Lumbini 2014

When I landed in Kathmandu (2014) the visa clerk at the airport seemed very happy and I got the first impression that there was a difference between Indian and Nepali temperament, in general. The rest of my one month in Nepal proved that assumption that I was not completely wrong. Considering a country that is poorer than India and with all the political troubles, the people seemed pretty pleasant to me; no brooding expressions on the faces in general, less greed in their eyes, except some in the areas infested by tourism.

The nine plus hours bus ride from Kathmandu to Lumbini, the historic Buddha's birth place, was a drag, but the occasional stops and refreshments made it little bit easier. Even if the landscape was bright and colorful, the blaring Bolliwood music in the bus and the rough driving made the trip bumpy and tiresome. Lumbini is not a city. The remains of the palace where Buddha was born were still there. The base stones of the palace pillars and some other broken structures were all scattered around. I met the head of the archeology department who was dealing with the numerous visitors there. I asked about the authenticity of the place as historic Buddha’s birthplace and with a genuine smile he explained in detail how Emperor Asoka installed a pillar in the palace courtyard with Buddhist teachings inscribed, after 300 years of Buddha's death. Ever since that place was kept as it was and that was pretty convincing. After all, in this part of the planet what was going to change in just two thousand six hundred years?

When Buddha was a child, there was an annual celebration in the paddy fields where his father and family were also participating. One year when others were in the fields, boy Gautama went and sat under a rose-apple tree. He was very relaxed as the warmth of the sun was enjoyable and he could see his family in the distance as moving shades. His body was at ease and he was sitting in the lotus pose. Soon he spontaneously entered into a profound meditation state for a long period of time through naturally observing his breath. He was in a blissful but totally aware state which had nothing to do with sensual pleasure but had everything to do with a unique wholesome source, beyond.

At the end of the festival in the evening, his family discovered him sitting still under the shade of a rose-apple tree, roused him from his inner absorption and took him home. He never repeated what he had done that day beneath the tree, but he had never forgotten it.

Later in life, after leaving the palace and years of practicing incredible austerities and many extreme methods of body starving and such, he had found himself without authentic realization. Finally he realized torturing body was not the answer; taking a balanced middle path of non-addiction was the sensible method. After regaining his health back, he thought about how would he proceed in a right path further? What should his practice be, since everything he had learned in so many years had proven somewhat useless?

Then he recalled his childhood experience of 'first jhana-absorption' at the Festival. “Might that be the way to enlightenment?” he wondered. It seemed unthinkable that the simple, spontaneous practice of his long-ago childhood experience could be the key to Nirvana. But something from deep within him spoke, saying: “That is the way to enlightenment.” That full-moon night, he meditated with relaxed awareness and sharp concentration without much effort throughout the night and it finally made him enlightened! To his son Rahula, who had become a monk later on and was wanting to practice meditation, Buddha advised; “Practice being simply mindful of the breath, Rahula. Practicing continuous mindfulness of breathing in and breathing out is of great fruit, of great benefit." When I saw a tree near by the vast field in that ancient palace compound, which is acres of flat land filled with wild grass and trees now with some ancient remains, Buddha's childhood story came to my mind and it transported me into another space and time. That was a deeply profound feeling.

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Illustration: Sebastian Varghese 2017 - 'Starving Buddha and the young one with the first absorption'.

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