Black Water Pond

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The ‘Black Water Pond’ is evidence of Buddhism having prevailed long before the introduction of Theravada Buddhism. This place is a serene site with all that nature has to offer to us. The pond itself is a natural basin of black rock and as a result the water is of clear blue-purple. It appears that Tantric practices had been practised at this site. This is an important discovery as Sutra and Tantra, both of which I practise are not the way of the Theravada Buddhist. These are Tibetan Sharman techniques. The Black water pond is situated not too far from Mihintale, the site where Mahinda Thera started Buddhism. This to me seemed too much of a coincidence that he chose an area of Sri Lanka where Tantric practices had already prevailed many hundred years before.

The pond is used for bathing and there are certain locations allocated for the ascetics who live up in the mountains in contemplation. On the opposite side of the pond lay people can have a bath, wash cloths etc. There is nobody to administer this rule. It’s a simple case of showing respect to the ascetics by leaving the allocated spot for them as and when they require using it. As I didn’t know of this rule I sat on the rock which they use to lower themselves into the water when a monk quietly made his presence in order to have a bath. He saw me and smiled in approval. I asked him whether I would disturb him if I were to stay there and he replied that it would not bother him one bit. However later I realised that it was more appropriate for me to leave him alone to have a relaxed bath. So I proceeded to investigate the other side leaving him to reflect on the patterns created by the crystal clear waters.

There is a beautiful pyramid shaped mountain leaving a picturesque image on the glassy surface of the pond when the water is not disturbed by the wind. I laid on a shady spot with a panoramic view of the pond occasionally resting my eyes to listen to the nature’s sounds. The sound of Salé Wӧd, I thought to myself. The crickets, the frogs, the monk dipping in to the water took me on a journey that is hard to explain. There is something in this air that proclaim abundance. There is some unexplained concealment that is respected by the visitors of this place. They behave as if they were in a library. A western woman caught my eye; she must have felt the same as I. She was wearing a white cotton dress and when she saw the monk bathing, it enticed her to do the same. She removed her slippers and immersed herself into the water, and then she floated gazing at the sky for what seemed like an hour. Her beautiful golden hair serenaded nature and her fair body took the same shape of the pyramid like mountain and she became still as the water—like an Island. Nothing separated her from nature. After awhile she rose out of the water and made her way to the top of a rocky bolder that to me seemed like the shape of a sleeping Buddha. She sat on its surface in the five point meditation posture and started to meditate.

It was the day before the ‘Poya’, (the full moon) and I was left with this need to experience what this woman had experienced. Since I am different and always want to take an idea one step further, I wondered, “What would it take to experience this bath at night?”

That same day at about eight o’clock in the evening I gathered a few things like a towel and my toiletry bag, got into my jeep and headed towards the Black water pond. I had a flash light that helped me to go through the wooded area of the grounds to the spot where the monk and the woman had bathed. It was a bright starry night with the moon hiding behind the pyramid like mountain. There was not a soul around—not in the physical form anyway. I stripped and got in as there was no need for covering oneself—there was nobody around. On occassion a frog croaked nearby and a Fish jumped —close enough to touch. I had time to count all the stars if I wanted to. What was louder than the frogs and the fish was the silence. Since the bottom of this pool has a natural rocky surface, the heat that is absorbed during the day is gradually let out and there is a feeling of warmth mingling with the fresh cool water that soaks the moonlit night. (If one had to bath crystals with cosmic energy, this was the night, this was the moon and this was the place.) I must have been floating on this calm surface for a couple of hours. It was one of those rare moments you share with nature and you are given the riches a king would possess. The Moon took its chance to surprise me and silently peeped out from the side of the pyramid like mountain illuminating the place as if it was daylight. What a mischievously wicked streak of nature! It was time for me to come out, if someone walked in to this beautiful park to enjoy the stillness of this Poya day and find me stark naked floating in this pond, it would not be good.

The Black water pond has a special significance to me. It was where I found myself and nature to be one. I have a dream that I would one day like to manifest. I would like Deva Premal & Miten to sing on a small stage in the little Island in the middle of the pond. It would be for a small audience of selected souls that will learn abundance from the experience.

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Photos

Monk
The monk in contemplation before a bath

Mountain
A pyramid like mountain looms over the pool

Sleeping Buddha
The rock formation of the sleeping Buddha

Black Water Pond
One of the most beautiful places I have visited

Reflections
A rock baking in the Sun

Comments

[anonymous]

Hi, enjoyed the site and love the idea of a book in English on Sri Lanka by a Sri Lankan. From your blog it seems you are very sensitive to the Sinhala-Buddhist Culture and philosophy. So I offer this idea not as a criticisim but in friendship - when photographing Bhikkhus - please be careful of their Vinaya (code). we as layman often contribute to their breaking the Vinaya without even our realizing it. For example a monk would not by choice bath in front of women, but a photo is obviously viewed by all. Just a thought. Maybe you can discuss it with someone - or a number - who knows the subject?

[sound of sa lay woo]

The Vinaya Code
Hi there! Thank you for pointing out this fact. I seek guidance from my Tibetan Lama as I am a Yungdrung Bon practitioner. But I have contemplated on this matter and wish to discuss this further. I trust the Vinaya code was introduced by Lord Buddha in order to formulate rules, ideals, and standards of behavior for those of his followers who go forth from home life to take up the quest for release in greater earnestness. He encouraged these qualities to be developed in the mind and character. Therefore by my own reflection which Lord Buddha encouraged, even though the Bhikku can break the code by bathing in public, as he may create a causal effect by this act, I by displaying this photograph cannot break the code on his behalf. The discipline is aimed to avoid provocation of his mind and the onlooker’s mind. But the question I would like to ask is; could I create an action of defilement or a causal effect in my mind or my subscriber’s minds or in the minds of others by displaying such a photograph? This picture is such a beautiful expression of introspection rather than an exposure of a human body and I am sure that it will be viewed in that reflection.