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- 0:41
So, the opportunity to reflect on the Upasampada and on the coming Bapuja lives. And this is a tradition, which means it's something that's been carried forth from a previous time. And so this tradition can trace its origins back to the Lord Buddha himself in India, 2543.
- 4:36
Now, what we call the holy life, when people go forth, the bapa cha that Anagarika Liz will take, is called going forth. This is significant because it conveys the sense of leaving behind the worldly ways and the attitudes and assumptions of a lay person into the traditional form of Theravāda Buddhism as an alms mendicant, a samana.
- 6:25
So the four requisites, this is the... Om's food, the robes, shelter for the night, medicine for illness, these are called the four supports, the four requisites. And this, if developed and contemplated in your life, then it leads towards contentment.
- 11:20
The aim then of the holy life, the most important thing, the advantages of monastic commitment is really developing contentment. And this I stress over and over again because I see how this is really one, when you learn to be content, then you can really you have gratitude because you're always offered requisites that are usually quite good quality.
- 36:13
And so that oneness is simplicity. Non-separateness. Now when you try to figure this out, thinking about it, it becomes complicated again, because thinking complicates. This is where the Buddha pointed to mindfulness.
Transcript
0:00 Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji NAMASAMY Report an error in the passage at 0:00
0:41 So, the opportunity to reflect on the Upasampada and on the coming Bapuja lives. Report an error in the passage at 0:41
0:54 And this is a tradition, which means it's something that's been carried forth from a previous time. And so this tradition can trace its origins back to the Lord Buddha himself in India, 2543. Eight years ago. And so we use this Pāli language and the kind of formulas and the statements that were made at that time in what we would consider ancient India. Report an error in the passage at 0:54
1:38 And it's very interesting when you're in a tradition coming from a country myself which doesn't have a very long tradition. Tradition. Report an error in the passage at 1:38
2:00 I think as an American I used to, you know, we're kind of brought up with this attitude of everything's in the future and modern life and everything will get better and what was in ancient times is inferior to modern ideals and attitudes. Report an error in the passage at 2:00
2:24 Well, there's kind of a conceit that comes from, say, modern education. The materialism in modern science is very much part of one's cultural conditioning. But having lived within this tradition as 40 years of monastic life, 11 years in Thailand and then the rest here in England, they had Report an error in the passage at 2:24
2:59 plenty of time to reflect and consider this. Report an error in the passage at 2:59
3:08 And then coming to live here in the UK, which is not a traditionally Buddhist country, as you well know. So from Thailand it's very much a part of a whole cultural mindset, way of looking. Buddhism is a basis of Thai culture. So in Thailand you can see the tradition working in a country that has... Report an error in the passage at 3:08
3:40 More or less developed its cultural ideals and attitudes from the teachings of the Lord Buddha, and then coming to live in a non-Buddhist country where you wonder or used to have grave doubts about how one could survive as a traditional bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, in a country that is not Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 3:40
4:10 But this is... Nearly 30 years of living here with no problems, other than the ones I might make. I can create problems, but I can't really blame it on the society or the place I'm living in. Report an error in the passage at 4:10
4:36 Now, what we call the holy life, when people go forth, the bapa cha that Anagarika Liz will take, is called going forth. This is significant because it conveys the sense of leaving behind the worldly ways and the attitudes and assumptions of a lay person into the traditional form of Theravāda Buddhism as an alms mendicant, a samana. Report an error in the passage at 4:36
5:19 Dependent on alms is the basis of our lives. Make ourselves, say, poverty stricken. We live in poverty, which has its own irony because I've never lived so well. Report an error in the passage at 5:19
5:49 But then the alms mendicant is an act of faith because you're going into the unknown. When you go forth, you're going in. The attitude is going forth, not looking back. Report an error in the passage at 5:49
6:04 When you go forth into the holy life, then the attitude is not to look back and long for the things in the holy life, but to cultivate the lay life, but to cultivate the attitudes in that that help support the monastic life. So the four requisites, this is the... Report an error in the passage at 6:04
