Suan Mokkh, Southern ThailandWhile walking in the hills, a man is confronted by a fierce tiger. Try as he might to evade the beast, he soon finds himself chased off the side of a cliff. Grasping for dear life on a vine he caught hanging during his fall, he notices a bunch of ripe strawberries growing on the small rock ledge alongside of him. While the fierce rocks below threaten to rip him to pieces and drag his body to the murky depths, two mice, one black and one white, begin to chew away at the vine to which he holds for dear life as the tiger above waits restlessly for his meal to climb within reach. What should he do? -Zen riddle
So the final few days of the retreat were scheduled much as the middle, wake up early then meditate, yoga then meditate, breakfast then meditate, dharma talk then meditate, and so on and so on. The expectation was that the guests should know the basics by this stage and should just practice in order to develop their skills more fully, and this is just what everyone would do.
As the final days approached people got alot more relaxed, a few conversations could be heard around the bodhi tree during walking meditation time and three of the group were expelled for using the hot springs when they should have been doing walking meditation, they were actaully busted by the rest of the group when they filed past the springs during the group walking meditation. Unlucky, I actually thought it was a bit harsh to kick them out for a minor transgression such as this.
The retreat wrapped up on the morning of the 11th of November, after that everyone was free to talk again and that was what everyone did as if desperately trying to make up for the previous days of silence. I met a few Canadians, a mad Irish bloke and his wife and a whole heap of other people from all over the place including a Canadian oilman and an ex US marine. In the group there were a few retreat veterans, it seems that alot of people do these things as a regular occurance all around the world, especially in India.
It gave me a few ideas for my next adventure.
Earthmans Indian Walkabout- Enlightenment or Bust....?
Who knows, it's got a nice ring to it though doesn't it?
Walked over the highway to the main temple and for guided tour by the Indian monk, a special reward to guests who stuck it out over the whole duration where we were treated to a viewing of the lodgings of Buddhadasa Bikkhu whose interpretation of the buddhist suttas (teachings) made Suan Mikkh so famous (or infamous) through the buddhis community, many amazing things to see here including a wax sculpture of our man Buddhadasa himself (very lifelike) and the Museum of Spiritual Enlightenment which was full of buddhist art and stuff.
Said my goodbyes around twelve and hopped in a sangthiew on the highway to the Surat Thani airport, a bit of a mission to get there but got there in time for my flight to Bangkok at 2:30pm. A word on Thailand, when i got to the airport gates I was met by a uniformed official who enquired ino my destination. I told him I needed to get to the international terminal and he said '150baht' and motioned for me to jump on the back of a motorcycle that was parked by the office and took me to the front door of the terminal. I guess airport security has to make cash any way they can in Thailand. Went to clean myself up in the airport and caught a glimpse of the bearded, multi coloured writbanded, fishermans panted hippy looking being that I had become, I wish I had got a photo because it was a sight to behold, even for me.
After a strong coffee I boarded the flight to Bangkok airport and got in in the late afternoon but didn't check in to my guest house until evening due to the horrendous traffic on the road, it was all very weird going from silence to chaos in the matter of a few hours but was still very relaxed from my time in Suan Mokkh for a long time to come after that.
Oh, and the answer to the riddle?
Eat the strawberries.
Perth, AustraliaSo after leaving Bangkok airport (where there was a lovely display of The Churning Of The Sea Of Milk which was on the side of Angkor Wat) I boarded the plane to Kuala Lumpur for my final flight back home to Perth, Australia. As much as I love Asia it was good to be going home, despite a certain amount of uncertainty of the work and accomodation front. Never mind all that though, so far everything has always worked out okay and these fays I am a man of very simple pleasures, some of the best experiences of my life have occurred at my poorest and I have often been at my most miserable when surrounded with all the trappings of the material existence. I posted last time about a Zen riddle about the guy hanging off the cliff facing certain death above and below, the whole story is a metaphor for human existance, the black and white mice symbolise night and day, time ticking away with certain doom waiting for us no matter what course of action we take. Some may find this too terrifying or horrible to contemplate but the whole point of the tale is that you have to enjoy each moment, to eat the strawberries whenever you can in order to really appreciate life for how beautiful it really is. To do this we must quieten our monkey minds, stop it from jumping around from thinking about the past and the future and to focus only on what is real, which is the moment at hand.So begins my long journey towards this end....Touched down is Perth at 5:30am on Saturday morning, the pilot of the plane looked like an idiot salesperson who used to work for me which was a bit unsettling and There were no blankets offered to passengers despite the freezing temperature inside the plane. I nearly missed the plane as I was sitting inside the new lounge section at the airport, so new that they hadnt installed speakers so you could hear the boarding announcements being made at the gate outside.Got a mate to pick me up from the Perth airport, kudos to him for making the trip so early in the morning. If you ever want to find out who your real friends are, try that on them.Made it to my mates wedding at 1pm after shaving of the beard, putting on the suit I got from Bangkok and doing my hair, a very nice ceremony where he arrived at the church in a Hummer, after which we went to the Matilda bay Brewery where the reception was held. A magnificent location right on the river, beautiful day and weather, I will post some photos when I can get a broadband connection instead of dial up which will take forever to load up.A lovely reception and got the chance to chat with my mate's neighbour with whom I shared travel stories before winding up at midnight when i headed into the nightclub district of Northbridge for another mate's birthday party.Not having my passport on me and my drivers license having long since expired, I was denied entry into the club where her party was being held for as I had no ID. Welcome Home!From here I jumped in a cab for the long drive to my mates house where I was staying, total fare: AU$70....Takeaway lessons here:Australia is very beaurocratic.Australia is bloody expensive after AsiaThe upside was that my mate had let me stay at his beautiful house while he and his wife went on their honeymoon, time to relax and take it easy for a bit before beginning the job hunt to replenish by rapidly deteriorating bank balance.Cheers Cobba!
