by Amanda Johnson

Cast:

Avalon

Kisagotami

Buddha

Ambulance Driver (Krishna)

Distraught Mother

Act I, Scene i: The Temple

Setting: A beautiful BUDDHIST TEMPLE in the Indian countryside. The modest building is lit by thousands of candles and smells comfortingly of perfume. 

AVALON walks into the TEMPLE, looking weary, as if from a long journey. She sees BUDDHA meditating on a mat in the middle of the sanctuary. KISAGOTAMI walks into the cosy room as if to confer with BUDDHA, but stops when she sees their unexpected, but not unwelcomed, guest.

KISAGOTAMI

[To AVALON] Why, hello child. What brings you so far out this way? 

AVALON 

Oh, hello. It seems I’m a little lost, spiritually I mean. And I thought this might be the right place to go. You see I have a dilemma. I am very sick. And I don’t know how to live my life when my impending death is always looming over me like a storm cloud poised to ruin a perfect day. I want to be able to enjoy the time I have left.

KISAGOTAMI

It’s a good thing you’ve come here. Giving out good advice is what Lord Buddha does best.

BUDDHA

[Laughing] Gotami, flattery will get you nowhere in life! However, if it’s the truth then let it be known.

[To AVALON] My child, what is it that you have come here seeking? A medicine for your body or your mind?

My child, what is it that you have come here seeking? A medicine for your body or your mind?

AVALON

I guess it would be easiest to enjoy life if I didn’t have to live with any of these problems at all. So a physical medicine?

At this, KISAGOTAMI wanted to warn off AVALON from seeking out a corporeal treatment, but she knew from experience that if AVALON had made up her mind, no words could touch her decision. The conflict was clear on KISAGOTAMI’S face. But, she could relate to her internal turmoil. She knew what she had to do. 

KISAGOTAMI

[Interjecting] Lord Buddha, if I may offer some advice to our guest-

[To AVALON] In my experience dear child, the only way to cure an incurable illness such as yours is to get a “pinch of fresh mustard seeds” (Buddha). 

AVALON 

Mustard seeds?! Surely, it can’t be that easy. 

KISAGOTAMI

You’re right, it’s not. However, if you wish to escape your illness, then you must find the seeds from a house that has never had a family member with an illness. 

BUDDHA

[Smilling with knowledge] Yes, my child, you should listen to Kisagotami. She is giving very good advice. I advise you to look through the town and visit all the townspeople. 

KISAGOTAMI moved to leave the TEMPLE to accompany AVALON, but BUDDHA stopped her.

BUDDHA

[To KISAGOTAMI] No, stay my child.

[To AVALON] It is easier to find what you need when you travel alone.

Act I, Scene ii: The Indian Countryside

In a montage style, AVALON ventures away from the TEMPLE and into THE TOWN. She knocks on every door she came across. She grows increasingly more upset and distraught for in every house she comes across, someone either had cared for an ill person, was caring for an ill person, or an ill person had answered the door! In desperation, she even contemplates going inside the local HOSPITAL but stands frozen at the front gate, fearing that she already knows the answer. AVALON is about to leave when an unknown AMBULANCE DRIVER screeches to a halt next to her.

AMBULANCE DRIVER

Hey miss, are you alright? Do you need help?

AVALON

[Emotionless] I’m dying.

AMBULANCE DRIVER

Well then, you’re in the right place! This here is the hospital. [AVALON doesn’t move] Um… if you can’t move, then you can get in? It’ll be a new record for my shortest ride.

AVALON

[Sadly] It’s not that, it’s that I don’t want to die. I want to live and enjoy life.

AMBULANCE DRIVER

But why? “Death is certain for anyone born, and birth is certain for the dead; since the cycle is inevitable, you have no cause to grieve.” (The Bagavad-Gita, Second Teaching, 27).

AVALON

[Empasioned] But still! I want to live! I don’t want to roll over and quit. I want to try and I want to live but sometimes it’s scary how much effort being sick takes. I feel like I could use my time on better things, like enjoying my life, if I weren’t so sick. And now I’ve wasted a whole day on a quest with no end.

But still! I want to live! I don’t want to roll over and quit. I want to try and I want to live but sometimes it’s scary how much effort being sick takes. I feel like I could use my time on better things, like enjoying my life, if I weren’t so sick. And now I’ve wasted a whole day on a quest with no end.

