Confessions of a Drifter

Day 2 - January 27th, 2011

The Jiuhua Shan is one of 4 Holy Mountains in China, and has a very special meaning in Chinese Buddhism.

Buddhists believe that our decisions and acts on this Earth really matter, and our choices will be reflected in our next life…after we die we are reincarnated into greater or lesser beings. Wrongdoers may perhaps come back as a rat or a cockroach; do-gooders will have better fortune and happiness, and accumulate enough wisdom and goodness throughout their lives to finally reach Nirvana.

The Buddhist 'Samsara': Wheel of Rebirth

Nirvana is Buddhist paradise, a heaven which ultimately boils down to nothingness—the beauty of non-existence and not having to deal with earthly troubles and pains. Only people who have done great good, and achieved an almost divine level of wisdom and inner peace could ever reach that place…

The first man to reach Nirvana was Siddhārtha Gautama, an Indian prince that could not find happiness in his luxurious palace when outside there was so much suffering and pain. Siddhārtha wandered India…giving up all his wealth, touching the lives of others, almost starving, flagellating himself…until one day, in a state of deep meditation, he found the meaning of Nirvana beneath a Bunyan tree. 

Siddhārtha was the first to reach Nirvana—he was the first Buddha.

The Jiuhua Shan Holy Mountain is dedicated to another special man that achieved Nirvana once…

His name was Dizhang.  

-Seb