Crowds flock to see ‘ghost’ on tree
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Crowds flock to see “ghost” on tree
Saturday March 25, 2006
By PRISCILLA DIELENBERGFOR the past month, large crowds have been flocking to Kampung Bukit Kechil in Sungai Nibong, Pe-nang, because of a “sighting” of a spectre.
Village Development and Se-curity Committee (JKKK) chairman for Sungai Nibong Besar, Julastri Ibrahim, however, said the object was actually a parasitic plant growing on a branch of a durian tree.
In the moonlight, he ex-plained, the plant’s leaves reflected a lighter patch against the dark leaves of its host tree, causing people to speculate that the illuminated shape resembled some supernatural being.
FOOLING THE EYE: The picture on the left shows the plant as seen with the naked eye at night and (right) the plant is lit up by the flash of a camera.
According to Julastri, it all started on the night of Feb 27, after the announcement of the increase in petrol prices.
Crowds flocked to the Caltex and Shell stations next to each other on Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, causing a traffic crawl.
“Some drivers and passengers got out of the car to stretch. It was then they saw the tree in the nearby village, and the ridiculous rumour spread.”
He said hundreds of people had been coming throughout the night to see the sight.
He said many visitors brought cameras and a few even brought equipment to detect “paranormal activity”.
“The irony is that the tree is next to a cemetery. We have some people trying to conduct strange rituals beneath the tree.”
Source : HERE
02 April 2006
If the tree is really haunted…Penang, 2 Apr – The recent news about a perceived tree in Sungai Nibong, Penang, with paranormal entities which brought attention to many superstitious believers brought me to the location which is set some 20 to 30 minutes drive away from my home. And for the first time, I am looking at trees, not admiring their beauty, but on the parasites that grow on them.
That morning, I went out for breakfast/lunch with mom. As I drove along the Pulau Tikus area, I noticed that all the bigger and older trees have parasites growing on them. Some of these parasites grow with a lighter shade, a different colour from the original colour of the tree that they grow on, and definitely giving a perception of ‘glow’ at night. Other trees were, as usual, twisted and an imaginative mind might conjure images of the supernatural to satisfy the hyperactive mind.
Just a normal tree
For a hyperactive mindThe more I looked at the trees, the more I am sure that there is actually nothing spectacular about the tree featured in the newspaper. So what if the tree is near a cemetery? My apartment balcony overlooks a whole hillside cemetery as well (for many years I stayed up late at night, hoping to see those ‘ghost fire’ that they said can always be found in cemeteries, but until now I haven’t seen any!). If there be a haunted tree, it must be that tree at the very topmost part of the hill, overlooking all the cemeteries below it.
At 2pm, I reached the site where they said the tree was. Surprisingly, or rather, not surprisingly, I cannot find the specific tree. All around that area, there were also many other trees. I can hardly identify which tree they were talking about because all the trees looked the same to me, all with parasites and growth that will put any paranormal seekers to shame if one really seeks for paranormal possibilities of a tree based on the growth of parasite.
So I went to speak to one petrol station pump attendant. At first I was asking him the location of a coffee shop (which was, according to my cousin, located right opposite the petrol station where the tree was supposed to be). However, as the pump attendant was silly enough to get so close to me as if to try being ‘touchy-feely’ with me, I got fed-up and asked him straightaway where the haunted tree was.
As expected, he quickly withdrew his advances (this always works for me somehow! Hahaha!) and said, “Tak ada benda itu, tak ada benda itu.� (No such thing, no such thing.) Either he had been approached by a whole lot of those who wanted to go ask a favor from the tree, or he too, got fed-up with paranormal claims surrounding the story of the tree. Nevertheless, instead of lingering on like what he was trying to do earlier, when he realized that I’m trying to look for a ‘ghost’ tree, he may have thought that I’ve gone crazy.
Maybe I had, but I was out there just to prove that not all trees have entities living in them.
