You don't always know when you're well off, although having said that, there's always room for improvement and I believe one should try to do better. Well I tried and that took me and my blog away to Blogspot but I'm still trying and now I realise that I was better off with Opera, so back I've come. Unfortunately there's no way now to import blogs from Blogspot, so I've copied my recent blogs with Blogspot all in one go into one big blog. The links and photos are gradually being added when I have time. Enjoy.
Driver & help needed, retreat and things to do.
First of all, I haven't been out and about much lately because, although one or two kind people have helped with a drive or two, I don't now have a regular driver. Which means that if there's some reliable chap out there who's not yet ready to be a monk but who would like to live in a monastic and disciplined setting, do a bit of practice, help out and drive, we'd love to hear from him. Failing that, just someone to drive, please.
Last Sunday, the nine day August retreat concluded with all the retreatants walking over from Bhavana Dhamma to see me and pay their respects, and for me to meet them. They were glowing and obviously had had a very good time of it.Now we're assessing the jobs that need to be done or finished. We'd like to alternate a week of doing jobs with a week of more formal practice. Whether that'll really work out remains to be seen because there is so much to do to run a place like this and here it's not like Thailand with a village of willing hands ready to come along and cheerfully help out when needed. Never mind, we will continue to do our best but we mustn't lose sight of what we're really here for...
A Few Days Break in Thailand.
One morning in June, on my way back from my morning walk, I really felt I wanted a break. Other people around me seemed to be having one and I thought, why not me? Later, when I mentioned it encouraging noises were made and it began to seem a possibility. There had already been thoughts of me going to Thailand to help our Wood Cottage appeal and when it seemed like this break might actually happen these ideas resurfaced and began to be acted on. To cut a long story short, with some impressive organising and very little notice fund raising events were arranged, articles and notices appeared in the Thai papers and I was off.
So one morning early in July I checked in with Thai Airways at Heathrow and took a flight to Bangkok where I went straight to Khun Jung's and stayed in the newly built kuti at their place. Matthew soon showed up to be with me for a couple of days and that afternoon we went to Buddha Montone. The next day I visited Ajahn Jundee's wat in Chonburi and on the Monday, after another little trip out, I took the evening flight for Ubon and Wat Pah Nanachat. My stay there was pretty uneventful. I found it very hot and muggy and it was all I could do much of the time to stay awake. I went over to Peter and Tipawan's for a cup of tea on the Tuesday and to Wat Pah Pong on the Wednesday. Thursday night, in the company of Ajahn Cittagutto who ordained at The Forest Hermitage fifteen years ago and who now stays at Wat Pah Nanachat, it was back to Bangkok where I had something to see to on the Friday afternoon followed by a gathering for meditation at Dhammaram in the evening. Most who attended that were well-known to me and several were former Warwick University students.The next morning I had to go early to a posh hospital that looks more like a luxury hotel for a check-up and then back again after the meal for the results. Thankfully nothing awful was discovered so barring accidents I might be around for a little while yet. That day was an observance day when we have to hear Patimokkha and so we went out to Ajahn Jundee's for that. In the evening when we returned, Professor Yongyudt, Chairman of the World Buddhist Scouts Brotherhood, came to see me about the forthcoming jamboree in Essex.On the Sunday we went into the heart of Bangkok to Loketip Magazine's Dhamma place for an event that they kindly hosted. Loketip gave this monastery considerable and generous support years ago when we were struggling to pay the mortgage on the Forest Hermitage and I used to go there every year. I hadn't seen them for a few years and it was good to be back. The meal was offered, I gave a talk which was mostly translated and a lot of money was collected - 127,000 Baht. Anumodana!In the afternoon it was the turn of my eyes to have a thorough examination and later new glasses were ordered.Then early on Monday morning we sped off to a big school in Samut Pragahn. This was very special, all 1,600 pupils and staff turned out to greet me, to listen to me, to take the Refuges and Precepts and to make the formal offering of the 250,000 Baht that they had collected in a very short time. I had never before given the precepts to so many. It was a wonderful morning. Anumodana!In the afternoon, when I'd got back to Khun Jung's, my old friend Sathienpong Wannapok came to see me. His article in Matichon had given our fundraising a terrific boost.The day after that was my 63rd birthday! I can't quite believe the number and somehow feel those numerals should be the other way round and even then would be too many. Just across from where we were staying was Thawsi School, a Buddhist school for children from 5 to 11. It's run by Khun Onn and her husband, Khun Witit. That morning I was invited over to the school to listen to the children recite morning chanting, then chat to them for a while (when I surprised a few people with my Thai, which sometimes isn't all that bad) and then they put a little play on for me. It was based on the well-known chant about the Buddha's wholesome victories and it was utterly delightful. One of the scenes showed the Angulimala story. This big lad came on with a sword and moustaches and quickly killed a couple of other lads before pursuing the Buddha around the stage, then shamelessly playing to the gallery he brought the house down by giving each of the 'bodies' another poke with his sword as he passed. The whole thing was done in a very formal Thai style with the Buddha represented by a child carrying a pole on which was suspended a banner with either an image of the Buddha walking or an image of him sitting. There are a couple of pictures in my album here and some more on the Thawsi School website, here. Afterwards they all sang Happy Birthday to me and then I was offered a lovely meal, some of which the children had cooked. That morning another 10,000 Baht was offered. Anumodana!In the evening I gave a talk to about 150 people at Charn Issara Tower and another collection was made. This time 250,000 Baht. Anumodana!Then it was back to pack and get ready and all too soon my little break was over and I was heading back to Blighty.
