Buttertea at Sunrise by Britta Das

Author:Britta Das
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2007-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

16

Meme Monk

“Where did you get this from?” I ask in a faltering Sharchhopkha, pointing at a small, yellowed picture of Jesus Christ that is sharing the altar with the colourful statues of Buddha and several honoured tantric deities. Pema’s grandfather thinks for a minute and then answers, “The foreigner’s Buddha.” From Meme’s words and gestures I gather that a doctor from the mission gave it to him. He lovingly blows away an imaginary speck of dust and lights a butterlamp. From the shrine, he seems to focus on something beyond this world. With devout respect, his gaze shifts into the distance where nirvana is waiting for humanity.

Jesus is the Westerners’ Buddha. It is that easy. To him, what need is there to distinguish between Christianity and Buddhism? He believes in a higher being, no matter what He looks like. If only everyone could find such a peaceful compromise.

Meme Monk has embraced his deep belief and faith, renouncing his wishes for materialism, and is content to spend the eve of his life in peaceful meditation. He is happy with where he is and what he does, and it shows in the smooth features of his eighty-four-year-old face.

The hut is no more than a one-room shelter but built in the solid Bhutanese style of stone and wood. Meme retreated to this tiny refuge years ago to find repose for meditation, leaving his family in their big farmhouse a few hundred metres farther down the hill. He knows that Norbu Ama is quite capable of running the farm by herself, and his old bones could no longer do the heavy work anyway. Although he loves his wife and family deeply, he now needs the quiet to think and contemplate life and religion alone.

Meme Monk is a gomchen, a spiritual villager who has received a certain amount of religious training and is allowed to practise rituals for the common people. Gomchens have a special ranking in Bhutanese society. They have been appointed with distinctive powers through their spiritual devotion, but at the same time they are allowed to marry. Only a return to the dzong and an achievement of higher states of religious teachings is not possible for them once they have entered family life. Now at an age when the younger generation runs the farm and can take care of his wife, Meme Monk has decided to again dedicate his life to religion.

In his tiny hut, Meme is surrounded by all that he needs. A mat on the floor with a goatskin on it makes his bed and an old gho his blanket. He wears a burgundy gho resembling the dress of a monk; his thin white jacket is stained and worn from years of honest use. Other than a couple of aluminum pots for cooking kharang and chillies, a flask to prepare buttertea, and an assortment of stained plastic containers, all the articles neatly placed on shelves and on the floor are of religious significance. Many of them are unfamiliar to me;

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.