The Nomadic Alternative – Page 190

to be found, indoors or out, nor on the road..."A man is an island

and his independence is the key to wisdom. Gangs of false ascetics

will only lure him away from his dedicated path. As a verse in the

Unicorn Sutta proposes, "Wild creatures wander at pleasure in search

of food. Copy their liberty and roam, like the unicorn, alone.

Endure cold, heat, hunger and thirst, wind, sun and gadflies, mos-

quitoes and snakes. Endure all these and roam, like the Unicorn,

alone."

The Buddhist traveller or bhikku wore a saffron-orange robe and

carried a begging bowl, staff, needle, rosary, razor and water filter

to prevent him killing small animals. The staff symbolized the Centre

of the World. Wherever he placed it, was liberated territory. It

was the pivot of his migration. The Buddha also recognized the need

for a period of rest and instituted a close season for wandering -

a four month break called the vassa. Just as the Bushmen cluster

round their wells during the lean dry season, Buddhist pilgrims

came to rest during the rains of the monsoon in rough shacks on high

ground protected from the floodwaters. Thus the Buddhists redis-

covered for themselves a pattern of mobility which is fairly general

to wandering peoples - eight months of perpetual movement alterna-

ting with four months of settlement. From these temporary camps rose

the great Buddhist monasteries, when the voyages of the monks were

internalized.*

Unadulterated poverty is not always practical. The poor dervish

or Buddhist traveller wandering to detach his soul could not dis-

sociate himself enough from the floating riff-raff of the road. The

pestering of other "lewyd eremytes" forced genuine travellers to

assemble in settled confraternities and barricade themselves against

professional adventurers and the attentions of the police. And those

*Sukumar Dutt, Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India, 1962.