Many trees in Penang has parasitesSpirits in trees
In the Buddhist texts, there were reports of devas (deities) living in trees. Yes, but they were not mere tree spirits. Tree by themselves do not have spirits, however, the earth deities use the trees as a shelter, just as we humans use buildings as houses.One particular chant, called the Karaniya Metta Sutta (loving-kindness discourse) was taught to a group of monks to show their loving-kindness to all beings, as they were disturbed by the local deities living in the trees. It is common for monks of the olden times to seek for suitable forest areas, under shady trees and to practice meditation. However, these when these group of monks went to a particular remote area, the deities living in the trees were not happy about it. Throughout the night and day, the deities created a lot of nuisance and the monks went back to report to the Buddha. The Buddha then taught them the Karaniya Metta Sutta for the monks to show their harmlessness explicitly and to display their loving-kindness towards these deities. Upon recital of the sutta, these deities provided good shelter for these monks, making their ‘trees’ shady and cool so that the monks may meditate well under these trees. Until today, the Karaniya Metta Sutta is still chanted, not just for monks meditating under trees, but as a blessing to the home for the happiness of all beings.
At a point before the Buddha’s birth as Prince Siddharta, he was also an earth deity, residing in trees. He was then a Bodhisatta, practicing the 10 Perfections (Paramis) to allow his desire of being a Buddha to be fulfilled by the accumulation of excellent kamma. When He was an earth deity back then, he was the leader of a group of earth devas and when they seek for shelter in trees, he gave several pointers to ensure that the earth deities could live well as a community and not be subject to harm. Among others is that the earth deities should live close together and not far apart. This is a virtue which we call unity in the present day, and true enough a residential area with a close knit community is safer than one where the community is distant to each other whether in physical proximity or in terms of the values of neighbourliness.
Personal experience
I have told of this story before. At the time when I was reciting the full Paritta Pali (protective verses, a whole group of 11 suttas that takes about a whole hour to finish chanting) for the first time at home, a fragrant smell emitted from my room even though I was never one to use any perfume or keep anything so sweet smelling at home. This being due to my allergic nose and I simply can’t bear smelling too many things no matter how good it may be. My nose is sensitive, and so I do feel uncomfortable if I were to keep anything ‘fragrant’ in my room.At that time, no one else was home except for my mom and I. Just in case like what mary had been asking, no one passed by my apartment either. In fact, my room is a middle room of the apartment block, there is no way any smell can get in especially with my permanently closed window and that hollow air-space between my window and the passageway outside. So far, my room will not smell of anything nor even hear anything, unless if there will be someone standing at the passageway shouting or screaming obscenities (like what they always do, especially one family that tends to argue midnight – happened again last night but I was busy watching Emily Rose).
When I told my Buddhist master about this, he said, “That would have been an earth deva listening to your chanting last night. Do you notice any old trees near your house?�
Seriously I’ve never noticed any old trees. You can say that I am one of those who doesn’t bother to look around me. I can’t even be bothered about what clothes my colleagues wear to work, much less not to mention that I didn’t even notice one guy on a motorcycle flashing his retired soldier to my school-mate and I as we were walking home from school one day. However, after he said it, I did look around.
True enough, I saw a very huge (not just big) shady tree. It must have been quite old, if I’m not mistaken based on my memory, I recall seeing this tree even while I was just a little girl when the residential area was still village-like, with houses built of bricks and wood and zinc roof. That must have been that tree which housed the earth deva.
Not all trees are houses
Well, that needs not much explanation. Young trees seldom get inhibited. Old, huge trees maybe. It is not surprising that sometimes locals may actually put up a small little hut with an urn under a big, old tree and call the tree “Datuk Kong� or “Tua Pek Kong�. This is just a simple respect given by the locals who may have experienced seeing the earth deity returning to his home in the tree at one point or another.Yet again, it could very well have been all a very big mistake in some villages. But whatever it is, know that most people thrive in superstitious believes and not really knowing what these earth devas really are. And setting up the altar this way is just a respect for the thing which they do not understand, for the thing which they fear deep in their hearts.
