death had a face-the specter of death in shamanism and zen

8/12/2019 DEATH HAD a FACE-The Specter of Death in Shamanism and Zen

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22/07/2014 03:00DEATH HAD A FACE: The Specter of Death in Shamanism and Zen

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THE SPECTER OF DEATH IN SHAMANISM AND ZEN

"Now my body is dead. They will carry this body, motionless, to the cremation ground and burn it. But

do I really die with this body? Am I merely this body? My body is now motionless. But still I know my

name. I remember my parents, uncles, brothers, friends and all others. It means that I have a

knowledge of my individuality. If so, the "I" in me is not merely my body; it is a deathless spirit."

Don Juan Matus Carlos Castaneda

the Wanderling

DEA TH OF THE EGO

Most people do not realize the overall importance of the role of death and its relationship to the

Awakekning process.

However, death, the Death of the Ego , the Near Death Experience (NDE), or the Out-of-Body

Experience (OBE) very often has a major role in various accounts of Awakening experiences. Although

seemingly discounted on the surface in the majority of Enlightenment traditions, it is not totally

overlooked either...it is just not emphasized as a key proponent. Even so, blatent as it may be in some

experiences such as that of the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi in the quote below, on a more quiet

level, the concept is still weaved throughout the works of many, just carried quietly with more of an

innate, non-syntax, gut-level grasp than anything else.

Usually a man wins God realization by performing tapas for years and years, without food and sleep,
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often subjecting the body to great suffering as the coming Buddha encountered battling the powers of

Mara . But, the young, then unknown and unhearlded boy from India as alluded to in the opening

quote at the top of the page, won the highest knowledge without all these. Out of the blue, in 1886 at

age 17, the Fear of Death left him. The young boy, named Venkataraman at birth, became the the

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.

In 1912, at age 32, fifteen years after Sri Ramana's initial death experience, he was once again

confronted by Death, of which the following discribes the incident:

SRI RAMANA'S SECOND DEATH EXPERIENCE

There was an old woman, said by Ramana and others to have been a "spirit" of the mountain, who

somehow knew or sensed the Bhagavan had "died" twice before, having had, as mentioned above, a

major death experience in 1896 at age 17 that transformed his Awareness to the Abosolute. He then

had his second, much deeper death experience in 1912. Sometime afterwards Ramana was roaming

around OFF the trails of the holy mountain Arunachala as he often did in those days when the old

woman he passed asked him point blank why he wandered so and not just sit quiet. In that he was

dead , she implies, why was he not put on the funeral pyre! From that day forward Sri Bhagavan gave

up roaming the hillside, limiting his walks to Pradakshina, circumambulation of the holy hill, or

climbing to the summit.

NIRODHA

In Section IV below from " Zen, the Buddha, and Shamanism " in a conversation between the

Shaman man of spells called an Obeahman and the Wanderling, the Obeah recognizes in the eyes of

the Wanderling, as the Obeahman refers to it, "the vision of having seen the Face of Death." Thatoccurrence is basically brushed off as far as having any further integral part of the offerings is
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concerned, mainly as to not confuse the reader. Briefly, however, the incident occured while in the

Military and the physical pain that had been inflicted was so intense and severe that while still in a

sort of removed, but still semi-conscience state, a decision was made to just give up, that is, let go of

the life force. Three days later the Wanderling woke up in an Army hospital with tubes stuck in his nose

and IV tubes in his arms, but still alive. Although the occurence was indeed a profound Near Death

Experience, or even an Actual Death Experience having flatlined, there was NO Out-of-Body

Experience. No visions of glowing white, no tunnels or tunnels with lights at the end, no observing the

goings on from above, no meeting or seeing of God or other spiritual entities. Nothing like that. After

an excessive loss of blood and the fleeting of the life force, just plain dead. Then, after being found

three or so days later in a body bag stacked amongst other bodies in body bags, out of nowhere eyes

opened, with only a lingering wisp of a now basically dissipated or weakened ego. In the incident

recorded below by the Obeah, refering to the same Near Death Experience, and after asking why HE ,

that is, Death, did not "take YOU with him," looking deeply into the Wanderling's eyes said " ...thereare other things planned for you ."

