Dear friends also this time we want to share with you one of the teachings of Achaan Chah.
this time the theme is dead and dieing. Maybe a bit morbid but I am sure you will appreciate it.
I anyhow hope so, give us reaction please.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Our Real Home
Our real home
A talk addressed to an aging lay disciple approaching her death
Now determine in your mind to listen respectfully to the Dhamma. While I am speaking, be as attentive to my words as if it was the Lord Buddha himself sitting before you. Close your eyes and make yourself comfortable, composing your mind and making it one-pointed. Humbly allow the Triple Gem of wisdom, truth and purity to abide in your heart as a way of showing respect to the Fully Enlightened One.
Today I have brought nothing of material substance to offer you, only the Dhamma, the teachings of the Lord Buddha. You should understand that even the Buddha himself, with his great store of accumulated virtue, could not avoid physical death. When he reached old age he ceded his body and let go of the heavy burden. Now you too must learn to be satisfied with the many years you've already depended on the body. You should feel that it's enough.
Like household utensils that you've had for a long time — cups, saucers, plates and so on — when you first had them they were clean and shining, but now after using them for so long, they're starting to wear out. Some are already broken, some have disappeared, and those that are left are wearing out, they have no stable form. And it's their nature to be that way. Your body is the same... it's been continually changing from the day you were born, through childhood and youth, until now it's reached old age. You must accept this. The Buddha said that conditions, whether internal, bodily conditions or external conditions, are not self, their nature is to change. Contemplate this truth clearly.
This very lump of flesh lying here in decline is reality. The facts of this body are reality, they are the timeless teaching of the Lord Buddha. The Buddha taught us to contemplate this and come to terms with its nature. We must be able to be at peace with the body, no matter what state it is in. The Buddha taught that we should ensure that it's only the body that is locked up in jail and not the mind be imprisoned along with it. Now as your body begins to run down and wear out with age, don't resist, but also don't let your mind deteriorate along with it. Keep the mind separate. Give energy to the mind by realizing the truth of the way things are. The Lord Buddha taught that this is the nature of the body, it can't be any other way. Having been born it gets old and sick and then it dies. This is a great truth that you are presently witnessing. Look at the body with wisdom and realize this.
If your house is flooded or burnt to the ground, whatever the threat to it, let it concern only the house. If there's a flood, don't let it flood your mind. If there's a fire, don't let it burn your heart. Let it be merely the house, that which is outside of you, that is flooded or burned. Now is the time to allow the mind to let go of attachments.
You've been alive a long time now. Your eyes have seen any number of forms and colors, your ears have heard so many sounds, you've had any number of experiences. And that's all they were — experiences. You've eaten delicious foods, and all those goods tastes were just good tastes, nothing more. The bad tastes were just bad tastes, that's all. If the eye sees a beautiful form that's all it is... a beautiful form. An ugly form is just an ugly form. The ear hears an entrancing, melodious sound and it's nothing more than that. A grating, discordant sound is simply that.
The Buddha said that rich or poor, young or old, human or animal, no being in this world can maintain itself in any single state for long. Everything experiences change and deprivation. this is a fact of life about which we can do nothing to remedy. But the Buddha said that what we can do is to contemplate the body and mind to see their impersonality, that neither of them is "me" nor "mine." They have only a provisional reality. It's like this house, it's only nominally yours. You couldn't take it with you anywhere. The same applies to your wealth, your possessions and your family — they're yours only in name. they don't really belong to you, they belong to nature.
Now this truth doesn't apply to you alone, everyone is in the same boat — even the Lord Buddha and his enlightened disciples. They differed from us only in one respect, and that was their acceptance of the way things are. They saw that it could be no other way.
So the Buddha taught us to probe and examine the body, from the soles of the feet up to the crown of the head, and then back down to the feet again. Just take a look at the body. What sort of things do you see? Is there anything intrinsically clean there? Can you find any abiding essence? This whole body is steadily degenerating. The Buddha taught us to see that it doesn't belong to us. It's natural for the body to be this way, because all conditioned phenomena are subject to change. How else would you have it? In fact there is nothing wrong with the way the body is. It's not the body that causes suffering, it's wrong thinking. When you see things in the wrong way, there's bound to be confusion.
It's like the water of a river. It naturally flows downhill, it never flows uphill. That's it's nature. If a person was to go and stand on the river bank and want the water to flow back uphill, he would be foolish. Wherever he went his foolish thinking would allow him no peace of mind. He would suffer because of his wrong view, his thinking against the stream. If he had right view he would see that the water must inevitably flow downhill, and until he realized and accepted that fact he would be bewildered and frustrated.
The river that must flow down the gradient is like your body. Having been young your body's become old and is meandering towards its death. Don't go wishing it were otherwise, it's not something you have the power to remedy. The Buddha told us to see the way things are and then let go of our clinging to them. Take this feeling of letting go as your refuge. Keep meditating even if you feel tired and exhausted. Let your mind be with the breath. Take a few deep breaths and then establish the attention on the breath, using the mantra word Bud-dho. Make this practice continual. The more exhausted you feel the more subtle and focused your concentration must be, so that you can cope with any painful sensations that arise. When you start to feel fatigued then bring all your thinking to a halt, let the mind gather itself together and then turn to knowing the breath. Just keep up the inner recitation, Bud-dho, Bud-dho.
Let go of all externals. Don't go grasping at thoughts of your children and relatives, don't grasp at anything whatsoever. Let go. Let the mind unite in a single point and let that composed mind dwell with the breath. Let the breath be its sole object of knowledge. Concentrate until the mind becomes increasingly subtle, until feelings are insignificant and there is great inner clarity and wakefulness. Then any painful sensations that arise will gradually cease of their own accord.
Finally you'll look on the breath as if it were some relatives come to visit you. When the relatives leave, you follow them out to see them off. You watch until they've walked up the drive and out of sight, and then you go back indoors. We watch the breath in the same way. If the breath is coarse we know that it's coarse, if it's subtle we know that it's subtle. As it becomes increasingly fine we keep following it, the same time awakening the mind. Eventually the breath disappears altogether and all that remains is that feeling of alertness. This is called meeting the Buddha. We have that clear, wakeful awareness called Bud-dho, the one who knows, the awakened one, the radiant one. This is meeting and dwelling with the Buddha, with knowledge and clarity. It was only the historical Buddha who passed away. The true Buddha, the Buddha that is clear, radiant knowing, can still be experienced and attained today. And if we do attain it, the heart is one.
So let go, put everything down, everything except the knowing. Don't be fooled if visions or sounds arise in your mind during meditation. Lay them all down. Don't take hold of anything at all, just stay with this unified awareness. Don't worry about the past or the future, just be still and you will reach the place where there's no advancing, no retreating and no stopping, where there's nothing to grasp at or cling to. Why? Because there's no self, no "me" or "mine." It's all gone. The Buddha taught to empty yourself of everything in this way, not to carry anything around... to know, and having known, let go.
Realizing the Dhamma, the path to freedom from the round of birth and death, is a task that we all have to do alone. So keep trying to let go and understand the teachings. Put effort into your contemplation. Don't worry about your family. At the moment they are as they are, in the future they will be like you. There's no-one in the world who can escape this fate. The Buddha taught to lay down those things that lack a real abiding essence. If you lay everything down you will see the real truth, if you don't, you won't. That's the way it is. And it's the same for everyone in the world. So don't grasp at anything.
Even if you find yourself thinking, well that's all right too, as long as you think wisely. Don't think foolishly. If you think of your children, think of them with wisdom, not with foolishness.
Whatever the mind turns to, think of it with wisdom, be aware of its nature. To know something with wisdom is to let it go and have no suffering over it. The mind is bright, joyful and at peace. It turns away from distractions and is undivided. Right now what you can look to for help and support is your breath.
This is your own work, no-one else's. Leave others to do their own work. You have your own duty and responsibility, you don't have to take on those of your family. Don't take on anything else, let it all go. This letting go will make your mind calm. Your sole responsibility right now is to focus your mind and bring it to peace. Leave everything else to the others. Forms, sounds, odors, tastes... leave them to the others to attend to. Put everything behind you and do your own work, fulfill your own responsibility. Whatever arises in your mind, be it fear of pain, fear of death, anxiety about others or whatever, say to it, "Don't disturb me. You're no longer any concern of mine." Just keep this to yourself when you see those dhammas arise.
What does the word dhamma refer to? Everything is a dhamma, there is nothing that is not a dhamma. And what about "world"? The world is the very mental state that is agitating you at the present moment. "What are they going to do? When I'm gone who will look after them? How will they manage?" This is all just the "world." Even the mere arising of a thought fearing death or pain is the world. Throw the world away! The world is the way it is. If you allow it to dominate your mind it becomes obscured and can't see itself. So whatever appears in the mind, just say, "This isn't my business. It's impermanent, unsatisfactory and not self."