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Crowds flock to see “ghost” on tree
Saturday March 25, 2006
By PRISCILLA DIELENBERGFOR the past month, large crowds have been flocking to Kampung Bukit Kechil in Sungai Nibong, Pe-nang, because of a “sighting” of a spectre.
Village Development and Se-curity Committee (JKKK) chairman for Sungai Nibong Besar, Julastri Ibrahim, however, said the object was actually a parasitic plant growing on a branch of a durian tree.
In the moonlight, he ex-plained, the plant’s leaves reflected a lighter patch against the dark leaves of its host tree, causing people to speculate that the illuminated shape resembled some supernatural being.
FOOLING THE EYE: The picture on the left shows the plant as seen with the naked eye at night and (right) the plant is lit up by the flash of a camera.
According to Julastri, it all started on the night of Feb 27, after the announcement of the increase in petrol prices.
Crowds flocked to the Caltex and Shell stations next to each other on Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, causing a traffic crawl.
“Some drivers and passengers got out of the car to stretch. It was then they saw the tree in the nearby village, and the ridiculous rumour spread.”
He said hundreds of people had been coming throughout the night to see the sight.
He said many visitors brought cameras and a few even brought equipment to detect “paranormal activity”.
“The irony is that the tree is next to a cemetery. We have some people trying to conduct strange rituals beneath the tree.”
Source : HERE
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02 April 2006
If the tree is really haunted…Penang, 2 Apr – The recent news about a perceived tree in Sungai Nibong, Penang, with paranormal entities which brought attention to many superstitious believers brought me to the location which is set some 20 to 30 minutes drive away from my home. And for the first time, I am looking at trees, not admiring their beauty, but on the parasites that grow on them.
That morning, I went out for breakfast/lunch with mom. As I drove along the Pulau Tikus area, I noticed that all the bigger and older trees have parasites growing on them. Some of these parasites grow with a lighter shade, a different colour from the original colour of the tree that they grow on, and definitely giving a perception of ‘glow’ at night. Other trees were, as usual, twisted and an imaginative mind might conjure images of the supernatural to satisfy the hyperactive mind.
Just a normal tree
For a hyperactive mindThe more I looked at the trees, the more I am sure that there is actually nothing spectacular about the tree featured in the newspaper. So what if the tree is near a cemetery? My apartment balcony overlooks a whole hillside cemetery as well (for many years I stayed up late at night, hoping to see those ‘ghost fire’ that they said can always be found in cemeteries, but until now I haven’t seen any!). If there be a haunted tree, it must be that tree at the very topmost part of the hill, overlooking all the cemeteries below it.
At 2pm, I reached the site where they said the tree was. Surprisingly, or rather, not surprisingly, I cannot find the specific tree. All around that area, there were also many other trees. I can hardly identify which tree they were talking about because all the trees looked the same to me, all with parasites and growth that will put any paranormal seekers to shame if one really seeks for paranormal possibilities of a tree based on the growth of parasite.
So I went to speak to one petrol station pump attendant. At first I was asking him the location of a coffee shop (which was, according to my cousin, located right opposite the petrol station where the tree was supposed to be). However, as the pump attendant was silly enough to get so close to me as if to try being ‘touchy-feely’ with me, I got fed-up and asked him straightaway where the haunted tree was.
As expected, he quickly withdrew his advances (this always works for me somehow! Hahaha!) and said, “Tak ada benda itu, tak ada benda itu.� (No such thing, no such thing.) Either he had been approached by a whole lot of those who wanted to go ask a favor from the tree, or he too, got fed-up with paranormal claims surrounding the story of the tree. Nevertheless, instead of lingering on like what he was trying to do earlier, when he realized that I’m trying to look for a ‘ghost’ tree, he may have thought that I’ve gone crazy.
Maybe I had, but I was out there just to prove that not all trees have entities living in them.