Asalha Puja & Bhavana Dhamma.
On July 29th, the Full Moon of the ancient Indian lunar month of Asalha, the skies over the Heart of England cleared, the torrential rain that had been soaking us for weeks abated, the sun shone forth and we had a wonderful day celebrating the Buddha's very first sermon. It was the usual format that all our festivals follow: Dana, Sila, Bhavana - Giving, Virtue and Cultivation. People brought food to offer and share, and other requisites to help keep us going; they received and renewed their precepts; we all honoured the Triple Gem by circumambulating the temple three times with candles flowers and incense and then they listened while I explained that first important teaching of the Buddha's. In the hope they would remember what they'd heard, to take with them and keep by them, I gave out a little card with on one side a finger pointing the way to happiness and on the other the Noble Eightfold Path which the Buddha had revealed in his first sermon to those five ascetics, his former companions.
While I had been away in Thailand I had decided that we should give Wood Cottage a new name more appropriate to its role as a place for Dhamma practice. I decided to call it Bhavana Dhamma and when I got back and we were planning our Asalha Puja celebration we felt that it would be a good idea to hold our renaming ceremony in the afternoon of Asalha Puja when we'd finished at The Forest Hermitage (Wat Pah Santidhamma). So that's what we did. Some of us walked over and others went by car and when we'd all gathered we blessed the new sign over the door and then gathered inside for some refreshment and a chat.
There are some pictures of both occasions here.We couldn't linger too long however because we had to get off pretty smartish for Hylands Park near Chelmsford where thousands of scouts were camped and where I had to lead another Asalha Puja ceremony and give a short sermon. That's in another post.
Sunrise Day.
Yesterday I set off early with Tom, Sister Khema and Elizabeth for Hylands Park near Chelmsford where the 21st World Scout Jamboree was being held. Actually it was my second visit. On Sunday we had gone there to celebrate Asalha Puja and yesterday we went again to join in the Scout movement's centenary day, Sunrise Day. On Sunday I gave a short sermon in a gloomy, muddy tent about the significance of Asalha Puja and yesterday I spoke at length to a much larger audience gathered in the open air in brilliant sunshine about Buddhism and Scouting.I am pictured here with Professor Yongyudh Vajaradul, Chairman of the World Buddhist Scout Brotherhood.There are some more pictures in an album, just go to the Photos tab at the top of the page.
Snowdon
On July 15th the much talked of, long planned and vigorously debated, sponsored walk and meditation on Snowdon finally happened and was a great success. I missed it of course as I was in Thailand and that day involved in a rather less physically demanding approach to fund raising and merit making. From what I gather everyone pretty much enjoyed themselves, although the walk was longer than some had anticipated, and then of course there were the blisters! Never mind, it was a great effort and I am already hearing talk of another, the question is where next? I'm not sure how much was raised, partly because it's still coming in but it's well over £3,000. Anumodana!
A New Thai Restaurant.
Today was the official opening of a new Thai restaurant in West Bridgeford on the outskirts of Nottingham. Khun Ting and her husband, David, are the owners and I was invited to go there this morning for the blessing. I was joined by four monks from Wat Sanghathan in Birmingham. Khun Ting and David are well-known to us at The Forest Hermitage and have supported us for many years. This is their second restaurant and it was lovely to be with them on this very special day. In the picture, with Khun Ting and David looking on, I'm rather precariously make the marks of blessing over the sign 'Siam House'.The food was wonderful and it was a very happy day. I wish them all success.
Thirty Years Ago.
