Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 F I R S T M O O N 06Sumedho approved of the plan, and then, when I asked him with a hesitatingheart if he would like to choose who would go with me, he said,“Yes, then I can choose a monk who doesn’t think of himself, like Sucittoor Amaro.” The next I heard was very much later when, out of the blue,Ajahn Sucitto phoned and this hesitant voice explained that AjahnSumedho had said that Nick Scott had offered to take a bhikkhu on a sixmonthwalking pilgrimage around the Indian holy sites and would helike to go.He seemed the ideal monk for the journey. He was good at languageand interested in learning Hindi. He knew the scriptures and could interpretwhat we would see. His integrity as a bhikkhu was impeccable, andhis application to meditation practice could be awesome. His asceticpersonality would be a good counter to my tendency to always takethe easy option, fudge rules and regulations, and indulge in sensualpleasures. It would be tough, but as I said, I felt I deserved it tough.And perhaps I would also be good for him. His disinterest in the materialworld could make him surprisingly incapable of dealing with it attimes. I recalled several years before when he came to visit the smallmonastery near my home. He was taken by a layman to buy a pair ofwellingtons at the local farm store but returned empty-handed. Therehad been too many pairs to choose from, and mindful of how upsetpeople got when he just picked anything, he had opted for nothing.The abbot had to go back with him, and when I came round to visit,it was the much more practical abbot who showed us the pair they hadjust got, pointing out how they would be just the thing. Ajahn Sucittojust looked on with a bemused and slightly dismissive air. So we balancedeach other, but the balancing would also mean we would bepulling in opposite directions. So it was good that we also already likedone another.Ajahn Sucitto was now walking ahead of me, and the last kilometrepost read Lumbini 18 km. We still had a way to go, but the sun was settingand it was time to do the evening puja. We left the road and sat on3 8