Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 T H I R D M O O N 06each other as they worked, but as we laboured up to them they fell silentand moved off quietly, farther away from the path. Soon after that, drippingwith sweat, we had to admit defeat; we were never going to makeit in time to return to the vihara for the meal. So we turned and startedback, on our way down passing a Jain pilgrim on her way up to one ofthe Jain temples that are on the summit of the seven main hills. Jains allseem to be from the merchant classes, rich enough to do a pilgrimagein style. This lady was late middle-aged, very overweight, dressed in apure white sari, and she was being carried up by two men on a seat slungbeneath a long pole that ran between their shoulders. The men doingthe carrying were some of the same poor people as the women cuttingthe wood. They too were dark-skinned, small, and scrawny looking, andtheir faces were knotted with the strain as they climbed the stairs.At that point I still had not realised that our luck had changed and Imade another attempt to visit the Sattapanni Cave that afternoon.Ajahn Sucitto had the sense to stay behind. I left it till the cool of thelate afternoon and did actually get as far as the cave, a big rock overhangwith dark recesses and not the place I had visited previously, but I hadno time to actually look at anything, let alone take in the spectacularview. Two policemen were rounding up the visitors as it was time to goback. I tried arguing with them but to no avail. Bandits roamed the hillsand it was their job to protect the tourists. I had just one glance at theview over the vast plain stretching to the north. With more time I wascertain I could have spotted the places we had been. Then I turnedround and trudged back, along with three Japanese travellers totingvideo cameras, the policemen bringing up the rear. So much for the SattapanniCave.A J A H N S U C I T T OThe New Moon was December 16th. In the afternoon I wanderedaround the nearby Bamboo Grove. It was just a little way along the2 2 8