As to the above near-death incident, from a previously unpublished account the Wanderling writes:

The following, which equates closely in parallel to the Wanderling's Zen background, is from Baba

Faqir Chand, one of the greatest practitioners of Surat Shabd Yoga , a meditative method that leads

to extraordinary experiences (according to reported accounts Faqir could almost daily leave his body at

will and experience exalted states of awareness):
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John Wren-Lewis , who I met some years before he reportedly had a full-on trancendance

experience following what resembled a Near Death Experience, comes to a conclusion similar to both

mine and Baba Faqir Chand in his article Dazzling Dark:

The near death stage described by the Wanderling was closer to what is called in Sanskrit NIRODHA

than say, a New Age type Near Death Experience or Out-of-Body Experience. It could be the experience

unfolded in a more matter of fact fashion, that is, as stated above "with no visions of glowing white,

tunnels or tunnels with lights at the end, no observing the goings on from above, no meeting or

seeing of God or other spiritual entities" because, like Baba Chand says, it is entirely a personal affair.

Although still many months shy of the so-called Twelve-year Rule , at the time of the above

mentioned occurrence the Wanderling had already completed many, many rather extensive years of

study-practice in Zen under his Mentor as well as the venerated Japanese Zen master Yasutani

Hakuun Roshi . Although untrained in such things at the time, all of those experiences were preceded

by a possible near or actual Kensho like experience by the Wanderling as a young boy upon meeting

Franklin Merrell-Wolff high in the Sierras.
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FLATLINING OF EEG (ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM) SIGNAL

A flat EEG signal denotes nonfunction of the cerebral cortex.

In the Wanderling's case, except for the Flatline of the EEG Signals which was duly noted by a

number of outside observers and medical attendants and pronounced clinically dead, for him, IF the

less than gossamer-thin membrane between the still alive and the that which becomes the now-not-

alive was actually crossed or breached, it is not known because no difference was remembered if

detected. In what would appear to be an almost diametric opposition to such a scenario, any previous

or residual "fear of death" after being brought back or coming back as the case may be, seemingly

dissipated along with the ego --- loss of both ego and fear stemming, it is guessed, from the experience

--- in which "I" was in a totally unflawed flatlined state (or non-state) for close to thirty full minutes,

and, except for maybe not being totally zipped up, put into a body bag even longer and stacked in a row along with other corpses. (see)

Taking the following quote from the above paragraph:
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In the quote, the concept behind the specific line that reads, " IF the less than gossamer-thin

membrane between the still alive and the that which becomes the now-not-alive was actually crossed

or breached, " is a concept that is difficult to comprehend --- especially so in the pondering of the one

side of the gossamer-thin membrane there is that which is alive while, ever so thin or not at all, there

is somehow suddenly that which is not alive. In the non-meditative meditative state called Niroda,

discussed below, the practioner floats barely above that surface, as it states: " During, heartbeat and

metabolism continue to slow and practically cease, sometimes continuing below the threshold of

preception at a risidual level. " The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw explores the phenomenon from the

meditators perspective:

(source)

The Sanskrit word NIRODHA , usually discribed as cessation, actually carries with it a more indepth

meaning. In the index of the Visuddi Magga , for example, there are over twenty-five references that

need to be read in context inorder to cull out a fuller more concise meaning. Briefly, like Deep

Samadhi, it is a very, very high degree non-meditative meditative state. During Nirodha there is no

time squence whether a couple hours pass or seven days, as the immediate moment preceding and

immediately following seem as though in rapid succession, start and finish compressed wafer thin.

During, heartbeat and metabolism continue to slow and practically cease, sometimes continuing below

the threshold of preception at a risidual level. Previosly stored body energy that would typically be

consumed in a couple of hours if not replenished can last days with very little need for renewal. The

Visuddhi Magga cites several instances where villagers came across a bhikkhu in such a state andfollowing the traditions of Sarira , built a funeral pyre for him, even to the point of lighting it. During

low-level residual states the body temperature drops well below the 98.6 degree point. If suddenly

jarred to consciousness body metabolism is slower to regain it's normal temperature, and inturn, that

is recorded by the quicker to return cognative senses as "being cold."