6:30 Om's food, the robes, shelter for the night, medicine for illness, these are called the four supports, the four requisites. And this, if developed and contemplated in your life, then it leads towards contentment. And contentment is a state of mind that doesn't come easily to People are brought up in a society where you're not supposed to be content. Like I was brought up with an attitude of don't be content. Report an error in the passage at 6:30
7:09 You can always make things better. And being content, you know, sounded like being a bit stupid. And like a cow, you know, the contented cow chewing grass. Report an error in the passage at 7:09
7:24 And so you had to have a shortage of brains or something to be able to be contented. But this isn't a contentment that comes through passivity, but it's reflecting and learning to use your intuitive sense to observe discontentment. Just because you become a summoner doesn't mean that you're automatically content with the four requisites and the place you're living in with the food and the robes and medicine and so forth or the tradition. Report an error in the passage at 7:24
7:58 In fact, most of us have, you know, we're not content at all because our nature, our habit tendencies were always moving towards discontentment. Report an error in the passage at 7:58
8:12 But this is, in the teaching of the Lord Buddha, this awareness practice is to be aware of discontentment so you get to know it as an attitude, a desire, a habit tendency in which you, you know, you can always think of, Think of on the material level or the social level or whatever is a better place, better food, better friends, better climate, better this, better that. Report an error in the passage at 8:12
8:45 So the four requisites are based on very kind of basic things like rag robes or alms food, food that people put into your bowl. You don't have much choice about what you're going to eat, or you wear these robes, and the original allowance was rags. If you didn't have any cloth, you could collect rags from cloth thrown away by the society. Report an error in the passage at 8:45
9:19 They even have like bhangsakula cloth, they call it, where you go in charnel grounds and things like this, pick up the cloth. That has been on corpses and other grisly perceptions of this nature, which I've never had to do in 40 years. Report an error in the passage at 9:19
9:42 It's never been a problem because of the generosity of the people always offering cloth. But the reflective capacity has always been on the basic allowance, the rag robe, the shelter for the night, the root of a tree. Report an error in the passage at 9:42
10:02 Or alms food, or medicine for illness. A medicine listed in ancient India is fermented urine. And so that is pretty shocking to people when they find out that that's medicine. Because I was brought up to think that it was something that would make you sick. Report an error in the passage at 10:02
10:32 This is interesting because it points to... A natural way of life that was lived in India at that time. Charnel grounds, we don't have them here. And so we don't have to go into, we could go to Oxfam, probably that's the thing we're desperate, you know. But then we live in a time where there's an abundance of cloth, where imagine at the time of the Buddha that cloth had, you know, was woven and hand woven and... Report an error in the passage at 10:32
11:10 It was probably much more valued, more precious than it is now. Report an error in the passage at 11:10
11:20 The aim then of the holy life, the most important thing, the advantages of monastic commitment is really developing contentment. And this I stress over and over again because I see how this is really one, when you learn to be content, then you can really Report an error in the passage at 11:20
11:55 you have gratitude because you're always offered requisites that are usually quite good quality. Report an error in the passage at 11:55
12:10 contentment and gratitude are, you know, to be cultivated. In my own experience in Thailand, I was living in the forest monastery there. I was certainly not content a lot of the time, but I began to observe. By observing discontentment, I began to see how just being caught into this way of thinking, these desires, these habits, these tendencies, was a form of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 12:10
12:47 There's a way even living the holy life was a life of suffering, because you're always complaining. You can complain. You can try to improve everything, trying to create a perfect monastery or perfect society. There's always ways that we can think of improving the place we're in, the group we're living with. Report an error in the passage at 12:47
13:13 But meditation never really goes very far until... A level of contentment is realized because then the ability to notice this, these tendencies, these are very strong conditioned tendencies that we acquire. So Report an error in the passage at 13:13
13:37 in the monastic life, for example, the gratitude comes from contentment. And gratitude then is a kind of a joyfulness in the life. Report an error in the passage at 13:37
13:54 are the receivers of soul. Report an error in the passage at 13:54
14:06 eagerness to support us, to encourage us, to make things. to live this life, if one reflects on it, one feels an enormous sense of gratitude, and this is a heartfelt. Report an error in the passage at 14:06
