Winter's First Snows: A Practitioner's Tale of a Day of Retreat

The first snowfall of winter arrived just before dawn on Saturday 27 October 2012. Fortunately, it was just a dusting as I was driving  45 miles to the Day of Meditation at Wat Buddha Metta, Harston near Cambridge. Not that I am good at meditating. Quite the opposite, in fact: having turned 60, sitting for much longer than half an hour at a time is notnearly as comfortable as one might suppose.

But there were plenty of things to compensate as such a Day is special and for many reasons. Not least, I could renew my acquaintance with Luang Por Sudhiro and Than B, the Buddhist monks in the Thai Theravadan Forest tradition who are currently based at Harston. One is immediately both impressed and at ease on being with them. I am always made to feel welcome – like I’m a member of the family!

As well as opportunities for collective and individual meditation, the programme for the Day included some chanting, some Dhamma talks and a very nice lunch offered by local Thai people. It also afforded an opportunity to chat to the various friends who were also participating in the Day and contributing from their own particular perspective. The atmosphere is pleasant and relaxed throughout.

Although I have some experience of meditation, I still regard myself as very much a beginner. My practice has a very long way to go. Fortunately, sitting is not the only way one can meditate and I spent some of the afternoon practicing walking meditation in a quiet country lane nearby the Wat.

I especially enjoy listening to Dhamma talks. There is always something new and interesting in the Buddha’s teachings. On this occasion Luang Por told us about the deeper meaning of the Triple Gem: the qualities of being a fully ‘awakened’human being demonstrated by the historical Buddha; the Dhamma – the Buddhist teachings and the truth they embody; and the lay and the monastic community that together constitute the Sangha. We also learned about the Three Universal Characteristics of all phenomena – impermanence, suffering and not-self. If we see and know the truth of this we can “let go” and avoid the dangers and adverse effects of attachment to these worldly things.   In such ways the teachings can help us all to improve ourselves and become the very best that we can be - not just on special days like this but throughout our lives.

Before closing the Day, Luang Por explained that he is trying to establish  a permanent centre  in the area and that  the Sangha  - in Thailand, UK and elsewhere - are gradually working to this end. Many people in UK are as yet unawarethat Buddhism is a superb resource which really can help us to live our lives well. So I hope his endeavour succeeds and helps make this resource available to anyone and everyone.

The Day is over all too soon and, after chatting over a cup of tea, I find myself making my way down the M11 in heavy traffic, in a torrential rainstorm and in the deepening dusk – asharp contrast to the bright autumn sunshine and peacefulnessthat had characterised so much of the day. Now what was itthat Luang Por was saying about impermanence….?

Day-long Saturday Retreat on October 27th

Saturday meditation retreat at the new vihara at Harston near Cambridge with Luang Poh Sudhiro and Than B on 27 October 2012.

All meditators welcome including complete beginners.

Luang Poh Sudhiro is a senior monk in the Thai Forest Tradition. He spent many years practising in seclusion, but for the last ten years he has been active internationally, teaching especially in the UK and New Zealand.

The retreat will run from 9.00 – 5pmwith sitting and walking meditation, dhamma talks and meditation instruction especially for beginners, and time for questions and answers and will be largely in silence.

Please bring food to share for lunch and a cushion or stool. Chairs are available for those who need them. 

The vihara is at 135 High Street, Harston, Cambridge CB22 7QD opposite the Porsche Centre. There is parking on site, or you can take bus 26.

No advance booking is necessary and there is no charge but donations towards the vihara are welcome. If you have any enquiries phone Dick Allen on 01353 659082 or email bodhi.d4@gmail.com

Refrigerator Dhamma

Ajahn Chah, a simple Thai forest monk, famously said that "Everything is teaching us."  The problem lies in the fact that few of us take the time and develop the proper attitude to receive the teachings which constantly bombard our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. 

