Cempaka Culture and Tourism: Chinese temples prepare for New Year

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Chinese temples prepare for New Year

Andra Wisnu, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Wed, 01/21/2009 1:59 PM

Men and women rolled up their sleeves, wrapped red bandannas around their heads and picked up bucket, brushes and other supplies for the annual pre-new year’s cleaning of one of Bali’s most interesting places of worship.

Budha bless you: A man cleans the face of a Buddha statue Tuesday at Griya Kongco Dwipayana in southern Denpasar. The temple’s custodians cleaned up the temple to prepare for the oncoming celebration of Imlek. (JP/ Zul Trio Anggono)

There are hundreds of Buddha statues in the Griya Kongco Dwipayana Chinese Temple on Jl. Bypass Ngurah Rai in Tanah Kilap, Denpasar, and all of them must be cleaned before the welcoming of the Chinese New Year next Monday.

“The philosophy behind cleaning our statues and temples is that as we welcome a new year, we must also renew ourselves,” Ida Bagus Adnyana, high priest of Griya Kongco Dwipayana, said Tuesday.

“We must start over clean, just like the statues in this temple,” Adnyana said.

The cleaning ritual is one of the most important pre-Chinese New Year traditions.

In Griya Kongco Dwipayana, which houses many beautifully-adorned Buddhists statues, this means a lot of cleaning.

From the familiar figure of a sleeping Buddha to the statues of seven goddesses which stood on top of a pond, Griya Kongco Dwipayana adherents will spend hours, if not days, cleaning these statues in preparation for the influx of Chinese New Year celebrants.

“We just began today actually and this will probably take all day and tomorrow,” the high priest said.

Griya Kongco Dwipayana is one of the most unique worshipping places in Indonesia, as at this one site gather believers from three faiths: Taoist, Buddhist and Hindu

This combination is a remnant of Indonesia’s draconian past, when Chinese people were not allowed to observe their important holidays in public.

In effect, Chinese people secluded their celebrations in relatively small areas while keeping their number of temples low.

This only changed eight years ago, when the administration of President Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid lifted the restrictions on Chinese celebrations.

Adnyana said the building of the Griya Kongco Dwipayana temple was in itself a miracle, as it lies on a mangrove forest.

“That’s in accordance with the instructions I received in my dream more than 20 years ago,” Adnyana said.

The high priest had asked for a 16 square meter space. Unexpectedly, the Ministry of Forestry gave him 400 square meters.

In the 1990s, the ministry granted more space, bringing the total area to 900 square meters.

Now Griya Kongco Dwipayana is one of the most popular Chinese temples in Indonesia, drawing devotees from as far away as Manado, Surabaya and Jakarta.

As Chinese New Year grows nearer, Griya Kongco adherents will adorn the temple with red lanterns, decorated umbrellas and banners.

A Chinese Barongsai lion and dragon dance has also been scheduled.

Both devotees and non devotees are welcomed to experience the grandeur of the celebrations.