Statue From The Far East

Just to warn readers, the story that I am going to share might not be suitable for everyone, I do not mean to religious or against any religion, all information that I have here is what I know and what I have heard of. I apologize if any of the information is wrong or would be "sickening".

To start off, I know most people in Japan believes in Buddhism, second is Shintoism and very little of them believes in Shamanism or their own rituals of the area they live in (there are people whom believe in other religions too but I do not have accurate data on them).

To continue with what I will start with, let me explain, my knowledge of Japanese Buddhism and the difference of Shintoism (My knowledge, so it might not be perfect).

Japanese Buddhism is pretty much like Shintoism, the difference is how and where they pray to their gods and the procedure when visiting a Shrine or a Temple.

Shintoism prays in a shrine, during the praying procedure, they "clap" twice then bow before praying (sorry if I am wrong). Buddhism prays in a temple, and their praying procedure is similar but they do not "clap" and unlike Shintoism they do not pray for any "gods" (sorry if I have misunderstood any of the information I have). Of course not just how they pray, their belief are pretty much different than on another, but Japanese culture somehow had combine the two religions (again, I might be wrong).

Going back to what I am going to share. My Grandfather used to own a small statue which looks like a small child "crouching". It was said that it was made by a monk from an old temple in Okinawa, Japan.

Many good monks of Japanese Buddhism like Buddha himself have their names and sometime even statues kept in the temple where they used to pursuit their Buddhism knowledge.

Old Japanese Buddhism has had a practice where the monk will die in the position of meditation; this is called the "living statue practice". This practice is banded by the Japanese Law later on. Just like keeping names and statues, some temples nowadays still keep these living statues.

I am not sure if it is related at all I have read about Kuman Thong in this site otherwise "Criança dourada" (the golden child). It is meant to be a practice by Thai Shaman, but somehow became one forbiden ritual of Thai Buddhism. Just in case some people will be wondering what they are and curious enough to search the net for it, DON'T, it is horrible in another way. You can skip the next paragraph if you don't want to know, for those of you whom is really curious please go ahead.

Basically (?), it is a practice where people will "roast" an "unborn child" for their "oil" and they will keep both the "oil" and the "body" and make them into lucky charms, most common (not sure but it said so) is that the monks will paint the "child" in gold and make them into golden statues, that is why people there call them the "golden child".

Sorry for the very long introduction. Back to the "crouching child" statue my grandfather use to own. My father used to say that he could see small bones on the statue and that the statue might have been a dead body of someone's child. My mother used to laugh at what my father used to say. Well, to be honest I have never seen the statue until my late 20s, when I first met my granduncle (my grandfather's younger brother). He brought the statue with him, I was kind of amazed on how detailed the statue is. My father spoke with my granduncle in a serious tone. My grandfather wanted my father to keep the statue, my father refused because of certain reasons, most important that he stated was that I can see a child's bone. My granduncle said that he will take the statue to somewhere he can X-ray scan it, of course there is no way he could take a statue to a hospital (too much National Geographic's shows?).

I was there too and was listening with my mother at the 2, arguing whether or not to keep the statue and funny reason not to keep or to keep the statue. I knew about the living statues at that time but I thought it will be impossible for a child to have such a harsh practice, so I joked about it most of the time.

The statue ended up having to be kept by us (now, the old house of my father). My mother told my father that the statue gives her night mare, my father says the same. My sister and I were fine, but we hear long moaning of some cats or some kind of animals (We did not keep any pets at that time) during midnights. Now that I think about it, the moaning sounded kind of like a wild cat, but how? Were there wild cats around the city? I am not sure.

Years after both me and my sister had moved out (My sister started a cooking course in the states and I started working in the main city), my mother was in the hospital for an operation (no, not related to the statue at all, so I am not going to write the details, just needed to cut off some mass, nothing serious). My father was left alone at home with the statue. I called home to see if everything was OK, I am not familiar but I kind of heard a child (or a girl?) spoke in Japanese then my father answered the phone, I remember asking him who that child was, and he did not know what I was talking about.

My sister when back to see my father last weekend, she told me that the statue was still there in the house. She called my mobile during 11pm night time saying that she is hearing that moaning we used to hear. I told her that it might be some kind of wild animals, but my father was awaken too this time since it was coming from inside the house. He thought it was my sister going crazy (lol) but found out it was not. I asked her why did she call me and not the cops and she said that it was that moaning that both me and her used to hear and she thought I might have some idea what that was. Não (No,I don't).I searched of the net to see what possible wild animals it can be, monkeys perhaps? I thought.

I will be back and will be gathering with my sister this weekend, I called home and again I hear someone spoke in Japanese, the voice was wispy and very young, I asked my father whether he have set a voice message in Japanese, he asked me back whether there is such service. Não (No, there is not). It is like 9 years since the last time this happened.

Is the statue really causing all the strange event? Shall I tell my father to do a cleansing as well? (he has never did any cleaning rituals ever since he moved away from my grandmother's tribe)

I might write another story if some more strange thing happen during this trip back to my father's old home.

Blessing from São Paulo

E.Lynx