Will the Lama join us? Healing the local village.
I have heard that a very famous Lama is in our area. This would bring so much merit to our village if he chose to come! I’ve provided 10 food and 10 gold in order to offer my support. As I offered, I looked at what the other villagers had provided and the pile was scarce. Even some of the scholars in our village have chosen not to put the effort into supporting his visit. I don’t understand, why would people not be extremely excited to have this opportunity? We have had such terrible luck lately and yet when we have the opportunity to expand our luck, the village does not want to join in. A darkness is descending, at least this is what I fear, and perhaps our village is being poisoned by apathy. At least I hope its apathy and nothing worse. If there are demons about, I must keep my eyes and ears open. I must keep my emptiness and compassion strong so that I too do not become engrossed by demonic attitudes which would keep me away from the joys of nirvana. Once I find out what is wrong, or if something is wrong, I can then root out the disease.
To find out what is wrong, yesterday I performed the bsang, or purification ritual. In this ritual I climbed to the highest point around our village, but just below the snow, and burned juniper. I chanted
With this essence from the forests of the mountains above
Incense with a pleasant fragrance and correctly prepared,
Let us purify the gods above
Let us also purify the klu below
As well as the gnyan in the middle.
Let us purify our seats,
Our clothes and objects,
May everything be purified!
The burning of juniper will hopefully help to purify and illuminate the difficulties going on in our village. I see our lack of desire for the Lama to join us as an inauspicious sign, perhaps this is the same problem that caused the hailstorm? I watched as the smoke from the burning juniper made its way down the mountain towards the village. Towards those homes which hold my fellow countrymen, towards those who are pure of heart and those who have brought impurities to the village. May this smoke fumigate the disease in our land!
But now I wish to digress from my anger and confusion at the issues in my village to what occurred this past week. It has been a momentous week! I feel grateful that I had the foresight to prepare medicine in order to go visit the neighbouring village. The bridge was built at the last minute and Brittany and I were able to get across to help heal our neighbours. I don’t know if other amchi in our village went, but I have a feeling there were a few others.
The other village was in dire need by the time we arrived. I gave them medicine, I prepared mantras and burned incense for those who still had enough faculties to do so with me. Sadly, some people did not survive and they died in my care. I understand that they will be reborn and that monks must come and prepare those bodies for death. As a doctor, I’m trained to handle death. I’ve seen it so many times. But I always feel the same way afterwards, I feel alone. I feel hurt and angry that I couldn’t do more. If the demon took their life then who knows where they may be reborn? If they died with emptiness and compassion then they are secured in a good rebirth. Nonetheless, I am often reminded of the death of my parents. (But I do not wish to speak of them at the moment, which is for a later time).
I began noticing that there was something else accruing in the air at this village. Some of the people were walking about talking to each other in whispers, commuting in dark shadows under the shades of their homes. With these clues I chose to perform a ritual to halt gossip. Gossip can be disastrous to a small village as this one is, since harmony must come with all people working together (something which I fear my village might be needing, perhaps I will attempt this ritual in my village later on). By practicing the removal of malicious gossip ritual, I will be able to root out the demons that are keeping this village from being harmonious. The ‘gossip girl’ as we call her, must be removed in order for the deep healing that our doctors have brought, to continue and ripen. For this ritual, I have built an effigy, just as the great Padmasambhava would have done in his time, and called the gossip girl to identify with it. I chanted loud for all the village to hear, most of the villagers who were able came outside to watch me and some in the village even joined me. When I was certain that the disembodied entity of gossip was entrenched within the effigy, I brought it outside of the village with a troupe not far behind me. We then ensured that it was far away, we beat the doll and then burned her.
I was greeted afterwards with relief on the faces of many of the villagers, grateful for this ritual. I believe now that they are on a path to healing. I felt uplifted by the support I gave the village and felt the merit fill me up inside. I know I picked the right jobs.
Ok, ok, again it is time again for me to part. I am hungry, or hangry as I heard a westerner call it once. It means you have waited so long to eat that you could rip the head off a Yak and begin to gorge upon its meat before it is cooked. I would prefer not to. Be well.