Our Visakha Puja weekend marked an anniversary that I had meant to have made something of but then forgot all about. Thirty years ago the weekend of the 4th and 5th of June marked the beginning of the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations and on June 4th I took Ajahn Chah to visit my parents. It was on the train to Portsmouth that I asked him if it would be all right for me to do some prison visits and he answered with one word, 'Go!'The following day, I remember it poured with rain and we went for a drive. That was when we called at the home of a relative and while everyone else was stuffing themselves with afternoon tea, he and I occupied a sofa at the end of the room. All of a sudden he dug me in the ribs and told me to ask these typical middle class English people if they suffered. I was just about to make some excuse and get out of it when the room went silent and I realised the chatter had stopped, the tea cups and buns were stilled and all eyes were on me as everyone waited to hear what the great man had said. I was trapped! Well you can imagine the embarrassed reaction when I translated his question. Eventually I told him that they didn't understand and the teacups, the buns and the chatter resumed.The picture is of us leaving my parent's home for church that same evening. Ajahn Chah led us up the main aisle and seated, turned on his little tape recorder. The clergyman was as nervous as a kitten and his sermon was hopeless. Ajahn Chah understood not a word but realised it wasn't very good and afterwards said that even I could have done better!
Visakha Puja at The Forest Hermitage.
We had a wonderful day, the most brilliant weather you can imagine, excellent company with many young people, more food than we could eat and good Dhamma! What more could you want?In my talk I spoke about what we were there to celebrate and what makes the Buddha different from us. As followers of the Buddha we should be going where he went and doing as he did, which means giving up craving and going all the way to Nibbana. And speaking of craving, well you're only poor when you want more. Stop wanting and you've got it all. Not wanting you're content with whatever you have and contentment, isn't that wealth and happiness?I also emphasised how important it is for everyone to care for themselves and I hope that we and this place and the Dhamma we offer will help with that.We are very conscious of our dependence on all who support us and grateful for all that is offered. At the end of the day it was reported to me that as well as a generous collection of supplies, £574 had been given. Anumodana!
In Preparation for Tomorrow.
A couple of days of busy preparations for our Visakha Puja Celebration tomorrow concluded with our evening puja and sitting in front of the Ajahn Chah tree. This was the sight that met my eyes as I went out to take my place and begin the chanting.
Foston Hall Buddha Grove Dedicated.
After we got back from London on the 19th there was a short and special Angulimala committee meeting here and when we'd finished just as she was going through the gate, Samacitta had the bright idea that perhaps she could take the Buddha Rupa for Foston Hall's Buddha Grove. Dharmachari Samacitta is the Buddhist chaplain to this women's prison in Derbyshire and the Buddha Grove there has been an ongoing phenomena for three or four years now. Samacitta had already pinned me down to a dedication ceremony on Buddha Day (Visakha Puja) so it seemed reasonable for the Buddha Rupa to go with her that night for everything to be ready in time. It was carefully loaded into the back of her car and off she went. On Visakha Puja Day itself, I with Tahn Manapo, a visiting monk from Australia, Elizabeth and Prang, who drove, sped off to spend the afternoon in Foston Hall where some tea and buns had been prepared for the guests, officials and few inmates who attended. It poured with rain as soon as we arrived but stopped for the ceremony itself. Everything went all right and afterwards we dashed back in time for an evening with a few members of Warwick University Buddhist Society.
A Chinese Invasion!
Over the last few years I've made some friends in the Chinese community in London, some of them students and some who are not but all who share a love of the Dhamma. We've met when I've been at the annual Buddha's Birthday Celebration in Leicester Square, when I've spoken at the University of London Union Buddhist Association (ULUBUDA) last year, at Imperial College this year, and at again when I spoke at the Vesak Celebration at London Buddhist Vihara a few weeks ago. Some of them have been talking of coming to visit the The Forest Hermitage for some time and on Sunday they made it. They came with masses of wonderful food and a strong determination to make themselves useful. It was the Bank Holiday and what we used to call a typical Bank Holiday, it rained heavily. So they made themselves useful cleaning and polishing indoors. Here you can see them enjoying themselves and being busy. It was a very nice day. I'm so glad they came and I hope they'll be back soon.
Back in the West End.
Once again this year I was invited to the annual celebration in London's Leicester Square in honour of the birth of the Buddha, or rather of the baby who would grow up as a prince then leave it all behind to search for Enlightenment and become the Buddha. It's always a very friendly occasion this that the Chinese London Fo Guang Temple arranges. I love going to it and after all, as I said to my friend Victor later that day, I don't get to appear in the West End often these days.So on Cup Final Day down to London went Tahn Manapo and I with Prang doing the driving. Of course the match at Wembley meant more traffic and so we didn't arrive in Leicester Square until after the procession through China Town was well on its way. Never mind we had time to sit and catch our breath before they returned and the main ceremony began. All around the Buddha Image in the main tent was beautifully decorated and in my little talk I drew attention to this and the obvious love and respect for the Buddha that it showed. This, I said, is what the Buddha means to us who follow him and so when we see his image and name used inappropriately it worries us. I wanted to make a point of this because sitting in front of me was the Deputy Mayor of Westminster, the very council that licenses establishments like the Funky Buddha Club in Mayfair! I think he got the message.Afterwards we walked over to the British Museum and spent an hour or so viewing its wonderful collection of ancient Buddha Images.