Many trees in Penang has parasitesSpirits in trees
In the Buddhist texts, there were reports of devas (deities) living in trees. Yes, but they were not mere tree spirits. Tree by themselves do not have spirits, however, the earth deities use the trees as a shelter, just as we humans use buildings as houses.One particular chant, called the Karaniya Metta Sutta (loving-kindness discourse) was taught to a group of monks to show their loving-kindness to all beings, as they were disturbed by the local deities living in the trees. It is common for monks of the olden times to seek for suitable forest areas, under shady trees and to practice meditation. However, these when these group of monks went to a particular remote area, the deities living in the trees were not happy about it. Throughout the night and day, the deities created a lot of nuisance and the monks went back to report to the Buddha. The Buddha then taught them the Karaniya Metta Sutta for the monks to show their harmlessness explicitly and to display their loving-kindness towards these deities. Upon recital of the sutta, these deities provided good shelter for these monks, making their ‘trees’ shady and cool so that the monks may meditate well under these trees. Until today, the Karaniya Metta Sutta is still chanted, not just for monks meditating under trees, but as a blessing to the home for the happiness of all beings.
At a point before the Buddha’s birth as Prince Siddharta, he was also an earth deity, residing in trees. He was then a Bodhisatta, practicing the 10 Perfections (Paramis) to allow his desire of being a Buddha to be fulfilled by the accumulation of excellent kamma. When He was an earth deity back then, he was the leader of a group of earth devas and when they seek for shelter in trees, he gave several pointers to ensure that the earth deities could live well as a community and not be subject to harm. Among others is that the earth deities should live close together and not far apart. This is a virtue which we call unity in the present day, and true enough a residential area with a close knit community is safer than one where the community is distant to each other whether in physical proximity or in terms of the values of neighbourliness.
Personal experience
I have told of this story before. At the time when I was reciting the full Paritta Pali (protective verses, a whole group of 11 suttas that takes about a whole hour to finish chanting) for the first time at home, a fragrant smell emitted from my room even though I was never one to use any perfume or keep anything so sweet smelling at home. This being due to my allergic nose and I simply can’t bear smelling too many things no matter how good it may be. My nose is sensitive, and so I do feel uncomfortable if I were to keep anything ‘fragrant’ in my room.At that time, no one else was home except for my mom and I. Just in case like what mary had been asking, no one passed by my apartment either. In fact, my room is a middle room of the apartment block, there is no way any smell can get in especially with my permanently closed window and that hollow air-space between my window and the passageway outside. So far, my room will not smell of anything nor even hear anything, unless if there will be someone standing at the passageway shouting or screaming obscenities (like what they always do, especially one family that tends to argue midnight – happened again last night but I was busy watching Emily Rose).
When I told my Buddhist master about this, he said, “That would have been an earth deva listening to your chanting last night. Do you notice any old trees near your house?�
Seriously I’ve never noticed any old trees. You can say that I am one of those who doesn’t bother to look around me. I can’t even be bothered about what clothes my colleagues wear to work, much less not to mention that I didn’t even notice one guy on a motorcycle flashing his retired soldier to my school-mate and I as we were walking home from school one day. However, after he said it, I did look around.
True enough, I saw a very huge (not just big) shady tree. It must have been quite old, if I’m not mistaken based on my memory, I recall seeing this tree even while I was just a little girl when the residential area was still village-like, with houses built of bricks and wood and zinc roof. That must have been that tree which housed the earth deva.
Not all trees are houses
Well, that needs not much explanation. Young trees seldom get inhibited. Old, huge trees maybe. It is not surprising that sometimes locals may actually put up a small little hut with an urn under a big, old tree and call the tree “Datuk Kong� or “Tua Pek Kong�. This is just a simple respect given by the locals who may have experienced seeing the earth deity returning to his home in the tree at one point or another.Yet again, it could very well have been all a very big mistake in some villages. But whatever it is, know that most people thrive in superstitious believes and not really knowing what these earth devas really are. And setting up the altar this way is just a respect for the thing which they do not understand, for the thing which they fear deep in their hearts.
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