AMBULANCE DRIVER

“No effort in this world is lost or wasted, a fragment of sacred duty saves you from great fear” (The Bagavad-Gita, Second Teaching, 40). It seems like you just need to find your true calling and you won’t be so afraid of the things you can’t control. Besides, you are thinking about your life like there is a way where you can win and a way you can lose. “If you are killed, you win heaven; if you triumph, you enjoy the earth; therefore, [friend], stand up and resolve to fight [for yourself]” (The Bagavad-Gita, Second Teaching, 37). Maybe your quest did have an end. Do you understand?

Before AVALON could answer, a crying, DISTRAUGHT MOTHER runs up to AMBULANCE DRIVER, proclaiming that her baby had stopped breathing and that she needs help, gesticulating wildly. AMBULANCE DRIVER motions for her to hop in the ambulance and they drive off in a puff of dust, leaving AVALON alone in front of the HOSPITAL once again. She decides to sit on the front steps until nightfall, then gets up and makes her way back to the TEMPLE.

Act I, Scene iii: Return to the Temple

AVALON returns to the temple where she finds BUDDHA and KISAGOTAMI meditating peacefully, waiting for her. BUDDHA opens his eyes and waves her over.

BUDDHA

  “Did you find the handful of mustard seeds?” (Buddha)

AVALON

No, Sir, I could not. Everyone I visited either was caring for someone who was sick or was sick themselves. There is even a huge hospital in the centre of town.

BUDDHA

“If you cannot find the medicinal ingredients we need, then what can we do? Just as you could not obtain such mustard seed so there is no cure.” Do not feel alone, all “entities are also subject to the three characteristics, namely, birth, existence, and destruction.” If you are unsatisfied with this life, do not fret, those who die are born again. (Buddha)

KISAGOTAMI

[As if waiting for the perfect moment] We “will be born again and again. Since death is inevitable, all creatures born must die. Only those who attain nirvana become extinct leaving no residual matter.” (Kisagotami)

AVALON

You know, I met an ambulance driver at the hospital today who said something similar. I can’t believe all of you say the same thing. And after I saw it out there, too [gestures out the door and towards the town]. I think I finally understand. There is nothing that can make me better, but that is okay. I am okay with that.

At the mention of the AMBULANCE DRIVER, BUDDHA and KISAGOTAMI smirk at each other.

KISAGOTAMI

It seem you understand now, child, that the body is not a personal possession. It takes a long journey to get to this point, and some never complete it.

AVALON

How did you get here? You seem very good.

KISAGOTAMI

I went on a very similar journey to you. My son died and I was very sad. I was so sad, I could not put down his body, “I thought only of my son dying”, it consumed me. I did not understand how life could be so cruel. I, too, looked for a cure to death. My search brought me here. And Lord Buddha gave me the very same quest I gave you. I did the whole quest carrying my dead child on my shoulder. Eventually, I came to understand that we all die and that it is a natural part of life. Because of this, I “realized that there was no other cure for the disease of death and my ailment of overpowering affection for my child eased somewhat. As my grief eased little by little my heart became strong.”

Eventually, I came to understand that we all die and that it is a natural part of life. … As my grief eased little by little my heart became strong.

BUDDHA

And because of this, Kisagotami was able to become a sovan and was ordained in the monastic order. She has accepted the ways of nirvana. This makes her very wise, and, you’re right, full of goodness. Like you, when Kisagotami first came here, she was concerned with lengthening the life one is currently living, and I’ll tell you what I told her. “If one were to live a hundred years without understanding nirvana it is of no use. But to live for one day having seen nirvana is blessed, because such a one has no fear of hell and fear of samsara is lessened.” (Buddha)

AVALON

I understand. I’ve accepted my own mortality, but how can I reach nirvana?

BUDDHA
You are already on your way, my child. For some additional advice I will tell you, “good men though they are lacking in physical fitness should acquire mental ftness, free themselves from Acts of Demerit, perform Acts of Merit, and cultivate goodness.” Cultivate your goodness like a beautiful garden and you will grow ever closer to enlightenment.

With BUDDHA’S last piece of advice, AVALON sits and meditates in the TEMPLE. She sits for what must be a long, but indeterminate amount of time. Eventually, she starts to be illuminated with a warm glow before the light becomes blinding, the sole light left on stage, then the light goes out. 

created for HUM 124 with Leslee Johnson