To Lumbini

I don't know why I decided to go on a religious pilgrimage. Maybe I was inspired by all those Hindus in street clothes and saris walking up to Muktinath.

I'm a Buddhist but I'm not a good Buddhist. I'm not religious. When Poo takes the boys to tambun at a wat, I usually stay home and read my books. I believe in something the Dalai Lama said: religion should be practiced in the mind.

The bus ride was 8 hours, and my legs were cramped into a space the size of a shoe box. I kept thinking to myself: I'm on a religious pilgrimage, so I should be nice to everybody, even the Chinese guy sitting next to me who kept jabbing his knees into my space. Actually, he was a nice guy, so I just kept smiling at him. Later I realized I should always act that way.

As soon I I got to Lumbini, I looked at all the people taking it so seriously, and I immediately had my doubts.

When the Buddha was born, his mother was standing up and the Gods provided both a warm and a cool jet of rain to wash them; he was caught by four deities and he immediately stood up, took seven steps northwards, raised his finger to the skies and proclaimed:

I am the Highest in the World
I am the Best in the World
I am the Foremost in the World
This is my Last Birth!

Yeah, right!