As we have discussed before, despite being on a pilgrim path, I was not Pilgrimming. I was not in the act of Pilgrimation. I was not a Pilgrim. Unirregardless of this redundancy, I figured I should study some Buddhism since I was going to be walking a lot and there was no one to discuss Star Trek with. As I was on the road, The Eight Fold Noble Path seemed a good start, since it was, you know, named after a path and I was walking one of the biggest paths there was.
THE EIGHTFOLD NOBLE PATH
THE EIGHTFOLD NOBLE PATH BEING USED INCORRECTLY.
Right View was first on the list to study, and yeah, we’re supposed to go in order, though each ‘Right’ supports all others. Right View requires one to know about the basics of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths, what the overall goals are and who the Buddha was. You can’t anywhere on a map until you know what those symbols mean.
“What now is Right View? It is understanding of suffering, understanding of the origin of suffering, understanding of the cessation of suffering, understanding of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.”-Buddha.
And since Buddha says Right View has a lot to do with understanding suffering, let’s talk about the albergues, the hostels of the Camino de Santiago. For those of you who have experience with youth hostels, you can wipe that knowing smile off your face. Albergues ain’t youth hostels. We stayed in a classic Youth Hostel in Dublin at the end of our trip and I found nothing had significantly changed since my last stay fifteen years ago. The hostel kitchen even had that same “All European” smell…like how every elementary school cafetorium has the same processed-food-and-sweaty-kid-odor. Not so the albergues. In the albergues of Spain you will find a variety of interpretations of hospitality that would make the Crayola 64 Box blush.
An albergue is an albergue when it is an official hostel of the Camino de Santiago, inspected and approved by the Jacobean Council. But they are actually operated and managed by a kaleidescope of religious orders, private foundations and just plain ole folks. We use the albergues because they are always the most inexpensive options for lodging. To keep things fair, one must have an official passbook obtained at the beginning of your journey to receive the offered Pilgrim rate, and those books will be checked. The prices run from cheap all the way down to too damn cheap and at that level you will get what you pay for.
All albergues will have a check-in area, a common room for eating/cooking, the sleeping quarters, and a basic common toilet/shower. The check-in area may be a family home’s front hallway or a football field sized room of an old monastery. The sleeping quarters may be two twin beds in one room, or one- hundred twin bunk-beds in a single room with no separations whatsoever. There may be a single toilet with a shower, or thirty showers, sinks and toilets in one giant antiscepticly porcelain tiled room.
Our first albergue was in St Jean Pied de Port, and its status was right in the middle of that bell curve. We were going to share an alcove with two other people and we had made reservation a long time ago, so all should be just fine. However, I was coming right off my freak out over the walking sticks, so when we walked into the check in area and it was crammed to the rafters with twenty seven other people all also waiting to check-in an hour early, my stomach roiled with visions of Stacy, roomless, in the streets, looking helpless and disappointed in me. It must be said I have these visions of personal disaster quite a bit, a lot more than I realized until I began to meditate. Well, meditating and talking to my wife about my feelings. It’s amazing how much wisdom you can find when your wife blinks, pauses and tells you slowly, “No, most people never, ever think that.”
The room was in the center of the building, with a hall leading to the back and stairs leading upstairs to two other floors. Of the 27 pilgrims filling the space, 75% of them were from South Korea, and most were standing, as there were only a few chairs available. The room was quieter than a room packed with 27 people should have been. There was an aura of the principal’s office, or the DMV. Looking about I realized that everybody was in the same head space as me; this was everyone’s first stop on the Camino, and nobody knew what to expect . . . . Man, it was so tense it actually became fun for awhile, like a cheap version of Casablanca. Because every single one of those 27 people knew there were no other rooms in St Jean. It was Chemin vers l’Etoile Albergue, or the firestation floor.
And then, Eric began to talk.
He was the proprietor of the Chemin vers l’Etoile, and he had a speech ready to go for that room of worried people that was razor sharp and warm as a Grandmother’s hug. Eric was 6’1, chunky but not fat, with a respectable salt and pepper beard and an accent that changed with every guest he spoke to. As the posted check-in time approached, he raised his voice and began to speak to us in slow English, welcoming us to the Camino.
As he began to check folks he was like a Basque Andy Griffith, chatting up the guests and dispensing wisdom to everyone else in the crowded room. Eric told us he had walked the Camino himself, and loved it so much he came back and took over this albergue. He warned us all that the coming trail was going to be difficult, and that the best way to prepare was to let go of all expectations, and to accept the path as it comes. He said it better than that, of course, and it was all said between checking in twenty-seven nervous people into their rooms, in small palatable drops of wisdom wrapped in smiles and the comforting tones of the competent. Brother Eric didn’t stop there either, he went on to say that you had to be true to your insides, and to listen to what is in your heart. No shit, he was getting into it!—and he meant it. And any chance of sounding cliché were negated by the obvious passion in his eyes and words. It was absolutely clear this man was exactly who he seemed to be, and he was doing exactly what he wanted to do.
It might have been just a nice way to start a journey if it wasn’t for the specific message of everything Eric had said, or more specifically what he didn’t say. He never said a single word about Christianity. It was all the path, and he came back again and again to letting go of expectations . . . being true to your insides . . .
He might as well have been quoting the Buddha.
After watching Eric live the religion I was studying right in front of my eyes, I could feel my attitude change. Well, continue to change. I could still feel my embarrassment from The Hiking Sticks, but I could also see a way out of that feeling; both side by side, looking up at me from the floor of my mind, surrounded by a bunch of other feelings that were evaporating into mist.
So, let’s us apply a little Right View to what I am going to experience with these here albergues:
The understanding of suffering: Yes, you are not wrong, The albergue system is slow, clumsy and extremely basic.
The understanding of the origin of suffering: The albergue system has to serve 120+ different cultures and nations and it MUST do it inexpensively. Therefore, the system HAS to be slow, clumsy and basic to serve this vastly diverse clientele affordably.
The understanding of the cessation of suffering: The albergue system is not designed for “your” comfort, they are designed to keep you alive. There is nothing you can do to change this system, so find a way to get over it.
The understanding of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: “Getting over it” can happen a lot of ways. For me, I began to practice pure Mindfulness exercises while waiting in the albergue lobbies, which, in short, took away the context from which my anger was wont to arise. That’s all I can tell you. Go get your own “Get Over It” Method.
In the end we got a room, Stacy charmed everyone with her perfect Spanish, the room was fine, South Koreans are very polite, and we went to bed early so we would be rested for our first morning as Official pilgrims. It was hard to sleep, as I was still simmering from all the input St. Jean had provided; input both material and spiritual. And the dharma was there. It was a comfort to see my faith actually working, proving itself to be true and applicable in my daily life. But it was a frightening comfort, because if this Buddhist stuff actually works, then I’m going to have to actually do it.
Oh, shit. I was pilgrim.
Good thing I had a map.
Right view is the forerunner of the entire path, the guide for all the other factors. It enables us to understand our starting point, our destination, and the successive landmarks to pass as practice advances. -Bhikinu Bhodi
buddha meets jesus 