Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

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^0 G I F T S 06most ordinary letter from home to savour the comfort of the familiar;how much more the appearance and words of old friends from that distantlife another identity ago? They both looked crumpled and drawn;I must have appeared rough too—Nick had tightened his belt so far thathe had run out of notches and been punching new ones for the past fewweeks. My waist band had no holes in it. So I registered the changes inthe way Sister Thanissara looked at me. Our words groped toward certainties,information. They had heard something of our recent misfortune,which was the talk, in various embellished forms, of Bodh Gaya.But I seemed to be intact. They were coming to the end of a briefer butwider-ranging pilgrimage that had taken in the Tibetan community inthe North around McLeod Ganj and some of the Hindu ashrams inUttar Pradesh. India had visited them in customary fashion: with rawbeauty, human turmoil, and devotion, and bacterial aggression. Theyhad narrowly avoided involvement in riots in Varanasi and, strickenwith stomach bugs and slightly delirious, squeezed onto a bus to Kathmanduto get some medicine. Still not fully recovered, they had thenjourneyed on to Lumbini and Savatthi by bus and train and had justarrived in Bodh Gaya.Now they were lodging at the Maha Bodhi Society, where they hadmet up with some Sri Lankan pilgrims from England who were supportersof Amaravati and who were looking after them well. A meal wasbeing offered tomorrow, which we were invited to join. I played mytrump and invited them to take a hot shower in our lodgings in the afternoonwhile Nick and I went off for a walk. Later we could go to the MahaBodhi Temple for the evening meditation. They could get tidied up andthen we’d sit up all night together.It was a pleasure to have a puja chanting with someone who knewthe words and had a feeling for tone, pitch, and devotion; our voicesharmonised and rang against the walls of the shrine. After some meditationinside the temple, we went outside. No one else seemed to bearound in the temple grounds. The full moon shone down on this2 8 3
^0 T H I R D M O O N 06abandoned Eden as we wandered along the stone terraces that definedthe bower of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Seven weeks he had spenthere, in this leafy grove, reviewing the processes of consciousness: ofsuffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.I found myself settling beside a pool in the middle of which on agiant lotus leaf sat an image of the Buddha. Light shone on the meditatingsage. Around his body were the coils of the giant cobra whoseseven heads formed a sheltering canopy over him. Over 2,500 years ago,on such a night, Mucchalinda, the serpent king, had protected theBlessed One from a storm. The others came and joined me. It began torain and grew cold; we gave the blankets to the women and found someshelter beneath the terrace. Nick had brought some flasks of hot teaand some lumps of jaggery sugar. The rain came down in the darkness,and the pool’s stillness broke into trembling fragments of light anddark. There was so much rain in this storm-tossed world, and so muchtrembling. Only on the Awakened One had it stopped raining, forever.He was here, listening, there was no doubt of that; the problem wasthat none of the rest of us are. We don’t listen deeply enough to getpast the storm.So, moved by compassion, he had decided to teach. He, the Tathagata,is the one who has come into the world for the welfare of beings.And ever since, so much has been said and goes on being said, commentedand expounded upon, counteracted, speculated over, proved,and rebuffed. The Theravadins have developed their interpretations;a whole range of Mahayanists had their ways; Pure Land Buddhistswere taking refuge in the name of the merciful Buddha who wouldreward their faith with rebirth in Paradise; bodhisattva aspirants wereavowing rebirths for the welfare of all sentient beings; Western empiricalsceptics stripped away all the ritual and the devotion and dictatedthat we should rely only on what we can know for ourselves. Somehad even sacked the Buddha from authorship of the teachings altogether.And thousands of years later, after the suttas and the sutras and2 8 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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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06wound about w
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06It happens to
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06there. After
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^0 DA R K A N G E L 06I contemplate
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12Letting GoA J A H N S U C I T T O
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^0 L E T T I N G G O 06enough for A
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^0 L E T T I N G G O 06marketplace.
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^0 L E T T I N G G O 06to be comple
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^0 L E T T I N G G O 06there with n
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^0 L E T T I N G G O 06main road, t
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^0 L E T T I N G G O 06blue antelop
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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
Page 268 and 269: ^0 L A N D I N G 06I was left alone
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
Page 274 and 275: ^0 L A N D I N G 06Ahlee, and the m
Page 276 and 277: ^0 L A N D I N G 06moment we were b
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Page 281 and 282: ^0 T H I R D M O O N 06admit that a
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: ^0 T H I R D M O O N 06many-headed
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
Page 330 and 331: IndexAAbhidhamma, 213, 284, 295Adi
Page 332 and 333: ^0 I N D E X 06HHajipur, 171-73, 18
Page 334 and 335: ^0 I N D E X 06Nalanda and, 210-11,
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