Thinking you'd like to go on living for a long time will make you suffer. But thinking you'd like to die right away or very quickly isn't right either. It's suffering, isn't it? Conditions don't belong to us, they follow their own natural laws. You can't do anything about the way the body is. You can beautify it a little, make it attractive and clean for a while, like the young girls who paint their lips and let their nails grow long, but when old age arrives, everybody's in the same boat. That's the way the body is, you can't make it any other way. What you can improve and beautify is the mind.
Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but the Buddha taught that that sort of home is not our real home, it's only nominally ours. It's home in the world and it follows the ways of the world. Our real home is inner peace. An external, material home may well be pretty but it is not very peaceful. There's this worry and then that, this anxiety and then that. So we say it's not our real home, it's external to us. Sooner or later we'll have to give it up. it's not a place we can live in permanently because it doesn't truly belong to us, it belongs to the world. Our body is the same. We take it to be a self, to be "me" or "mine," but in fact it's not really so at all, it's another worldly home. Your body has followed its natural course from birth, until now it's old and sick, and you can't forbid it from doing that. That's the way it is. Wanting it to be any different would be as foolish as wanting a duck to be like a chicken. When you see that that's impossible — that a duck must be a duck and a chicken must be a chicken, and that the bodies have to get old and die — you will find courage and energy. However much you want the body to go on lasting, it won't do that.
The Buddha said,
Anicca vata sankharaImpermanent, alas, are all conditions
Uppada vaya dhammminoArising and passing away
Uppajjitva nirujjhan'tiHaving been born they all must cease
Tesam vupasamo sukhoThe calming of conditions is true happiness .
The word "sankhara" refers to this body and mind. Sankharas are impermanent and unstable. having come into being they disappear, having arisen they pass away, and yet everyone wants them to be permanent. This is foolishness. Look at the breath. Once it's gone in, it goes out, that's its nature, that's how it has to be. The inhalations and exhalations have to alternate, there must be change. Conditions exist through change, you can't prevent it. Just think, could you exhale without inhaling? Would it feel good? Or could you just inhale? We want things to be permanent but they can't be, it's impossible. Once the breath has come in, it must go out. When it's gone out it comes back in again, and that's natural, isn't it? Having been born we get old and then die, and that's totally natural and normal. It's because conditions have done their job, because the in breaths and out breaths have alternated in this way, that the human race is still here today.
As soon as we are born we are dead. Our birth and our death are just one thing. It's like a tree: when there's a root there must be branches, when there are branches there must be a root. You can't have one without the other. It's a little funny to see how at death people are so grief stricken and distracted and at birth how happy and delighted. It's delusion, nobody has ever looked at this clearly. I think if you really want to cry it would be better to do so when someone's born. Birth is death, death is birth; the branch is the root, the root is the branch. If you must cry, cry at the root, cry at the birth. Look closely: if there was no birth there would be no death. Can you understand this?
Don't worry about things too much, just think "this is the way things are." This is your work, your duty. Right now nobody can help you, there's nothing that your family and possessions can do for you. all that can help you now is clear awareness.
So don't waver. Let go. Throw it all away.
Even if you don't let go, everything is starting to leave you anyway. Can you see that, how all the different parts of your body are trying to slip away? Take your hair; when you were young it was thick and black. Now it's falling out. It's leaving. Your eyes used to be good and strong but now they're weak, your sight is unclear. When your organs have had enough they leave, this isn't their home. When you were a child your teeth were healthy and firm, now they're wobbly, or you've got false ones. Your eyes, ears, nose, tongue — everything is trying to leave because this isn't their home. You can't make a permanent home in conditions, you can only stay for a short time and then you have to go. It's like a tenant watching over his tiny little house with failing eyes. His teeth aren't so good, his eyes aren't so good, his body's not so healthy, everything is leaving.
So you needn't worry about anything because this isn't your real home, it's only a temporary shelter. Having come into this world you should contemplate its nature. Everything there is is preparing to disappear. Look at your body. Is there anything there that's still in its original form? Is your skin as it used to be? Is your hair? They aren't the same, are they? Where has everything gone? This is nature, the way things are. When their time is up, conditions go their way. In this world there is nothing to rely on — it's an endless round of disturbance and trouble, pleasure and pain. There's no peace.
When we have no real home we're like aimless travelers out on the road, going here and there, stopping for a while and then setting off again. Until we return to our real homes we feel uneasy, just like a villager who's left his village. Only when he gets home can he really relax and be at peace.
Nowhere in the world is there any real peace to be found. The poor have no peace and neither do the rich; adults have no peace and neither do the highly educated. There's no peace anywhere, that's the nature of the world. Those who have few possessions suffer, and so do those who have many. Children, adults, old and young... everyone suffers. The suffering of being old, the suffering of being young, the suffering of being wealthy and the suffering of being poor... it's all nothing but suffering.
When you've contemplated things in this way you'll see aniccam, impermanence, and dukkham, unsatisfactoriness. Why are things impermanent and unsatisfactory? Because they are anatta, not self.
Both your body that is lying sick and in pain, and the mind that is aware of its sickness and pain, are called dhamma. That which is formless, the thoughts, feelings and perceptions, is called namadhamma. That which is racked with aches and pains is called rupadhamma. The material is dhamma and the immaterial is dhamma. So we live with dhammas, in dhamma, and we are dhamma. In truth there is no self to be found, there are only dhammas continually arising and passing away as is their nature. Every single moment we're undergoing birth and death. This is the way things are.
When we think of the Lord Buddha, how truly he spoke, we feel how worthy he is of reverence and respect. Whenever we see the truth of something we see His teachings, even if we've never actually practiced the Dhamma. But even if we have a knowledge of the teachings, have studied and practiced them, as long as we still haven't seen the truth we are still homeless.
So understand this point. All people, all creatures, are preparing to leave. When beings have lived an appropriate time they must go on their way. Rich, poor, young and old must all experience this change.
When you realize that's the way the world is you'll feel that it's a wearisome place. When you see that there's nothing real or substantial you can rely on you'll feel wearied and disenchanted. Being disenchanted doesn't mean you are averse, the mind is clear. It sees that there's nothing to be done to remedy this state of affairs, it's just the way the world is. Knowing in this way you can let go of attachment, letting go with a mind that is neither happy nor sad, but at peace with conditions through seeing their changing nature with wisdom. Anicca vata sankhara — all conditions are impermanent.
To put it simply, impermanence is the Buddha. If we truly see an impermanent condition we'll see that it's permanent. It's permanent in the sense that its subjection to change is unchanging. This is the permanence that living beings possess. There is continual transformation, from childhood through to old age, and that very impermanence, that propensity to change, is permanent and fixed. If you look at it like this your heart will be at ease. It's not just you who has to go through this, it's everyone.
When you consider things in this way you'll see them as wearisome, and disenchantment will arise. Your delight in the world of sense pleasures will disappear. You'll see that if you have many possessions you have to leave a lot behind. If you have a few you leave few behind. Wealth is just wealth, long life is just long life... they're nothing special.
What is important is that we should do as the Lord Buddha taught and build our own home, building it by the method that I've been explaining to you. Build your own home. Let go. Let go until the mind reaches the peace that is free from advancing, free from retreating and free from stopping still. Pleasure is not your home, pain is not your home. Pleasure and pain both decline and pass away.
The Great Teacher saw that all conditions are impermanent and so He taught us to let go of our attachment to them. When we reach the end of our life we'll have no choice anyway, we won't be able to take anything with us. So wouldn't it be better to put things down before then? They're just a heavy burden to carry around, why not throw off that load now? Why bother to drag these things around? Let go, relax, and let your family look after you.
Those who nurse the sick grow in goodness and virtue. The patient who is giving others that opportunity shouldn't make things difficult for them. If there's pain or some problem or other, let them know and keep the mind in a wholesome state. One who is nursing parents should fill his or her mind with warmth and kindness and not get caught up in aversion. This is the one time you can repay your debt to them. From your birth through your childhood, as you've grown up, you've been dependent on your parents. That you are here today is because your mother and father have helped you in so many ways. You owe them an incredible debt of gratitude.
So today, all of you children and relatives gathered together here, observe how your mother has become your child. Before you were her children, now she has become yours. She has become older and older until she has become a child again. Her memory goes, her eyes don't see well and her ears aren't so good. Sometimes she garbles her words. Don't let it upset you. You who are nursing the sick must know how to go also. Don't hold onto things, just let her have her own way. When a young child is disobedient sometimes the parents let it have its own way just to keep the peace, just to make it happy. Now your mother is just like that child. Her memories and perceptions are confused. Sometimes she muddles up your names, or asks you to bring a cup when she wants a plate. It's normal, don't be upset by it.
