vaga #2/6 Monastery life

Pa-Auk-Taw-Ya in Mawlamyine in Southern Myanmar. 

my experience with a monastery and meditation

Part VI

This video of the gong is taken during a tremendous rainstorm at 3:30 am … it was our morning wake-up call

I clarify: that the photos are not good, because of the sensitivity of the subject and my stealth while taking the photos but the story deserves to depicted.

I'm going to start with a funny anecdote because it happened before arriving at the monastery. At the hotel (the best in the area and very expensive, the restaurant was good, while the rest of the place was miserable for the price) I ordered a taxi to take me to the monastery that was 15 km away. They asked me “how about one without air conditioning”

......!.....SURE...!...............

And this utility pickup with a chair in the back arrived, it should have occurred to me that they would have a taxi without air conditioning, I had caught many of those but ...........

TAXI WITHOUT AIR CONDITIONING…. HAHAHA… .. BUT THE WIND OF THE TRIP WAS AS GOOD AS THE AIR CONDITIONING…… HAHAHA… ..              

 

I will start with my first impression of the place and its surroundings, but I cannot, nor could I stop comparing it with the other monastery that I had seen a few months before in Japan, also Buddhist, and I am going to express the differences that were great in every way.

Pa-Auk-Taw-Ya monastery

The other one in Koyasan, a place in the mountains of Japan, where there are 110 monasteries, one more beautiful than the next, the monastery here is paid for, and that in particular is not a meditation for foreigners, they receive tourists, where one can participate in the practices in the morning only. The one in Myanmar is free and only goes to meditation.

Let's start with the physical, in my previous experience in Japan versus Mandalay. My bedroom in the Koyasan monastery had a private room, heating, everything was very harmonious and it was very comfortable, situated in a beautiful natural environment. The architecture of the monasteries one next to the other was beautiful and everything was taken care of down to the last detail, with Zen gardens under the snow. An experience that I will share in another Blog. It was snowing here, causing a feeling of silence and mysticism. In Myanmar, the photos say it all about my room and I did not have a mosquito net so I was bombarded by mosquitoes. Here it was 40 degrees without a fan and a lot of humidity causing a feeling of continual discomfort.

I arrived at the one in Myanmar, a place on a huge piece of land in the middle of a forest, many boring and disorderly buildings scattered everywhere, many little houses and others not so little, for older nuns and monks I deduced, the men's monastery is nearby. Something strange to me was that they were all very secure, with walls, windows with bars, doors with padlocks, this is strange because in Myanmar nobody steals anything. But here is an exaggeration of the security of each house. The photo even shows barbed wire ..... I never knew why... It was inexplicable to me, I turned the matter over and over again in my mind, there would be a reason obviously, but I didn't know it .... robbing a monastery? ????

The first picture was taken Inside the monastery with a parasol, and the second photo is of my neighbour in a room who took out her washing to dry, it was one step away from her room but she had a parasol to protect herself against the sun, it cannot be tolerated for even one step, they also shave their heads and with that sun puffffffff ..... they must take precautions ......

I have finished with the physical part of my story, now we move to the spiritual. At first, I was interested because I had no idea that I could participate, it was unexpected to find a monastery open to foreigners and women, secondly, I have practised (very basically) the Buddhist philosophy, (a different branch) but it is the same essence. I did not go as a foreigner to snoop, but rather to advance and see how it is practised in the land of the Buddhists. I was very excited to do it, it was by far the most intimately intense of my journey, and not comparable with my visit to the monastery in Japan where I spent two nights, as a tourist. 

I had to wait almost two hours for the nun to register me (first test, .... !! patience !!! ....) so I was able to observe the office, I found out that there are 390 nuns and 1,200 monks, plus the itinerant ones. There was also the collection office where people come to donate money - a topic that I will touch on later-

The nun arrived, and before sitting down, neither looking at me nor saying anything else, asked me if I was on medication ...

.................. !!!. NOPE. !!!! .................. FIRST LIE…. ...........

I knew that if I said yes, they would not let me in and that I wouldn’t have this unusual opportunity again.

In the questionnaire that they give you with all the rules and schedules of the activities, they ask if you have cigarettes or alcohol with you ...

......... SECOND LIE ............. 

!!!!! Yep, I had ..... my cigs ....... and 2 beers ......

