Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

A J A H N S U C I T T O^0 L A N D I N G 06Nick returned, fatigued and exasperated, late in the afternoon. No bags.In some ways it had been the right thing to do, but the mind wasn’t right,and that had to be set straight. One man had already been run overthrough heedlessness. In going or staying, winning or losing, it was clearto me that we had to follow the Dhamma and not the world. First, weneeded to settle. There was too much crazy energy around.“Let’s go back to Nalanda and meditate.”So we went. The vihara gave us the few rupees needed to catch abus, and just after nightfall we arrived back at the gates and the dogsof Wat Thai.Maechee Ahlee eventually appeared in her long underwear andsweaters—we must have got her out of bed—and gave a hurried welcomeas she opened the gates and scampered off into the darkness. Itwasn’t the time for prolonged conversation. We were let into the accommodationblock and told to take whatever we needed. A flask of hotcoffee appeared. I sat in meditation until late: the pressure relaxed, theempty, peaceful night absorbed it all.In the morning, delicately prepared morsels of toast and “Western”food appeared with our hostess, whose eyes widened at our appearance.“Ohh ... what happened to you? Are you hurt bad?” Nick sometimesmanifests a battered innocence, like a faithful red setter that sufferscalamities on account of its exuberance. His tail and ears drooped insympathy with his numerous cuts and his scruffy shirt and pants, severalsizes too small for him, given by a guest at the vihara. His explanationwas suitably laconic: “We were robbed, by six men. In Rajgir forest.They had axes and cudgels. I had to throw myself down a ravine toescape....” The words were hardly necessary. Maechee Ahlee spranginto action with some shouting to the temple workers and an injunctionto us to look around for whatever we needed, then sprinted in the directionof the kitchen block.2 5 3