Let the patient bear in mind the kindness of those who nurse and patiently endure the painful feelings. Exert yourself mentally, don't let the mind become scattered and confused, and don't make things difficult for those looking after you. Let those who are nursing fill their minds with virtue and kindness. Don't be averse to the unattractive side of the job, cleaning up the mucous and phlegm, urine and excrement. Try your best. Everyone in the family give a hand.
She is the only mother you have. She gave you life, she has been your teacher, your doctor and your nurse — she's been everything to you. That she has brought you up, shared her wealth with you and made you her heir is the great goodness of parents. That is why the Buddha taught the virtues of kataññu and katavedi, knowing our debt of gratitude and trying to repay it. These two dhamma are complimentary. If our parents are in need, unwell or in difficulty, then we do our best to help them. This is kataññu-katavedi, the virtue that sustains the world. It prevents families from breaking up, and makes them stable and harmonious.
Today I have brought you the gift of Dhamma in this time of illness. I have no material things to offer you, there seem to be plenty of those in this house already. And so I give you the Dhamma, something which has lasting worth, something which you'll never be able to exhaust. Having received it you can pass it on to as many others as you like and it will never be depleted. That is the nature of Truth. I am happy to have been able to give you this gift of Dhamma and hope it will give you the strength to deal with your pain.
A talk addressed to an aging lay disciple approaching her death
Now determine in your mind to listen respectfully to the Dhamma. While I am speaking, be as attentive to my words as if it was the Lord Buddha himself sitting before you. Close your eyes and make yourself comfortable, composing your mind and making it one-pointed. Humbly allow the Triple Gem of wisdom, truth and purity to abide in your heart as a way of showing respect to the Fully Enlightened One.
Today I have brought nothing of material substance to offer you, only the Dhamma, the teachings of the Lord Buddha. You should understand that even the Buddha himself, with his great store of accumulated virtue, could not avoid physical death. When he reached old age he ceded his body and let go of the heavy burden. Now you too must learn to be satisfied with the many years you've already depended on the body. You should feel that it's enough.
Like household utensils that you've had for a long time — cups, saucers, plates and so on — when you first had them they were clean and shining, but now after using them for so long, they're starting to wear out. Some are already broken, some have disappeared, and those that are left are wearing out, they have no stable form. And it's their nature to be that way. Your body is the same... it's been continually changing from the day you were born, through childhood and youth, until now it's reached old age. You must accept this. The Buddha said that conditions, whether internal, bodily conditions or external conditions, are not self, their nature is to change. Contemplate this truth clearly.
This very lump of flesh lying here in decline is reality. The facts of this body are reality, they are the timeless teaching of the Lord Buddha. The Buddha taught us to contemplate this and come to terms with its nature. We must be able to be at peace with the body, no matter what state it is in. The Buddha taught that we should ensure that it's only the body that is locked up in jail and not the mind be imprisoned along with it. Now as your body begins to run down and wear out with age, don't resist, but also don't let your mind deteriorate along with it. Keep the mind separate. Give energy to the mind by realizing the truth of the way things are. The Lord Buddha taught that this is the nature of the body, it can't be any other way. Having been born it gets old and sick and then it dies. This is a great truth that you are presently witnessing. Look at the body with wisdom and realize this.
If your house is flooded or burnt to the ground, whatever the threat to it, let it concern only the house. If there's a flood, don't let it flood your mind. If there's a fire, don't let it burn your heart. Let it be merely the house, that which is outside of you, that is flooded or burned. Now is the time to allow the mind to let go of attachments.
You've been alive a long time now. Your eyes have seen any number of forms and colors, your ears have heard so many sounds, you've had any number of experiences. And that's all they were — experiences. You've eaten delicious foods, and all those goods tastes were just good tastes, nothing more. The bad tastes were just bad tastes, that's all. If the eye sees a beautiful form that's all it is... a beautiful form. An ugly form is just an ugly form. The ear hears an entrancing, melodious sound and it's nothing more than that. A grating, discordant sound is simply that.
The Buddha said that rich or poor, young or old, human or animal, no being in this world can maintain itself in any single state for long. Everything experiences change and deprivation. this is a fact of life about which we can do nothing to remedy. But the Buddha said that what we can do is to contemplate the body and mind to see their impersonality, that neither of them is "me" nor "mine." They have only a provisional reality. It's like this house, it's only nominally yours. You couldn't take it with you anywhere. The same applies to your wealth, your possessions and your family — they're yours only in name. they don't really belong to you, they belong to nature.
Now this truth doesn't apply to you alone, everyone is in the same boat — even the Lord Buddha and his enlightened disciples. They differed from us only in one respect, and that was their acceptance of the way things are. They saw that it could be no other way.
So the Buddha taught us to probe and examine the body, from the soles of the feet up to the crown of the head, and then back down to the feet again. Just take a look at the body. What sort of things do you see? Is there anything intrinsically clean there? Can you find any abiding essence? This whole body is steadily degenerating. The Buddha taught us to see that it doesn't belong to us. It's natural for the body to be this way, because all conditioned phenomena are subject to change. How else would you have it? In fact there is nothing wrong with the way the body is. It's not the body that causes suffering, it's wrong thinking. When you see things in the wrong way, there's bound to be confusion.
It's like the water of a river. It naturally flows downhill, it never flows uphill. That's it's nature. If a person was to go and stand on the river bank and want the water to flow back uphill, he would be foolish. Wherever he went his foolish thinking would allow him no peace of mind. He would suffer because of his wrong view, his thinking against the stream. If he had right view he would see that the water must inevitably flow downhill, and until he realized and accepted that fact he would be bewildered and frustrated.
The river that must flow down the gradient is like your body. Having been young your body's become old and is meandering towards its death. Don't go wishing it were otherwise, it's not something you have the power to remedy. The Buddha told us to see the way things are and then let go of our clinging to them. Take this feeling of letting go as your refuge. Keep meditating even if you feel tired and exhausted. Let your mind be with the breath. Take a few deep breaths and then establish the attention on the breath, using the mantra word Bud-dho. Make this practice continual. The more exhausted you feel the more subtle and focused your concentration must be, so that you can cope with any painful sensations that arise. When you start to feel fatigued then bring all your thinking to a halt, let the mind gather itself together and then turn to knowing the breath. Just keep up the inner recitation, Bud-dho, Bud-dho.
Let go of all externals. Don't go grasping at thoughts of your children and relatives, don't grasp at anything whatsoever. Let go. Let the mind unite in a single point and let that composed mind dwell with the breath. Let the breath be its sole object of knowledge. Concentrate until the mind becomes increasingly subtle, until feelings are insignificant and there is great inner clarity and wakefulness. Then any painful sensations that arise will gradually cease of their own accord.
Finally you'll look on the breath as if it were some relatives come to visit you. When the relatives leave, you follow them out to see them off. You watch until they've walked up the drive and out of sight, and then you go back indoors. We watch the breath in the same way. If the breath is coarse we know that it's coarse, if it's subtle we know that it's subtle. As it becomes increasingly fine we keep following it, the same time awakening the mind. Eventually the breath disappears altogether and all that remains is that feeling of alertness. This is called meeting the Buddha. We have that clear, wakeful awareness called Bud-dho, the one who knows, the awakened one, the radiant one. This is meeting and dwelling with the Buddha, with knowledge and clarity. It was only the historical Buddha who passed away. The true Buddha, the Buddha that is clear, radiant knowing, can still be experienced and attained today. And if we do attain it, the heart is one.
So let go, put everything down, everything except the knowing. Don't be fooled if visions or sounds arise in your mind during meditation. Lay them all down. Don't take hold of anything at all, just stay with this unified awareness. Don't worry about the past or the future, just be still and you will reach the place where there's no advancing, no retreating and no stopping, where there's nothing to grasp at or cling to. Why? Because there's no self, no "me" or "mine." It's all gone. The Buddha taught to empty yourself of everything in this way, not to carry anything around... to know, and having known, let go.
Realizing the Dhamma, the path to freedom from the round of birth and death, is a task that we all have to do alone. So keep trying to let go and understand the teachings. Put effort into your contemplation. Don't worry about your family. At the moment they are as they are, in the future they will be like you. There's no-one in the world who can escape this fate. The Buddha taught to lay down those things that lack a real abiding essence. If you lay everything down you will see the real truth, if you don't, you won't. That's the way it is. And it's the same for everyone in the world. So don't grasp at anything.
Even if you find yourself thinking, well that's all right too, as long as you think wisely. Don't think foolishly. If you think of your children, think of them with wisdom, not with foolishness.
Whatever the mind turns to, think of it with wisdom, be aware of its nature. To know something with wisdom is to let it go and have no suffering over it. The mind is bright, joyful and at peace. It turns away from distractions and is undivided. Right now what you can look to for help and support is your breath.
