Day 26: Asahna Puja Day

I woke up pretty tired today, but it is a Buddhist holiday so I was even more excited than usual to go for alms. Today is the anniversary of the Buddha's first dharma talk in Deer Park exactly 5,600 years ago. Many unfamiliar villagers gave food for the special day and the cart got so heavy that my friend had to help push it with me. It started sprinkling while we walked, but thankfully the skies stayed clear for us. The humidity meant snails and I enjoyed looking for them on the side of the road.

Snails and garbage on the side of the road

Stray cat with beautiful blue eyes

This dog has some serious utters...

The Buddhasavika Foundation - the organization of this temple encouraging women’s participation in Buddhism - invited women to a four day retreat during the Buddhist holidays. They all wore the same white uniforms (the one I never got) and shoulder shawls. Big ornate hairclips seem to be in style here because many of them wore them to pull back their hair. I guessed most of them were in their 20s. Even though they wore laypeople outfits, they were being treated like guests, so I made sure to push the cart and let them take the food from the bhikkhunis. I needed some help near the end though when the cart got too heavy for just me to push.

 

The visitors helping out during alms round

After breakfast, my computer would not connect to the internet so I worked on a transcription in the library and fell asleep when I put my head down on the table. I gained full consciousness again around 9:30 am and noticed the internet still did not work, which meant no skype again today. Afternoon chanting was much more crowded than usual with the women from the retreat and the visitors for the holiday. I had never seen so much food on the table throughout my stay as today. I tried a bunch of new foods and ate with two women and a man who speak some English. Someone asked me if I came from France, not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not.

The people visiting make the atmosphere much livelier, but I did not foresee waiting to take a shower. I had a breech in my ziploc bag security during dinner tonight: an army of ants marched up my temporarily unprotected Skippy’s peanut butter jar. Some managed to get to the top and jump in, which seemed kind of stupid. It seemed like the same idea as climbing a volcano and jumping into the hole. Anyways, peanut butter is expensive here as an import (over 5 dollars for a jar), so I was not letting this ants waste the rest of my jar. It was still half full! So I scooped out the ants stuck in the PB like quicksand and made sure no ants remained in the jar before finally making my sandwich.

Evening chanting started at 6:30 pm tonight instead of 7 and a bhikkhuni chanted some unfamiliar Pali verses. I had a hard time concentrating and spaced out for a bit. The chants were more difficult tonight since we do not practice them every day, but my back did not have to struggle through a dharma talk. A woman who comes every weekend took my hand and led me outside the temple. 

A couple volunteers gave everyone each a yellow candle, 3 incense sticks, and flowers made out of leaves. We lit the candles and incense and followed the Bhikkhunis and samaneris around the vihara. 

 My candle, incense sticks, and flowers

Attempted picture of the Bhikkhunis without flash

We circled the building three times clockwise (Siddharta’s mother had a dream that an elephant circled her 3 times before impregnating her) and chanted the praise to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Luckily, I have those verses memorized. We walked slowly and carefully: the candles were our only light in the darkness of the night and the breeze kept blowing them out as we rounded the corners. Even though the ceremony symbolized a celebration rather than a memorial, it reminded me very much of the Luminaria ceremony for Relay for Life. At the end, we stuck our candles on a table in front of the big Buddha statue. 

All of our candles

Next, we went to the vihara of the Medicine Buddha and did our chant 108 times. Venerable Dhammananda did not attend, but more people attended than usual due to the holiday. One of the Bhikkhunis speaks English well and she translated the stories of what made each person happy that day. Finally, I went back to my room and I almost did not go back down to the bathroom, but I am glad I did! I saw both big geckos together for the first time on the wall. I also heard some scurrying on the roof above me and when I looked up, I saw the fury belly of a rat as it climbed from one panel to the next. RATS! And many of them from the sound of it. I wondered what animals left the droppings in the library and other buildings when I cleaned them. At least the mystery has been solved.