SS Quah's Anything Goes: Sri Lanka: Day 2 (Na Uyana Aranya)

I start these personal stories - and I reiterate that unless otherwise stated, all opinions expressed in my stories do not represent anyone or any body except my wife and I (in any case, read my full Disclaimer here) - on our Sri Lanka spiritual trip with Day 2. In case anyone wonders why, it is because Day 1, as well as Day 7, passed by relatively without event as we were in the air for most of the time. Ours was a red-eye Malaysia Airlines flight, departing from Kuala Lumpur close to 11pm and arriving at Colombo at about 11.30pm their Sri Lanka local time (UTC+5½ for Sri Lanka and UTC+8 for Malaysia; a 2½-hour time difference). Our travel group from the Nandaka Vihara meditation society in Bukit Mertajam numbered 15, including us and the Chief Abbot, Bhante Dhammasubho.

I had a small hiccup on arriving at Colombo's Bandaranaike international airport. As I was leaving my seat, I suddenly realised that my wallet was missing. A frantic search on the row of seats revealed nothing. As I left the plane, I informed the stewards of my loss. Anyway, they were already aware of my situation as they had been observing me, the last of the passengers to leave. Later, I returned to the boarding gate - the plane was making a turnaround flight back to Kuala Lumpur - and was met by the airplane's local representative who returned my wallet to me. The stewards had found it and was waiting for my return. That was a lesson learnt. No more putting the wallet in the back pocket of my trousers. It would now go into the depths of my backpack. This Malaysia Airlines staff then walked me quickly through Immigration, bypassing the usual long line of arriving passengers. That was quite the VIP treatment. And then towards the Baggage Claim area where my travel companions were already waiting for the luggage to arrive on the carousel. One of the luggage bags was severely damaged and we lost some time as a report was made. After being whisked through Customs, VIP treatment again, we were met by a very familiar and friendly face, Bhante Neluve Aranagavesi, a Sri Lankan monk that we had got to know last year at Nandaka Vihara when he visited for several months. We spent more time changing our ringgit into Sri Lanka rupees, and then buying local SIM cards for our mobile phones.

We only managed to board our chartered bus at about 1.15am. I wouldn't describe the vehicle as spacious as the 16 of us - now including Bhante Aranagavesi - had to share the space with our luggage. But as our Sri Lanka adventure unfolded, we were mighty glad of its compact size. The driver was expertly manouevring the bus around tight spots and especially along narrow roads and passageways. Several times we thought the bus would scrape some walls or pillars but each time he made it through the obstacle with an inch to spare.

The journey from Bandaranaike international airport to the Na Uyana Aranya in Melsiripura was only about 100 kilometres but despite the bus making the journey in the early hours of the morning, supposedly less traffic, it took 4½ hours to reach our destination. It struck me then that the roads in Sri Lanka were nothing like in Malaysia. They were narrower and more challenging, thus travelling time was going to take longer than we expected. For this first leg of our journey, we were all mighty tired. Most of us had not slept well or at all for more than 24 hours. I don't know about the rest but I might have nodded off only briefly in the bus. Through the bus window, I watched the darkened buildings whizzed by.

Na Uyana Aranya means Ironwood Grove Forest Monastery. Ironwood trees cover a portion of the 5,000-acre monastery and lends it its name. As one of the oldest Buddhist forest monasteries, it dates back to the Third Century BC. The modern revival of this monastery began in the 1950s and the place has not looked back ever since. Today, the Na Uyana Aranya is thriving and one of the main meditation centres in Sri Lanka. At any one time, there are at least 100 monks in residence with a large percentage consisting of foreign monks.

