[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
shut. My Guide knelt down beside him and took various
packages from the inner pan of his robe, bandages and
some stuff which he held on a piece of cloth and held
beneath the old monk's nose. The monk sneezed violently
and opened his eyes, eyes which were strained and pain-
racked. He looked a very relieved monk indeed when he
saw who was attending to him. It is all right, friend, help
is coming for you, said my Guide. With that the old monk
closed his eyes again and sighed with relief.
My Guide raised the monk's robe and we saw bits of
bone sticking through the skin of the leg just beneath the
knee. My Guide said, Hold his hands, Lobsang, hold him
tightly. Rest your weight so that he cannot move. I am
going to pull the leg straight. With that he caught hold of
the monk's ankle, and with a very swift sudden pull,
straightened the limb and I saw the bones disappear inside
the skin. It was so sudden, so carefully done, that the old
man did not even have time to groan.
Quickly my Guide reached out to two branches which
were very convenient to hand on a fairly big bush. With a
knife he cut them off, and padding them with a piece of
his own robe he bound them as a splint on the monk's leg.
Then we just sat back to wait.
Soon there came shufflings and scufflings as a party of
monks led by a lama appeared coming down the path.
168
We called to them and directed them to the place where
we were. Carefully they grouped about the old monk. One
young monk, not at all carefully, tried to show off, tried to
show how sure-footed he was. His foot slipped on the loose
stones, his feet slipped from under him and he started to
slide down the mountainside. A shrub caught the bottom
of his robe and pulled it up above his head, and there he
was, like a peeled banana, swinging naked to the gaze of
pilgrims on the Ring Road below. My Guide chuckled,
and gave orders for two others to rescue him without
delay. When he was pulled back he was looking very
shamefaced and very red-faced, too. I noticed that he
would have to stand for a few days if he wanted to be
comfortable because that place in contact with the floor
when sitting was quite badly scratched by the stones!
Cautiously the monks turned the injured man so that
they could slide beneath him a length of strong canvas.
Then they turned him back and pulled so that he was upon
a convenient stretcher. They tucked the cloth right around
him, forming a tube of it, and then they slid a stout pole
inside, binding him to the pole by broad lengths of web-
ing. He was unconscious, fortunately, and then two monks
raised the ends of the pole and with others behind helping
by pushing and steadying their footsteps they made their
slow, cautious way through the bushes, up the mountain
path, and into the safety of Chakpori.
I stood patting Honorable Puss Puss, telling my Guide
the Lama Mingyar Dondup how Honorable Puss Puss
had fetched me down to come to the aid of the old man.
The poor old fellow would probably have died if you had
not called, Honorable Puss Puss said my Guide, ruffling
the old cat's fur. Then he turned to me saying, Good
work, Lobsang, you have started well. Keep it up.
Together we scrambled up the mountain path, both of
us envying Honorable Puss Puss who danced and gam-
169
bolled ahead. My Guide entered Chakpori, but I stayed
sitting on the boulder at the top, teasing Honorable Puss
Puss with a piece of bark, a nice flexible piece of bark
which he pretended was some fierce enemy. He leaped,
and growled, and roared, and attacked the bark, and
together we had the strongest sense of warm friendship.
170
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
IT WAS good to be back at Chakpori, good to be among
those with whom I was familiar. Here the Teachers were a
dedicated lot, dedicated to training medical lamas. My
guide had suggested that I should attend classes for herbs,
anatomy, and medicine as Chakpori was THE center for
such teaching.
With twenty-five others boys like me, older boys, and
one or two young monks from other lamaseries I sat upon
the floor of one of our Lecture Halls; the lama Teacher
was interested in his work, interested in teaching us.
Water! he said. Water is the key to good health. People
do not drink enough to make the body function correctly.
One eats and there is a stodgy mess inside one that cannot
traverse the lengthy path through the intestines. The result
is a clogged system, bad digestion, and utter inability to
undertake the study and practice of metaphysics He
stopped and looked about him as if to challenge us to think
otherwise!
Master, said a young monk from some lesser
lamasery, surely if we drink when we eat we dilute our
gastric juices or so I have been told The young monk
shut up abruptly and glanced about him as if confused by
audacity.
A good question! said the lama Teacher. Many people
have that impression, but it is WRONG! The body has the
ability to put out a highly concentrated digestive juice. So
concentrated, in fact, that under certain conditions the
digestive juices can start to digest the body! We gasped in
amazement, and I felt considerable fright at the thought
that I was eating myself. The Teacher smiled as he saw
171
the commotion he had caused. For a few moments more
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]