Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 T H I R D M O O N 06More than any of the other places, Wat Thai Bodh Gaya was theembassy of a wealthy occupying power; I was more or less of their tribe,but having “gone native” by living off the land made me a bit odd. Theway they looked at me reminded me of how my family had received mewhen I returned to England from Thailand.The Buddha described his night of Awakening in different ways. Onestriking account was his recognition of all the forms of doubt and greedand worry as members of a demon host led by the personification ofdelusion, Mara. “Mara” also means death, which in this context is morethan an event. Mara is the instinct that identifies us with the cycle of birthand decay. Mara’s daughters, part of his support team, are Passion, Craving,and Negativity—they are always ready to drag us into some justifiableact of advertence. A meditator is quickly introduced to this host,and generally gets panicked or defensive, or gets into a battle withthem—all of which activities to defend the self merely affirm its existence.Therefore one is something. And to be something, you have to havesomething—a sight, a sound, an idea, an opinion, a future, a belief: anidentity. There is the source of all the longing and the quarrelling, whichsustains the tenacity of the habitual reactions of the mind.But on that special night, the Buddha didn’t react: neither believingnor rejecting Mara, he said, “I know you, Mara,” and touched the earthbeneath him. “I will not move from this spot until I have seen and understood.”At that point of recognition and resolution, the long road ofhabitual drives came to an end.That spot has been enshrined ever since. The emperor Ashoka paidhis respects and watered the Bodhi Tree. A temple occupied the spotthen, and although the original tree died long ago, cuttings from it andits descendants have sheltered the wakened space ever since. The lastone was planted in the nineteenth century by the British, who alsorebuilt the temple. They were the most recent of the long history ofattendants to the temple. As Buddhism waned and was eclipsed in India,pilgrims from Sri Lanka periodically attended to the temple, restored it,2 7 4