I drink 2 litres of water a day and the beers are a pleasure for some relief from the heat and a bit of variety. They firmly insist that you are there for at least 5 days or more. I was going only for two days since my visa would run out in 4 days. They give you your dishes, schedules and a brown cloth to cover your chest and shoulders, I didn’t get a skirt, thank goodness because from what I learned from my Austrian roommate, it was a blanket and with that heat, it would have been unbearable

I reread the schedules and pamphlet that they gave me, they were more informative than the nun who was not too helpful and she left me in my room, with zero interest in talking, explaining, or anything else. Luckily, the 25-year-old Austrian was just leaving the room,  I latched on to her so that she would show me where and how to do everything. In the pamphlet they explain how to meditate, the first stage, controlling the body and then the head through concentration. You cannot have any thoughts. Your mind must be blank. And if any image, thought, concern or idea comes, you have to put it out of your mind. Also to not concentrate too much on breathing. It is nothing like western meditation and its internal retrospectives, thoughts of the soul, thinking about the peace of a beautiful place that you have been, personal improvements, new promises, etc .......

BLANK MIND

easy to write, impossible for any ordinary mortal (I mean, me) to do it for more than a very short time.

The theory is to achieve control of the body and mind but I don't know what happens when it is achieved and the higher process if there is one, There are 5 stages of meditation in a large room with a huge gold-coloured Buddha image on the altar. When I entered the first time and I was very excited to participate, 200 nuns were meditating, The process is that you start as a "yogi" after that you become a novice and finally, a nun and that is when they shave their heads. Each meditation is 1.5 hours and a total of 7.5 hours per day, this was in the temple. It started at 4 am when it was still dark and it finished at 7:30 pm, and it is dark again. Then there are Sutra readings until 9 pm I did not attend because it was in Burmese.

The Austrian was miming the movements because nobody talks to you, nor do they care about a foreign rookie. How to find a cushion, where to sit, to wash your feet before entering, and so on. I left at 5 pm, 1.5 hours, sitting on a cushion, without moving, without thinking about anything, both are very difficult for an hour and a half. After 15 minutes, swollen knees, a quiet change of position, numb legs, and a sore back, in 37-degree heat but the worst was the  90% humidity, without a fan. The beads of sweat rolled down my forehead, my cheeks, my arms, I had to wipe it off with my hand, we were not supposed to move, but I found it impossible, I changed my position every 8 minutes. And to top it off there were the mosquitoes, I had applied repellent but they bit straight through it. How do you not scratch?

NOT MOVING  …… ..IMPOSSIBLE …… ... KNEES, SWEAT, MOSQUITOES...

Since moving is a distraction to your mind, you have to be 100% in a spiritual state. Even so, it didn't take long for me, I was able to concentrate despite everything. The Austrian was just as uncomfortable but very distracted., I saw two more western women in their 40s, who looked like they had been around for a long time, I deduced this because they were not in our area and from a distance I saw them immersed in their silence. The nuns wear a covering that looked like an individual mosquito net inside the room, the image of hundreds of individual mosquito nets that look like tents with a conical shape on each one sitting on their cushions with their feet crossed was strange, I did not take photos, But I won't forget the image. I saw a security video at some point by chance and I saw that the monks' temple does not use these mosquito nets. and again security videos ..? ....... I got very involved in it all

I then returned to the room, finally to shower, scratch myself freely and move my legs. The Austrian offered the shower to me first, because she was polite (she saw that I was on the verge of collapse)  

!!!!! SHOWER ........ NOPE !!!!,

It is better to say a top to toe wash, a large bucket of water and a small bucket that you fill with water, from the larger one and then you throw it over yourself and so on, the bathroom was in the room, thank goodness, although I already said it, I emphasise it at this moment because it was very much appreciated. The sun was gone

!!!! what a relief!!!!,

The room was facing the sun in the afternoons, with no curtains and we had to sit on the floor to read the pamphlets, they also gave me two booklets for more in-depth reading, that's where I disappeared the first time  

TO MY CIGS AND BEER THAT WERE HIDDEN IN MY UNDERPANTS..... HAHAHA….

!!! …….I felt like I was at school, doing bad things ....... !!!

I needed some normal balance in my life. the Austrian and I did not talk, it is one of the rules. Because I hadn’t had lunch that day,  I had some smuggled cookies that I ate before going to sleep without making a single noise. No food is given after 10:30 am and you cannot eat solids only certain liquids that are listed for you and if you are going to faint from hunger you can eat honey and a tablespoon of oil for energy. There is no restriction on cell phones but there is no music allowed. Despite the discomfort and mosquitoes, I slept very well.

