One night of staying at the home of those six feet under has passed, at last. Before leaving the place, the Sangha chanted and shared merits to express gratitude for the land that gave us refuge. Without this cemetery, the group would have had a hard time finding a place to rest last night. We would like to engrave this kindness upon our hearts, and may rebirths of the departed meet the Dhamma, have the right view and wisdom, and cultivate to be timely liberated from the samsara.

At a stop on the highway for breakfast (without my disclosing the menu, you could have guessed), I observed a lot of people with unsteady legs, uneven legs, limping, walking with canes. Discomfort was visible on their faces when standing up or sitting down. The monks spoke in Thai, that it hurt, it hurt intensely, it hurt very much, and pointed to their feet — blistering, peeling, sprained, swelling, torn tendons, etc. all forms of injuries to the feet. Sitting next to me was a senior monk, looking beyond seventy with sun-tanned skin, salt-and-pepper hair clearly visible from not having shaved the past many days. Seeing that he was in pain, I asked him if he was okay. He pointed at his knees and said they hurt; they creaked in the knees. I immediately took the jar of muscle ointment and rubbed his feet. The kneecaps sagging, the bones loose, I could feel such when I put my hands over to massage.

The worrying health of the Sangha notwithstanding, we kept on moving and stopped at a Thai temple recently established five years ago. There is a temporary main hall for performing ceremonies, full bathrooms for the group to bathe and do laundry. I met the Vice Abbot of Wat Thai Bodhgaya along with a doctor and a nurse here. The Vice Abbot offered pleasant greetings and told me, “The Abbot and I just talked about you on this trip.” The Abbot was none other than the Venerable leading the Thai monks in India, who had visited Hương Đạo Temple to witness the Dhammacetiya project with the Most Venerable Somdej Phra Mahathirachan. He arranged for the Vice Abbot and the health professionals to welcome the Sangha here, to perform health checkup, offer preventive medications and provide medical treatment.

After lunch, I had a chance to massage the feet of another monk who also had a torn tendon. Despite the condition, he has been walking, and is still not giving up. After offering him some crackers to distract him from the attention to his legs, I pressed hard and relaxed his muscles to help him walk. Fortunately, shortly afterwards he could walk easily. In fact, I don’t have any such expertise, it’s just that I myself had to endure similar problems, and then was able to learn a little from experience.

After five days without water for bathing and laundry, dipping the robes into a bucket of water immediately turned the water black. Now I could deeply absorb the contemplation on clothing that the Buddha taught the monks every time they put on the robe: “This garment is only for covering the body, not for wearing to show off. This garment by itself is not a disgusting object, but when it comes into contact with this body, it becomes disgusting.” Each step is a memorable lesson, to deepen the understanding while practicing the Buddha’s teachings. We hope you do the same by applying the dhamma into your daily life to obtain more benefits for yourselves.

The Organizing Committee planned a longer stop here for the group to recuperate. So we put up the tents and arranged our lodging, getting ready for confession reciting (Desanā-rocana Kamma or Desanā-kamma) and chanting routine in the main hall. The monks put the upper robes over their left shoulder, and further covered with the outer robe (saṅghāṭī) and went inside the temporary main hall to recite the procedure and the chants. After finishing two parts of the recitation, the monks went on to rest for the night. For me, I moved to another task – that is, to massage the feet of the most senior monk in the group. The morning and evening chanting sessions are always booming when he leads.

I have been observing him for a few days now. Every afternoon one of the monks pierces the skin with a needle and then abruptly pulls it out to break the skin there. Perhaps this is the Thai method. The senior monk called me over to help him because he felt a sharp pain when walking, and his ligaments were numb and burning. I have again an opportunity to make merits. It is such a joy when you still have good health to accumulate merits to serve diligent monks.

After returning to the tent, I felt exhausted so I fell asleep without writing. When I woke up at 2:30 in the morning, I was getting ready to go, but the air was wholly and strangely quiet. The four of us brothers in Dhamma asked each other why no one had woken up, nor had anyone called. Did the Sangha leader want us to rest until sunrise? So we sat and waited; meanwhile the scene was still of peace and quiet. I guess we have a chance to sleep in a little longer to regain our strength. Personally, I’m sitting here and quickly writing this journal. Reading the comments to the journal posted by the Dhammacetiya Organizing Committee on social media, I’m truly grateful for the prayers and the follow-ups from devotees everywhere, for the Sangha to be at peace and successfully complete this journey. May these merits be shared equally to devotees everywhere and sentient beings of all kinds.

Namo Buddhāya!

Source: Dhammacetiya
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