Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06energy. Whether it led to transcendence, you’d have to find out for yourself.I found the implications of that resolve, and the unreasoning energybehind it, rather frightening. The kar sevak we had seen at Lucknow stationhad that kind of energy in a less organized way; then there were thesuicide squads and martyrs who made a purpose into a cause. Humanwill has an alarming power. Nick joined in, but to me it wasn’t the kindof thing I could do without meaning. So I sat in my Theravada nonalignment,listening, feeling the energy, and meditating on it.Meditation, wrote Most Reverend Fuji in one of the books aroundthe temple, was a self-centred waste of time; the real practise was themantra and the bringing forth of Buddha energy into the world. Thiswas what would bring around world peace. The reverend master hadundertaken incredible austerities, was greatly admired by Gandhi, andhad presided over an order that was responsible for the construction ofdozens of peace pagodas throughout Japan, Europe, India, NorthAmerica, and Africa. However, my little Theravada mind sniffed that itstill didn’t seem like Buddhism to me.But to each his own. For us, December 2nd was the day of the fullmoonobservance, the end of our first month on pilgrimage. I managedto rally my Theravada principles and strike out of the numbness to farefor alms in the next village, Cakramdas. It wasn’t difficult to walk in theslow composed manner prescribed by the training rules; actually it wasquite pleasant to be gently wading through eddies of children. When Ihad made it to the end of the village and decided to give up, they beckonedme on—to a house where a young man wearing Western clothescame out to meet me. Ah, I understood: he was the one in the villagewho spoke the best English.“Come into my house and I will put something into your pot.” It wasmore than something. After tea and a long conversation, it was a wholemeal, specially cooked and served on a stainless plated dish. Some of theadvice to the Licchavis seemed to be in good working order. But in general,the picture was of decay. Like many educated Indians, he had no1 5 8