This is your own work, no-one else's. Leave others to do their own work. You have your own duty and responsibility, you don't have to take on those of your family. Don't take on anything else, let it all go. This letting go will make your mind calm. Your sole responsibility right now is to focus your mind and bring it to peace. Leave everything else to the others. Forms, sounds, odors, tastes... leave them to the others to attend to. Put everything behind you and do your own work, fulfill your own responsibility. Whatever arises in your mind, be it fear of pain, fear of death, anxiety about others or whatever, say to it, "Don't disturb me. You're no longer any concern of mine." Just keep this to yourself when you see those dhammas arise.
What does the word dhamma refer to? Everything is a dhamma, there is nothing that is not a dhamma. And what about "world"? The world is the very mental state that is agitating you at the present moment. "What are they going to do? When I'm gone who will look after them? How will they manage?" This is all just the "world." Even the mere arising of a thought fearing death or pain is the world. Throw the world away! The world is the way it is. If you allow it to dominate your mind it becomes obscured and can't see itself. So whatever appears in the mind, just say, "This isn't my business. It's impermanent, unsatisfactory and not self."
Thinking you'd like to go on living for a long time will make you suffer. But thinking you'd like to die right away or very quickly isn't right either. It's suffering, isn't it? Conditions don't belong to us, they follow their own natural laws. You can't do anything about the way the body is. You can beautify it a little, make it attractive and clean for a while, like the young girls who paint their lips and let their nails grow long, but when old age arrives, everybody's in the same boat. That's the way the body is, you can't make it any other way. What you can improve and beautify is the mind.
Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but the Buddha taught that that sort of home is not our real home, it's only nominally ours. It's home in the world and it follows the ways of the world. Our real home is inner peace. An external, material home may well be pretty but it is not very peaceful. There's this worry and then that, this anxiety and then that. So we say it's not our real home, it's external to us. Sooner or later we'll have to give it up. it's not a place we can live in permanently because it doesn't truly belong to us, it belongs to the world. Our body is the same. We take it to be a self, to be "me" or "mine," but in fact it's not really so at all, it's another worldly home. Your body has followed its natural course from birth, until now it's old and sick, and you can't forbid it from doing that. That's the way it is. Wanting it to be any different would be as foolish as wanting a duck to be like a chicken. When you see that that's impossible — that a duck must be a duck and a chicken must be a chicken, and that the bodies have to get old and die — you will find courage and energy. However much you want the body to go on lasting, it won't do that.
The Buddha said,
Anicca vata sankharaImpermanent, alas, are all conditions
Uppada vaya dhammminoArising and passing away
Uppajjitva nirujjhan'tiHaving been born they all must cease
Tesam vupasamo sukhoThe calming of conditions is true happiness .
The word "sankhara" refers to this body and mind. Sankharas are impermanent and unstable. having come into being they disappear, having arisen they pass away, and yet everyone wants them to be permanent. This is foolishness. Look at the breath. Once it's gone in, it goes out, that's its nature, that's how it has to be. The inhalations and exhalations have to alternate, there must be change. Conditions exist through change, you can't prevent it. Just think, could you exhale without inhaling? Would it feel good? Or could you just inhale? We want things to be permanent but they can't be, it's impossible. Once the breath has come in, it must go out. When it's gone out it comes back in again, and that's natural, isn't it? Having been born we get old and then die, and that's totally natural and normal. It's because conditions have done their job, because the in breaths and out breaths have alternated in this way, that the human race is still here today.
As soon as we are born we are dead. Our birth and our death are just one thing. It's like a tree: when there's a root there must be branches, when there are branches there must be a root. You can't have one without the other. It's a little funny to see how at death people are so grief stricken and distracted and at birth how happy and delighted. It's delusion, nobody has ever looked at this clearly. I think if you really want to cry it would be better to do so when someone's born. Birth is death, death is birth; the branch is the root, the root is the branch. If you must cry, cry at the root, cry at the birth. Look closely: if there was no birth there would be no death. Can you understand this?
Don't worry about things too much, just think "this is the way things are." This is your work, your duty. Right now nobody can help you, there's nothing that your family and possessions can do for you. all that can help you now is clear awareness.
So don't waver. Let go. Throw it all away.
Even if you don't let go, everything is starting to leave you anyway. Can you see that, how all the different parts of your body are trying to slip away? Take your hair; when you were young it was thick and black. Now it's falling out. It's leaving. Your eyes used to be good and strong but now they're weak, your sight is unclear. When your organs have had enough they leave, this isn't their home. When you were a child your teeth were healthy and firm, now they're wobbly, or you've got false ones. Your eyes, ears, nose, tongue — everything is trying to leave because this isn't their home. You can't make a permanent home in conditions, you can only stay for a short time and then you have to go. It's like a tenant watching over his tiny little house with failing eyes. His teeth aren't so good, his eyes aren't so good, his body's not so healthy, everything is leaving.
So you needn't worry about anything because this isn't your real home, it's only a temporary shelter. Having come into this world you should contemplate its nature. Everything there is is preparing to disappear. Look at your body. Is there anything there that's still in its original form? Is your skin as it used to be? Is your hair? They aren't the same, are they? Where has everything gone? This is nature, the way things are. When their time is up, conditions go their way. In this world there is nothing to rely on — it's an endless round of disturbance and trouble, pleasure and pain. There's no peace.
When we have no real home we're like aimless travelers out on the road, going here and there, stopping for a while and then setting off again. Until we return to our real homes we feel uneasy, just like a villager who's left his village. Only when he gets home can he really relax and be at peace.
Nowhere in the world is there any real peace to be found. The poor have no peace and neither do the rich; adults have no peace and neither do the highly educated. There's no peace anywhere, that's the nature of the world. Those who have few possessions suffer, and so do those who have many. Children, adults, old and young... everyone suffers. The suffering of being old, the suffering of being young, the suffering of being wealthy and the suffering of being poor... it's all nothing but suffering.
When you've contemplated things in this way you'll see aniccam, impermanence, and dukkham, unsatisfactoriness. Why are things impermanent and unsatisfactory? Because they are anatta, not self.
Both your body that is lying sick and in pain, and the mind that is aware of its sickness and pain, are called dhamma. That which is formless, the thoughts, feelings and perceptions, is called namadhamma. That which is racked with aches and pains is called rupadhamma. The material is dhamma and the immaterial is dhamma. So we live with dhammas, in dhamma, and we are dhamma. In truth there is no self to be found, there are only dhammas continually arising and passing away as is their nature. Every single moment we're undergoing birth and death. This is the way things are.
When we think of the Lord Buddha, how truly he spoke, we feel how worthy he is of reverence and respect. Whenever we see the truth of something we see His teachings, even if we've never actually practiced the Dhamma. But even if we have a knowledge of the teachings, have studied and practiced them, as long as we still haven't seen the truth we are still homeless.
So understand this point. All people, all creatures, are preparing to leave. When beings have lived an appropriate time they must go on their way. Rich, poor, young and old must all experience this change.
When you realize that's the way the world is you'll feel that it's a wearisome place. When you see that there's nothing real or substantial you can rely on you'll feel wearied and disenchanted. Being disenchanted doesn't mean you are averse, the mind is clear. It sees that there's nothing to be done to remedy this state of affairs, it's just the way the world is. Knowing in this way you can let go of attachment, letting go with a mind that is neither happy nor sad, but at peace with conditions through seeing their changing nature with wisdom. Anicca vata sankhara — all conditions are impermanent.
To put it simply, impermanence is the Buddha. If we truly see an impermanent condition we'll see that it's permanent. It's permanent in the sense that its subjection to change is unchanging. This is the permanence that living beings possess. There is continual transformation, from childhood through to old age, and that very impermanence, that propensity to change, is permanent and fixed. If you look at it like this your heart will be at ease. It's not just you who has to go through this, it's everyone.
When you consider things in this way you'll see them as wearisome, and disenchantment will arise. Your delight in the world of sense pleasures will disappear. You'll see that if you have many possessions you have to leave a lot behind. If you have a few you leave few behind. Wealth is just wealth, long life is just long life... they're nothing special.
What is important is that we should do as the Lord Buddha taught and build our own home, building it by the method that I've been explaining to you. Build your own home. Let go. Let go until the mind reaches the peace that is free from advancing, free from retreating and free from stopping still. Pleasure is not your home, pain is not your home. Pleasure and pain both decline and pass away.
The Great Teacher saw that all conditions are impermanent and so He taught us to let go of our attachment to them. When we reach the end of our life we'll have no choice anyway, we won't be able to take anything with us. So wouldn't it be better to put things down before then? They're just a heavy burden to carry around, why not throw off that load now? Why bother to drag these things around? Let go, relax, and let your family look after you.
