Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06wanted to meditate. His zeal for the practise can be inspiring, but I wasnow realizing that it could also be intimidating when you were with himall the time. As I set off I consoled my sense of inadequacy with thethought that most other bhikkhus I had travelled with would havewanted to join me. Ajahn Sucitto was pretty unique. At least at the holysites I could give myself a day off. On the road I was shackled to hisardent application.Next door to the Burmese Vihara was a Chinese temple; all brightcolours and oriental dragons, with a big golden Buddha, and musty insidefrom lack of use. A notice informed me that the temple was now theresponsibility of a Vietnamese monk. Although it looked little visited andin need of some new paint, the grounds were well tended, the floweringshrubshadbeenrecentlywatered,andthegravelpathsraked.Ileftadonationin the collection box, a small attempt to make up for all the Chineseand Vietnamese Buddhists who could no longer come on pilgrimage.Opposite the gardens was a modern Indian government touristlodge, an oblong block of concrete painted pink with verandas and rowsof big windows. This was where the Thai pilgrims were staying. Theycame from a culture that had outgrown the basic provision of the BurmeseVihara and expected en-suite bathrooms and air conditioning. Inthe Burmese Vihara the income they used to bring in was missed. Therehad been excitement about a Thai party coming that caused us to bemoved into poorer accommodation. But when they arrived theydecided to stay in the tourist lodge instead.Further down the road there was a collection of slightly ramshacklebuildings which turned out to be a temple supervised by an elderlyIndian bhikkhu, who insisted on showing me around his dusty archaeologicalcollection while also telling me his life history. He was a nice oldchap, with impeccable Indian English that gave away his Brahmin birth,and I left a small donation to his fund to build a proper museum.Next to this, and in complete contrast to the disorder I had just left,was a beautiful Japanese temple built using local bricks to resemble,9 4