must know yourself and direction in life before you can get one. The teacher must be wise in character judgment.
That is it for now. For the particulars of this matter please patiently await my paper.
Yours truly,
The Original Ryan B, LLC ©2009 No Rights Reserved
Today, we went out to the outskirts of Battambang and met with Sun Vitun, 51, a former resistance fighter, painter, and current tattoo artist. As we arrived in his village my eyes were drawn by Khem's call and the brightly colored paint to a sign that stated his profession. He began hanging up all of the artwork he has collected and drawn on the wall to show us what he had to offer. Many tribal tattoos and Chinese characters along with all the signs of the Chinese zodiac and many mythological beings from Hinduism and Buddhism.
He himself is covered in tattoos. His upper arms and chest are a massive geometric patterns surrounded by many smaller tattoos and his left forearm is marked as well. His feet and legs all the way to the hips are also covered in lines of Pali script. We sat down for a few hours and he graciously answered all of the questions I had put forth. He answered questions about the ritual involved, where the magic comes from and how it is transferred and maintained. He explained the different kind of yantras; tattoos, amulets, magic cloth, and talismans.
His faith in this magic is strong and he prays to his teacher everyday so that his protection will not wain. Vitun explained to me that once he was walking through a field when he stepped on a mine. The explosion threw him and he began to crawl away when he tripped another mine which exploded underneath him. After getting up and not heeding the warning of his brothers in arms to stay put he made his way back to them and set off a third mine. He now has a two centimeter long near his knee where he was hit by shrapnel.
I was told what is necessary to prepare for a yantra tattoo and two things stand out: the first is the teacher is the one who decides the worthiness of a person and therefore the being deserving of a tattoo and the second is that you must know yourself and direction in life before you can get one. The teacher must be wise in character judgment.
That is it for now. For the particulars of this matter please patiently await my paper.
Yours truly,
The Original Ryan B, LLC ©2009 No Rights Reserved