Those who nurse the sick grow in goodness and virtue. The patient who is giving others that opportunity shouldn't make things difficult for them. If there's pain or some problem or other, let them know and keep the mind in a wholesome state. One who is nursing parents should fill his or her mind with warmth and kindness and not get caught up in aversion. This is the one time you can repay your debt to them. From your birth through your childhood, as you've grown up, you've been dependent on your parents. That you are here today is because your mother and father have helped you in so many ways. You owe them an incredible debt of gratitude.
So today, all of you children and relatives gathered together here, observe how your mother has become your child. Before you were her children, now she has become yours. She has become older and older until she has become a child again. Her memory goes, her eyes don't see well and her ears aren't so good. Sometimes she garbles her words. Don't let it upset you. You who are nursing the sick must know how to go also. Don't hold onto things, just let her have her own way. When a young child is disobedient sometimes the parents let it have its own way just to keep the peace, just to make it happy. Now your mother is just like that child. Her memories and perceptions are confused. Sometimes she muddles up your names, or asks you to bring a cup when she wants a plate. It's normal, don't be upset by it.
Let the patient bear in mind the kindness of those who nurse and patiently endure the painful feelings. Exert yourself mentally, don't let the mind become scattered and confused, and don't make things difficult for those looking after you. Let those who are nursing fill their minds with virtue and kindness. Don't be averse to the unattractive side of the job, cleaning up the mucous and phlegm, urine and excrement. Try your best. Everyone in the family give a hand.
She is the only mother you have. She gave you life, she has been your teacher, your doctor and your nurse — she's been everything to you. That she has brought you up, shared her wealth with you and made you her heir is the great goodness of parents. That is why the Buddha taught the virtues of kataññu and katavedi, knowing our debt of gratitude and trying to repay it. These two dhamma are complimentary. If our parents are in need, unwell or in difficulty, then we do our best to help them. This is kataññu-katavedi, the virtue that sustains the world. It prevents families from breaking up, and makes them stable and harmonious.
Today I have brought you the gift of Dhamma in this time of illness. I have no material things to offer you, there seem to be plenty of those in this house already. And so I give you the Dhamma, something which has lasting worth, something which you'll never be able to exhaust. Having received it you can pass it on to as many others as you like and it will never be depleted. That is the nature of Truth. I am happy to have been able to give you this gift of Dhamma and hope it will give you the strength to deal with your pain.
Friday, January 9, 2009
The Venr. Ajahn ChahHere we would like to present you with some of the short sayings of this great meditation teacher, one of the greatest of our time.
TEACHINGS OF AJAHN CHAH
SIMILES
Duck
Your practice is like raising a duck. Your duty is to feed it and give it water. If it grows fast or slow is the duck’s business, not yours. Let it go and just do your own work. Your business is to practice. If it’s fast or slow, just know it. Don’t try to force it. This kind of practice has a good foundation.
Fish
We don’t want desire, but if there is no desire why practice? We must have desire to practice. Wanting and not – wanting are both defilements, both are problems, delusions, lacking wisdom. The Buddha had desires too. It’s there all the time, only a condition of the mind. Those with wisdom, however, have desire but no attachment. Our desires are like catching a big fish in a net – we must wait until the fish loses strength and then we can catch it easily. But all the time we keep on watching it so that it doesn’t escape.
House
All my disciples are like my children. I have only loving – kindness and their welfare in mind. If I appear to make you suffer, it is for your own good. I know some of you are well – educated and very knowledgeable. People with little education and worldly knowledge can practice easily. But people with a lot of knowledge are like someone who has a very large house to clean. They have a lot to do. But when the house is cleaned, they will have a big comfortable living space. Be patient. Patience and endurance are essential in our practice.
The tree in a forest.
People have asked about my practice.
Howe do I prepare my mind for meditation?
There is nothing special.
I just keep it where it always is.
They ask, “Then you are an Arahant?”
Do I know?
I’m like a tree in a forest, full of leaves, blossoms and fruit.
Birds come to eat and nest, and animals seek rest in its shade.
Yet the tree does not know itself.
It follows its own nature.
It is as it is !
CONTEMPLATIONS
Dear Friends here some daily contemplations which we use every morning and at the end of our meditations, we hope you like this texts and will try to contemplate on them regularly.
Bhante Devamitta
CONTEMPLATION ON THE DIVINE ABIDINGS.
METTA – LOVING - KINDNESS
SABBE SATTÃ -----------ALL BEINGS
AVERÃ HONTU ----------MAY THEY BE FREE OF ENMITY,
ABYAPAJJHÃ HONTU--- MAY THEY BE FREE OF ILL-TREATMENT,
ANIGHÃ HONTU --------MAY THEY BE FREE OF TROUBLES (OF BODY AND MIND),
SUKHI ATTÃNAM PARIHARANTU----- MAY THEY PROTECT THEIR OWN HAPPYNESS.
KARUNA – COMPASSION
SABBE SATTÃ------ALL BEINGS
DUKKHÃ PAMUCCANTU------ MAY THEY BE FREED FROM SUFFERING.
MUDITA – SYMPATHETIC JOY
SABBE SATTÃ------ ALL BEINGS
MA LADDHASAMPATTITO VIGACCHANTU----- MAY THEY NOT BE PARTED FROM THE FORTUNE OBTAINED BY THEM.
UPEKKHÃ – EQUANIMITY
SABBE SATTÃ -----ALL BEINGS
KAMMASSAKA -----ARE OWNERS OF THEIR KAMMA*
KAMMADÃYÃDÃ----- HEIRS TO THEIR KAMMA
KAMMAYONI ---------BORN OF THEIR KAMMA
KAMMABANDHU -----RELATED TO THEIR KAMMA
KAMMAPATISARANÃ----- ABIDE SUPPORTED BY THEIR KAMMA
YAM KAMMAM KARISSANTI -----WHATEVER KAMMA THEY WILL DO,
KALIYÃNAM VÃ PÃPAKAM VÃ------ FOR GOOD OR FOR EVIL
TASSA DÃYÃDA BHAVISSANTI----- OF THAT THEY WILL BE THE HEIRS !
* KAMMA here is used in the context of action as well as reaction.
Bhante Devamitta
CONTEMPLATION ON THE DIVINE ABIDINGS.
METTA – LOVING - KINDNESS
SABBE SATTÃ -----------ALL BEINGS
AVERÃ HONTU ----------MAY THEY BE FREE OF ENMITY,
ABYAPAJJHÃ HONTU--- MAY THEY BE FREE OF ILL-TREATMENT,
ANIGHÃ HONTU --------MAY THEY BE FREE OF TROUBLES (OF BODY AND MIND),
SUKHI ATTÃNAM PARIHARANTU----- MAY THEY PROTECT THEIR OWN HAPPYNESS.
KARUNA – COMPASSION
SABBE SATTÃ------ALL BEINGS
DUKKHÃ PAMUCCANTU------ MAY THEY BE FREED FROM SUFFERING.
MUDITA – SYMPATHETIC JOY
SABBE SATTÃ------ ALL BEINGS
MA LADDHASAMPATTITO VIGACCHANTU----- MAY THEY NOT BE PARTED FROM THE FORTUNE OBTAINED BY THEM.
UPEKKHÃ – EQUANIMITY
SABBE SATTÃ -----ALL BEINGS
KAMMASSAKA -----ARE OWNERS OF THEIR KAMMA*
KAMMADÃYÃDÃ----- HEIRS TO THEIR KAMMA
KAMMAYONI ---------BORN OF THEIR KAMMA
KAMMABANDHU -----RELATED TO THEIR KAMMA
KAMMAPATISARANÃ----- ABIDE SUPPORTED BY THEIR KAMMA
YAM KAMMAM KARISSANTI -----WHATEVER KAMMA THEY WILL DO,
KALIYÃNAM VÃ PÃPAKAM VÃ------ FOR GOOD OR FOR EVIL
TASSA DÃYÃDA BHAVISSANTI----- OF THAT THEY WILL BE THE HEIRS !
* KAMMA here is used in the context of action as well as reaction.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
the last few months prt 1.
What Happened here during the last few months!
During the last few months we had a number of things happening, donations received, and visitors to be welcomed!!!
We received some incredible donations;
Bhante, who was working with great pain on his old PC (really pain because of the problems with his arms), was supplied with a new laptop by “Big John” and Claudette Velenturf.
Mr. Peter Sandkuyl donated a beamer so we will be able to start our program concerning the information about inbreed or marriage in the family and the genetic dangers connected with this, we hope to start this program in may this year and have selected 17 villages to be visited.
Also we will use the laptop and beamer for other educational programs. We will keep you informed about this.
Mr. Jaap Plugge donated SRS. 45.000 for our program to supply eyeglasses for children who urgently need them.
