makha bucha day

It has been about four months since we last had rain in Bangkok. I'm not kidding. There was this one spritz about a month ago, but aside from that it has been a DRY dry season. Five provinces in the northeast were declared to be officially in an emergency state of drought this past weekend. Meanwhile, here in the big smog, the trees had acquired that fine patina of dust and black air-crud that coats their leaves so delicately in the non-rainy months. Really, I haven't a clue how the trees stay hydrated. Somehow, they maintain leaves after four months of no moisture. How is that possible? I go four minutes in the Bangkok sun and I'm parched. I couldn't sprout a twig let alone a palm tree branch.

Yesterday, however, I was exiting the shopping centre and heading into the skytrain station when I noticed a peculiar light was suffusing the area. Yes, yes, indeed, it was the fabled cloudy sky of yore. I'd just seen Memoirs of a Geisha (alright, but why were they all speaking English? And why were they all Chinese except for Ken Watanabe? And why did they all have such outrageous 'Japanese' accents? What's up with that? I know the book was written in English, but shurely they could've translated the dialogue into Japanese, or at the very least had the cast use fake old-British accents and not disparate 'Japanese' ones. But I digress...) and so I blinked a couple of times to make sure that I wasn't just wishfully transposing a cool, Japanese climate over the rotten-hot Bangkok one. But no! The sky really was grey. The sun really wasn't shining.

Even better, when I got off at Ekkamai, a few raindrops fell. I zipped home and made sure the laundry was safe, sound, and dry inside. Then I sat back and watched the rain fall. It wasn't much as far as rainfalls go, but it was wet and that was good. Today I woke up and turned off the air con and opened up the windows and - oh glory be! - the air was fresh and clear and damp, and there was a lovely shower raining down. I luxuriated in feeling slightly chilly while eating breakfast in my tank top and shorts and later in the day Ji and I celebrated the cool weather with a bath. Ah yes, the day was also marvellous because we were on holiday! It was Makha Bucha day. I know that sounds like a Nigerian groundnut stew, but actually it goes a little something like this (thanks, chiangmai-chiangrai.com!):

Makha Bucha, is celebrated on night of the full moon of the third lunar month, which usually corresponds to February, and is an observance of two unexpected events in the Buddha's forty-four years of teaching which occurred on the same day.

The first occurred nine months after the Buddha had been expounding his doctrine for seven months only. Of his 1,340 disciples, 1,250 of them the Buddha laid down the three main principles of his religion in the Patimokka, of the 'monk way', which crystallize the wisdom of all the Buddhas that came before. These are :

Give up evil and refrain from sinning.
Cultivate good - and make merit
Cleanse one's mind.

He also admonished his disciples to be good teachers to the laity based on the following precepts :

They should be patient
They should teach the laity to be peaceful
They should be optimistic and not offend others.
They should reach goodness in correct ways.
They should be disciplined
They should be humble
They should concentrate on doing useful things.

The second unusual event occurred on the same day forty-five years later. The Buddha foresaw that due to the state of his health his attainment of Nirvana, or escape from the cycle of rebirths, was approaching within three months. On that day, he formulated and preached his Dhamma about the responsibility of an individual or organization. These are that a person should:

enjoy work or responsibility,
be diligent in work,
concentrate on the job while working,
check all unfinished work thoroughly.

On the three lunar holy days which include Makha Bucha Thai Buddhists gather at the temple at sunset to Wian Tian, or to walk around the Bhote, or the major religious structure in the temple complex where monks are ordained, while holding a lighted candle. This is a way of showing respect to what is called the "triple gem", which is the Buddha himself, his teachings and doctrines, and the monkhood he founded.

Now, I'm not quite sure why these two events were so unusual and unexpected - hey, the Buddha's giving us some good advice, what a shocker! - but there certainly is one point that I've been focusing on today. I finally sat down and slogged through the two weeks of marking that I let pile up. Yay! I have checked my unfinished work thoroughly! That's got to get me at least one step up from cockroach level in my next lifetime. I also quite like the suggestion to concentrate on doing useful things. That's excellent advice. I think my top-usefulness today was achieved in my hanging out with Ji. It is useful to both of us to have a chance to kick back and relax together. We played Jenga, read some silly books, I let him design his own tattoo, you know the usual.

And we got to enjoy the rain and cool breezes. Hurrah, Makha Bucha!

The only downside to the day is that it's Ash and Sloane's last day in residence prior to their trip to India. However, hope springs eternal - Ash is working on extending her stay for a week once she returns to Bangkok so that she can pick up a short-term contract here. Y'all keep your fingers crossed that the flight changes will work out. Peace!

[Bangkok-13-February-2006]