Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 T H I R D M O O N 06bearing and mild-eyed, beckoned for us to stay and gave us a little food.His English, carefully enunciated in soft faltering phrases, wasn’t up toexplaining much. The only fragments of the conversation that stuck inmy mind was that his brother was working in California.But during that half an hour or so, Kali revealed herself a little. Thedark goddess obviously had a bright aspect. Flowers adorned her shrine,and white cloths had been draped around her arms. A woman was makingritual offerings in little dishes and chanting to her. All was sweetnessand blessings. It could have been Sunday in an English church with a villagelady offering flowers to one of those gory images that symbolizethe love of God for humanity.Yes, Jehovah had no more scruples about ripping people apart thanKali. Come to think of it, following the Dhamma was no pushovereither. The angels of transcendence have their dark side. If you couldtake it, all this getting beaten up was about giving up ownership of thebirth-death thread. The impeccable few who let go come to a life beyondthe web; flawed aspirants grasp wildly and go under in the darkness. Inthe eyes of the Transcendent, that’s fair—compassionate even.So, let it flow.N I C KWe left Hilsa on a wide dirt track heading east. It was easy walking, andin the late morning, it took us into a village. We stopped in the centreunder an old Bodhi tree surrounded by a raised platform of packed earthwith a small shrine at its base. The villagers who collected around usasked if we had eaten and then brought us some food. There were theusual questions about what we were doing and where we were going,and they led to other questions. Ajahn Sucitto’s Hindi was now goodenough to give simple answers. They asked him about problems in theirlives, and for the first time he was able to talk Dhamma in Hindi. Myown Hindi was still limited to practical things like asking how much1 9 8