"Sukrosono, wake up from your meditation," says the unknown creature.
Sukrosono slowly opens his eyes. He sees a creature that is quite strange and erratic in shape. His face is old, but why does he have scalp lock like a child? His appearance is clearly of a man, but why is his tiny nose as charming as a woman's? He looks witty, but why are his eyes wet with sorrow? If he is a man, why does he have big breasts like a woman? If he is human, why is his buttocks as large as his stomach, so that he is as round as an egg? It is truly difficult to guess what kind of creature he is. His body and shape are erratic but very charming. In him, Everything is blurred.
"Who are you? I can't really recognize you. I can only see you vaguely," says Sukrosono.
"I am Semar," replies the creature.
"Why do you come to me?" Sukrosono asks.
"I will explain to you why you have to come to the hills of Taranggana Sekar. You have to come to this Taranggana Sekar because here you will be told what vagueness really is.”
"How can I know it?”
"You can recognize it from the banana tree that grows in Taranggana Sekar."
Also read:
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (52)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (51)
"Now that tree is gone."
"Of course. That golden banana tree should have died long ago when your father picked its fruit to satisfy your mother's longing when you were still in her womb. But the banana tree continues to live on until you meet it."
"The banana tree has become the demon Candrabhairawa, who has entered my body."
"Therefore, not only the mighty power of the demons but also the gentleness of the golden banana tree enter into you at once."
The banana tree exists only once. After giving its fruit, it will die. However, it does not really die. It sprouts again, then grows into a new tree and gives new fruit.
Sukrosono is silent, taking stock of what has happened. He asks in his heart why he never thinks deeply about the golden banana tree, even though it often crosses his mind. Isn't the banana tree one of the reasons that he has been drawn here, to come to the Taranggana Sekar hill. But what is the relationship of all this to the fact everything is really vague?
"Your life is between existence and non existence, like that banana tree," Semar continued. “The banana tree exists only once. After giving its fruit, it will die. However, it does not really die. It sprouts again, then grows into a new tree and gives new fruit. That is the vagueness; existence and nonexistence become one."
Semar pauses for a moment, then resumes speaking, “Because it is suspended between existence and nonexistence, it will be in vain if you hold onto your life as though your life cannot be separated from you. Let go of your life, which is only one, like the banana tree that has entered into you. Only by doing so will your life grow into a new one. The banana tree trunk is soft, so it is easy to cut when the fruit is ripe. Don't make your life as inelastic as wood so that you can never give yourself to fellow humans, if necessary even with your death. That is true sincerity, which will make life happy and light. And you can experience that sincerity if you want to live vaguely, being present between existence and nonexistence like a banana tree."
"Isn't vagueness present between darkness and light?" asks Sukrosono.
"Vagueness is the light of sincerity between darkness and light. It is present neither in the dark nor the light. As I have said, it is present in the banana tree," answers Semar.
"So I have found it. Because of my mother's dream, I come from that golden banana tree, and now the trunk has been in me too."
"Not yet, my son. You will only find the vague light of sincerity in your actions of life. So finish your meditation now, and live in the vagueness. You will understand this if you experience it later. Remember this message of mine. All your power and magic will be meaningless if you don't illuminate and live with this vague light of sincerity."
Also read:
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (50)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (49)
> The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (48)
After delivering this message, Semar slowly leaves. He rises to turn into a cloud, moving lightly in the image of neither a man nor a woman. Tears of dew fall from his eyes, and he is smiling, neither a happy smile nor a sad smile. The cloud then becomes rounder and rounder like an egg. Semar has disappeared in the vagueness. And the day has appeared from the dawn. In the distance the crowing of a rooster is heard. And Sukrosono gets up, leaves Taranggana Sekar and starts trying to walk in the vagueness.
It is morning. The sun is rising little by little. Sukrosono rubs his eyes like someone waking up from a dream.
“Am I dreaming? No, everything happens in my consciousness.”
When he thinks this, Sukrosono is dragged back by time. He feels as though he has just woken up from his meditation, and now he realizes that he has actually been on Mount Taranggana Sekar for a long time. He looks around, everything is the same as before, as when he arrived there. There is nothing special, except that the golden banana tree is now gone. Nothing can keep him there longer. He feels that it is time for him to return to Jatisrana.
So he hastens to leave Mount Taranggana Sekar. He has experienced many things on the mountain, but strangely, he comes home without feeling that he has brought anything. When he left, he did not want to look for anything, so when he comes home, he also does not bring anything. Maybe this is the beginning of the vagueness that Semar was teaching? He does not want to ask questions anymore. At that moment, he is suddenly attacked by a longing to immediately return to the Jatisrana hermitage. Who else does he miss if not his older brother, Sumantri? He hurriedly goes away, and he walks as fast as he can, with the wings of a sriti bird.
This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.
