Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 T H I R D M O O N 06hesitant: maybe we could stay, maybe not. Maybe there would be somefood. Meanwhile he made some rotis and shared them with us. Thatmade him relax. It seemed best for me rather than Nick to approach her.The chaukidar would go with me, introduce me, and explain the situationfirst. I never was good at blind dates.When the nun arrived, immaculately robed, she immediately tookup her position beside the giant drum. It was all precise. She seemed elderlybut upright, and my glimpse of her features before she dismissed ustestified to a life of determination, duty, and utter control. Physically sheseemed composed of a different substance than the bowed, supplicatingchaukidar in his grubby workman’s clothes. She granted him a coupleof seconds of attention, and me, one glance (eyelids flicked up in themotionless head), a negative monosyllable, and a tightening of the lips.So we were out.Fine. No having to fit into routines, take part in rituals that had nomeaning for me, or awkwardly go along with whatever the standards ofetiquette were. Well, I never liked formality much anyway. She couldkeep her immaculate temple, her immaculate robes, and her precisionprostrations—the scrub and the dirt were good enough for me.Out there was Vulture’s Peak. We whiled away the afternoonaround the temple grounds to avoid being sent down by the police. Asthe sun lowered, though, we surreptitiously made our way to the cragwhere the Awakened One had spent many a day and night in meditation.It was still light, but nobody was about. The remnants of a tinytemple still sat on the crag overlooking the valley that the ring of hillsenclosed. My heart rose as we drew near—he had been here, his calmgaze had swept over those forested slopes and blessed the wildness.And below, just as I could now, he might have contemplated a pair ofgreat birds slowly wheeling in the currents of air; with the merest flickor inclination of a wing, they would swing out of one air current andglide on another. Here, replete with understanding and compassion,the Master had let his mind move through the realms of form and2 3 2