Then one day when you are nearly one hundred and seven and after a lot of chanting and bells, and bodily suffering and all the spiritual stuff, something would go pop or bong or some other onomatopoeic sound and Bob's your uncle there you were enlightened, in the Zen zone, one up on the rest of creation.
But here in Anerley, I find it's just up the road, a short hop away on the 157 bus. I was quite surprised there weren't queues of Buddhist monks waiting at all the bus stops. Possibly though they still prescribe to the old fashioned ways of achieving enlightenment, being nearly one hundred and seven and more set in their ways than the younger we want it now generation. Maybe, they stick to the suffering, chanting bells etc. and not the modern big yellow sign pointing to enlightenment route. No, that would be far too easy.
Unless of course they have disguised themselves to hide from prying eyes that they are in fact Buddhist monks and sod the old fashioned way lets get this enlightenment business over and done with as quickly as possible, women and monks first, last one left behind at the monastery can turn the lights out and good riddance it was bloody cold anyway. Maybe instead of the bit of a giveaway orange robes and the shaved head, "No, I'm not an actual monk I'm just going to a fancy dress party" tactic, they have decided instead to go undercover.
So the next time you are on the 157, and you find that are lots of very old people wearing wigs looking guilty about something and mumbling to themselves, they are probably Buddhist monks taking the easy path to enlightenment.
Apparently Nirvana is just two stops further on, but it is not quite as popular as there is no on-street parking available.
