living buddha / astral travel

Last night I went to an astral travel workshop that my friend was teaching. I wasn't sure if I was going to go--I was tired and I've had a headache on and off since Friday, but I went. It was a full house. One of my Shamballa students came in late and sat 1 seat away from me. Lisa loves my Heartlight Wood channelings and even came over once for one outside of class. During the course of the class, a few descriptions of astral travel made us look at each other because I'd never thought about the Heartlight Wood journeys being astral travel. But apparently they are.
At the end of the class we did a little thing (I wasn't listening) so people could try out astral travel. I just went to the Heartlight Wood and stepped out of my tree onto the path. I went to Lisa's tree and tried to get her to come with me but she wouldn't. So I went on my own, through the forest into a rain forest/jungle which was someplace like Thailand or India, somewhere Asian, to a great big square step pyramid. Except that it wasn't really square, it was a spiral. And it was a building, not just a pile of stones with a spiralling ramp; at each level there was a doorway leading inside. The ramp/walkway was kind of like the top of the Great Wall of China but not as large. Maybe about 5-6' of walking space, with a chest-high wall along the outside and the body of the pyramid to the inside.
At the very top was an open temple or chamber. Inside was a slightly larger than life golden buddha statue--a fat buddha, sitting lotus-style with his hands palm up on his thighs. In each hand was a giant white pillar candle, probably 5 inches in diameter. There was something across his lap too--I was thinking it was a piece of cloth but I think it was a bowl. It had a thick layer of sand in it and in the same were sticks of incense and cone incense burning. There was just enough room before the Buddha for two people to sit or kneel. The floor was also covered with sand, and strewn with flowers and the ends of incense sticks.
My thought was that I was supposed to kneel before buddha and get some wisdom. Instead I found myself ENTERING the statue and finding it a comfortable fit. I could see through his eyes, hear through his ears and speak through his lips (which didn't move, though). I had become buddha. I started answering questions for the two people in front of me as if I was buddha. I am not sure if I was channeling buddha or if the statue allowed me to really tap into my inner wisdom or even into the akashic records. But it was amazing. And I don't think I was speaking English either.
As I was doing it, I started to know some things. This buddha statue was called The Living Buddha for this very reason--because it could talk and respond. But it wasn't the spirit of Buddha which animated the statue. It was various walk-ins like me, on astral journeys, who got to take a turn playing at Buddha and helping people out.
To go to this buddha for advice in the flesh was an arduous journey through the rain forest and then up this spiraling pyramid in the sweltering humidity. And the advice that people got was so life-changing that it was worth it.