April 13 is the official beginning of the Songkran holiday here in Thailand, and it officially continues until the 16th I believe. It unofficially began a few days ago though, and continues until the 21st or so I think – it’s the longest and biggest holiday of the year here. I’m still not sure that I understand what it is all about, but it is definitely needed as this is the hottest and driest month of the year and it tends to make people feel a bit short of temper, or at least of patience, and fed up with things. Thai people don’t seem to get short of temper very much or very quickly – at least not the ones I’ve seen, but the heat does stretch people’s patience.
Having spoken to my parents this morning and
heard that there was another blizzard going on I realize that not many of you
will be sympathetic to my complaints about heat, but I’m going to complain
anyway. It’s bloody hot and it just goes on and on and on. It’s worse in Bangkok
I guess, as at least it cools down to the mid twenties by around 11:00 PM here
and doesn’t get uncomfortably hot again until around 8:00 AM. However, the
inside of the houses (and my room) tends to hold the heat longer and so the
actual comfortable time range for sleeping is rather short. Sigh… It’d be OK with air conditioning I guess, but
of course that’s not an option here at the temple.
I’m mostly glad that I stayed longer though,
despite the heat issues. It does still feel like being here is a practice in
living simply and in clearing out things that have been problems or blockages
in the past. I’ve started helping out at the vegetarian kitchen lately. There
are two kitchens that cook for the whole temple every day. The vegetarian
kitchen is smaller and makes less food than the other one, but we still put out
quite a bit each day. It’s been kind of fun really – between 6 and 12 people
get together in the early morning (around 3:30 or 4:00) and work until about
5:00 or 5:30 and then again in the afternoon and work from around 2:00 to 4:30
or 5:00. They are a fun group and the last couple of days have ended with big
water fights since that’s what one does for Songkran – throw water at people. I
think the holiday is meant to be a time of respect for water and gratitude for
water actually, but it is celebrated by throwing water at each other. There are
kids along all of the streets throwing water at passing cars and motorcycles,
trucks with barrels of water in the back and people throwing water as they
drive along, and water fights all over the place. It’s so hot that the water
feels kind of good actually, but you have to wrap up your phone and wallet in
plastic…
Anyway, at the kitchen today there was a man who
spoke English, so there was a chance to talk a little bit more than normal.
People wanted to know what it is like in Canada – are there many temples there,
or many Buddhists? Do I talk to my friends about what is taught here at this
temple? What do they think about it?
I found myself having difficulty explaining –
partly because of the language (even with a translator) and partly because
things are so different. Here, about 98% of the population is Buddhist. If you
throw a stick in pretty much any direction you’re going to hit a temple, and it’s
just normal that religion is an integral part of life. Nearly every house has a
“Buddha room” – a room dedicated to Buddha statues and pictures and meant for
meditation and/or worship. Monks are everywhere and giving food to them is a part of life for everyone (except in the big cities). The only pictures one finds on walls anywhere in the
house are generally Buddha images, monks, or the Royal Family. Everybody has at
least one temple that they go to regularly, and several that they visit and
support. In Canada, Sunday is the day to go to Church, mainly at least. Here it is called "Buddha day" and it falls on different days of the week each week. People go to temples especially on Buddha day but on many other days as well. Religion just isn’t that big a part of life in Canada, even for most
people who are “religious”, but it is a big part of life here.
The interesting thing about Buddhism though is that it depends on who you talk to as to whether it is even a religion. I think to most people it is a religion, and Buddha is worshiped as a kind of deity. However, it isn't a religion that believes in a "father God" as in Christianity, or in many Gods as in Hinduism. It doesn't even believe in the idea of a permanent "self" of "soul" - but it does believe in reincarnation, at least in some ways. It is a religion, or philosophy, that says "not this, but not that either", and at the same time "Both this and that".
It doesn't lend itself well to be explained from the context in which our Western minds were brought up.
I tried to explain that there are lots of Christian people in
Canada, and many churches, but not many temples. There are also lots of people
who don’t have a specific religion, who are “spiritual” but not “religious” –
but this wasn’t understood very well. “What do they trust in?” – well, they
trust in their idea of connection with God from inside themselves, and their
own connection with the divine… but
again it was hard to explain.
What do I tell my friends about the temple? Hmm.
Well, again it is all about context and it’s so hard to just put it into words.
Thich Nhat Hanh was in Bangkok last week and I actually intended to go, but
then changed my mind due to Songkran travel difficulties. A friend went though
and said the talk was mainly about living peacefully, compassion, love, and
stuff like that. It’s a bit easier to talk about that and explain it.
The temple teaching is about that too; they
definitely teach to live peacefully and simply, be compassionate and kind and
generous. But they also try to go beyond the idea of opposites and that gets
confusing. It’s more helpful to be kind than to be mean, but it’s not “wrong”
to be either. It’s more helpful to be compassionate or generous than hurtful or
selfish, but again it’s not “bad” to be selfish. Where most teachers say it is
necessary to practice and have goals of where you are going and what you are
trying to obtain, here they say that there is a point where these things are
not helpful. Like the Queen of hearts in Alice in Wonderland, it can often
happen that the faster we try to run to get somewhere, the slower we actually
go in getting there. The harder we try to be “OK” the more we find that’s not
OK about ourselves. Or… the more we focus on “good” the more judgmental we get
about “bad”. It’s kind of a tricky balance, and it doesn’t lend itself to
explaining very well.
But, we had a water fight anyway, and got very
wet and even a bit cold (especially when ice was included in the water), and
nobody took anything too seriously. I guess that’s one of the good things about
here. People live their lives day by day and moment by moment and as much as
possible they don’t take things (especially themselves) too seriously. It’s
helpful to be constantly reminded not to be too serious about one’s self.
At the moment all of the young boys who live at
the house where I stay are yelling in the background and throwing water at each
other. A light breeze is blowing and bringing a slight bit of coolness with it.
The evening dhamma talk will start in about 45 minutes and we’ll all go to
listen to Luang por and to feel the energy of his presence. This too is hard to
describe. It is kind of like a cool breeze for the mind I guess – a breeze that
tends to calm the thoughts and nerves and help one to feel more still or open.
It’s an expanding sort of energy, when one can be open enough to let it in.
So, that’s it for the moment. I’m here for
another 45 days (not that I’m counting or anything). Each day feels precious in
many ways, and I am also feeling anxious to come home. There’s the mind, not
being content where it is and grasping for the future again. Oh well… this is another of the confusing paradoxes.
Everything is OK and nothing needs to be fixed or changed in this moment, but
everything is also constantly changing by itself. It’s OK to grasp for the
future, and this is also changing…
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