14:22 Like your heart opens up because you find a joyfulness from this gratitude and contentment. Then from this foundation, then the meditative teachings and reflective teachings that the Lord Buddha gave us come to life. They become, you know, they're not just ideals or intellectual attitudes that we can quote. Report an error in the passage at 14:22
14:57 We're not quoting scriptures or speaking in idealistic ways about Buddhism, but we're coming from a real inner peace and contentment where we can actually see the causes and the cessation of suffering, the arising and the ceasing of dukkha, or suffering, or discontentment. So Report an error in the passage at 14:57
15:27 today the... Venerable Tina Wangso and Dhammarako have asked for this, to be given this opportunity, and they've been, I've known Dhammarako, he's one of the first friends I had here in England, Report an error in the passage at 15:27
15:51 and so he's someone that I've known for many years. He had all kinds of other responsibilities, which he doesn't have anymore. And so he, as soon as he completed his sense of fulfilling his duties, he came into the Saṅgha. So he was an Agarika, I think, for a year, and has been a Samanera for about a year, and now a Bhikkhu. Report an error in the passage at 15:51
16:32 Now the purpose of the holy life, what do we mean by holy life? These are inspiring terms used, or we can use them sarcastically, because sometimes the life of a monk doesn't seem holy at all. You're caught up in meetings where people are picking away at this and worrying about that and loving and hating and complaining and demanding and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 16:32
17:07 So, you know, one feels oftentimes... On some level it's not very holy, because for me the concept of holy life is very high, very pure. But what the teaching of the Buddha is, is getting to a natural state of awareness, of pure being, in which these mental states that we create in our minds that affect the community we're living in, we begin to notice them. Report an error in the passage at 17:07
17:43 Other than just blindly following, reacting to them, following them or repressing them, we can just observe them and see the pointlessness of attaching and being caught up endlessly in trying to solve all the problems in the world and the problems of the Saṅgha and problems of the individuals. Because that way it seems a hopeless, hopeless task. You know, the world is. Report an error in the passage at 17:43
18:16 Very complicated experience, having a human body and a sense body, you know, sensitive, having to live on this planet for a lifetime, and even in pleasant countries like this one, where you have a level of security and stability and safety, still one can be totally miserable. Through just the way one thinks, the way I might be thinking, I can make myself totally depressed, angry or resentful. Report an error in the passage at 18:16
18:55 So in the Buddha raising the Four Noble Truths as a kind of basic teaching, a way of reflecting on how we create the suffering, how I as an individual entity create suffering, Now as a person, a personality, I can, you know, I function in a very different way than when I'm coming from the pure awareness. Report an error in the passage at 18:55
19:33 So the Four Noble Truths is a skillful means to use, to begin to notice, begin to observe and realize this natural state that the Buddha was pointing to. Report an error in the passage at 19:33
19:51 So awareness, intuitive awareness, mindfulness, these kind of words are natural to our human state. These are not created, this is not a creation, not a special kind of samādhi practice of refinement, but of opening, recognizing, realizing the true nature or the dhamma. So when we use the word dharma, we translate that into English as the true nature of the way it is. Now when we haven't realized the dharma, then we live in an artificial world, the world that we create out of our views, opinions, loves, hates, preferences, prejudices, our conditioning. Report an error in the passage at 19:51
20:45 So you can see why the world is the way it is. International scale, you know, like with terrorism and all the problems around religion, Islam and Judaism, Christianity, the envy, the resentments, the prejudices that arise. These are creations out of the ignorant human mind. Report an error in the passage at 20:45
21:18 In the Buddhist world, we can create endless problems. Strong views about Buddhism. And if we just hold to Buddhism on the level of tradition, in our particular group, then we can also, we're caught in the same problem, the same worldly attitudes will arise. We'll be very divisive, prejudiced, insensitive to anything that doesn't fit into our way of doing, our way of thinking. Report an error in the passage at 21:18
21:50 But what I've found in my own experience is Getting beyond that, so that I'm not just another Buddhist monk who's taking it all very personally and still caught in the convention without being able to get any perspective, any real understanding of the dharma or the way things really are. Report an error in the passage at 21:50