When we arrived at the Lower Monastery section of Na Uyana Aranya, it was just in time for the monks' breakfast. Quickly, some of us removed our dana items to offer the line of monks who had already lined up to receive their food. Local devotees lined up on one side of the Piṇdapāta sālā (alms food hall) and continuously chanted until the last monk had left the hall. As a newcomer to the monastery, I was unprepared for what was permitted or not permitted, and thus kept a low profile but after a while decided that it was quite alright to take some pictures by which time, unfortunately, breakfast was almost over. We had our first meal of the day here, a simple breakfast of some local foodstuff. Thereafter, we were shown to our accommodation. I have to mention here when I first learnt of this trip to Sti Lanka, I was a little apprehensive when told that we would stay in the monastery for the first night. Thoughts went through my mind. Would I be required to sleep on the floor? Would I have to use a communal bathroom? Would some privacy be afforded us during night-time? Would there be some basic amenities? But more important, would I be kept awake by the noises around me? Questions that would finally be answered to my satisfaction when I saw the dormitories. Yup, six private spaces with beds in one dormitory, open but separated by wooden shelves to give some semblance of limited privacy to each occupant. We would have to share the toilet and pantry, but that was fair enough. My other companions were David and the two Richards whom I shall refer to as Richard I and Richard II. The other male dormitory was occupied by Moh Ven, BL, Soon Beng, Derik and Teng, while the ladies - Saw See, Kooi Lan, Ah Bee, Sew Kee and Derik's wife - took up the third dormitory. Yes, there was no way that husbands and wives could stay together, not while they were in the monastery.

We took the time to tidy up ourselves after the long journey from Nandaka Vihara to the Na Uyana Aranya. Also, we took some time to catch our 40 winks. But soon enough by 9.30am, we were required to make our way to the Piṇdapāta sālā again for the lunch dana session. Yes, the monks take their lunch this early in the monastery, and it was only three hours after their breakfast! So there we were again to offer them foodstuff that we had brought with us from home. Thereafter, we were led to our own lunch area in another part of the same alms food hall. My lunch was, however, interrupted halfway through because we wanted to present some mementos of small Buddha statuettes to the senior monks. Trooping upstairs to the monks' dining area, it was very humbling to see them seated on the floor in their own allotted spaces based on their seniorities, that is, based on the number of vassa that they had accomplished. Our Chief Abbot was there among them having his lunch, seated in the number two or three position, I can't quite remember.

Initially, our group was left very much to ourselves after lunch. We made our way to the main meditation hall where we discovered their stupa with the Buddha relics. Soon afterwards, we assembled to take a tour of the Lower Monastery area. All on foot, of course. We stopped for quite a while at the forest relic stupa where we were joined by our Chief Abbot. Walking further, we arrived at the cave kutis and then viewed some waterfalls before eventually visiting the Uposatha sālā (Sīmā hall). Later, we took a 4WD vehicle to reach the top of a broken-down, rudimentary rail system which only a few months earlier was used regularly to transport food and supplies to the monks and retreat centres on the mountain top. The 4WD journey was exhilarating, taking about five to seven minutes per trip. For the journey up, I sat at the back of the truck and obtained a wonderful view of the sceneries retreating from me. For the journey down, I was on the front seat and enjoyed the harrowing journey down the twists and turns of the dirt track.

Much later, about six or seven of us followed Bhante Aranagavesi to trek up a mountain path to the tviewpoint of the Middle Mountain section. There was a magnificent view, looking westwards. We wanted to watch the sun going down in the distance but chose to forego this opportunity as it was still some 1½ hours before sunset. Besides, we had already walked about 30 minutes to reach this viewpoint and did not relish spending another equivalent time walking down in the dimming lights. Also, we hadn't brought our torchlights along for this impromptu hike. So there we were back at our dormitories. Dinner followed soon enough before we decided to call it a night. It had truly been a long, long day for us, without much rest, and we needed to wake up at three o'clock in the morning for the next stage of our journey in Sri Lanka. Yes, another long bus ride awaited us.

To be continued....

Local Sri Lankan devotees at the monks' breakfast

Our Nandaka Vihara group waiting to join in the breakfast dana

These samosas were part of our own early breakfast

Coconut pancake

The stupa contains Buddha relics

The relics as seen magnified

Monks at lunch dana

With more than a hundred monks, patience is cultivated

My own lunch later

But first, to pay respects to some of the senior monks before we eat

The forest stupa relic

We were joined by Bhante Dhammasubho

An interesting artefact at the old stupa. The history remains shrouded but I heard that the marks were clearer in the past but had since been eroded through time