Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Long Phor Opasi



LP Opasi is believed to be born between 1877 and 1887 and had 7 siblings. He began his monastic studies at 5 years of age and became a novice at Wat Tai at age 13. His teacher noticed that he was a gifted student and advised him to go to a larger city to complete his studies. Heeding this advise, the young LP Opasi travel to Wat Tah Po, and then to Bangkok to study Pali in Wat Bowon.

LP Opasi liked to study and learned several languages. He spoke English, Chinese, Tamil, Malay, Japanese, Pali and several other languages. He was the disciple of the great LP Kob of Wat Tham Salika in Lopburi. Although they never met physically, they communicated remotely by telepathy during their meditations and thus LP Kob transmitted his teaching to LP Opasi. LP Kob had developed a technique of meditation based on the concentration on a flame. He had the incredible capability to maintain concentration without interruption for very long periods (40 days without eating nor sleeping) and LP Kob has transmitted this knowledge and technique to LP Opasi.

When LP Opasi was nearing the highest level of study, his behaviour started to change in a strange way, he would stare at burning flames for long period of time. LP Opasi observed the Vinaya strictly, and in particular he would refuse all gifts offered to him. He would burn them saying that these objects were temptations which will lead to unhappiness and that fire was the solution to destroy this problem. On one occasion LP Opasi nearly caused Wat Bowon to be burnt down, this made the villagers very dissatisfied. They didn´t understand why LP Opasi behaved like this and many villagers thought that he had became insane. LP Opasi was then requested to leave Wat Bowon by Phra Sangharaj Chao. Upon learning that LP Opasi was moving out of Wat Bowon, Acharn Bow Er invited him to stay at Wat Arsom Bangmok.

During the years that passed in Wat Arsom Bangmok, LP Opasi became very famous for his gifts of clairvoyance, being very accurate in his predictions. He became so famous that devotees came from far and wide to see him daily from morning till evening to know of their future, or to ask him to perform certain miracles for them. As a result, LP Opasi can’t find any time for his meditation practise. It is then that LP Opasi decided to give out amulets as gifts to those who came to seek his service in clairvoyance in return for their kind cooperation to leave him in peace.

In 1955, LP Opasi and two of his disciples were invited to a Buddhist conference in India to be held from 28 October 1955. LP Opasi asked his two disciples to leave for India first and inform the organizer that he would only be able to join them on 31 October. On October 31 many devotees went to the airport to wish LP Opasi a bon voyage, but he did not turn up. Concern for him, some devotees went to visit him at the temple only to found out that LP Opasi has passed on.

At the same time in India, the two disciples of LP Opasi attended the Buddhist conference in the company of LP Opasi. LP Opasi spoke with many other Buddhists dignitaries and even gave a speech in front of several hundreds of people. Upon conclusion of the conference, LP Opasi bade farewell to his two disciples, and told them that he was going to return to Thailand by a separate means of transport. Upon arrival in Thailand, the disciples had a hard time believing the news of LP Opasi's death; everyone thought they had become insane when they said they have spent the last days in LP Opasi’s company. Luckily, the testimony from several other monks present during the conference lent support to their incredible account.

龙婆Opasi相信是出生在1877年至1887年期间,并有7个兄弟姐妹。他5岁开始了他的修道学习,并在13岁在Wat Tai成为了小沙弥。他的老师发觉他是一个有天赋的学生,劝他去一个更大的城市以完成他的学习。年轻的龙婆Opasi听取此奉劝,就去了Wat Tah Po,然后再去曼谷的Wat Bowon学习巴利文。龙婆Opasi喜欢学习各种语言。他可以说英语,汉语,淡米尔语,马来语,日语,巴利文和其他语言。他是伟大的龙婆Kob,Wat Tham Salika Lopburi的徒弟。虽然他们从来没有见面,他们通过坐禅时以心灵感应沟通,龙婆Kob就这样教导龙婆Opasi。 龙婆Kob开发出一种专注于火焰的坐禅方法。龙婆Kob可以维持很长时期的专注(40天没有吃东西也没有睡觉)。龙婆Kob也把这方面的知识传授给龙婆Opasi。当龙婆Opasi学习到接近最高水平的时候,他的举止开始改变,他会长时间盯着燃烧的火焰。龙婆Opasi严格地遵守戒律,并拒绝所有提供给他的供品。师傅会把这些供品烧掉,并指这些诱惑将导致不愉快,而大火摧毁就是这个问题的解决方案。有一次龙婆Opasi几乎把Wat Bowon烧毁,这让村民非常不满。他们不了解为什么龙婆Opasi会这么做,许多村民认为他精 神失常了。Phra Sangharaj Chao就要求龙婆Opasi离开Wat Bowon。当阿赞Bow Er得知龙婆Opasi将离开Wat Bowon,他就要求龙婆Opasi留在Wat Arsom Bangmok。在Wat Arsom Bangmok的这些年,龙婆Opasi的天赋洞察力以及精确的语言使得他很出名。每天从早到晚都有很多信徒慕名而来。结果龙婆Opasi没有时间坐禅修炼。所以龙婆Opasi决定做护身符给信徒们,以让他得到平静。在1955年10月28日,龙婆Opasi和他的两个弟子应邀到印度的佛教会议。龙婆Opasi要求他的两个弟子先到印度,并告知主办当局,他只能够在10月31日抵达。 10月31日,许多信徒去到机场欢送师傅,但师傅没来。一些信徒去到庙里,才发现龙婆Opasi已经离开。在印度的同时,两个弟子在龙婆Opasi的陪伴下出席佛教会议。龙婆Opasi采访了许多佛教徒政要,甚至在数百人面前发表了讲话。会议结束后,龙婆Opasi告别了他的两个弟子,并告诉他们他将独自返回泰国。抵达泰国后,徒弟们无法相信龙婆Opasi圆寂的消息。当他们说近几天都在龙婆Opasi的陪伴下时,大家都认为他们失常了。幸运的是,其他几位出席佛教会议的僧侣见证了一切并支持他们的说法。

credits given to thai-amulets.com and dharmathai.com