Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 O B S E RV E R 06with a lot of things, he often took the lead in conversations anyway, brushingaside my slow and painstaking Hindi sentences with a couple of Hindiwords, vigorous gestures, and simple English thrown in. Amazinglyenough, the mixture worked. My side of the action seemed a bit feeble.So there I was trying to be a great pilgrim. For me that means at leasttrying to acknowledge and undo blind compulsions. Frequently I’dprime the effort with a period of quiet devotional chanting as I walked,or use the mala beads and recollect inwardly the presence and the teachingof all the buddhas.That end of the world wherein one is not born, does not grow old ordie...is impossible to be known, seen, or reached by travelling. Butfriend, I do not declare that one can make an end of suffering withoutreaching the end of the world. Friend, I do proclaim that in thisvery fathom-length body, with its perceptions and consciousness, isthe world, the world’s arising, the world’s ceasing, and the pathleading to the world’s cessation.One’s inner world can change if it is observed impartially. And in trainingthe mind this clear observing entails careful preparatory activities—determinations, intentions, a setting up and attuning of attention fromthe moment of waking. In my case a few minutes would be needed afterwaking cocooned in the bivvy bag to get the mind to remember whichdirection in the darkness the torch was (generally to the left of where myhead lay). Get the torch first, then sit up wrapped in the dew-drippingbag, light a candle, and make some arrangement with the robes to staywarm.Breathedeeply,takeafewswallowsof water.Thestarswereout—and at a distance a lump that moved and grunted occasionally signifiedthat my fellow pilgrim was also going through his early morning rituals.We generally got moving soon after waking, to work the stiffness andcold out of our bodies. Just after dawn, we’d stop by the side of the roadand set our Buddha images on top of my alms bowl, light incense, bowto that shrine, and chant recollections on the Buddha, Dhamma, and6 3