Waking up in the Sagaing Hills

“When I step outside the door of my kuti (meditation hut) at half past five o'clock, the morning air is pleasantly cool and invigorating. The sky has already exchanged its black of the night for a mild gray blue. The morning mist indicates a high humidity.

While breathing, a slightly pressing veil covers my somewhat asthmatic lung. I walk slowly and further in meditative mindfulness the almost 100 meters to a teak hut with bamboo woven scales, where Daw Inzali - a suitable name for a Burmese nun, which means something like ‘Gesture of Prayer’ - and her helper Ma Phyo Zin - translated ‘White Or- chid’, which is no less beautiful - have prepared breakfast. Here, too, the chairs and tables are made of natural teak, just like the fence posts on the way here.

From the other kutis scattered all over the area, the other participants of the course approach from all sides; they are monks and nuns as well as lay people from Asian countries, but also from Europe, Australia and America. One of the lay participants from Central America will be ordained in the next few days for the duration of her stay in Myanmar and will thus follow an old custom that is still widespread in the Buddhist countries of Asia, namely that at least once in one’s life one should live as a monk or nun for a shorter or longer period of time, thus following the path of the Buddha.

Since the transitions between night and day are extremely short in the tropics, the sun already pushes its first rays over the horizon into the now bright blue, cloudless sky and drives away the rest of the night, when I enter the eating room. So we can expect a very warm, sunny day again, just as sure as a plate of noodles for breakfast; they are fried in coconut fat, mixed with a hint of a tasty vegetable I don’t know.

The two women put a lot of effort into preparing a good meal for us, but overall the results of their healthy vegetarian cooking require a considerable amount of adjustment from my very one-sidedly Western taste and digestive organs. It is hard for me to do without bread or toast for breakfast; noodles are not really a substitute for me at this time of the day.”

An excerpt from U Abhaya’s A Day of Smile: Encounters with the Burmese Soul, describing a full day in the life of a yogi in the Sagaing Hills. U Abhaya kindly gave us permission to share excerpts of his book on this blog.