The family Cle and Monica van Beurden and their daughters visited Sri Lanka and we where able to meet them shortly in Hikkaduwa. They donated €50. = on the spot for buying 10 pare of shoes for the children who needed them to go to school. They promised a donation for the Dodanduwa family project and the daughters promised to donate their salary of one day work in the restaurant. Further more Cle promised to try and collect some laptops from the company he works for so we could donate them to schools and / or use them for our educational projects. It did not stay with a prommis we received already one laptop and are using that one now connected with the printer so we can print texts more easely. This laptop is mainly used by the Rev. Ariyadhamma for writing the necessary Singhalese text and has already been of great service because he writes on them the texts for the meetings, makes posters etc. on the moment for the construction of the Tsunami Memorial Monument to be constructed here on our Temple land in corporation with an initiative of ms. Jacky van Oostveen from the Netherlands.
The PC who we used before is donated to the Pushparama Pirivena (Seminary for young monks) in Metiyagoda.
We would like to thank each and every one of them for their donation.
We had another visitor: Mr. Arturo Zoller, an Artist from the Netherlands and true his mediation we received an anonymous donation of SRS.200.000 for the operation of a girl who is suffering of Oscleriosis. This girl can be saved now of a future as an invalid. (Her future would be very limited because if she did not undergo the operation she would not have a long time to live!!!!).
We thank the Anonymous donator (we only know it’s a lady from Amsterdam) for here great act of mercy and kindness!!!!! This all is the true spirit of giving:
Personally I would like to thank all of you: You make me happy, humble and proud!!!!
Like the German family who donated last year money which made it possible to feed 12 underfed children during 6 ½ months!!!!!! THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Unfortunately we had to stop this program because the funds run out)
When our friends from Holland (volunteers for the Dodanduwa project) arrived Nicole brought among others a Table Tennis set for Ariyadhamma and they tried it out immediately.
Playing “ping-pong”. Where is that ball? J
We had the program in Dodanduwa where we could renovate and paint the house of a very poor family. There where 4 volunteers (Ardje, Nicole, Maud and Thijs) who worked very hard on this project. Even though it went not as smooth as we hoped and it was sometimes a quite frustrating experience: the work was done. The project is ongoing: we could not finish the whole program because of a lack of funds, but we hope to be able to finish the rest soon.
tattoo time after hard work.
On the 11th of February we celebrated Bhante’s birthday together with the volunteers, Bhante, his pupils and Anura (our three-wheel driver) and his little son. We went on a boat trip on the Maduganga, we visited an island Temple, the cinnamon island and had a nice lunch at a local restaurant on the river.
Our dear friend Ms. Dominique Rousseau from the French “Ayubowan” Foundation visited us and was just in time to participate in the following event:
On the 21st of February our dear friend Mrs. Joy Butler Markham of the Manacare Foundation organized a surprise Birthday Party for Bhante, all our “expats” friends and the workers of the Manacare Centre in Telwatta where present and Bhante received some nice presents. Joy organized the party on the 21st because she was out of the country to visit here daughter Petra in Hong Kong. Petra got here 3rd child, and this time here wish for a girl was fore filled and the new baby was named Isabella, congratulations to Joy, Petra, her husband and the other children! We wish the newborn “Ayyu, Vanno, Sukham Balam!”- Long live, Good Health, Beauty and Happiness!
Later Bhante went to Wellawaya to participate in an almsgiving on an invitation by one of his old pupils who is now the school principle in Weherajaya near Wellawaya. People who know Bhante will also know that this is quit a thing for him; 1st of all it’s a trip of 7 hours to go there by three-wheeler, secondly we all know that normally Bhante does not like very much to go to this official almsgivings because it “takes him to much time” which he prefers to spent working or meditating. This time he went there because his old pupil invited him as a guest of honour and as an exception he accepted this invitation specially to be able to see this pupil again after so many years.
The whole trip took him 3 days, and he came back quite sick because on the way there they made a stop in Matara to take breakfast and Bhante got food poison (possibly Salmonella).
This took him nearly 3 weeks to recover. After the first 10 days with high fever and all the other symptoms (during which time he had to continue working), he was getting on again, but suffered from a total lack of energy. Fortunately he’s recovered well again.
Mr. Jaap Plugge and his friend Mr. Gilles Heystek visited us last week and Gilles gave Bhante a bottle of medicine (all kind of poisons combined), which is working very well and Bhante’s energy is returning quickly. Thanks a lot Gilles!!!!!!!! His diagnosis of Pfeifer was confirmed by the doctor who checked Bhante lately.
Ms. Jacky van Oostveen has been here a few weeks working very hard on here Tsunami Monument project and here Tsunami Photo Museum. We tried to help here as much as possible; we arranged for here to be able to work in the Library, helped to hold different meetings, specially the Rev. Ariyadhamma has been working a lot with here to make the Singhalese text of handbills, posters, info sheets etc. etc.
In the mean time Bhante went up and down again to Wellawaya in one day (this time by car), because there had to be some things discussed about two boys who would like to be ordained in near future as his pupils.
Then there is more great news!!!!
Finally we have found a very nice person to come and help out in Temple!!!
Dumith is a young man of 26 years who came last week to work in Temple. He turned out to be not only a very nice and quite young man, but also a hard worker.
Bhante told him several times to take some rest during the afternoon heat but he likes to continue his work and after his evening bath he likes to come and learn more English from Bhante and Ariyadhamma Thero.
We hope and trust that he will develop to be a valuable member of our team. He’s learning to cook, receive visitors etc. etc. and he can manage the things with the Ven. Puññasara Thera also quite well up till now (and that means something!!!).
So: Welcome Dumith!!!!! We are Happy to have you on board!!!!
There is also some sad news; the very brave, lovely and by many, and specially by us, dearly beloved little cat Boefie died last week, most probably after being poisoned. We are missing him daily! May he have a better rebirth!
We are making a pond, later more about that, but Alexander brought us a wheelchair and a number of chruches; they where just in time becous the Rev. Ariyadhamma wounded his feet badly and had to be operated. Afther that he is using one pair of the chruches so we say: Thank you Sander! Just in time :-)
During the last few months we had a number of things happening, donations received, and visitors to be welcomed!!!
We received some incredible donations;
Bhante, who was working with great pain on his old PC (really pain because of the problems with his arms), was supplied with a new laptop by “Big John” and Claudette Velenturf.
Mr. Peter Sandkuyl donated a beamer so we will be able to start our program concerning the information about inbreed or marriage in the family and the genetic dangers connected with this, we hope to start this program in may this year and have selected 17 villages to be visited.
Also we will use the laptop and beamer for other educational programs. We will keep you informed about this.
Mr. Jaap Plugge donated SRS. 45.000 for our program to supply eyeglasses for children who urgently need them.
The family Cle and Monica van Beurden and their daughters visited Sri Lanka and we where able to meet them shortly in Hikkaduwa. They donated €50. = on the spot for buying 10 pare of shoes for the children who needed them to go to school. They promised a donation for the Dodanduwa family project and the daughters promised to donate their salary of one day work in the restaurant. Further more Cle promised to try and collect some laptops from the company he works for so we could donate them to schools and / or use them for our educational projects. It did not stay with a prommis we received already one laptop and are using that one now connected with the printer so we can print texts more easely. This laptop is mainly used by the Rev. Ariyadhamma for writing the necessary Singhalese text and has already been of great service because he writes on them the texts for the meetings, makes posters etc. on the moment for the construction of the Tsunami Memorial Monument to be constructed here on our Temple land in corporation with an initiative of ms. Jacky van Oostveen from the Netherlands.
The PC who we used before is donated to the Pushparama Pirivena (Seminary for young monks) in Metiyagoda.
We would like to thank each and every one of them for their donation.
We had another visitor: Mr. Arturo Zoller, an Artist from the Netherlands and true his mediation we received an anonymous donation of SRS.200.000 for the operation of a girl who is suffering of Oscleriosis. This girl can be saved now of a future as an invalid. (Her future would be very limited because if she did not undergo the operation she would not have a long time to live!!!!).
We thank the Anonymous donator (we only know it’s a lady from Amsterdam) for here great act of mercy and kindness!!!!! This all is the true spirit of giving:
Personally I would like to thank all of you: You make me happy, humble and proud!!!!
Like the German family who donated last year money which made it possible to feed 12 underfed children during 6 ½ months!!!!!! THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Unfortunately we had to stop this program because the funds run out)
When our friends from Holland (volunteers for the Dodanduwa project) arrived Nicole brought among others a Table Tennis set for Ariyadhamma and they tried it out immediately.
Playing “ping-pong”. Where is that ball? J
We had the program in Dodanduwa where we could renovate and paint the house of a very poor family. There where 4 volunteers (Ardje, Nicole, Maud and Thijs) who worked very hard on this project. Even though it went not as smooth as we hoped and it was sometimes a quite frustrating experience: the work was done. The project is ongoing: we could not finish the whole program because of a lack of funds, but we hope to be able to finish the rest soon.
tattoo time after hard work.
