Chapter 31

Following a yellow robed young man with a shaved head, Oscar entered the temple and looked around. The highly polished wood gave the room a rich luxurious feel. The scent of incense filled the air. The low chanting of Monks in another meditation area carried into the room. The effect was to create an ambiance of peace and contemplation.

The young man pointed to an elderly man seated in the lotus position. The elderly man, despite being shaved bald, had gray bushy eyebrows. He was wearing the yellow robe of a Buddhist monk. It was obvious the man was meditating. The young monk said, “He will be with you in a minute.”

“Thanks,” Oscar said before discovering that the young man had already walked out of the room. He shrugged his shoulders before turning to examine the elderly man. Bending down, Oscar tried to look under the man. He frowned and shook his head.

The elderly man opened his eyes and watched Oscar for a minute. Curious, he asked, “What are you doing?”

“I heard that you guys could float in the air when you did that,” Oscar answered. Although most people would have discounted such stories, Druids did many things that were just as unbelievable.

Raising an eyebrow, the elderly man smiled at Oscar. He had more than one American ask him if that was true. He said, “I do not float in the air when I meditate.”

“Pity,” Oscar said with a shrug of his shoulders. He added, “I was hoping that you would teach me how to do that.”

“I’ll be more than happy to teach you all about it, though.”

“Great.”

“You are Oscar Meyers,” the elderly man said. His tone conveyed equal parts of statement and question.

“Yes. I take it you are Prajak,” Oscar replied looking at the piece of paper on which he had written the name of the man under whom he was to study.

“It is customary to address a monk who has been ordained for more than ten years with the title, Ajann,” said Ajann Prajak wondering what he had gotten into by agreeing to teach this young man Buddhism. The title meant teacher.

“I didn’t know that. Druids don’t usually go much for titles. I suppose we could insist that folks address with a title. I’d probably laugh the first time someone called me Druid Meyers though,” Oscar said with a friendly grin. He sat down on the floor and looked around the room. In a soft voice, he said, “Nice place. It’s really tranquil in here.”

“It was,” Ajann Prajak said. It had been a long time since anyone had treated him with such disregard to the respectful customs normally afforded the Abbot of a Forest Tradition Monastery.

“So when do we begin?” Oscar asked.

“First you must learn patience.”

“I’m ready when you are,” Oscar said with a smile.

“I shall have to see how much patience you have.”

“I’ve got to warn you that I’m a very patient man,” Oscar said getting comfortable. He was more than willing to wait for as long as it took. Satisfied with his position, he looked up at the elderly man with a small smile.

“We shall see,” Ajann Prajak said. He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing to return to his meditation.

An hour later, Ajann Prajak opened his eyes prepared to discuss the achievement of the kind of inner calm that was a necessary precursor to meditation. To his surprise, Oscar had not moved a muscle and was watching him with that same small smile on his face. He studied the young man recognizing that there was nothing indicating discomfort or impatience. The hours passed as the old man watched the young man while receiving the same examination in turn. In a way, it was a very remarkable demonstration of patience.

After eight hours, he asked, “How long are you willing to wait?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Oscar answered, “I’m supposed to leave in three months.”

“What about food?”

Oscar was dressed to travel. The only thing missing in his robe was his pistol. Oscar reached into the pockets of his red robe and pulled out two MREs and a bottle of water. Holding them up, he said, “I can last a week at least.”

“Stay here and I will return in a week,” Ajann Prajak said. He rose and left the room.

At the door, he looked back at Oscar and shook his head. He had heard of Druids, but his ignorance of them appeared to be as great as Oscar’s ignorance of Buddhist Monks. His first impression of Oscar had been that the young man lacked discipline. His second impression was that the young man had great discipline. He wondered what his third impression of Oscar would be.

Three days later, Oscar was in the room practicing his martial arts. It wasn’t that he found it necessary to practice, but that it helped pass the time. He had already examined every little part of the room. Despite its splendor, sitting around doing nothing was boring. It also gave him too much time to think about his future.

Ajann Prajak, from behind a semi-transparent screen, watched Oscar as he moved in slow motion around the room. A Buddhist Monk in Thailand was a very different Monk than those found practicing Shaolin Buddhism. There was absolutely no martial arts tradition in the Buddhism practiced in Thailand.

When Oscar finished practicing, he looked over at the screen and asked, “Did you enjoy watching me?”

“Yes, it is a lot like a dance,” Ajann Prajak answered surprised that Oscar had known he was watching.

