Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

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14The Time of GiftsA J A H N S U C I T T OChristmas Eve. The road was taking us out of the realm of nameless villagesto somewhere special—Bodh Gaya, fifteen kilometres south ofGaya, the place where Siddhattha Gotama had his great Awakening. Inhis time it was a forest grove called Uruvela. He had already masteredthe meditation systems of two contemporary teachers and found thatalthough they led to extremely refined states of consciousness, thosestates didn’t last. Having ascended to higher planes, so to speak, adescent to the normal plane of consciousness is inevitable, with noresolution to the fundamental problem of being: that we experienceourselves as semi-, but not completely, separate from experiences.Therefore we can neither ultimately unite with what is pleasant, nor canwe be totally divorced from what is unpleasant, nor can we give up thesearch for happiness in one of these untenable positions:Association with the disliked is dukkha, separation from the likedis dukkha, not attaining one’s wishes is dukkha.In an attempt to snuff out the whole pleasure-pain mechanism,Gotama resorted to ferocious austerities in the company of five asceticsat Uruvela. Nearly killing himself in the process, he eventually had to2 6 3
^0 T H I R D M O O N 06admit that asceticism was not the answer either. In that moment ofrecognition, he remembered the ease and peacefulness of a time in hischildhood when he had been sitting in the shade of a tree watching hisfather at a ploughing festival. Shaded from the blazing sun, with no particularinclination toward this or that, his mind had by itself settled intoa state of calm. Might that gratuitous, unforced calm be the basis forenlightenment?The world was benevolent on that day in another valuable respect. Alocal woman called Sujata (Good Birth) made him an offering of milkrice,which he ate. Although the other ascetics walked off in disgust, henow had both the physical strength and well-being and the mental easeand detachment to collect his highly trained attention and direct it tothe roots of the problem of life: the creation of a self that is both alienatedfrom life and besieged by it. Resolving to remain in that very spotuntil he had discovered an answer, he took up a seated position underone of the common trees of South Asia, Ficus religiosus, subsequently tobe honoured with the name “Bodhi tree”—the tree of Awakening.We too had received our share of offerings. The previous night therelentless road had taken us into Gaya, which is one of the largest townsin Bihar. We had the name and address of the professor we had met onthe previous day. The streets were suitably incomprehensible. Askingfor directions we connected to someone who wanted to get us interestedin the huge temple to Vishnu in the city, but we eventually shookhim off.We hired a scooter taxi and gave him the card. The driver pleaded hisabsolute certainty as to the destination, but we were a long time circulatingthe backstreets and suburbs of Gaya, stopping here and there tomake enquiries. Off we would whirl in another direction until the convictionpetered out, and we received the next set of contradictoryinstructions. Then, surprisingly, just as I had given up, we got out. Thename and the address had coincided with a neat house in a quiet andwell-lit district connected with the university. Even more surprising, the2 6 4
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RUDE AWAKENINGS
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The mindful exert themselves;they a
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^0 F O R E W O R D 06mystically emb
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PrefaceWhat follows is the narrativ
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The First MoonT H E M I D D L E L A
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^0 F I R S T M O O N 06chomping.
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^0 F I R S T M O O N 06deities with
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^0 P I L G R I M S 06things around
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^0 F I R S T M O O N 06and pedestri
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^0 F I R S T M O O N 06government w
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^0 F I R S T M O O N 06too attracti
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A J A H N S U C I T T O^0 F I R S T
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2Over the BorderA J A H N S U C I T
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^0 B O R D E R 06managed to ignore
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^0 B O R D E R 06Buddhist holy plac
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^0 B O R D E R 06a Buddha except th
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^0 B O R D E R 06the maelstrom, som
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^0 B O R D E R 06I read a sign in t
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^0 B O R D E R 06to Bhairawa, the n
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^0 B O R D E R 06of homage to the B
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^0 B O R D E R 06the grass bank fac
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3Leaving HomeA J A H N S U C I T T
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^0 L E AV I N G H O M E 06ascertain
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^0 L E AV I N G H O M E 06take arou
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^0 L E AV I N G H O M E 06region an
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^0 L E AV I N G H O M E 06wanted us
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^0 L E AV I N G H O M E 06mother: s
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^0 L E AV I N G H O M E 06We stoppe
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^0 L E AV I N G H O M E 06to allow
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^0 L E AV I N G H O M E 06conversat
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The Second MoonL U M B I N I T O VA
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4The ObserverA J A H N S U C I T T
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^0 O B S E RV E R 06with a lot of t
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^0 O B S E RV E R 06contemplative b
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^0 O B S E RV E R 06After that we e
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^0 O B S E RV E R 06forbidden. Reli
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^0 O B S E RV E R 06told me about t
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^0 O B S E RV E R 06to sit beside t
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^0 O B S E RV E R 06With this move
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^0 O B S E RV E R 06the back; the d
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06live in th
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06Eventually
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06to a prese