Thousands of people observed the great Indian holy man Swami Trailanga floating on the Ganges for

days on end, sitting on top of the water or remaining hidden for long periods under the waves. A

common sight at Manikarnika Ghat was the Swami's motionless body on the blistering stone slabs,
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wholly exposed to the merciless Indian sun.

Whether the great master was above water or under it, and whether or not his body challenged the

fierce solar rays, Trailanga sought to teach men that human life need not depend on oxygen or on

certain conditions and precautions. (source)

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

Valerie Vener in an interview discussing her Near Death Experience and it's relationship to HER

Awakening experience, relates in her answer something probably more closer in words to the Wanderlings experience than has ever been recorded. Although Verner's Awakening experience

happened ten years after her Near Death Experience and the Wanderling's was somewhere around four

years following, the impact and similarities are uncanny. Valerie goes on to say:

"...if I were to say when my actual Awakening Experience occurred, it was not until ten years

after the fire. In the fire there was a very dramatic understanding of my brain-core in relationto how it perceives energy, how it interprets energy, how it relates to energy and how it

contracts upon energy and locks itself in place. That occurred in the fire, and then from that

point on my experience of self was very, very different."

SECTION I: From the review of The Razor's Edge:

The reader meets Lawrence Darrell (the name Maugham used in his novel for the same person that was the Wanderling's Zen mentor) shortly after the end of World War I. Although different facets of his
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life and character are revealed slowly, one thing we learn immediately is that he is a source of

frustration to his elders because he does not want to embark on a career. Other biographical facts

include the fact that he's engaged to Isabel Bradley, his childhood sweetheart, he was a pilot in the war,

and he is very reticent about his wartime experiences. In fact, many of the characters comment about

how changed Larry seems to be since his return from the war. His most shattering wartime experience

is finally related near the end of Chapter One, when he tells Isabel, "I don't think I shall ever find peace

till I make up my mind about things,...'Wouldn't it be better to follow the beaten track and let what's

coming to you come?' And then you think of a fellow who an hour before was full of life and fun, and

he's lying dead; it's all so cruel and so meaningless. It's hard not to ask yourself what life is all about

and whether there's any sense to it or whether it's all a tragic blunder of fate."

The pivotal event Larry is referring to is when a combat buddy of his loses his life, partly because he

had come to Larry's rescue. Suddenly for Larry, Death had a Face ; the reality of death had become

personified in the loss of his friend. Larry Darrell's confession to Isabel illustrates how many people

feel after witnessing the death of someone close to them. Death is such a mystery, so inexorable, and

can seem so senseless as Larry points out, that experiencing it directly tends to deepen one's

understanding of the real priorities in life and open one up to question the ultimate meaning of such a

seemingly temporal existence as ours. This seems to be what happened to Larry. The death of his

friend is the climactic event that prompts Larry to begin a quest for answers. He tells Isabel, "I want to

make up my mind whether God is or God is not. I want to find out why evil exists. I want to know

whether I have an immortal soul or whether when I die it is the end." (source)

SECTION II: From Lafayette Flying Corps:

(Larry's) best friend was an Irishman called Patsy. Patsy taught him everything he needed to know and

how to survive. Inturn, in the end, it was Patsy that Larry saw die...after saving his life. The following is

Maugham's discription of what happened as he listens to Larry tell the story:

"The day we were to go on leave (to Paris) we were sent up to fly over the enemy lines and

bring back reports of what we saw. Suddenly we came bang up against some German planes,

and before we knew where we were we were in the middle of a dogfight. One of them came

after me, but I got in first. I took a look to see if he was going to crash and then out of thecorner of my eye I saw another plane on my tail. I dived to get away from him, but he was on
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(please click)

Uncle

Stepmother

Little Shell Plains Ojibwe Midewiwin

Totem Animal
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(see)
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A couple of quick comments regarding the feather prior to moving on. When it was first given to me,

even though it was of a huge size, I, as a young boy with a vivid imagination, did not fully grasp the

ramifications of it all. For me at the time, it did not seem impossible that a bird could not be of any

size, so a feather as long as I was tall did not seem at all that improbable. It was only into high school

and beyond that it came to me that I had been in the presence of something truly remarkable. I never

saw the bird the feather came from, nor have I ever seen a second or other feathers of such large size,

but for a bird to have required such an enormous feather in the first place, it would have to had been

truly a giant creature. For the Shaman to have imparted something so rare, meaningful, and valuable

to me, a mere ten year old boy with then no history or background, speaks volumes. Please see

Footnote [1] .

