Thoughts about Pilgrimage Visits to IMC and Pyaw Bwe Gyi

The following excerpt was written by Branden Macie about the pilgrimage in Burma, and describes scenes from Day #2 and Day #3. Another American yogi also wrote briefly about the second day. For current pilgrimage offerings, see here.

"Paying respects to and meditating at Sayagyi U Ba Khin's IMC personal cell for a few minutes, a cool dissolution of metta engulfed me, the entirety of U Ba Khin's life and Dhamma efforts washed over me and the vivid words of Goenkaji about U Ba Khin's metta instantly were realized. At once, my mind was fashionable and I cast it in the purest direction knowable, toward the limitless merits of this life and this journey with the whole of conditioned existence with formed/conditioned phenomena, from fine forms to solidified, bound forms. Truly it was easy to pray through the dissolved rupa and nama which that single place affirmed. 

I bowed deeply taking refuge in the Buddhas, Dhammas, and Sanghas of past, present and future. Truly, I pray the streams lightness-- of metta, reach all beings in that location, be known to all, and fill this arupa, rupa, and kama lokas of samsara. The streams of light metta atoms known to my mind was easily fixable, directable. And I cast it in a direction which, surely, Sayagyi would encourage-- towards sharing the merits.

A feather floated lightly through the wind at Saya Thet Gyi Center. It landed on the hard solidified concrete ground. My mind was directed towards subtle/soft realities and to gross/impermeable realities. Then, naturally the awareness of the space enabling soft and hard realities to exist arose in me. Such were the vibrations of our Anagami great grandfather's center: light, heavy, and containing."