The cheap synthetic curtains, a checkered floral pattern of pastel yellow and blue which seem like they could only be the child of a quaint English grandmother and Sponge Bob Square pants, is teaching me. The robin singing outside my window is teaching me. The scent of the lemon slice sitting in my cup is teaching me. The taste of a whole chili pepper, bit by accident, is teaching me. The feeling of my lumbar vertebrate burning with fiery pain hotter than a thousand of those Thai chilies is teaching me. And even these thoughts are teaching me. Well, they could, but usually I'm too busy looking elsewhere, usually the inside of fridges, to learn

Even common household appliances, like refrigerators, are the sublime expressions of the dhamma. All that it requires is the act of proper attention for it to reveal its truth.

Now, within Buddhist and in general spiritual lingo, there's a lot of talk about interdependence, but it is usually of an abstract and unitive sort. In the early meditation texts, the interdependence of things had a particular agenda and effect, namely to identify what suffering is co-dependent on for it's existence and, thereby, see what we can do to lessen or remove that factor and thus experience the relief or ending of suffering. It is not this, "Oh, we're all one great big family, let's hold hands and sing Kumbaya," kind of a thing. That might be true, but it's not ultimately helpful in terms of providing a clear and direct understanding of the problem: suffering, and, oppositely, to it's solution.

So when we look at a refrigerator, the question then is to study how this thing called a refrigerator arises. If we examine the process clearly and with mindfulness, we can see that it arises dependent on many factors. It depends on the presence of some form, maybe a hulking teal box, on light, and also on the eye. If any of these were absent, we would be unable to see the box. It also depends on other processes.  Before we could see the refrigerator, maybe a feeling of hunger arose, which caused an aversive mental state which caused the visitation of a teal refrigerator during my meditations which caused an intention to move which caused the muscles in my leg to move which caused me to see a door which caused me to intend to reach for a door handle which caused my arm to move which caused the feeling of the cool metal on my fingers, etc., etc.  As we observe this process take place, inevitably, standing before a fridge stuffed full of delicious Thai, scrumptious enough to tempt even the most resolute of contemplatives, we also stand as witness to the experience of craving, of greed, and of an attendant sense of lack and dissatisfaction which accompanies these feelings.  The practice of observation and investigation then reveals to us that our perceptions are not actually ours. That everything which arises does so naturally and in accordance to various conditions in a causally linked and bound process. Even the thought, "That red curry is mine!" is something which arises dependent on other conditions and passes when those pass. Intentions, too, our will, arises based on conditions. The will to touch the handle arose from the image of a door which arose because of this and that and so on and so forth.  Thus, there is no "I" or "me" which is actually independent or beyond this process.  "I" or "me" is merely a product of this process, rather than, as we often think, the producer, creator, or controller of it.

I am not a refrigerator. That seems like a no brainer, but what isn't a no brainer is the view that all that is sensed and thought is also not mine. My eyes, forgive the contradiction, aren't my own, and nor is the red curry which I hope to wolf down for lunch.  When we clearly understand and see that these things are not ours, then we naturally let go of them and stop clinging too tightly. That translates into a lessening of stress and dissatisfaction and craving, for we only crave for things that we identify with, and we only feel dissatisfied when there is an absence of something which we crave.  With the attenuation of cravings borne from misidentification - thinking that we're refrigerators, red curries, and eyeballs, a sense of peace and stillness pervades where before chaos and agitation reigned.  When we observe this effect, there is also a clear knowledge that the conceit or view, "I am this" and the craving or aversion which it entails is the cause of stress, and that by releasing and lessening that view, is the ending or relief of stress. 

So when Ajahn Chah says that everything is teaching us, especially and including refrigerators, he does not mean that in an open-ended, vague way. Refrigerators could teach us many things. They could teach us about electronics, thermal dynamics, gravity, and countless other things, but these are not significant if one wishes to truly be happy, because for that one must understanding suffering and its causes and the ending of suffering and its causes. If you think that its ending is inside the fridge and in a bowl of Thai red curry, you'll be sorely, all-be-it tastily, disappointed. Relatively speaking, it is useful to know how a fridge works and to not be starving, but there are plenty of electricians and engineers who can put together a fridge but are miserable, and there are, likewise, monks who have died from starvation relatively unruffled (recently, an Indian yogi died after fasting for over 130 days as a protest to the illegal mining occurring along the River Ganges). The difference is one of understanding and of view, of what our knowledge and understanding, and what kind of information we are searching for. 

