Two days had flown by. I missed my morning exercises but fortunately was able to make time for my morning walks. Gosh! I really have become morning person. I love morning the most, nowadays. Today with the fixed plan to visit Kopan Nunnery with Father Joe and sister Peltso, I wake up at 5:30 and I didn’t clean myself up. Instead, I stayed in my bed covered with warm blankets and putting my not-so-good-owl-like eyes into the remaining pages of Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murami. For some good reasons, I wasn’t able to finish it on time yet I was all too happy to not have finished. It was so much fun to read. For over a week, the novel made me feel happy. My source of laughter laid in that.
The nuns were just finishing their shares of breakfast when the grand entry was made. I felt real bad as though the crafted walls were echoing- ‘you are late, you are late!!…….’. After we sat for prayers, they started praying. We were served with breakfast too; tea, roti,peanut butter and tomato sauced pickle. I know the monastery must have used almost similar ingredients to that of home. I was wronged and doubted little with the taste. The breakfast was appetizingly holy. Even now, at this hour of night the taste is lingering in my mouth and my tummy is singing hungry songs.
Buddhist nuns shave their heads and as I was looking through the number of shaved heads trying to count. There were nuns of different ages but all BEAUTIFUL! But I felt sad for them. I have got hairs, they didn’t. I was flaunted into modern wears, they were covered in red robes. I wore earrings, theirs weren’t even holed. I felt very sad. But as time crawled by with their chantings, I felt relieved. As if all my tensions, sadness and doubts weren’t there in me anymore. Like those writings on beach carried away by sea silently, swiftly and beautifully. My soul was calmed with them praying together.
I came to know at that instant; I was wrong! I am the one who supposedly should be sad not them. They are living a life away from everything. Away from family matters, far from sufferings and isolated from everything yet owning every ounce of happiness deserved. I envy them. Living a simple life studying prayers and memorizing what has been taught; following the same pattern, every day yet over again is more simple than mine. They have lesser problems and tensions swarming in their heads. Good old school days were like that.
Finally, at the end we went to prostrate. We offered scarf to holy pictures of lamas and made wishes. I also made wishes, two to be exact. Until last year, my wishes were mostly about my well beings but for a year now, my wishes have gotten changed. It was hard to believe in the changed self. Wanted to know, what I wished for? I wished for all sentient beings’ happiness and peace prevailed all over the world. Those were the wishes for a year now and nothing more than that slips from my mouth. I am not showing off in here. I am more than amazed to discover this new changed self in me...
