Forest Spiritual Beings

[Nosta]

Sometimes when i go to the forest, to a mountain, to a peaceful and lonely place in nature, i wonder if there are spiritual beings living there, and maybe beings that see themselves as the "lords" of that place.

Often we read about legends of elves, gnomes, etc and maybe such legends have origin on spiritual beings. Who knows.

In the biography of Acarya Mun, an high developed monk of Thailand (already dead), he told of an encounter (while in a samadhi state) with a giant being of the mountains who was the lord of that place. I think to myself that Acariya Mun wouldnt lie about that. He even knew how to distinguish between a simple lucid dream and something real. So, if we accept his experience as real, that means that perhaps we have such kind of beings on every forest or mountain and i wonder how we could see them.

In the other hand, if there are beings like that, why we dont have any accounts/descriptions of encounters with them?

Whats your opinion about these matters?

Just a last word: this came to my mind because there is a topic here in the forest about a green woman and i remember at some years ago, on other forum, someone speaking about a green lady or green lady of the forest, a spiritual being.

[Konchog1]

I've heard of lot of stories like that. There are a lot in the Pali Canon and in Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism even has offering litany for such beings.

A Thai friend told me a story from his temple. Back in Thailand, a man dressed only in a sarong walked into a temple and without speaking, lit a candle, prostrated to a Buddha statue a few times, and then wordlessly left. Since this was so odd, a monk followed him and according to the monk, the strange man walked to a nearby river and went behind a large rock by the river. When the monk came behind the rock, the man had disappeared. So, the man was likely a Naga, a water spirit.

[oushi]

Banjankri?

[Nosta]

Konshog, very interesting story.

Even spirits or nagas pray to Budha. I wonder if portuguese spirits, for example, pray to Buddha too or, since we live ina Catholic country, they pray to Jesus (or to nobody).

I would like to hear more stories like that, anyone?

Oushi, i am seing the video (already in the ten minutes...i will see more later when i got some time) and seems interesting too, altought not sure if its complety related to this topic.

[Indrajala]

Most cultures have had the idea that such beings exist.

In Bodhgaya I met a monk who told me about a desolate mountain he visited where maybe a few sadhus do their practice. He said you could hear music, but there was nobody around playing music. The sadhu informed him that this was just the devas who inhabited the mountain. He said he later encountered some beautiful goddesses there in his meditation.

[Indrajala]

Interestingly, I recall Thurman in one of his talks relating how older Tibetans that he knows are of the mind that with the electrification of a countryside a lot of such beings as we're discussing now simply leave. They don't hang around. The electrification drives them away.

[Nosta]

Thats curious indeed...in fact, eletricity may be a good reason for so less natural beings. I think we are not so conected with each other and with nature because technology is destroying that.

Its a choice: we choose to live with confort or we choose to live in a more direct way with nature.

Another account:
Ãcariya Mun spoke of a huge city of nãgas, located under the mountain
west of the Laotian city of Luang Prabang. While he lived there,
the chief of those nãgas regularly brought his followers to hear Dhamma,
occasionally in large numbers. The nãgas tended to ask far fewer questions
of him than the devas of the upper and lower realms, who always
had many questions for him. All these groups, however, listened to what
he had to say with equal respect. During the time Ãcariya Mun lived
at the base of that mountain, the chief nãga came almost every night
to visit him.

This is fromthe Acariya Mun Biography.

[greentara]

Ramana Maharshi said there was a divine city within the Arunachala hill. In the still of the night you could hear siddhas walking around the sacred mount. In Eastern religion these delightful stories are told by the enlightened. Ajahn Chah also spoke of enchanted animals coming to drink from his pool of water.

[gad rgyangs]

it is only in materialist western culture that knowledge of nature spirits has been lost.

[Konchog1]

I blame Christianity too

[Nosta]

These are delightful stories. I would like to add some, but i dont know any of them.

In Portugal there are some local and ancient legens (some forgotten) about the Mouras or Moiras, beings of the forest. Some of them are described as small, others as blond women (or men). They are from the times where big monuments (like stonehenge) or built.

In north of spain there are similar stories.

We have also the "papão" (bogyman) and the coca (the same things as "papão" almost) where the ancient legens describe him as a very tall and dark figure with fire in the eyes and mouth. It sated from very ancient times, more than 2000 years ago here in Portugal and Spain. The Celts would open something like a pumpkin and light it up inside.

So, as you see, halloween is very old here