Next time you step before a fridge, maybe just be a little mindful, for that fridge door could be either your opening to enlightenment or Thai curry, or, hopefully in my case, both!

Wishing you all enlightenment by appliance,

Than B

Meditation Centre in Wales

On Friday 3rd August Luang Poh Sudhiro travelled from Buddha Metta Cambridge to mid -Wales accompanied by three members of the lay community; Kamonchanok, Pong Pong and Ken. He had been invited by the Samatha Trust to take part in celebrations at Greenstreete, their national retreat centre. The celebrations were held to mark three important anniversaries in the life of the Trust. It was fifty years since Nai Boonman began teaching Samatha meditation in this country, twenty five years since

the purchase of Greenstreete and Nai Boonmans’ eightieth birthday. The celebrations were attended by representatives of the Sangha from various parts of the country and many lay people who had a connection with the tradition.

On Friday night we stayed at Hill Cottage, the beautiful home and project of Zarine Katrak and Jeremy Bruce. We were joined in the evening by several dear friends from the area and beyond and took the opportunity to chant and meditate together. Early Saturday morning we joined together again in the same way before setting off for Greenstreete. The proceedings began with the chanting of paritta by the monks and nun who were then offered dana. The lay people then enjoyed a wonderful lunch and a chance to talk to old and new friends. In the afternoon there were Dhamma talks from members of the Sangha and talks from several senior members of the Trust. We then had to return to Cambridge although the celebrations continued throughout the weekend but we felt fortunate to have taken part in such an auspicious occasion along with such good company.



Click on the sign to see more photos



An Amazing Event.

Angulimala

Last Sunday evening 16th September, Luangpoh Sudhiro with Ken and Dick drove down to Spring Hill prison near Aylesbury to join in the 20th anniversary of the opening of The Buddha Grove in the prison grounds.

About 400 people, including many monks, attended this anniversary which was organised by Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy with the help of many Thai friends and the prison. 

The Buddha Grove is a landscaped garden with a large Buddha Rupa at the centre, all constructed by prison inmates of various faiths during 1991, a place of tranquillity and peace much appreciated by inmates and staff of the prison.

Laungpoh Khemmadhammo, the Spiritual Director of Angulimala, presented the evening and related the wonderful history of how the Grove came to be and also the story of Angulimala.  The evening included speeches from Angulimala members including Lord Averbury, prison staff and inmates and a meal in the visitors canteen, this supper being organised and supplied by Thai supporters, an astounding feat.  

After dark this was followed by a candle lit circumabulation of everyone round the Buddha Rupa, a magical moment with this large crown of forms in the candle light slowly making its way three times round the Buddha.

So, a truly amazing event in a place where prisoners prepare to leave the confines of their sentences, Spring Hill being a Category D Open Prison,  may it help them on their way.

Click here to see more photos

Two Teachings

As England begins to descend into Autumn, Luang Poh Sudhiro has been active sharing his understanding of the dhamma and some of his personal experiences with others.

On Friday, September 7th, Luang Poh Sudhiro shared the dhamma with an audience of over twenty at the Friend's Meeting House in Cambridge. He spoke of how he got the most out of his breathe, using it to overcome the excruciating and chronic pain from his liver cancer - since cured, how, as a soldier, he used his breathe in the Cambodian jungles to save the lives of his fellow compatriots along with himself, and how his mastery of the breathe helped save his life again when he was bitten by a venomous snake, slowing his heart rate down and calming his nerves so that the poison could not spread rapidly through his body. But Luang Poh, like all of us, will eventually stop breathing.  

What will we do with the few breaths we have left?

The following week, on Wednesday, he visited a meditation group in Ely at the conference centre in the area of Cathedral, to offer his understanding and experiences to others and listen to theirs. They sat together silently and breathed and then chatted about a variety of topics, including the myopic attitude which many Westerners have towards practice.  Luang Poh situated meditation practice carefully within a broader and more wholesome context of spiritual development and life which includes the practice of generosity, living a life of moral integrity, and, finally, of developing a deeper understanding of oneself. Without these other practices and aspects present, meditation's transformative potential is stifled and reduced to a mere coping mechanism for the vicissitudes of life, all-be-it a far healthier one than a beer or soap operas.

The dhamma is to be lived.