Subject: Fwd = "The real meaning behind the Naga fireballs"
From: Frits Westra <fwestra@...>
Date: 08 Nov 2002 17:47
Forwarded by: fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
URL: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/page.news.
php3?clid=11&theme=A&usrsess=1&id=3803
Original Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 17:30:44 -0800
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The real meaning behind the Naga fireballs
Published on Nov 8, 2002
In TV journalism, seeing is believing. That is why TV is the most
powerful medium of all branches of journalism because its cameras can
bring live pictures as well as real sound to their audience in a
dimension matched by no other media.
But the iTV team of investigative reporters who witnessed fireballs
being emitted from the middle of the Mekong River in Nong Khai
province by a Naga, a mythical serpent, did not believe what they saw.
So they went out of their way to prove that what they really saw was
unreal. By doing so, iTV succeeded in creating a conspiracy theory.
That was a start of all the trouble for iTV.
Every year at the end of the Buddhist Lent period, from both sides of
the Mekong River, thousands of people joyfully witness the fireballs
of the Naga, shot gloriously from its mouth into the air as a gesture
of homage to the Lord Buddha. During this period, the Lord Buddha
returns to Earth to make his miracles. The Naga, a loyal subject to
the Lord Buddha, has been lying quietly under the Mekong River since
time immemorial. It only wakes up once a year to perform this sacred
duty in the Bung Fai Phaya Naga Festival to restore faith in Thai
Buddhism.
But iTV reported that the Naga's fireballs were simply a human
invention - tracer rounds shot into the air from the AK47 rifles of
Lao soldiers. This is sheer blasphemy from the point of view of
religious fundamentalists.
But you may say that this is an iTV myth. If this iTV mythical
conspiracy theory for the Bung Fai Phya Nak is to hold true, the
entire Lao army, which has been kept idle in their barracks after the
Cold War, must have totally revised their military strategy. Instead
of looking after border security as a priority, the Lao army is now
trying to take over the sacred job of the Naga by manufacturing the
fireballs in the Bung Fai Phaya Naga Festival. Why? To supplement the
country's foreign exchange reserves.
Are you so naive as to think that the Naga would lie quietly in the
depth of the Mekong River without doing anything or without exacting
any revenge on the Lao army if its sacred duty is taken away from it?
Besides, the Lao soldiers are men of religious tolerance. Like the
Thai people, they also believe as much in the existence of the Naga as
in the existence of the sun, the moon and the stars.
Three politicians from Nong Khai - Pongpan Sunthornchai, Thewarit
Nikornthes and Prasit Chanthathong - have become so angry with the iTV
report, which portrayed the province's people as fools and frauds,
that they have threatened to sue iTV for Bt1 billion in damage.
It will be a very interesting case to witness. For iTV will have to
prove its case by bringing out the Lao soldiers from across the border
to the witness stand, while the three Nong Khai politicians will have
to persuade the Naga to come forward before the court with its
fireballs.
Let me bring you back to the time of our Lord Buddha. After the Lord
Buddha had attained his Enlightenment, he sat under the Bodhi Tree for
seven days. He was in a blissful state after this Enlightenment. Then
he moved on to relax under the shade of a banyan tree. There he stayed
for another seven days. Then the Lord Buddha changed his position
again by staying under a Barringtonia tree for seven more days,
overcome by joy over the breakthrough of his consciousness.
All of a sudden, it began to rain and a cold wind blew for seven long
days. Trying to protect the Lord Buddha from the bad weather, the Naga
King Mucalinda appeared before him. He coiled around the Buddha in
seven coils and spread his hood over him to prevent the rain and the
wind from touching his body. This posture of the Lord Buddha protected
by the Naga has become immortal in scenes portrayed in Buddhist art
and literature, as evidenced by the Nak Prok-style Buddha images and
Buddha emulates during the Lopburi Art period.
When the rain ceased, the Naga uncoiled. It then disguised itself as a
young man and stood before the Buddha, who said:
"There is happiness in quietude. One who has heard the Dharmma takes
pleasure in calmness. The happiest person in the world is he who does
not do any harm to any creature, gives up desires and is without
passion."
The Naga embraced the Lord Buddha's teaching wholeheartedly. The iTV's
investigative reporters have shown that they have no understanding at
all about the disparity between philosophy, folk belief, myth and
reality.
Thanong Khanthong
© Nation Multimedia Group
44 Moo 10 Bang Na-Trat KM 4.5, Bang Na district, Bangkok 10260
Thailand
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