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2S8 I ENLIGHTENMENT EXPERIENCESnated with an hour's walking, which was done for the most part ata funereal pace back and forth outside each person's quarters in perfectsilence. The hands were held behind the back and the mind wasconcentrated on noting only the movements of each step. "Lifting,lifting" when the foot was raised, "moving" when it was carried forward,"putting" when it was placed on the ground.Each day at noon we met with our preceptor, a senior monk, whoexamined us on our progress. He asked minute questions and calledfor detailed accounts of sitting time. When I complained to him thatmy frequent mental wanderings were due to boredom, he laughedand told me to think "bored, bored, bored" until the boredom vanished.To my surprise this worked.Like everyone else, I had to sign a pledge upon entering thecenter to observe the Buddhist precepts, 1 which forbade eating aftertwelve noon, and to abstain from sleeping more than five hours anight. Food was brought to my door twice before noon in tiffincarriers, and I ate it alone while meditating "lifting lifting, puttingputting, chewing chewing, swallowing swallowing." In just this waythe tiniest detail of every action, mental as well as physical, had to beattended to with total attention.Here in the center, for the first time in my life, I was relegatedto a position socially below men, and further, as a laywoman devotee,to the lowest stratum of all in a structure which placed monks atthe top, nuns next, then laymen, and finally laywomen. Nevertheless,I was enormously grateful for this opportunity to practice meditationeven from such a lowly position, and later came to see that it was onlymy ego which had led me to consider my position in the :first place.At the end of :five weeks my concentration and health had improvedconsiderably in spite of, or because of, the acute pain and discomfortwhich I had of my own free will undertaken. The turning ofthe mind from outer activity to inner contemplation was by far themost rewarding task I had ever undertaken, and unquestionably themost difficult. The outside world, when I re-entered it, appearedradiantly beautiful to my fresh gaze, and I had a serenity and equanimitywhich, while not yet deep, surpassed anything I had hitherto ex-1 That is, the Hinayana, which are somewhat different from the Mahayana. See"precepts" in section X.