On the 11th of February we celebrated Bhante’s birthday together with the volunteers, Bhante, his pupils and Anura (our three-wheel driver) and his little son. We went on a boat trip on the Maduganga, we visited an island Temple, the cinnamon island and had a nice lunch at a local restaurant on the river.
Our dear friend Ms. Dominique Rousseau from the French “Ayubowan” Foundation visited us and was just in time to participate in the following event:
On the 21st of February our dear friend Mrs. Joy Butler Markham of the Manacare Foundation organized a surprise Birthday Party for Bhante, all our “expats” friends and the workers of the Manacare Centre in Telwatta where present and Bhante received some nice presents. Joy organized the party on the 21st because she was out of the country to visit here daughter Petra in Hong Kong. Petra got here 3rd child, and this time here wish for a girl was fore filled and the new baby was named Isabella, congratulations to Joy, Petra, her husband and the other children! We wish the newborn “Ayyu, Vanno, Sukham Balam!”- Long live, Good Health, Beauty and Happiness!
Later Bhante went to Wellawaya to participate in an almsgiving on an invitation by one of his old pupils who is now the school principle in Weherajaya near Wellawaya. People who know Bhante will also know that this is quit a thing for him; 1st of all it’s a trip of 7 hours to go there by three-wheeler, secondly we all know that normally Bhante does not like very much to go to this official almsgivings because it “takes him to much time” which he prefers to spent working or meditating. This time he went there because his old pupil invited him as a guest of honour and as an exception he accepted this invitation specially to be able to see this pupil again after so many years.
The whole trip took him 3 days, and he came back quite sick because on the way there they made a stop in Matara to take breakfast and Bhante got food poison (possibly Salmonella).
This took him nearly 3 weeks to recover. After the first 10 days with high fever and all the other symptoms (during which time he had to continue working), he was getting on again, but suffered from a total lack of energy. Fortunately he’s recovered well again.
Mr. Jaap Plugge and his friend Mr. Gilles Heystek visited us last week and Gilles gave Bhante a bottle of medicine (all kind of poisons combined), which is working very well and Bhante’s energy is returning quickly. Thanks a lot Gilles!!!!!!!! His diagnosis of Pfeifer was confirmed by the doctor who checked Bhante lately.
Ms. Jacky van Oostveen has been here a few weeks working very hard on here Tsunami Monument project and here Tsunami Photo Museum. We tried to help here as much as possible; we arranged for here to be able to work in the Library, helped to hold different meetings, specially the Rev. Ariyadhamma has been working a lot with here to make the Singhalese text of handbills, posters, info sheets etc. etc.
In the mean time Bhante went up and down again to Wellawaya in one day (this time by car), because there had to be some things discussed about two boys who would like to be ordained in near future as his pupils.
Then there is more great news!!!!
Finally we have found a very nice person to come and help out in Temple!!!
Dumith is a young man of 26 years who came last week to work in Temple. He turned out to be not only a very nice and quite young man, but also a hard worker.
Bhante told him several times to take some rest during the afternoon heat but he likes to continue his work and after his evening bath he likes to come and learn more English from Bhante and Ariyadhamma Thero.
We hope and trust that he will develop to be a valuable member of our team. He’s learning to cook, receive visitors etc. etc. and he can manage the things with the Ven. Puññasara Thera also quite well up till now (and that means something!!!).
So: Welcome Dumith!!!!! We are Happy to have you on board!!!!
There is also some sad news; the very brave, lovely and by many, and specially by us, dearly beloved little cat Boefie died last week, most probably after being poisoned. We are missing him daily! May he have a better rebirth!
We are making a pond, later more about that, but Alexander brought us a wheelchair and a number of chruches; they where just in time becous the Rev. Ariyadhamma wounded his feet badly and had to be operated. Afther that he is using one pair of the chruches so we say: Thank you Sander! Just in time :-)
THE BLUE LOTUS BUDDHIST FELLOWSHIP&
THE BLUE LOTUS SANGHA SABHAVA
at the
PURANA TOTAGAMUWA RATHPATH RAJA MAHA VIHARAYA,
TELWATTA.
There are many ancient Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka which are famous for their prolonged existence with royal patronage and important historical events associated with them. The ancient royal patronage denotes with the title Raja Maha (Great Royal or better even Royal – Raja, Great - Maha) which the Totagamu Viharaya also inherited from the days of yore. This temple is situated within the Telwatta Sanctuary; 400 meters interior on the land side of the Colombo – Galle main road between the coastal towns of Ambalangoda and Hikkaduwa in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka.
The Totagamu Raja Maha Viharaya used to be, not only a Buddhist Temple but, also a great seat of learning. In the 15th century even equivalent to a University, and can be considered as one of the most significant temples in the country. In that time it was headed by a pre-eminent Buddhist Prelate of high intellect and incomparable knowledge of six oriental languages carrying the title Shadbhasha Paramesvara, the Most Venerable Totagamuve Sri Rahula Sangharaja (1408 – 1491). This educational institution attached to the temple was called Vijayaba Pirivena, and was recognized by many scholars. Originally it was build in the Anuradhapura period and during the Polonnaruwa period the famous Vijayaba Pirivena, as a centre of learning in the South was started. During the Kotte period this educational institution became world famous. According to the Sri Lankan chronicle the Mahavamsa (Mv.11.4) this temple was built in the 3rd Century BC during the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa (307–267 BC.) whose capital was in Anuradhapura.
The Chola invaders from South India occupied our first capital Anuradhapura for a considerable number of years until King Vijayabahu I (1010 - 1051) defeated them, and drove them back to India. This event caused the shifting of the capital city more towards the western low lands of the island. By this time the Totagamuva Temple was in a dilapidated condition and the King Maha Vijayabahu moved to commence its renovation and reconstruction activities. The educational institution the Pirivena was established under his patronage and named after him – Vijayaba Pirivena.
The historical annals reveal further renovation has been done by King Parakramabahu IV (1302 – 1326) who vested in the temple a vast extend of paddy lands from neighboring Baddegama with gardens containing 50.000 coconut trees by a proclamation for the maintenance of the temple and Pirivena (MV.88.88.93).
This was followed by the Golden Age of the Vijayaba Pirivena during which it was elevated to a high level academic institution of multilateral disciplines having the Ven. Totagamuve Sri Rahula as its head. The that time capital was Kotte and King Parakramabahu VI ruled from 1415 - - the country. And during this time the Vijayaba Pirivena was known as the famous University of the East. Its fame wend beyond seas and students of different other country’s received their education in this Pirivena.
In 1505 with the arrival of the Portuguese, commenced the dark period in Sri Lanka. In the year 1580 ten shiploads of Portuguese headed by Thome de Souza landed here at a place near Kosgoda on the Southern Coast.
They ran riot destroying all Buddhist Places of worship by setting them ablaze and annihilated almost all the Buddhist Monks, Nuns, Laymen, women and children whom they come across. Totagamuva Viharaya, the Vijayaba Pirivena and the inmates, both Monks and laymen where no exception.
However, in 1765 the Ven. Vehalle Dhammadinna Thera had identified this Temple and he instructed his pupil The Ven. Pallattara Puññasara to stay here and give life to it once again. In this endeavor it is regrettable to note that the State co-operation had not been extended to the Ven. Dhammadina Thera. This historical place of Buddhist worship should necessarily get the attention of the world. It is the bounden duty of the present generation to refurbish this ancient educational and religious centre of historical importance and bring it back to its pristine glory for the sake of prosperity.
Because of his great concern and whish to restore this place to its old glory The Most Venerable Rajakiya Panditta Gammeddegoda Puññasara Maha Thera Chief Incumbent of the Temple has been working very hard to improve the place.
From the left: Ven.G. Puññasara Maha Thera, the Most Ven. Udagama Sri Buddharakkhita Maha Nayaka Thera o/t Asgiriya Maha Viharaya in Kandy and the Ven. H. S. Devamitta Maha Thera.
In the present time there has been, due to his guidance, constructed a new library: The Sri Rahula Cultural Library, which is regularly visited by students and scholars alike to do researches and to consult the Ven. Puññasara Thera (Panditta Hamuduruwa) who has a vast knowledge about (among others) the history of the place. Also a great number of school classes and groups of students and pilgrims frequently visit the place to hear lectures about the history and about the literature of The Most Venerable Totagamuva Sri Rahula Sangharaja. Because there is no Lecture Hall those lectures now have to be held in the open. We hope to be able to chance this in the near future.
