Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 B O R D E R 06a Buddha except through living life from every angle? And so the GreatBeing went through the life experience hundreds of times: for one lifetimehe was a hare, another time a monkey, on another occasion a minister,a farmer, a prince. Many were the occasions when the Buddhato-begave away his own life for the welfare of others, or practicedforgiveness toward those who hacked his body apart. In birth after birthhe renounced wealth and possessions. Having abandoned his own lifeso many times that it meant nothing to him, in his penultimate birthas Prince Vessantara he was presented with the test of giving up thatwhich he held even more dear—the sight and company of his wife andchildren.This was the last test—to give up the sweet taste of human warmth.When the Great Being passed the test and his family was subsequentlyrestored to him, the gods rejoiced. The next birth was to be the last, andit took place where the Ganges plain terminates in forest and marshes afew miles south of the Himalayas. And it took place in history aroundthe fifth century B.C.E., when Maha Maya, a queen of that region, dreamtthat a white elephant entered her womb. Nine months later, she wasmaking her way to her father’s house, it being the custom to bear thefirst child under the parental roof, when labour pains forced her to stopand give birth in a grove of sal trees. That’s where Nick and I wereheaded—Lumbini.The waiting afternoon dozed under the fans. Lucknow was darkeningby the time the stiffness and pain in my body finally held me awakeand we got moving again. We made our way over to the queues for theticket office, allowing four hours to get the tickets, retrieve the bags, andfind the train somewhere. Chaos as usual—but something unusual wasgoing on—rhythmic shouts beat through the random hubbub. In themain hall of the station a throng of men was agitating, stirred by roarsof “Jai Ram! Jai Ram!” I could glimpse unkempt black hair wrapped ingrubby headbands, red cloths thrown over shoulders; from the wildnessof their eyes you could tell it was something religious. Tamer folk2 9