For those who would question the validity of the existance of a feather of such size in the first place, as

stated in the closing sentence of the Legend of the Giant Bird :

Teratorn

To learn the fate of what happened to the giant feather go to Meditation Along Meteor CraterRim . See also: Wing of the Giant Bird . See as well Don Juan Matus , the shaman-sorcerer said to

have studied under a Diablero and that Carlos Castaneda reportedly apprenticed under. Don Juan

is vaguely hinted at in some circles, as is Don Juan's teacher, Julian Osorio , as possibly being the

very strange man in the above section. Equally of interest may be The Road Trip and information on

the quasi or semi organaform-being known as:

THE DEATH DEFIER
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Some would argue that as a selection or invitation process, the above regarding the shaman giving the

feather to the Wanderling wouldn't count because the Wanderling was only a ten year old boy at the

time. Personally I would question as to what age has to do with it. It is my opinion the Shaman that

presented the feather, as well as the Midewiwin medicine woman, sensed "something" even though as

a young boy the Wanderling didn't. However, the following, which found the Wanderling as an adult, is

presented as well:

the Wanderling

Obeahman

Dengue Fever
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Medicine Bag

Vortex

(source)

SECTION IV: The Symbolic Death of a Shaman

Some things I recall seem as though they just happened, others are blurred and long lost. One thing I

remember for sure about that night was, even though I helped carry an injured girl up perilous trails

high into the mountains, because I was a whiteman, the Obeah would not let me enter his hut...and at

first refused to have anything to do with me. I sat outside in the dark basically just poking the fire with

a stick and watching the light flicker amongst the trees. As the night wore on something in the light off

my eyes must have caught his attention because I felt him staring at me. Eventually he came over and

tipped my chin up looking into my eyes glowing dimmly in the flame-lit darkness. Mimicking almost

the exact same thing that happend to me as a ten year-old boy at Pendejo Cave , the Obeah squated

down without changing eye contact, peering at me with an astounding set of eyes that seemed to shine

deeply from within with a mysterious, intense light of their own, and said, in his heavy Jamaican

patois, "You have felt the breath of the Dark One." "Yes, once," I said, "many years ago," refering to an

incident in the military when I literally felt the Shadow of Death brush across my soul. "Why didn'the take you with him," the Obeah asked? "I don't know," I responded, shrugging my shoulders. Then
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the Obeah said:

(source)

SECTION V: From The Cumaean Sibyl

Charon, in Greek mythology, is the ferryman of the dead. The souls of the deceased are brought to him

by Hermes, and Charon ferries them across the river Acheron. He only accepts the dead which are

buried or burned with the proper rites, and if they pay him an obolus (coin) for their passage.

Those who cannot afford the passage, or are NOT admitted by Charon, are doomed to wander on the banks of the Styx for hundreds of years. Living persons who wish to go to the underworld need a

golden bough obtained from the Cumaean Sibyl .

(source)

SECTION VI: From The Vulture As Totem

The vulture is a very powerful totem. Its cycle of power is year-round. The scientific name for the

Turkey Vulture is CATHARTES AURA which means GOLDEN PURIFIER because as it goes about

it's lifetime business it purifies the landscape and environment in it's own natural way, ensuring the

continued health and life of other living things. The Vulture is a promise that all hardship wastemporary and necessary for a higher purpose. Once a Vulture enters your life as a totem or guide, it
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will remain with you for life.

