EXCERP:
I was taken aback to see women at the camp, as I had always been under the impression that they were forbidden. Pajapati asked a woman carrying water to a group of men if she was with the Buddha.
“I am a lay disciple,” she replied. “We follow our husbands and sons who have been called to live a life of renunciation and seek liberation from desire and suffering.” She continued walking and we followed.
“But surely, they have not allowed you to take orders and don robes like the men?” I asked, running to keep up.
“Oh no,” she replied. “Being of service to the followers of Gotama is reward enough.”
We watched the woman pour her jug of water into the cups of the men with robes and shaved heads. There were not many women present, but one or two I recognized. I saw Yasa’s wife and mother, who had left the province, unexpectedly, six months earlier. Rumors that they had gone to follow the Tathagata circulated freely, but I didn’t realize they had not only sought the Buddha, but had literally joined their husband and son as lay disciples. The realization that, unlike most practices of the day, one did not have to leave their family to follow a religious life threw a cold bucket of pain in my face. I stood as frozen as snow on the peak of a Himalayan mountain in winter. Pajapati was hit with the same realization. She saw the shock on my face and realized what I was thinking.
“Yasodhara,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”
REALLY?
“A COLD BUCKET OF PAIN IN MY FACE”
REALLY?
“FROZEN AS SNOW ON THE PEAK OF A HIMALAYAN MOUNTAIN IN WINTER”
REALLY?
MY RE-WRITE:
It was hot in Bodh Gaya. When wasn’t it? And the way Yasodhara looked in that flimsy saffron burnoose just made things hotter for me. She walked willfully towards me and I sensed that she wasn’t in the mood for transcending attachments. Tossing a long strand of her raven black hair back away from her face in a gesture defying the warm breeze that that blew it there, I could tell she was cumin onto me like curry on rice.
“Is that a Bodhi tree you’re sitting under, or are you just happy to see me?”
“Stop kidding around, Yasi. I’m not in that world.”
But I didn’t mean it. And she knew it. Her third eye could always see right through my bullskrit.
“You know what they say”, she said, “when Gotama’s away…”
“Wait. Don’t tell me,” I said. “He doesn’t understand your desires. Spare me. I’ve heard it all before in a previous life time.”
She threw her head back with a laugh that was both maniacal, angry, and sexy. Both those things.
“Ha! Just the opposite. He understands me too well. He understands everything. And I’m sick of it! Do you hear me? Sick of it!”
When she sat down next to me, I knew my mud pie was cooked.
“Don’t get me wrong. I like a wise guy. As long as he knows how to use his wisdom. Do you know how to use it? Do you?”
She was so close to me I couldn’t tell which ear she was whispering into. One thing I knew for sure. This path I was on was going to land me in a lower world and it wasn’t Tierra del Fuego.
“Come on Shariputra, show me your Treasure Tower!” When we fell into each others arms, we just kept on falling. And they call me smart! How dumb can a sap get?