There is some routine emerging in my glorious month at the Root Institute: waking early for morning practice followed by lovely hot shower in the clean shared bathroom and breakfast outside(well every meal is outside on the spacious patio - the upstairs area which has less mosquitoes has been reserved for people keeping silence. Downstairs there is always a happy table of staff/longterm guests with much laughter and sharing of goodies (cheese and marmite are the current favourites among the English contingent) I have a friend Jo who is also studying the Lojong slogans and we exchange books/ideas/jokes/plans for lunch and general gossip. Then I spend some time reading these slogans which were written by a 10th century Kadampa master to change your attitude in daily life. I have modern interpretations by Chogyam Trungpa and Pema Chodron which are rich and profound. One of the current ones is "Be grateful to everyone" which may sound obvious but then needs to be applied to the irritating man in the shop and the endless hassle of rickshaw drivers and beggars and stray men generally. They are all reducing my ego, which would of course prefer a comfortable world for ME.
Then I walk across the fields into town before the sun gets too hot. There is a path between the paddy fields, women cutting the full rice crop and laying the sheaves to dry. One empty field was flooded yesterday and the mud roughly ploughed. Although everyone uses this path - school kids in smart blue uniform, field workers, a woman with her cows - still there is human shit on it. I understand the concept of field toilet, but on the path? Be grateful to everyone. After the cow-grazing field there is a street busy with naked children with the ubiquitous cry of 'choclat, choclat' and sometimes smiling women who hold the baby up to look at this strange being passing by. One house has waterbuffaloes living in front and the invaluable cow patties drying in the sun outside (1 rupee for 4 - sold as fuel)
Then I get to the main road - vast Japanese Buddha statue and various ornate temples to my right. I turn left and head to my favourite bookshop where I get offered a small sweet chai and always meet some interesting people: a Scottish doctor working at the Leprosy clinic. He is going to show me the place this afternoon. Another woman has just arrived from Arunachala and tells me of this holy mountain in the South where Shiva is said to reside. I find a copy of "The Light of Asia" a 19th century epic poem on the life and teachings of Buddha. I only mean to read the section on enlightenment, but get hooked by the dense beauty of the text and for 195 rupees have to buy the book. My bag is getting heavier again, although Kundan can send a parcel home for me - if I had a home! I also scored a bag left by a departing traveller with a dusty meditation cushion and a few needed toileteries. I take the cushion down to my spot under the tree and spend some time there ( Despite all the socialising and shopping I am doing 4 sessions of practice each day!!Honest.) Very happy to have my own cushion - which others can then use. Before I borrowed one which was left around, and then worried that the owner might return. All the prostration boards here also have 'rightful owners' who have paid to rent a board and then a variety of 'squatters' who come in the off times and use the space.
Then meet Jo for lunch in the Tibet Om cafe - the only pure vegetarian place in town and therefore where we feel 'safest' - ie least likely to get the shits. Jo tells me of various other restaurants in town and the resultant levels of diarrhoea. There is a stool chart at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale
which helps us with this discussion. She is celebrating completion of a report on the local school - she has been here a few months and is moving on SOuth for a retreat soon. I enjoy special noodle soup with fresh lemon soda, followed by banana walnut cake- much like pecan pie!
Afternoon spent at the tree, with a quick visit to grubby internet cafe where they bring me hot honey lemon ginger while I enjoy emails. Bump into Irene who had a hilarious birthday tea recently. We worry about the bull eating the rubbish pile on the main street - rubbish is smouldering, will it burn its nose? Get a rickshaw home in time for the next birthday celebration at Root (there is a remarkable gathering of five Saggitarians there at the moment) We have candles and a truly divine chocolate cake. A muscly Liverpudlian arrives and entertains us with stories of walking the Annapurna circuit.
Ready for final practice session and early bed.
