Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 F I R S T M O O N 06at them as if they might disappear. The flat plain of paddy fields laybetween us and the start of the foothills some twenty miles to the north,while to the south the plain stretched to the horizon.It was a good road with a new paved surface put there as part of theNepalese government’s development of Lumbini to attract more visitors.They had even renamed Bhairawa as Siddhartha Nagar after theBuddha; it was on the reverse side of all the kilometre posts—not thatanyone in the actual town was using the new name. There was littlemotorized traffic on the road: beaten-up buses with bars across the windowsinstead of glass would come by every hour or so full with localpeople; an occasional small lorry would pass with the open back also fullof people; there were one or two cars and one swish tourist bus withtinted glass and air conditioning. That one bus was what the road wasfor. It was certainly not for the bullock carts. We passed a good dozen,in groups of three or four, trundling the other way, piled high with hay,with two bullocks pulling each and a design that cannot have changedmuch in a thousand years. The carts swayed as the bullocks ambled, andthe wooden wheels, rimmed with bits of iron, rumbled on the road. Thedrivers, perched up on the straw, long stick in hand, would occasionallycall to the bullocks or switch the stick at them. Also on the road werelocals, some on foot but most pedalling old-fashioned bicycles on whichthey sat sedately upright. I took photos of bullock carts against themountain backdrop, of the flocks of bicycles, of Ajahn Sucitto passingone of the kilometre signs, and just of the scenery. At last the pilgrimagehad begun.I first thought of the idea two years before. I had been on quite a fewwalks with Buddhist monks. As well as enjoying their company I hadalso come to appreciate doing something other than for my own pleasure.The feeling of offering to others is beautiful in itself. It also neatlysidesteps that mindstate usually encountered on holidays where you areconstantly checking whether you are enjoying yourself. This insight hadcombined with a desire I had to do something as a thank you and an act3 6