Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 T H I R D M O O N 06some shouting, whistling, and the sounds of sticks hitting concrete. Twodark faces appeared at the railings: the first, that of an elderly Indianman, was rapidly eclipsed by that of a Thai woman with shaven head—a nun, or maechee, her dark skin standing out against the whiteness ofher robes. “Okay, okay, Bhante,” her voice was hoarse and Americanaccented,“Just a minute ... the dogs.” Getting the furious beasts undercontrol took some more hollering in Hindi (the Indian man whirlingaround with his stick), but then she pulled the metal gate open and hurriedus across the courtyard to the building. “You gotta be careful of themonkeys, Bhante” (large Hanumans gazing down innocently from thetrees in the monastery compound). “They come down and bite you.Don’t go outside the building without a stick! Here’s a stick. They’re realdangerous, Bhante!”But they never attacked her. A few days later I saw her dozing in thesun in the monastery courtyard with two Hanumans in attendance, onechecking her white sweater for any insects, one tenderly inspecting herscalp with careful fingers. They loved her. I found out that it was herofferings of food that had encouraged these lawless creatures to stayhere. In their fenced-off area, the dogs would go wild whenever themonkeys descended from the trees, yelping in fury at the mild-facedHanumans. But the omnipotent Thai nun had the dogs under controltoo...and the couple of Indian attendants who scurried briskly at hercommand.No wonder she was hoarse. The daily administration depended onher voice. The main activity of the monastery was to cater to the tourbuses of Thais who were undertaking a rapid pilgrimage of theBuddhist holy places and didn’t want to come into contact with anythingIndian if they could possibly avoid it. The monastery, or wat, is a familiaricon in the Thai mind; it provides the opportunity to “make merit,”to create the skilful kamma through acts of generosity that will bringthem good fortune in the future. The wat is also a storehouse of Thai-Buddhist culture and manners; to a Thai abroad the wat is Thailand, and2 0 2