22:21 The conventional world, or the world that we create, is, you know, we have retentive memory. We have cultural conditioning. We have a sense of our own separateness, our personality, our individuality. Report an error in the passage at 22:21
22:42 We think thinking itself is a divisive condition. Because just notice the thinking process, how it actually works. It's something we create. I create into the moment. And that always makes me as someone very separate from you. For me to work, to operate on a personal level, then I'm actually creating a division. Report an error in the passage at 22:42
23:14 So that there's me, I'm Ajahn Sumedho, I'm up here on the high seat, wise old guy, telling you all about how you should live your life. Report an error in the passage at 23:14
23:27 And so I... And this is the divisive exercise, when we're just taking it on the level of words and concepts. You know, it's like being Upachaya, means I'm a preceptor, and I'm a senior monk, and a Maha, in Theravāda terms, Mahatera, and one of the elder monks, and all these... These words give me a special quality on a personal level, don't they? You think of Ajahn Sumedho, and then you see me as something very separate. Report an error in the passage at 23:27
24:20 But when we begin to recognize and realize awareness as our refuge, then this is where equality really actually operates. Report an error in the passage at 24:20
24:35 Awareness brings us to a oneness, rather than a division or a dualism. And the Buddha stated this, that through awareness, then this awareness is the gate to the deathless, or the way to step out, to get beyond the divisiveness of our thoughts, our ignorance, our attachment. Report an error in the passage at 24:35
24:59 And it's not a suppression or denial or a judgment. It's not, you know, like Buddha wasn't judging. Report an error in the passage at 24:59
25:37 responsible for one's actions, you're going to find you're going life, won't make so many enemies won't get so depressed and so miserable because of course generosity and caring about others, being selfish being responsible, not doing things that cause more division and more misery to oneself and others increases the quality of the world to in life where we are. Report an error in the passage at 25:37
26:10 Have a more peaceful, more happy, more harmonious lay life. Then the meditation is for liberation from the whole conditioned realm which is not creating a division. We're not trying to get rid of or judging the conditioned realm. It's bad or the world is bad or Report an error in the passage at 26:10
26:45 judgment onto it. Report an error in the passage at 26:45
26:50 knowing the world is the world. we aren't mindful, then we don't know that. We tend to create a world we totally believe in, even though it's an illusion, we live in a world of illusions, we experience loneliness, separation, resentment, and all kinds of problems that arise from it. Being depressed and angry, life presents us with all kinds of situations that are unjust, unfair, shouldn't be, as Report an error in the passage at 26:50
27:28 well as sometimes life has a very positive, very fair, and we've had a pretty good experience with life. But even at its best, it still leaves us in a state of separateness and Report an error in the passage at 27:28
27:55 to have, you know, own our house, have money in the bank, have for, you know, our old age, and wanting all these kinds of things will make us feel a little more safe, give us a sense of, well... You know, I'll be all right. Hopefully I have a pension, money in the bank, own my own house. I have a family that will take care of me when I get old. Report an error in the passage at 27:55
28:26 And then we think, but what if, you know, like pensions in this country, aren't they? A lot of problems around people not being able to get their pensions now. They've spent their life saving money for old age and it's gone. And then what's going to happen to me? So even the world at its best is fraught with dangers of loss, and we recognize that. Report an error in the passage at 28:26
28:59 Whatever we acquire, we inevitably lose. So the Buddha was pointing at this, that the conditioned realm is like this, its nature is like this. Its very nature is imperfect, because it's changing, and change means that it doesn't Get better, and then better, and then better, and better, and better, and better. Everything reaches a peak, and then it goes the other way. Report an error in the passage at 28:59
29:29 So Report an error in the passage at 29:29
29:34 when I was young, I remember before I had very much experience with life, I was very idealistic, altruistic, and had a lot of hopes that my life would just get better, and better, and better. Report an error in the passage at 29:34
29:53 And then by the time I was 30, I was over the peak. It had gotten better and better, and then it suddenly started getting worse. Report an error in the passage at 29:53
30:04 What to do? I became a monk then. Report an error in the passage at 30:04