Then the gong sounded at 3:30 am, and it was raining hard at 4:00 I was to meditate sitting on my cushion, and I learned that there were mosquitoes, even at that time of the morning, I had not prepared for such an event, !!!! !! terrible .. !!!!!!!! ..... less heat, but a lot of humidity. When we came down at 4 am we had to bring the bowls for breakfast and they were left on a railing, as my saviour explained to me.

At 5:30 am there was a line, the older nuns first, then the novices and then the yogis,  always the older ones first. An eternal line, it seemed, there were about 300 nuns. While walking in line I realised that I had forgotten where I had left my bowl, there were hundreds and they all looked the same, the most experienced of them put napkins and things to recognise their bowls. It was my turn to be served breakfast and I did not have my bowl, I slipped back and picked one up ...... just getting out of that rigid silent row was already scandalous...... I felt very bad .. .. !!!!!

I'm sorry to whoever’s bowl I picked up and upset, it won't happen again… .., I learned my lesson, I'll put something on it for the next meal…... 

A double row with about 18 women, a long counter in the centre full of giant pots, sauces and edible things, that I couldn’t identify. They were putting sauce, over sauce on top of food, I didn't understand anything. In the end, I learned that I just put the bowl forward and they filled it with everything that there was, and from there we went to eat it in our rooms.

I could not eat anything, at 5 am, the Austrian desperately devoured everything, she told me that she had not eaten since the previous day at 10:30 and was starving. I had to dispose of the food very carefully and I felt terrible for doing so.

at 10:00 there was the lunch line and everything is repeated, the same food, but here at the end of the line, with your bowl full there are parishioners who donate things to you, they give you fruit, cookies, even personal hygiene products, juices ...etc.....

I didn't eat anything again, between the heat, and the food being so strange to me, that I couldn't and felt terrible again ......

Then I decided to leave because my physical body was not going to improve in 24 hours, neither would the habit of eating at strange times, on the contrary, it was only going to get worse. Yes, meditating was physically demanding, the Austrian told me that she wasn’t that uncomfortable, but she found it was difficult for her to concentrate, I could handle the concentration side of things, she was more comfortable than me with the physical side. I was not going to improve my meditation skills with that heat, humidity and mosquitoes. To stay was to suffer. nor was I in need of so much silence and spiritual space, since my new life has been filled with a lot of silence, peace and harmony. The Austrian told me that if I stayed longer I was going to get used to the humidity, heat and food, but the truth is that at my age one is no longer so flexible for such drastic changes and I was suffering, I have had more than my quota of suffering in my life, to stay there suffering and voluntarily. !!!!  NOPE  !!!! 1. I want my cigs, my beer, my food the best I can get in these parts and at my time ............. and that is why they watch you for at least 5 days to acclimatise you to the rhythm and heat, only then can you start the process of meditation. Perhaps?

To summarise, it was an extraordinary experience, getting to know the life of the cloister of nuns, of meditation, of sacrifice and the idea that when one overcomes the hardships and after a long journey you pass to a state of fullness and eventually enlightenment. How to realise that the body is essential, its control for meditation, I did not pass that stage, not even close,  the regime was too strict. Once that is controlled, the mind is controlled.

I didn't know where to insert this comment …….it stayed here… .., because "The Vagabond's Eyes" do not discriminate and with a  bit of my typical irreverence that I have to add in. I took this clipping from one of the two brochures that they gave me upon arrival, the first one I read and I left it where it was, I couldn’t carry anything extra. but I found this paragraph, .. ... hahaha ....... it was something that my eyes saw everywhere, but it was so politically incorrect, but seeing it written by nothing less by the highest monk of this monastery and I think his name is Bhikkhu Revatta, I no longer have the brochure to confirm it 100%, but I am sure it is by him. And writing this particular part of the chapter I heard a song by the “Parra Trio” a Chilean Band, the song: ... Que Se Mueran Toditos Los Feos …Let All the Ugly Ones Die...A very well-known song, that  I had not heard in 30 years, but the coincidence makes it impossible for me to ignore …… ... much to my relief,, the older monk also saw it and above all wrote………….

I was supposed to have conversations with the "teacher" which I did not get to have in due time, it would have been a great thing and I was very excited about that meeting, so much to learn and ask, but I gave up. This life that is dedicated to meditation is a mystery to me, the limitations of my mind, prevented this, I wanted to understand it but I have not yet succeeded, so I would have liked that conversation with the "teacher" because it would throw some light on it. I have a card to play, so many questions ... ..that is why I say I have so many doubts and hope to find out more ...... resulting in this way I will share it with my friend, a monk because it will be from a good source, but for now, it does not depend on me.