Loy Kratong
In November of 1971 a very strange thing began to happen to Mr. Paisahn Sanchai of Lamphun province, Thailand. After feeling exceptionally tired and going to sleep he had the first of many recurring ‘visions’ (nimitta). In these visions he is greeted by two individuals, a nobleman named Pingarāja and a monk named Venerable Gaṇdhā Gaṇdhālo, who take him to various planes of existence where he is able to converse with the beings residing there. Many of these beings pass on messages to individuals who used to be their relatives in previous lives, by using Mr. Paisahn as a medium or channel.
Here is an excerpt from one account by Mr. Paisahn entitled ‘The Wondrous Event of the Creation of the Emerald Buddha’:
This vision occurred during the night of Sunday 24th November 1996, which happened to be the night of the Loy Kratong—the full moon. Since 9am of that previous day I had been receiving visitors, who had already been waiting at my house since 7:30am. There were many suffering and unhappy people wishing to see me that day, but there was one large group of people who had come from Bang Bahn district in the province of Ayutthaya.
The group was comprised of about ten people—all relatives—who had come in a minibus. They had heard about my reputation from others and came because they wanted to speak with me in order to find a way to extricate themselves from their suffering. Their suffering had to do with their children, who, both girls and boys, were all promiscuous. They slept around without discrimination. The parents, who had hoped to rely on their children, ended up having no-one to rely on. I suggested to them that they bring their children to me so that I could meet them, assess their situation, and offer some advice.
‘This would be impossible.’
‘Why?’
‘Because all thirteen of our children are dead.’
‘How did they die?’
‘Of AIDS.’ (When this occurred AIDS was still relatively new in Thailand and people did not take great care.)
‘We have come to ask you to have a vision of our children. We have heard that your visions are extremely accurate.’
‘Okay, I’ll give it some consideration.’
‘We have come a long distance. We want you to have a vision right now. We will wait. Khun Paisahn, please go and sleep right now.’
‘Hey, I can’t do that.’
‘Okay, if Khun Paisahn isn’t able to sleep during the day, we can help you. We have brought some sleeping pills along!’
They even gave me photographs of all thirteen children so that when I were to have a vision I would know who is who. To respond to their misunderstandings I had to give a lengthy explanation of how my visions occur. When they understood correctly they left. This is one sample of the human suffering I encountered on that day.
We are all born with suffering. I have been receiving people since 1981 and I still haven’t met anyone who is happy. This life is truly pervaded by suffering—I don’t know where true happiness exists in this human world of ours. Wealthy people suffer, poor people suffer, middle-class people suffer. Everyone has a unique form of suffering. It is not possible to find ultimate satisfaction in this world. And people tend to be selfish, covetous and self-indulgent. They don’t generally consider the suffering of the channel (of Khun Paisahn).