Saka Dawa or Buddha Janti
May 25th was the day of Buddhas
enlightenment I was in Bodhgaya for the celebrations and it was crazy busy. The
Indians call this day Buddhas birthday, even though the Buddha was born, died
and got enlightened on the same day, the Tibetans celebrate his enlightenment,
while the Indians who always love a good party with all the glitz and glam,
celebrate this day as his birthday. May is also the wedding season in Bodhgaya so
we had about 5 weddings in town every weekend which in India means 3 days of
very loud dance music all night long. I am positive the Buddha would never have
gotten enlightened if they had loud speakers in his day.
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| flag and Bodhi tree |
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| small stupas |
The story
goes that the Buddha sat down under the Bodhi tree at sunset and made a strong
resolved to not move until he attained enlightenment. After a night of
wrestling with his inner demons of temptation and anger he gained full
enlightenment at dawn. So the practice of sitting under the tree on the same
night Buddha attained enlightenment is a thing that many Buddhist aspire to do,
so I had to have a go.
I have imagined
sitting peacefully under the tree with people from all over the world, hahahhah
well this is India and no way was that going to happen. The Sri Lankans had a
loud speaker for their recitation of texts and the Thaïs their loud speaker for
chanting and the India’s had 50 children they were telling the story of Buddha
too. There was not a vacant space under the tree as a group of Vietnamese were
camping out with mosquito nets, mattresses and had all their stuff spread
everywhere and their monks were chanting in Vietnamese. Oh and there was also
the crazy lone Japanese monk chanting his own version of Buddhism complete with
his portable alter of all kinds of stuff he found in the street. So with 5 languages
all at once, it was a huge competition to see which nation/culture could be
more Buddhist. Then there was me the only white person in the bunch and the
only one that was more than just a wee bit upset at all the noise. Asians are not bothered by noise and can
meditate or sleep no problem with noise, in strong light, in cramped spaces, no
problem. When I watched the pilgrims sitting around the monks with the
microphones they were either falling asleep, not listening and spacing out, not
reciting, they would get up and wander around or just sit and gossip. Geeze if
you’re going to make such a noise chanting yi would think they would at least
pay attention!
Anyway; I
did attempt to emulate the master. I tried to still my mind in meditation but
failed miserably; I did walking meditation but it was kind of hard when the
school kids story time ended and their play time began; I contemplate human
suffering while gazing at the Bodhi tree under the light of the full moon and
three spotlights but again gave up when the stray dogs decided to use me as
their play toy; so with earplugs and blind fold I tried to sleep, but again, at
least for me, there was no inner peace to be attained that night. By 1am it was
clearly time for me to go home, but the watchmen lock us in and armed guards
prowl the boundary wall for added protection to the mediators. Lucky though
again this is India and the guards with guns were asleep in their barracks. I begged
the watchmen to open the gate but no way, they would not budge, a rule was a
rule and this must be the only rule in India that does not get broken. So
longing for my quiet bedroom and determined to get home I told the watched I
was going to jump the area of wall into the market where no armed guard patrolled.
I have known the watchmen for a long time so they just smiled under their big moustaches
and said “oh Linda Gee” as they literally turned their heads the other way; so off
I went.
I
decided to escape from the very place Buddhist flock to, the famed place of
peace, the place I love to be!? Weird but for my own sanity I had to get away
for these loud Buddhist!? I thought;
what would the Buddha do here and what would he think of my escape? I consoled
myself with the thought that he also left society for a quiet place and I am
sure he would just have laughed as much as anyone else at my escapes. So no
worries. Commando style with my bag on my back and folded mosquito tent over
one shoulder I climbed the gate into the meditation park and ran over to the
perimeter brick wall. Bags off I ran up and down the wall in search of a spot
that I could get up on to and which was not too far to jump down on the other
side. Found it; but I had to walk along the top of the wall for a few feet. Ok
Bags over the wall and up I went. I peeped around to make sure no-one was
around, the coast was clear; up I went, walked along the top and jumped down
the other side. YEH! All the time
thinking to myself; I am 49 years old, not a school kid, I can’t remember the
last time I jumped a wall. Luckily the market was empty just a few cows
sleeping and dog roaming around. Relieved to be out I sprinted home to bed. So
much for my steadfast determination to endure all hardships and gain
enlightenment that night.
