Ban Phai Lent

Having inquired about the monk/politician that would play my host as well as the Buddhist holiday we would be celebrating, I was still unfamiliar with the rituals required of monastic guests. Needless to say, I found kow-towing to be quite a discomfort, both physically painful and ceremonially perplexing as an extended guest in the home of two monks. As I was ushered into the surprisingly well appointed home of Premsak and his fellow monk, I did my best to introduce myself and make a good impression. Unfortunately, in my tired, confused, and inflexible state, I was found fidgeting awkardly on my knees after kissing the ground three times to demonstrate my submission. The monks, recognizing my visibly masked pain, invited me to take a seat on a chair outside on the porch, an invitation i accepted reluctantly. One of the things that most impressed about the local who frequented the temple was the ease and apparent comfort they found kneeling on the concrete or negligibly cushioned straw mats in various improbable configurations of the limbs and joints. The athleticism required to achieve this level of flexibility and mobility must be tremendous, and even the most enfeebled of the elderly devotees of the temple required no visible effort to remain in the most compromising (for me at least) positions for hours. I guess the maxim 'repetition is the mother of perfection' does carry some weight, because by the end of my stay at Wat 'Pim', i found my body pretzeled in ways i never thought possible, made possible by an intense stretching session in the sala (place of prayer and communal meals) led by an energetic eighty year-old peasant woman. I am certain that I would have a lot more to say about the experience had i been fluent in Thai and Isaan, but in functional intercontinental practice, actions often(or always) speak louder than words. More on my impressions of the temple coming shortly.