In Greek mythology, the Vulture is the descendant of the Griffin. It was a very Buddhist-like, Zen-like

symbol of the non-dual oneness of heaven and earth, spirit and matter, good and evil, guardian and

avenger. The Vulture is the avenger of nature spirits. Ancient Assyrians believed the Vulture was, like

Nagarjuna's middle way, Sunyata, the encompassing overall non-separated union between the day and night. Ironically, regardless of the less than good image the vulture is typically granted by most,

think about it:

Unlike the needs of nearly all other living creatures, vultures do not kill.

Their prey either dies or something else kills it.

Herodorus Ponticus relates that great men of legend were always very joyful when a vulture appeared

upon any action. For it is a creature the least hurtful of any, pernicious neither to corn, fruit-tree, nor

cattle; it preys only upon carrion, and never kills or hurts any living thing; and as for birds, it touches

not them, though they are dead, as being of its own species, whereas eagles, owls, and hawks mangle

and kill their own fellow-creatures.

The noted Athenian writer Aeschylus (c. 525 BC-456 BC) says,- - "What bird is clean that preys on

fellow bird? - Besides, all other birds are, so to say, never out of our eyes; they let themselves be seen of

us continually; but a vulture is a very rare sight, and you can seldom meet with a man that has seentheir young; their rarity and infrequency has raised a strange opinion in some, that they come to us

from some other world; as soothsayers ascribe a divine origination to all things not produced either of

nature or of themselves." (source)

(source)

From the Zen point of view, nothing can separate one from death, for death is not "anywhere" other
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than oneself. There is no space to travel, nor is there time. One is one's death, just as one is one's life.

Death is what one has always been. Even Rebirth has no meaning for Zen. He who can say that he is

already dead as he is already alive undergoes not a "rebirth," but a "breakthrough"...a "breakthrough"

beyond the dichotomous matrix of ego-consciousness and the life-death polarities that are inclusive in

that matrix. In this "breakthrough" there is no need to worry about death, for death is not something

that will come, but what one has been all along, that is, dead only in the sense that one has always been

alive. As D.T. Suzuki explains, "he who transcends the dualistic idea of life and death goes on living, in

the genuine sense of the term. When there is the thought either of life or of death, negatively or

positively, this will surely prove to be a stumbling block in the way of life." (source)

As far as death, a brush with death, out of body experiences, flatlining, or any other similar experience

or thing...they are, as with anything else, NOT important to the Awakening experience. Like I wrote in

the opening paragraph above: " That occurrence is basically brushed off as far as having any

further integral part of the offerings is concerned, mainly as to not confuse the reader ."

Why? Because, as has been passed down from the sayings of the Buddha and I agree:

(source)

It should be noted not all religions, cultures and spiritual beliefs buy into, back, or practice such aconcept as found in the quote, in whole or in part --- not even some that fall within the boundries of

Buddhism itself. Although the start or end point along the edges of mainstream Buddhism may not be

clearly delineated like an escarpment rising up out of a sea of non-believers, adherents that fall under

the established spectrum of Buddhism run the gamut from the Parivrajaka to the fully entrenched

ritual and robe laden, with monasteries, hierarchy, and little hats. To wit:

The above quote from:
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INCIDENT AT SUPAI A SHAMANIC JOURNEY OUTSIDE THE TRADITION

Smashing The Black Lacquer Barrel

E-MAIL

THE WANDERLING(please click)

DREAM

CATCHER

SITE

GASSHO
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FLATLINE:

Outside the world of things academic, religious, and philosophical, three clinical

tests commonly determine brain death and, thus then, death:

First, a standard electroencephalogram, or EEG, measures brain-wave activity.

A flat EEG denotes nonfunction of the cerebral cortex - the outer shell of the

cerebrum.

Second, auditory evoked potentials such as clicks elicited by ear speakers

measure brain-stem viability. Absence of these potentials indicates

nonfunction of the brain stem.

Third, documentation of no blood flow to the brain is a marker for a

generalized absence of brain function.

FEAR IN ENLIGHTENMENT AND ZEN

DEATH OF THE EGO

My uncle's wife was a powerful curandera in the tradition of ' la Catalina ,' and like 'la Catalina,' held

in awe by most that came within her presence. Tall and straight-backed, with perfect posture and

beautiful skin, instead of taking steps she appeared to almost glide when she walked. In restaurants

and public places people were reluctant to sit near her table and the help was afraid to serve her. Some

have said they had seen a glass of water slide across the table to her hand without her even moving her

arm.

