Answers without, answers within

(I’m knocked-out by a bug/flu … BaZi chart analysis will recommence once I’m healthy again!  In the meantime, here’s a quick look at Numerology…)

The Wall Street Journal recently had an article entitled Number-Crushing: When Figures Get Personal; Real-Estate Developers Factor In Love of 6 and 8, Fear of Unlucky 4 and 13; What Happened to Floors 40 Through 59?

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It was an interesting read, and reminded me of how things are back in Malaysia; being a multi-racial country where the Chinese are most active in commerce and business and therefore have influence over things like, oh, the numbering of the floors of a building, it’s not uncommon to see that the floor that follows 3 isn’t 4, but 3A.  This is due to 4 sounding like “death” in Chinese, and therefore no one in their right mind would want to live or work on such an inauspicious floor.  I’ve even seen floor 13 followed by 13A, thus indicating that the Western (Christian?) aversion to 13 is trumped by the Chinese aversion to 4.

This “fear of four” explains the lack of floors 40 - 49, but not 50 - 59 despite this being part of the article’s subtitle!  In fact, I read and reread the article looking for an explanation for cutting the 50’s out of a building, and didn’t see any explanation.  Surprising oversight for a Wall Street Journal article, eh?  I don’t remember 5 having a negative connotation; if anyone can shed some light on this, that would be great!

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I don’t get it, myself: you may “hide” that a floor is the 4th, 13th, or 14th, for example, but “a rose by any other name”… right?  And what’s the use of claiming to be on the 88th floor, for example, when it’s painfully obvious it’s more like the 45th?

Other ways numerology comes into play is when choosing auspicious numbers for other number-related things in your life: your car license plate number or phone number, for example.  I know of someone who really went to great pains to find a “meaningful” phone number.  Open the Malaysian newspapers and you’ll see many special sale prices advertised at RM88, or RM1888 (as opposed to the Western world, where it’s much more common to see prices like $99 or $29.99 - but that’s the result of a different marketing strategy).

While I don’t remember the “meaning” of each of the 10 digits, here’s an example using what I do remember:

1 = one day
11 = every day
8 = prosperity
9 = always / forever

… put it all together: 1189 would mean “everyday you’re prosperous forever”

Coincidentally, through no effort of mine, 1189 has appeared twice in my life so far: first as the number plate of a secondhand car my father had bought way back when I was way young; and second as part of our now-disconnected Chicago land line.

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Other memorable numbers (to me):

• 42 will always be the answer to “Life, the Universe and Everything”
• 37 - watch Kevin Smith’s Clerks  *grin!*
• 22 - my birth day!

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How about you?  Any special numbers in your life?  Do you find yourself avoiding certain numbers, and if so, why?  Comments are open!

Tey A Ta Om Bekandze Bekandze Maha Bekandze Radza Samogate Soha

A few days ago I shared a delightful video of Surya singing the Medicine Buddha mantra of healing. Since I had not known about this mantra before, I did a bit of searching on the internet to find out more.

Interestingly, what we have here is a short mantra; there is a longer mantra where what Surya sings is the last segment of the entire piece.   You can find the full mantra and its meaning/translation here.

Let’s walk through in a little more depth what this short mantra is all about:

Tey A Ta Om
I have the impression every mantra starts with  Om / Aum - it is the primordial sound, and an auspicious greeting to the Universe.  While I saw that Tey A Ta can mean “like this” I don’t quite see what its function is in this mantra.  I can only guess it transforms/enhances the Om somehow.

Bekandze Bekandze Maha Bekandze Radza
Bekandze is one of the names of, or one of the ways to address, the Medicine Buddha.  It also means to eliminate pain.  By saying Bekandze you are thus invoking, or calling upon, the Medicine Buddha to eliminate pain within you (or, in Surya’s case, within the person she’s “sending” the mantra to).

The first Bekandze eliminates gross physical bodily pain and suffering.

The second Bekandze tackles the true source of the suffering previously eliminated, i.e. karmic and mental turmoil.

The third invocation calls upon the Maha Bekandze, the Bekandze Radza, the supreme king of physicians, the highest form of the Medicine Buddha, in order to tackle the remaining problems: the sutble impact of the now-eliminated problems on your consciousness.

Samogate
This is the target of the mantra - once cleansed of all those problems plaguing your mind, your body, your psyche, the path is then clear to achieve a higher state of consciousness.

Soha
This is often used at the end of mantras, and essentially means Hail! or Make it So!.

It is no wonder this is considered a very powerful mantra — it tackles symptoms, root causes, and subtle consequences of any problems you might be experiencing. It also describes one’s journey to realisation/enlightment - overcoming the physical, mental then subtle aspects of one’s nature.

I find myself spontaneously singing this mantra at odd times of the day.

How about you? What do you think of this mantra and its meaning, its function? Do you plan to incorporate it into your (daily) life?

Some useful reading:

• Medicine Buddha in wikipedia
• The Meaning of the short Mantra at Purify Our Mind
• Medicine Buddha resources in Dharma Haven