“It is a very dangerous and deadly dance when practiced for real,” Oscar said.

“Have you danced the dance for real?” Ajann Prajak asked. One of the 227 rules governing being a Buddhist Monk was a prohibition against taking life. Life of all kinds was revered. From the larva of a mosquito to the life of a man, they were not to take life.

“Yes,” Oscar answered with a nod of his head. He opened his bottle of water and took a single small sip. Even after three days, the bottle of water was more than half full.

“You have killed?” the elderly man asked having expected the answer to be no.

“Many times,” Oscar answered. He screwed the top onto his water bottle and checked the level of water. Satisfied, he slipped the bottle back into the pocket of his robe.

Concerned by what Oscar was admitting, Ajann Prajak asked, “How many times?”

“Do you want to know how many men I’ve killed?” Oscar asked cutting to the chase.

“Yes,” Ajann Prajak asked with a lump in his throat.

“Over a thousand,” Oscar answered looking in the direction of the screen behind which Ajann Prajak sat.

Disturbed by what he had learned, the elderly man said, “I must think on this.”

“What is the matter?” Oscar asked. He had assumed that Ajann Prajak knew about his past.

“What you have done is a great crime. Murder is one of the Great Defeaters,” Ajann Prajak answered.

“What is a Great Defeater?” Oscar asked ignoring for the moment that the older man had called his actions murder.

“A Great Defeater is an act that throws a man from the path of enlightenment. There are four Great Defeaters — sexual intercourse, murder, major theft, and falsely claiming supernormal abilities,” Ajann Prajak answered.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that I’ve done the any of them except sexual intercourse. It’s not murder to kill someone in battle or in defense of others. I’ve never stolen anything unless you count taking weapons from the enemy that I was fighting. Any supernormal abilities that I’ve claimed are real,” Oscar said.

“Murder is taking a life intentionally. If you are fighting with intent to kill, then you’ve committed murder. There is no excuse that prevents taking a human life with intent from being a Great Defeater. Sexual intercourse is a Great Defeater. If those weapons were worth more than a twenty-fourth of an ounce of gold, then it is major theft. You claim supernormal abilities and that is a Great Defeater.”

“So I guess you are saying that according to Buddhism, I’ve broken all four of the big rules. I suppose you are going to tell me that I’m a bad guy,” Oscar said looking over at the screen. He scratched his cheek and asked, “What does that mean in terms of learning about Buddhism?”

“It is wrong to teach the Dhamma to a man who is not Bhikkhu, but your actions are not those of a Bhikkhu,” Ajann Prajak said. He studied Oscar for a moment and asked, “Are you willing to give an oath that you will put that kind of behavior behind you?”

“It is not my place to give oaths of that nature,” Oscar answered. He would act as the Gods and Goddesses demanded. He could not swear to any constraint that would require him to violate the two rules.

“It would seem that I can not instruct you.”

“Oliver is not going to be happy about this,” Oscar said thinking that he was going to get sent home without learning about Buddhism.

“This Grand Druid of yours, he said that you are a holy man,” Ajann Prajak said. He was having difficulty with understanding what Oliver had told him about Oscar in light of what Oscar said about himself.

“I suppose you could say that I’m a holy man. We don’t really say that we’re holy. Druids serve the Gods and Goddesses. They choose us for service. I serve the God and will soon serve the Two- Sided One,” Oscar said.

There was a slight noise as Ajann Prajak stood. Turning to the screen, he said, “I must think about this.”

The world went double on Oscar. Swaying, he listened to a conversation that would happen in the future. In a quiet voice, he said, “Ajann Prajak. Watch out for the Black-and-yellow Broadbill.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the world returned to normal. Oscar sat down on the floor and closed his eyes hoping that he wouldn’t get sick. A minute later, Ajann Prajak entered the room and stared at Oscar. He asked, “How did you know about the bird?”

“What kind of bird was it?” Oscar asked following the conversation that he had heard previously.

“It was a Black-and-yellow Broadbill just as you had said.”

“Just before you left, I saw you and me having this conversation about the bird. What happened?” Oscar said holding his head and rubbing his temples. He was beginning to get a headache. The little short episode of experiencing the future left him feeling worse than the longer sessions.

“I stepped outside and heard a bird make a noise above me. I looked up and saw a bird falling from the sky. I was able to step out of the way before it landed upon me,” Ajann Prajak answered staring at Oscar. The young man looked very ill. In a quiet voice, he asked, “Did you cause that to happen?”