Bizarre Realistic Dream
So last night I had a very strange and oddly realistic (hyper-real) dream about being at a Buddhist temple in Nepal. These particular Buddhists believed that their temple was a special place that could be a gateway to Nirvana that could turn certain types of practicing Buddhists into great spirits to aid the world. The only way to make that reincarnation though would be to meditate and achieve the right metaphysical state and then die immediately while in said state. So there's the setup for the dream.
I'm at this temple to witness this event (maybe as a journalist?) because for the first time they are using a .22 pistol to perform the 'instant death' necessary for the transition, as opposed to the old method of using a heavy icepick to the head. So this is a once a year event, and three Buddhists are going to attempt the reincarnation this year. Two of them were Nepalese Buddhists who were well into their later days in life who had been practicing monks for decades, but what was disturbing to me is that one was an American guy who was only 20 years old. He was dead-set on doing this and was certain that he had a special gift and power that would assure his successful transition, and many of the old monks there agreed, having felt his spiritual mettle and examined his states of meditation.
After some ritual and some celebration, for some reason the three were each placed in the passenger seats of some old run-down Asian pick-up trucks and then one by one driven over to the point where the ritual killings would commence. Each went into their meditation from within the truck, with attendant monks surveying their state of being and then one would unceremoniously shoot the meditating person in the head and instantly kill them. Nothing spectacular, nothing reverent, nothing even dramatic about it, they just each slumped over in one direction or another, dead. The whole affair was more or less quiet and methodical and uneventful until all three were driven off and the monks chanted for the success of the individuals who were just ritually slaughtered.
For some reason this whole dream just disturbs me, on a creepy level. What a waste of life, a stupid thing to believe, and a stupid thing to do. I have no idea where the dream came from or why, but it's really kind of bothering me to think about it. Like it's some real world travesty that enrages me and I want to speak out about. Except that it was only a dream...
I'm at this temple to witness this event (maybe as a journalist?) because for the first time they are using a .22 pistol to perform the 'instant death' necessary for the transition, as opposed to the old method of using a heavy icepick to the head. So this is a once a year event, and three Buddhists are going to attempt the reincarnation this year. Two of them were Nepalese Buddhists who were well into their later days in life who had been practicing monks for decades, but what was disturbing to me is that one was an American guy who was only 20 years old. He was dead-set on doing this and was certain that he had a special gift and power that would assure his successful transition, and many of the old monks there agreed, having felt his spiritual mettle and examined his states of meditation.
After some ritual and some celebration, for some reason the three were each placed in the passenger seats of some old run-down Asian pick-up trucks and then one by one driven over to the point where the ritual killings would commence. Each went into their meditation from within the truck, with attendant monks surveying their state of being and then one would unceremoniously shoot the meditating person in the head and instantly kill them. Nothing spectacular, nothing reverent, nothing even dramatic about it, they just each slumped over in one direction or another, dead. The whole affair was more or less quiet and methodical and uneventful until all three were driven off and the monks chanted for the success of the individuals who were just ritually slaughtered.
For some reason this whole dream just disturbs me, on a creepy level. What a waste of life, a stupid thing to believe, and a stupid thing to do. I have no idea where the dream came from or why, but it's really kind of bothering me to think about it. Like it's some real world travesty that enrages me and I want to speak out about. Except that it was only a dream...