Rain on the Nile - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

est of us would be making the journey to her “homeland” (she spoke Arabic more
fluently than English in her earliest years); accordingly she suggested, “What about
including an Egyptian travelogue in the book” And thus it was.
By the end of our sojourn in Egypt, those nine words of hers had transmogrified
into some 26,000 of mine, filling the pages of a thick, soft-bound notebook.
Along the way several thousand photographs were also taken – by Edward and
Ead Lewis, Richard Smith and I – so it seemed natural to include a number of
these along with the Egyptian narrative. In this manner <strong>Rain</strong> on the Nile took
shape, to be rounded out with a number of pieces of artwork that had appeared
before in Silent <strong>Rain</strong>.
One notable exception amongst these illustrations is the spectacularly intricate
and evocative graphic, originally crafted by Ajahn Sucitto and included in his
book Dawn of the Dhamma, that appears in this volume before the chapter entitled
“The Ring of Fire.” His book is a combination of illuminated manuscript – in a
mode best described by imagining Robert Crumb doing a Buddhist rendition of
The Book of Kells for a Grateful Dead album cover – and an erudite and practical
commentary on the Buddha’s first discourse, “The Setting in Motion of the Wheel
of Dhamma.” This book was originally published by Buddha-Dhamma Foundation
in 1995, in Thailand, and has long (and sadly) been out of print. The illustration
is used there, as here, to describe the process of dependent origination and is thus
ideally suited to be included in this collection; indeed, the epigraph for “The Ring
of Fire” (“Circles can be peaceful, but they can also be vicious”) is the opening
phrase of his corresponding chapter in Dawn of the Dhamma, entitled “Getting
Burned.”
All of the talks that appeared in the former book have been left largely as they
were, with minor adjustments made only for consistency of grammar and spelling,
and for the correction of a couple of factual errors. The order of the material has
been changed, however, this being with the intention that the content of the talks
somewhat match the flow of the extended travelogue.
As is the spirit in which Buddhist teachings are traditionally offered, all the
words and images gathered here are presented for reflection upon by the reader;
may the eye and heart take in and retain what is useful, and may all the rest be
gently laid aside.
Amaro Bhikkhu
Abhayagiri Monastery, California
May, 2009
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