Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 F I R S T M O O N 06centred. This is an asset when what comes on my first morning in Nepalis a sign bent on moving the mind. A ragged man came shuffling alongin the half light, paused about a dozen paces in front of me, turned andsquatted, pulled up his dhoti, and proceeded to empty his bowels. Adawn attack on the bastions of propriety! This area of life is the oneabove all that the West cannot accept into consciousness, and whichMother India therefore thrusts before our cringing gaze. Despite our“openness” about sexual matters—and our yielding recognition ofdeath—the daily business of the body is still socially unacceptable. InIndia, back at Mother’s bosom, we learn toilet training anew. Everymorning in the country, people make their way out into the treelessfields with their little cans of water to defecate and then wash the anuswith water and the left hand. Food goes in by means of the right handand out to the ministrations of the left: there’s symmetry in that. Onecan grow to like the cool matter-of-factness of something that is, actually,a matter of fact.Having finished, he stood up, turned, and peered toward where I wasin the half-light. Shuffled forward and finally recognizing what I was, hegrunted, turned, and went on his way. Human contact, early morning.Later that morning we came to the temples at Lumbini. There weretwo living Buddhist shrines. Round the bend in the road and across theriver Til, the eye of a Tibetan gompa met ours in welcome. Behind itstood the Nepalese vihara, with its resident bhikkhu, VenerableVimalananda Mahathera. It was getting to the crucial hour of eleveno’clock by the time we strode in; but the Mahathera darted out from thetemple garden and promptly invited us to have the meal with him. Twoother Theravadan bhikkhus were there, but there was no time or needfor introductions as we were briskly tucked in around the humble tablenext to the kitchen. The aged cook, with Mongoloid features, and ayounger Nepali with characteristic Indian features bustled round grinningand loading rice, pulses, chilis, and vegetables on our plates; VenerableVimalananda hopped between his own meal and our plates to4 2