Hail Storm Predictions Come True! (Oct.8)
I awoke this morning having had my worst night of sleep so far in this village. I sat upright on my bed, if you could call it that, and as my feet touched the ground I felt frigidly cold water at the base of my feet. Surprised, I quickly raised my feet back onto my bed and noticed that my entire room was flooded with water. After letting out a few choice words, I braved the small lake that had formed in my room and made my way outside.
Once outside, I was shocked at the havoc that had been laid upon this village. The storm that was predicted by Chodak’s diviner had hit and left a devastating impact. Houses had been destroyed, crops had all but disappeared, and most notably the bridge which controlled access into and out of the village was washed away by the flood waters. Not only had there been hail but there were terrible torrential rains that followed the storm. I heard the terrible storm last night, which is what kept me up all night, but I had no idea that it would leave this kind of devastation. I sat down on the two front steps of my house and began to smoke my pipe when I saw Chodak in the distance making his way to my house. I should mention that this house was given to me by the village elders so that I could reside in their village while I operated my business and workshop. I assume that they wanted me to be a part of their community or just wanted to keep a close eye on me. In any case, it was part of the elder’s conditions, one of many, to operate in their village. In other words, I had to live among them and be part of the community in order to sell my merchandise to the community. Anyways, Chodak approached me with a rather glowing smile and said “Tenzin, had you done what I said you would not be looking as if the lord Mara had visited you”. “Chodak”, I said, “if I had listened to you and brought the amulet I would still be sitting here in the same predicament. The only difference would be that I would have less gold”. With an air of smugness Chodak explained to me that all the villagers who had brought the amulet remained unaffected by the hail storm and torrential rains. “Enough”, I said, “run along Chodak, I have to make my way to my shop and my workshop to see what remains”. “One more thing”, he added, “the village’s doctors and ritualists were summoned by a messenger from a neighboring village. He was causing quite the commotion talking about a Naga illness that has spread throughout his village. You should go and see what’s happening”. With that my little companion departed and I collected my jacket and made my way to meet with my foreman who I knew would already be at my workshop.
As I approached my workshop I saw the devastation that the storm had done to my business. I saw my foreman talking to some of the local help I had hired. “Wangdue”, I said, “let these men take the day off and see to their own affairs today. Tell them we’ll start rebuilding tomorrow”. With that said, Wangdue sent the men off and the two of us began to assess the damage. “Tenzin”, he said, “With my best prediction, I would say we will only be able to produce half of the resources we normally would produce”. I thought he was being quite generous, but looking at the mess the storm had caused I realized that the local people would require tools to clear, cut, and repair their homes and businesses. Sharp tools like axes would be in demand in times like these so I knew what we had to focus on producing in order to produce half of our resources. With the extra effort required in the workshop, I knew I would only have half of the time to devote to my secondary skills of scholarship and the arts. But I would have to suffer it this week. Wangdue and I began to clear some preliminary debris and after a couple of hours we both went to look at the washed away bridge. While admiring the devastation I pondered whether things would have turned out differently had I collected the amulet? Would things have turned out differently for the whole village? Was this the effect of the light and dark principles of karma? I caught myself before I began to drift too far into superstition and remembered the importance of impermanence as it relates to karma. The light principle never conquers the dark principle and vice-versa. Both exist in relation to one another. So, it was only through the destruction of the bridge and the loss to my business did I realize that attachment to any one principle of light or dark is impermanent. As I thought about these things, Wangdue mentioned that everyone in the village would have to put up funds to repair the bridge. I looked back at my workshop and thought that first I need to focus on my welfare before I can think about the community. Rather than mention this thought to Wangdue, I changed the subject and asked what if he knew about any Naga illness in a neighboring village? “You mean that boy lamenting to the medical and ritual people”, he said. We both decided to go and check what exactly this illness was about. On the way over to the lamenting boy I felt a colder than usual breeze and I knew that winter was indeed coming.