30:10 So even in monastic life, you have periods where it gets better and better, and then it gets worse and worse, because monasticism is a convention in itself. Its nature is changing. It's not meant to be just a prop. or a crutch for stability, but an expedient means for reflecting and awakening and observing, to realize the dhamma, or the deathless. Report an error in the passage at 30:10
30:45 Realize, to know reality, that which is true, which, when you give a name to it, that can be very deluding. The dhamma, when we say the word dhamma, it's to be realized. Report an error in the passage at 30:45
31:04 Each one for ourselves. We can't define it really. Every attempt to define it, more and more describe it, makes it more complicated, more difficult. But ultimately, if one is trusting awareness, everything moves towards simplicity. The life, everything in your mind, everything becomes more and more simple. Report an error in the passage at 31:04
31:35 So, over 40 years now, I've become very simple. I'm a simpleton. Report an error in the passage at 31:35
31:50 I haven't become anything. What have you, you've spent 40 years, what have you got for it? What is the, you know, what did you get out of it? Maybe you've wasted your life. I was telling somebody the other day, you know, I could have been President of the United States. Report an error in the passage at 31:50
32:15 Missed my chance. Gave up that. The ultimate success in the world, to become a simpleton, living in Hertfordshire, in Wilhamset, which blew up this morning. Report an error in the passage at 32:15
32:34 But Report an error in the passage at 32:34
32:41 contemplate, you know, that thinking and the conditioned realm, you know, is a very, leads towards increasing complications. Report an error in the passage at 32:41
32:53 Like a personality, when I... Look at my personality. It's very complicated. Report an error in the passage at 32:53
33:04 It's, you know, because that's the way it is. It's full of memories, you know. So many memories now. At my age, you have a lot to remember. And then the tendencies, the habits over a lifetime, you know, the things that you acquire when you're an innocent child, in your adolescence. And as you get older and older, the experience of life, you have many more memories, many more experiences to remember, successes, failures, disappointments, disillusionment. Report an error in the passage at 33:04
33:49 So Report an error in the passage at 33:49
33:54 if I depended on my personality, then I would be, you know, that is complicated. Report an error in the passage at 33:54
34:05 But with awareness, And you're beginning to see the personality is really not what one is. Even though it says so, I don't believe it. Though in my personality, whatever it says, I don't believe it anymore. I know it's just force of habit and it has likes and dislikes and preferences and fears and desires. Report an error in the passage at 34:05
34:31 But knowing this personality, that which knows the personality, It's not personal. I can't claim it as some kind of individual achievement or something that is just mine that makes me separate or special from the rest of you. Report an error in the passage at 34:31
34:53 So the simplicity or oneness, isn't it? Oneness is simplicity. When you get two, then that's the beginning of complications. Report an error in the passage at 34:53
35:05 So you have, first you had Adam, and then Eve, and then everything became complicated. Then Cain and Abel. And then the whole Old Testament starts operating. You can see the result in modern Israel today. Report an error in the passage at 35:05
35:28 That's how, you know, endless memories and resentment from way back when. You know, from attachments to perceptions and memories, racial memories, ethnic memories, cultural... Prejudices, biases that we acquire through conditioning. When we trust in awareness, then these kind of memories, we're not trying to judge them or to suppress them or deny them, but to put them in a perspective where we're no longer enslaved, bound and limited by those habits. Report an error in the passage at 35:28
36:13 And so that oneness is simplicity. Non-separateness. Now Report an error in the passage at 36:13
36:25 when you try to figure this out, thinking about it, it becomes complicated again, because thinking complicates. This is where the Buddha pointed to mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 36:25
36:37 The whole emphasis, the uniqueness, the specialty of the Buddha's teaching is the whole essence. The important word is mindfulness. Because this is the only opportunity any of us have to Liberate ourselves from the complications of our personalities, our habits, the identity with the body, all the illusions we carry around and are reinforced by the society we live in. Report an error in the passage at 36:37
37:14 So today is a day where Liz will go forth in a little while. Report an error in the passage at 37:14
37:31 Bhikkhu Chinnawantu, Bhikkhu Dhammarako have been able to witness this event. And what they do with it is up to them. You can't make anyone realize truth. I used to try. Report an error in the passage at 37:31
37:53 I used to get exasperated. Can't you understand? Report an error in the passage at 37:53
38:00 I remember one monk years ago shaking him. Can't you understand? And he's never forgiven me. Report an error in the passage at 38:00
