Yesterday, I described the post enlightenment statue of the Buddha. Today, I want to talk about the final statue at Gal Vahara; that of the Buddha in his death. I had been attracted to the photograph of this huge statue in Merton's Asian Journal and somehow I knew this would be the statue that held the most significant message for me. I was not disappointed. However, there were some difficulties. Not only was it very difficult to find a shady spot in which to stand before this giant figure but next to me stood a guide and a tourist couple. He was busy describing the ins and outs of the statue in Sinhala or Tamil while I was trying to listen below the words in my head to what the figure was conveying to me. Eventually I manged to sink below the words and to gaze upon the beauty of the recumbent Buddha. Here is how Thomas Merton describes the experience:
"Looking at these figures I was suddenly, almost forcibly, jerked clean out of the habitual, half-tied vision of things, and, an inner clearness, clarity, as if exploding from the rocks themselves, became evident and obvious...The thing about all this is that there is no puzzle, no problem, and really no "mystery." All problems are resolved and everything is clear, simply because what matters is clear."
For me, the experience was like coming home. I knew that here was a place that would be so familiar to me that I would not fear its coming. It was a place of great sweetness and rest. I remembered seeing a similar smile on my dead father's face, with his hands resting on his fat tummy and thinking; " oh, so you were a contemplative too!" "You had been waiting all your life for this moment"
Here is what I wrote in my diary when I came back from Pollonaruwa:
" It is impossible to describe the sweetness of this huge figure; the utter rest and peace that emanated from the form. I wanted to stand there for ever and drink and drink in the silence and the surrender. To find one's heart open but unafraid, filled with joy but striving after nothing, was maybe something of what Merton describes in his Asian Journal. Each gesture and detail in the carving contribute to that sense of rest and peacefulness- OF FULLY BECOMING. I thought to myself: "Well, if this is death, then what do I have to fear? It will be like coming home." My father used to give himself up to sleep so often that it looked in death as if he had been "practising" all his life and knew about the love of God deep within himself."
Well, the Buddha certainly seemed to know about love and joy and peace or , at least, the people who carved the statue did. Merton quotes Walpola Rahula at the Buddhist University who said:
"Those who carved those statues were not ordinary men"
As I stood gazing at the figure the tourist couple left and the old man guide began to talking to my driver. The then began to explain to me in broken English different aspects of the statue- the way that one hand rested by the Buddha's head and the other arm extended along his side; that one foot rested on top of the other with one set of toes slightly in front of the other. all these apparently had significance but I was unable to understand what. I think you could stand before those figures for a lifetime and still not discover all there was to learn. The old man then produced a chart with all the areas of significance upon the Buddha's feet and explained through the driver that all that was left of the sins in death was the imprint of the lotus. When I was led to his feet sure enough, the lotus or was it mandala was there- the essence of the Buddha?
I felt that I neeed to read more to understand, yet in another way, before such deep silence there is no need for knowledge and words
The carved stone and its natural markings flowed from life to life, from life to death to life. Every aspect of the stone- its colours,contours, markings, properties and patina had been used to convey something of the wonder and mystery of our lives.
I had been so afraid that I would be disappointed and that I would see nothing of what Merton saw when he came to Gal Vihara. However, in the end I felt that I could not have enough of standing there and learning.
I had had to cross continents and "burning coals" to come to the place and it left in my heart and inner sight an indelible impression. I can now go back in myself, again and again to revisit the joy of complete surrender in that Love which is all peace, all joy, all hope, all..
No comments:
Post a Comment