In February 2007 the Ven. Gammeddegoda Puññasara Thera invited his oldest pupil the Dutch monk the Ven. Holland S. Devamitta Thera together with the Rev. Baddegama Ariyadhamma Thero (pupil of the Ven. Devamitta) to come and stay with him. Mainly due to his old age (83), the Ven. Puññasara Thera decided in January 2008 to hand over the daily affairs of the place to be managed by the Ven. Devamitta. Naturally the Ven. Puññasara Thera is consulted on a daily base. The Ven. Puññasara Thera also agreed to hand over a peace of land (about 2 acres), which is adjoining the Temple where Bhante Devamitta hopes to construct a new Monastery Building and a Meditation and Dhamma Study Centre. The monastic building is an urgent need.
Right: Ven Puññasara’s Avasa left; backside library front; dining hall which is near to collapse after tsunami washed away part o/t/ foundation.
The Ven. Puññasara Thera is living in his Avasa (monks house), but there is in fact no place where other monks can reside. Because of this Bhante Devamitta and the Rev. Ariyadhamma are (hopefully only temporarily) residing in the guest rooms of the library, another pupil of Bhante Devamitta (shared with the Ven. B. Samittha Thera) is residing in Baddegama.
Rev. Devarakkhita. Rev. Ariyadhamma and Devarakkhita
Sri Rahula Cultural Library.
Further more there are a few requests of boys to be ordained as pupils of Bhante Devamitta. We will start to ordain some of them in the near future but the lodging situation will be a big problem.
There is also a great need for a Meditation c.q. Lecture Hall. The library which we use on the moment for the meditation activities is too small for this purpose and lectures are given mostly in the open air. Also it’s very difficult for the monks to do their religious work: teaching is now limited to teaching on a personal base or the teaching of a few people at the time. Considering the rest of their work; organizing educational, medical, social and cultural activities it’s also difficult because of the lack of accommodation. With the construction of a Monastery building and a Meditation / Lecture Hall we hope this will change in the near future. The Meditation Centre will also have a few “kuti’s” (Cabana’s) where visiting practitioners can be lodged. We hope to start a fund raising campaign as soon as the estimates are ready, we will keep you informed.
THE BLUE LOTUS SANGHA SABHAVA
at the
PURANA TOTAGAMUWA RATHPATH RAJA MAHA VIHARAYA,
TELWATTA.
There are many ancient Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka which are famous for their prolonged existence with royal patronage and important historical events associated with them. The ancient royal patronage denotes with the title Raja Maha (Great Royal or better even Royal – Raja, Great - Maha) which the Totagamu Viharaya also inherited from the days of yore. This temple is situated within the Telwatta Sanctuary; 400 meters interior on the land side of the Colombo – Galle main road between the coastal towns of Ambalangoda and Hikkaduwa in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka.
The Totagamu Raja Maha Viharaya used to be, not only a Buddhist Temple but, also a great seat of learning. In the 15th century even equivalent to a University, and can be considered as one of the most significant temples in the country. In that time it was headed by a pre-eminent Buddhist Prelate of high intellect and incomparable knowledge of six oriental languages carrying the title Shadbhasha Paramesvara, the Most Venerable Totagamuve Sri Rahula Sangharaja (1408 – 1491). This educational institution attached to the temple was called Vijayaba Pirivena, and was recognized by many scholars. Originally it was build in the Anuradhapura period and during the Polonnaruwa period the famous Vijayaba Pirivena, as a centre of learning in the South was started. During the Kotte period this educational institution became world famous. According to the Sri Lankan chronicle the Mahavamsa (Mv.11.4) this temple was built in the 3rd Century BC during the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa (307–267 BC.) whose capital was in Anuradhapura.
The Chola invaders from South India occupied our first capital Anuradhapura for a considerable number of years until King Vijayabahu I (1010 - 1051) defeated them, and drove them back to India. This event caused the shifting of the capital city more towards the western low lands of the island. By this time the Totagamuva Temple was in a dilapidated condition and the King Maha Vijayabahu moved to commence its renovation and reconstruction activities. The educational institution the Pirivena was established under his patronage and named after him – Vijayaba Pirivena.
The historical annals reveal further renovation has been done by King Parakramabahu IV (1302 – 1326) who vested in the temple a vast extend of paddy lands from neighboring Baddegama with gardens containing 50.000 coconut trees by a proclamation for the maintenance of the temple and Pirivena (MV.88.88.93).
This was followed by the Golden Age of the Vijayaba Pirivena during which it was elevated to a high level academic institution of multilateral disciplines having the Ven. Totagamuve Sri Rahula as its head. The that time capital was Kotte and King Parakramabahu VI ruled from 1415 - - the country. And during this time the Vijayaba Pirivena was known as the famous University of the East. Its fame wend beyond seas and students of different other country’s received their education in this Pirivena.
In 1505 with the arrival of the Portuguese, commenced the dark period in Sri Lanka. In the year 1580 ten shiploads of Portuguese headed by Thome de Souza landed here at a place near Kosgoda on the Southern Coast.
They ran riot destroying all Buddhist Places of worship by setting them ablaze and annihilated almost all the Buddhist Monks, Nuns, Laymen, women and children whom they come across. Totagamuva Viharaya, the Vijayaba Pirivena and the inmates, both Monks and laymen where no exception.
However, in 1765 the Ven. Vehalle Dhammadinna Thera had identified this Temple and he instructed his pupil The Ven. Pallattara Puññasara to stay here and give life to it once again. In this endeavor it is regrettable to note that the State co-operation had not been extended to the Ven. Dhammadina Thera. This historical place of Buddhist worship should necessarily get the attention of the world. It is the bounden duty of the present generation to refurbish this ancient educational and religious centre of historical importance and bring it back to its pristine glory for the sake of prosperity.
Because of his great concern and whish to restore this place to its old glory The Most Venerable Rajakiya Panditta Gammeddegoda Puññasara Maha Thera Chief Incumbent of the Temple has been working very hard to improve the place.
From the left: Ven.G. Puññasara Maha Thera, the Most Ven. Udagama Sri Buddharakkhita Maha Nayaka Thera o/t Asgiriya Maha Viharaya in Kandy and the Ven. H. S. Devamitta Maha Thera.
In the present time there has been, due to his guidance, constructed a new library: The Sri Rahula Cultural Library, which is regularly visited by students and scholars alike to do researches and to consult the Ven. Puññasara Thera (Panditta Hamuduruwa) who has a vast knowledge about (among others) the history of the place. Also a great number of school classes and groups of students and pilgrims frequently visit the place to hear lectures about the history and about the literature of The Most Venerable Totagamuva Sri Rahula Sangharaja. Because there is no Lecture Hall those lectures now have to be held in the open. We hope to be able to chance this in the near future.
In February 2007 the Ven. Gammeddegoda Puññasara Thera invited his oldest pupil the Dutch monk the Ven. Holland S. Devamitta Thera together with the Rev. Baddegama Ariyadhamma Thero (pupil of the Ven. Devamitta) to come and stay with him. Mainly due to his old age (83), the Ven. Puññasara Thera decided in January 2008 to hand over the daily affairs of the place to be managed by the Ven. Devamitta. Naturally the Ven. Puññasara Thera is consulted on a daily base. The Ven. Puññasara Thera also agreed to hand over a peace of land (about 2 acres), which is adjoining the Temple where Bhante Devamitta hopes to construct a new Monastery Building and a Meditation and Dhamma Study Centre. The monastic building is an urgent need.
Right: Ven Puññasara’s Avasa left; backside library front; dining hall which is near to collapse after tsunami washed away part o/t/ foundation.
The Ven. Puññasara Thera is living in his Avasa (monks house), but there is in fact no place where other monks can reside. Because of this Bhante Devamitta and the Rev. Ariyadhamma are (hopefully only temporarily) residing in the guest rooms of the library, another pupil of Bhante Devamitta (shared with the Ven. B. Samittha Thera) is residing in Baddegama.
Rev. Devarakkhita. Rev. Ariyadhamma and Devarakkhita
Sri Rahula Cultural Library.
Further more there are a few requests of boys to be ordained as pupils of Bhante Devamitta. We will start to ordain some of them in the near future but the lodging situation will be a big problem.
There is also a great need for a Meditation c.q. Lecture Hall. The library which we use on the moment for the meditation activities is too small for this purpose and lectures are given mostly in the open air. Also it’s very difficult for the monks to do their religious work: teaching is now limited to teaching on a personal base or the teaching of a few people at the time. Considering the rest of their work; organizing educational, medical, social and cultural activities it’s also difficult because of the lack of accommodation. With the construction of a Monastery building and a Meditation / Lecture Hall we hope this will change in the near future. The Meditation Centre will also have a few “kuti’s” (Cabana’s) where visiting practitioners can be lodged. We hope to start a fund raising campaign as soon as the estimates are ready, we will keep you informed.
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