On these annual trips I try to include a visit with an old and very dear friend of mine who lives in a tiny flat overlooking China Town. But he'd told me he was away and wouldn't be back until late that afternoon, too late for us to meet. We were just emerging from the underground car park to come back to Warwickshire when my phone rang and it was him. He'd just got in. So up the road we went to another car park and then for the second time that day threaded our way through the crowds and across Leicester Square. But this time it was to Newport Place and Victor's tiny flat that we went where we chatted and were entertained by this wonderful man who firmly believes in living in the present. Victor Spinetti and I worked together nearly forty years ago when I was an actor at the National Theatre and he came to direct a play composed of John Lennon's verse, and we've been friends ever since. We don't see each other often but I've kept in touch with him unlike other former friends and colleagues because I felt he understood what I'm up to, at least so far as the practice of trying to live in the present is concerned.
Caring for the name and images of the Buddha.
Again and again, I either see for myself or I am told of yet another example of the Buddha or Images of the Buddha being used to promote clubs and bars, or advertise things so contrary to the life and message of the Buddha. And if it's not that it's the image of the Buddha used as decoration or fashion item: candles, on place mats, on bags of rice, on shoes and swimwear.In the course of his life the Buddha was himself subject to abuse and taught that it should be endured, that in time it would pass and in any case that one should be glad that it hadn't been any worse. Not only that, but even if one were being hacked apart, limb by limb, one should not cease to have loving-kindness for one's abusers. But he also taught that to respect those worthy of respect was a great blessing and we Buddhists obviously believe the Buddha to have embodied the highest and best that any being can aspire to and therefore to have been the most worthiest of respect. The Buddha Image reminds us of all this. It reminds us too of a mind purified of all greed, hatred and delusion.If we do nothing about the misuse of the name and image of the Buddha, how are we going to feel when we wake up to discover that people around us are associating the Buddha not with purity but with greed (the Greedy Buddha Restaurant in London's Wandsworth Bridge Road), with alcohol and intoxication (the Buddha Bars) and with sex (The Kaz Bar, a strip club in Stratford-upon-Avon decorated with Buddha Images). Don't think it can't happen. I don't suppose the creators of those lofty Buddha Images in Afghanistan's Bamian Valley all those hundreds of years ago ever thought those images would be deliberately reduced to rubble but it happened. And I don't suppose that anyone in Asia a century ago ever thought that that most ancient and revered symbol of the swastika would ever be associated with evil, and yet now hardly anyone in the West thinks otherwise when they see it and in some countries it's banned altogether!What then can we do? Unfortunately, not much. Here we've tried using the Warwick Faiths Forum to take our concerns about the Kaz Bar to Stratford Council and it's emerged that unless the presence of the Buddha Images in that club are likely to cause trouble no action can be taken!All that's left and I feel we must do it is to make our concerns known and continue to explain the meaning and importance of the Buddha and how contrary to his example and message are many of these places that are using his image and name.
Vesak at the London Buddhist Vihara.
I had accepted an invitation from Venerable Seelawimala to speak at the London Buddhist Vihara's Vesak celebration and so on Sunday down to Chiswick I went again.The title of my talk was The Challenge of the Dhamma. While I got a few laughs for them, the stories I told focussed on how the Dhamma challenges our defilements, our views and our conduct. And I spoke pretty directly on the importance of having the courage to rise to the challenges and always to do the right thing and to keep growing. Naturally, I spent some time on the Five Precepts, and encouraged my listeners to not be afraid of being particularly careful of the fifth. The questions that followed showed what a raw nerve that exposed. I assured them that doing the right thing and leading a moral and decent life is in the end always respected.
TBSUK meeting at the London Buddhist Vihara.
On May 2nd I chaired a meeting of the Theravada Buddhist Sangha in the UK (TBSUK) which was kindly hosted by my friend Venerable Seelawimala, the Acting Head of London Buddhist Vihara. This meeting was attended by representatives of 14 Theravada Temples and brought together monks from Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and Great Britain. The intention so far is for TBSUK to be a contact point and network linking the Theravada Sangha in the UK. I rather hope too that on occasions it will be a voice through which the opinion and expertise of the Theravada Sangha here can be heard. But it's early days and clearly time and patience are both needed for it to grow and succeed.I am grateful to Venerable Seelawimala for so warmly welcoming us and providing the venue and the tea.
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