38:12 He just thought I didn't like him, that was all. Report an error in the passage at 38:12
38:21 He took it very personally. So I decided that's not the way to do it. You can't kind of shake them and push them and shove it down their throats, force feed them. But the thing to do is to create environments and opportunities. This is what monasteries can do. Here in England now, for example, You know, the monasteries we have here, they're opportunities, they give occasion to hear the dharma, to practice. Report an error in the passage at 38:21
38:57 Those that want to can make commitment to the traditional form. It gives the occasion and the opportunity. Now what we do with that opportunity is up to each one of us. So Report an error in the passage at 38:57
39:17 I was very fortunate in Thailand because I Found a very good teacher, Lungpo Cha, Ajahn Cha. And he was, I think, probably one of the greatest. I could be biased. I didn't really know any of the other teachers very well. Report an error in the passage at 39:17
39:43 But living with him for ten years, he was pointing at it. He was always encouraging me to look at what was actually going on in my mind. Report an error in the passage at 39:43
39:57 He wasn't a preacher. He wasn't kind of preaching at me and trying to force me to become something. Because I would have resisted that. That would have not been very helpful, just to be kind of intimidated and pushed by someone else. But what I received there was given the occasion, the opportunity to hear the dharma, to practice it, and live in a way That if I used it properly and skillfully would support awareness and which leads to contentment. Report an error in the passage at 39:57
40:37 I mean, when I look back at the early years with Ajahn Chah, I realize now, well I wasn't quite aware of it at the time, that the whole way that he kind of lived in the monastic setting in Thailand was always leading towards contentment. Report an error in the passage at 40:37
41:02 Like learning to use the monastic forms, the four requisites, the robes, the bowl, the vinaya, the Pāli teachings, and so forth, not as things to cause more complications, more division, more problems, because if we take these up on a personal level, they tend to increase personal problems, trying to become, you know, a really good monk. Report an error in the passage at 41:02
41:35 Trying to be the best monk, or trying to make myself into something, into a saint, trying to make myself pure as a personality, trying to force myself into the mold of monastic idealism. It isn't that I didn't do these things, but when I did them, there was always this, Encouragement to look at the result, the result of what I did do. Did it lead toward contentment, towards peace, or did it lead toward confusion, towards resentment, towards conceit? Report an error in the passage at 41:35
42:26 And so then this is a reflection. You're using this form which is quite, it has very narrow boundaries. Being celibate, being An almsman really restricts a lot of activities and tendencies and habits. You have boundaries on behavior. Then I didn't have such boundaries when I was a layperson. Report an error in the passage at 42:26
43:01 As a layperson, the boundaries were almost totally so broad that there weren't any. Report an error in the passage at 43:01
43:12 It was the attitude of my generation was do what you feel like. It was a hedonistic kind of lifestyle. And in the monastic, Thai monasticism, Isan, it was all about restraint, and this was not an easy thing to adjust to. Report an error in the passage at 43:12
43:37 But it also, if used properly, I began to really see suffering, its causes, recognizing it for what it is, it ceases. Realizing the dhamma or the truth of the way it is and then cultivating that within the conventional form of monastic life. Now Report an error in the passage at 43:37
44:13 in my own experience, you know, it's been the gratitude that I feel towards all of you and my life here in England, in Thailand, has, you know, it's a It's a very grand feeling, how fortunate a life I've had, because I've had every opportunity given to me, every thing that helps and supports on the conventional level has been offered to me in this life. Report an error in the passage at 44:13
44:56 And so, because of that, You know, a feeling of gratitude arises. Report an error in the passage at 44:56
45:08 And then the joy of the life, of having the insight into the way it is, to free myself from the niggling discontentment, the endless anxieties, self-consciousness, self-aversion, fears, jealousies, envies, resentments. Report an error in the passage at 45:08
45:35 All that made up my personality, all this can be seen and known, and once known and seen through awareness, then we no longer incline to attach, to believe, to commit ourselves to these conditions anymore. So in the monastic life that I've led, it's been that experience of On Wednesday Report an error in the passage at 45:35
46:21 I'll be going to Thailand for a little over a month for Christmas, Report an error in the passage at 46:21
46:34 New Year's, but Report an error in the passage at 46:34