Upon hearing the story regarding myself and the vultures she was certain, at least as she viewed it from

her own perspective, that if my uncle had not come across the the circle when he did I would have

flown off with them, or, if not then, the six-foot wingspan raptors would have carried me off with them

as if I was one of their own (again, her perspective).
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Years later my uncle told me something he had never told his wife nor discussed with me. The distance

I traveled that day, from the point I started to the location he found me, was way to far for me to have

covered given the time, especially considering the level of my own abilities, the terrain, heat of the day,

etc. He told me he had tracked me some distance quite clearly, then my tracks suddenly just ended as

though I had disappeared into thin air. Knowing I didn't have a large supply of water or any at all he

continued to look in areas he thought I might seek out and just happened across me --- many, many

miles from where he had last seen my tracks. How I got there he couldn't say with any amount of

certainty. However, he told me, and he kept it a secret from his wife even to the point of burning my

shirt, that my shirt below both shoulders as well as part way down the back and along my sleeves were

punctured in spots and appeared to have what he called grip marks on them. So too, my skin had red

abrasions almost like minor scratches as though my arms had been clutched by something. He told me

he was sure I had been carried off and if he hadn't happened across me I may had been carried off even

further, maybe even never to be found.

In that my uncle was not able to get me to tell him verbally --- OR I was unable or unwilling to put into

words my experience of what happened that day --- my uncle suggested I sit down and draw whatever

pictures came to mind that related to the event. All of those drawings are long gone as are any finite

memories of same, except for one. I remember it clearly as if only yesterday because of the striking

comparison my uncle made between one of my drawings and an ink and watercolor drawing by

Leonardo Da Vinci . They were nearly identical, desert landscape and all. The major exception was

that where Leonardo's drawing depicted a lake with a shape similar to a bird, my drawing, althoughhaving a similar shape, was instead, a SHADOW of a giant bird.
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Leonardo Da Vinci: Bird's-Eye View of a Landscape . 1502.

Pen, ink and watercolor on paper. Windsor Castle, Windsor, UK

TALON AND SCRATCH MARKS FROM THE GIANT BIRD

I was found by a onetime bottom-of-the-line GI everybody called "the Cat" (a play on his name). The

Cat, who went on eventually to receive a bronze star, was a former or to-be 1st Air Cav medic on TDY

doing routine corpse duty when he came across my partially unzipped body bag. In the process of

closing the bag we BOTH somehow discovered I most likely no longer fell into the specifically dead

catagory. Months later he told me that sometimes shift workers, when they find that a person has diedon their shift, will put the body in the shower and let hot or warm water run on them --- sometimes for
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hours --- then, just before they go off shift, put the body back where it belonged for the next shift to

find and deal with. The only thing is, in my case, this time the GIs who did it were caught. Even though

my body had dropped quite a bit less than normal temperature, if not "warm" (because of the hot

running water of the shower), my body was still at least supple. In the fact that I had absolutely no vital

signs that anybody could tell --- and it had been previously noted that I flatlined --- I was hastily

stuffed into the body bag without further checking. Hours later the Cat came across me no longer DOA

and helped me out of the bag. (source)

the Wanderling

the Cat

THE SAIGON TEA GIRL

When the Cat and I crossed paths for the very the first time he was a fresh-faced GI just turned 19 or so

with a medic MOS. I think he was OJT with no real assignment, hence the TDY corpse duty. I was

several years older than him and had been around for awhile. Because of the unusual nature of our first

meeting we kept in contact in the early days, enough so that he followed me to college, attending the

same university. In those days we took several classes on and off together and hung out, but as time

went on we diverged in interests and went our separate ways. I've only seen him once in maybe 40

years, catching up with him for a few days in some isolated old mining town in Arizona where he ended

up living. I Google him every once in awhile. He still seems to be around, but thats about it.
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WAR MEDICS
http://www.1stcavmedic.com/war_medics.html

death had a face-the specter of death in shamanism and zen

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