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My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
Lunch with the lama
» Kaneohe
"It is said that the Buddha survived for months eating just one grain of rice per day," the second Lama Jey Tsong Khapa said as they sat down to eat a sumptuous vegetarian meal prepared by Lily Ah Sun. "I'm afraid I have not attained that level of discipline yet. And looking at this beautiful food, Mrs. Ah Sun, it's just as well."
He bowed from the waist toward Lily, and to her maid/friend Rosalita Resurreccion, who had assisted in the kitchen.
"It's Lily, please. But thank you, your holiness," Lily said. "It's such an honor. I just hope it tastes OK."
"The aromas are wonderful, surely taste will follow. So, to those who prepared the meal, to those who grew the produce and those who helped bring it to our table, thank you, and to the plants who share their goodness and life with us, thank you and may you rise to a higher plane."
As a seventh-generation Kawaiahao Church member, Lily had been in the company of plenty of pastors over the years. The Rev. Abraham Akaka, the man who baptized her, she remembered with special fondness. But there was something about this young lama unlike any other churchman she'd met. While she'd been nervous from the time she began preparing her shopping list straight through until she brought plates and bowls to the table, now in his presence she was exquisitely calm -- not the normal state of affairs for the feisty, high-strung president/CEO of Ola Essences and the Honolulu Soap Co.
Across the table, her husband Quinn shot her a you-see-what-I'm-talking-about look.
"Subsisting on one grain of rice a day," their host Kamasami Khan said. "That must have been early in Buddha's career."
The lama looked at him quizzically. "Yes, but -- why?"
"You ever notice that all the statues show Buddha with a pretty good belly?"
He nodded toward a three-foot jade Buddha statue with rotund tummy in the corner, rubbed his own six-pack stomach. "You ever hear the term Buddha belly?"
That brought a giggle from Elizabeth, Rosalita's 9-year-old daughter, and a chuckle from the lama.
The lama shared a sidelong lover's glance of total adoring with Bodhicita Guzman, his delightful eternal consort. Lily had never seen a couple so obviously in love and deeply devoted to one another -- other than she and Quinn, of course. Lily was curious about their relationship, and just how intimate they were, but was far too polite to ask.
That was a question on the minds of both the lama and Bodhicita. Yes, their relationship was eternal. But in this life they'd just met and had never spent a night under the same roof. Tonight they would.
"Bon apetit," Lily said as they began the meal.
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Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek. His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin. He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com