46:42 also I'm attending a funeral. Ajahn Maha Supong, who was one of the senior monks with Ajahn Chah. in... Report an error in the passage at 46:42
· · · silence, 1 minute
46:53 Ajahn Sumedho, who I knew very well, died last year, 75 years old, and they're having a cremation ceremony for him on the 18th of this month in Thailand. I want to attend that. And then they're having a series of other meetings, monastic meetings and so forth, which I will attend. But then on the 20th, In January I'll be back and spend the winter's retreat at Chithurst. And so living at Chithurst this year has been very pleasant. Report an error in the passage at 46:53
47:35 And I hadn't lived at Chithurst for 20 years, so going back there, you know, I'd gone back and forth during that 20 years many times and hadn't actually lived there. And when I left Chithurst, I'd lived there, we were there for five years, And during those five years, it was a constant kind of work site, repairing that old house. Report an error in the passage at 47:35
48:08 Because Chitra's house was a complete derelict house when we arrived there. And five years of working trying to make it livable, by the five years, by the time it was livable, then I had to come up here and start again. And Report an error in the passage at 48:08
48:28 I like to remember the first winter here. In 85, it was memorable because of the buildings. Only this temple wasn't here then, but all these wooden buildings, they weren't insulated. And then they had a central heating system that was very expensive. We couldn't afford to use it. So we packed it up. And that winter we had the worst winter I've ever experienced in England. In fact, all over Europe there was a freeze. Seems like the cold winds from Siberia blew over the whole of Europe and froze it. Report an error in the passage at 48:28
49:15 And up here on the hill, Amaravati, it was really frozen. Everything was ice and snow and cold and I remember walking, doing meditation, walking out in the... By the, what is called the office and library today, and the winter time, you know, when it gets dark early, and walking back and forth, cold, and you're kind of huddled up near an electric fire, if you're lucky. Report an error in the passage at 49:15
49:51 We didn't even have many electric fires, so Bhikkhus had to kind of, you know, use it for a while and give it to another one. And all the plumbing froze. Report an error in the passage at 49:51
50:04 This place, having been a school, it had all kinds of plumbing in it, all these toilets and sinks, and it all froze up. Report an error in the passage at 50:04
50:18 And I remember walking in, life can't get worse than this. You know, even the lay people couldn't get here. The hill up here was so icy, so slippery, that cars couldn't drive up the hill. Report an error in the passage at 50:18
50:36 But then, Walking back and forth in the kind of yellowish light, kind of jaundiced yellow color of that light over there by the office, in the dirty old snow and ice, and then realizing that in my heart I was all right, you know, I was peaceful, that I wasn't suffering. Report an error in the passage at 50:36
51:07 That even the physical discomfort was all right. You know, it wasn't something that made me want to leave or give up or blame it on anybody. Report an error in the passage at 51:07
51:19 And that was quite an important insight, actually, to be in a situation, you know, having left chitters, which I was very fond of, got very attached to, and then coming here to start over again and... Report an error in the passage at 51:19
51:38 Not knowing what was going to happen here, and then having this frozen, frigid winter, you know, there's so many negative factors involved in it. And yet, in spite of that, the power of the meditation was contentment. Report an error in the passage at 51:38
52:01 So this is, you know, it does have an increasingly profound effect, even though sometimes in your practice you might feel you're not getting anywhere. Or, you know, you've been practicing meditation now for many years and you still get angry and you still haven't reached the states that you think you should have by now. Report an error in the passage at 52:01
52:26 You can feel, oh, I can't meditate or I'm not very good at it. Don't believe any of that. Your mind will tell you anything and it lies. Report an error in the passage at 52:26
52:40 You know, it's based on all kinds of illusions, so you can't believe what you think. The only way out of that, then, is to begin to trust in the awareness. This is where you recognize and realize stillness, contentment, peacefulness, that is not destroyed by the external conditions. It can't be destroyed by the weather, or the worldly conditions that happen to us. Report an error in the passage at 52:40
53:19 So I will stop here and we can prepare for business going forward. Report an error in the passage at 53:19
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Talk by Ajahn Sumedho. Original at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/ajahn-sumedho-dhamma-talks. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.
Talks of Ajahn Sumedho, archived on Internet Archive. More from Amaravati