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06of his kne
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06found so d
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06of them sp
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06stupa, try
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06wanted to
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06and a dark
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06from the e
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River Gandak, Part 2
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06ebbing out
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06violent at
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06That topic
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06friendly f
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06The boat w
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^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06was time t
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7The Kingdom of the LawA J A H N S
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^0 T H E L AW 06A sub-lieutenant in
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^0 T H E L AW 06was built in the gr
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^0 T H E L AW 06to get over the wor
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^0 T H E L AW 06accept any fare at
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^0 T H E L AW 06and milk sweets I b
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^0 T H E L AW 06the surrounding tre
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^0 T H E L AW 06a small house near
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8CyclesA J A H N S U C I T T ONovem
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^0 C Y C L E S 06long while for the
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^0 C Y C L E S 06thosebirthsanddeat
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^0 C Y C L E S 06There was a tea st
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^0 C Y C L E S 06The land we were p
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^0 C Y C L E S 06the Indian “West
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^0 C Y C L E S 06parothas straight
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^0 C Y C L E S 06ignore thirty boys
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A J A H N S U C I T T O^0 C Y C L E
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9The Deathless DrumA J A H N S U C
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^0 T H E D R U M 06Once...when I wa
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^0 T H E D R U M 06was a way of enh
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^0 T H E D R U M 06Sangha at Amarav
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^0 T H E D R U M 06scriptures descr
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^0 T H E D R U M 06job, but had eno
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^0 T H E D R U M 06Vaishali’s gre
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^0 T H E D R U M 06less.” And the
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^0 T H E D R U M 06had been a notic
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^0 T H E D R U M 06Striding across
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Mid-Bihar
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^0 T H I R D M O O N 06is losing it
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^0 T H I R D M O O N 06I had learne
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^0 T H I R D M O O N 06cycle—a va
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^0 T H I R D M O O N 06the way acro
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^0 T H I R D M O O N 06in Bettiah.
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^0 T H I R D M O O N 06newspaper th
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^0 T H I R D M O O N 06There is not
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^0 T H I R D M O O N 06that India h
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A J A H N S U C I T T O^0 T H I R D
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^0 T H I R D M O O N 06bigoted mons
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11Dark AngelA J A H N S U C I T T O
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06on. Then for
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06directly in h
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06something cos
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06a cycle ricks
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06is generously
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06body in order
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06majority of t
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06there are man
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Page 236 and 237: 12Letting GoA J A H N S U C I T T O
Page 238 and 239: ^0 L E T T I N G G O 06enough for A
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Page 260 and 261: 13Landing PlaceA J A H N S U C I T
Page 262 and 263: ^0 L A N D I N G 06gone. And the di
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Page 266 and 267: ^0 L A N D I N G 06manager facing e
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Page 270 and 271: A J A H N S U C I T T O^0 L A N D I
Page 272 and 273: ^0 L A N D I N G 06Ajahn Sucitto in
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Page 276 and 277: ^0 L A N D I N G 06moment we were b
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Page 283 and 284: ^0 T H I R D M O O N 06regretfully
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Page 289 and 290: ^0 T H I R D M O O N 06filter like
Page 291 and 292: ^0 T H I R D M O O N 06More than an
Page 293 and 294: ^0 T H I R D M O O N 06Gotama milk-
Page 295 and 296: ^0 T H I R D M O O N 06the sun, alw
Page 297 and 298: A J A H N S U C I T T O^0 T H I R D
Page 299 and 300: ^0 T H I R D M O O N 06many-headed
Page 301 and 302: ^0 T H I R D M O O N 06abandoned Ed
Page 304 and 305: EpilogueSo many people helped us bo
Page 306 and 307: NotesP R E FA C E“The mindful exe
Page 308 and 309: ^0 N O T E S 06C H A P T E R 6 : S
Page 310 and 311: ^0 N O T E S 06C H A P T E R 1 0 :
Page 312 and 313: GlossaryAbhidhamma (Pali) one of th
Page 314 and 315: ^0 G L O S S A RY 06chillum (Hindi)
Page 316 and 317: ^0 G L O S S A RY 06Mahayana (Sansk
Page 318 and 319: ^0 G L O S S A RY 06sabong (Hindi)
Page 320: Vinaya (Pali) the monastic discipli
Page 323 and 324: ^0 B I B L I O G R A P H Y 06Conze,
Page 325 and 326: ^0 B I B L I O G R A P H Y 06Raven-
Page 328 and 329: Recommended ReadingB U D D H I S T
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IndexAAbhidhamma, 213, 284, 295Adi
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^0 I N D E X 06HHajipur, 171-73, 18
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^0 I N D E X 06Nalanda and, 210-11,
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