Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06live in their own time zone, lying asleep on tables in the midst of revvingbuses and jangling music or hammering fine metalwork under flickeringneon tubes. At the Burmese Vihara it was night; the metal gates requireda little hammering to bring forth some life, which came in the form of abhikkhu complete with torch and keys. On seeing a fellow bhikkhu, amood of homecoming and companionship arose within me. He, however,was on automatic pilot and briskly conducted us to a narrow courtyardclosed around by a single-storey block of rooms. There he openedone of the rooms, and while we were still putting our bags down and easingour blisters out of our sandals, dashed off and returned with the bedding—somemosquito nets and a blanket. The bathing facilities werenearby; a switch in the courtyard connected to a bare light bulb. Couldwe see the abbot in the morning perhaps? ... to pay our respects? “OK,OK. No problem.” Then he was off. I guessed that he’d had a busy day.We had aimed to arrive at Kushinagar in time for the new moonuposatha day. Apart from being the days that we used for the all-nightmeditation sittings, the uposatha days are the occasion when bhikkhusmeet to refresh and redetermine their training rules. Any misdemeanorsare mentioned to another bhikkhu, and one reflects on howthey occurred and how to prevent them from happening again. All thebhikkhus in the monastery meet, and after they have done this, one ofthem recites the Patimokkha by heart in the Pali language of the scriptures.Recited rapidly by an experienced bhikkhu, this takes forty-fiveminutes or more. The Patimokkha is the core of the Vinaya discipline—a sequence of greater and lesser rules setting out the “gone forth” principlesof harmlessness, celibacy, and renunciation, as well as proceduresfor dealing with controversial or uncertain incidents. The wordPatimokkha means “a bond,” that is, that which connects the fraternityand holds it together. Without the Patimokkha, the Buddha said, theholy life and the teaching would not last long. His rebukes to bhikkhusand bhikkhunis who shamelessly transgressed the training rules wereferocious; and there’s even an account of the Buddha refusing to recite8 0