Author: Luangpor

For some sort of handbook I’ve just been asked to list ten things about Buddhism that I would want someone who knows nothing about it to know and this is what I’ve come up with.

Buddhism is what we call the original teachings and discipline established by the Buddha as well as the family of separate but related movements that have grown out of those early beginnings and spread in a vast and complex diversity of forms throughout the world.

 

1. The Buddha is the One Who Knows or the Enlightened One and is the title assumed by the former Prince following his Enlightenment at the age of 35.

2. The Buddha lived and taught in Northern Central India about 2,600 years ago.

3. What the Buddha taught addresses the problem of suffering by explaining its cause, its ending and the way to end it.

4. That path or middle way is a training in the gradual perfection of virtue, meditation and wisdom.

5. Buddhist morality is underpinned by the principle of harmlessness and for the laity is expressed through the Five Precepts that enjoin a person to abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, untruthfulness and taking alcohol and drugs.

6. Buddhism is a non-theistic religion that has no God, creator or saviour.

7. Nor is it a belief system, dogma or faith based religion (generally Buddhists would not refer to it as a faith) but instead invites one to come and see and know for oneself.

8. The Buddha taught that there is no self or soul, rather we and all phenomena arise dependent on causes and conditions and are without any abiding self, soul or substance.

9. Much is made of merit, the doing of good deeds and the development of generosity, loving-kindness, compassion, non-attachment, truthfulness and patience.

10. Dependent on the intention, actions have results and it is how one has lived this life that after death conditions rebirth.

This is what we’ve woken up to and it’s March 23rd, Easter Sunday – not that that means much to me – but what happened to Global Warming all of a sudden!

We had a lovely visit today from a charming and generous Chinese group from London. They came with huge pots of tasty and nourishing food as well as their work togs and after the meal they set to painting and cleaning. The rain cut short some of that but then we gathered for a chat and some meditation. I hope they’ll come again soon.

It’s a bright sunny day today and it’s so good to see Charlie and Speedy out in their park grazing and exercising.

After yesterday’s TBSUK meeting I went over to see my friend Lord Avebury for a chat about a couple of the issues of concern to us. Here I am with Eric and Lindsey (Lord and Lady Avebury) just about to leave for the drive back to Warwickshire, which at that time we confidently expected to be traffic free but how wrong we were!

I’ve just added a note to the Angulimala page of this site about the forthcoming Prison Service Chaplaincy Conference in April. Unlike the last two conferences, for this one I am not part of the organising committee. I was probably not much use but I did come up with some good ideas and I’m pleased to see that two of them that weren’t used when I was on the committee have been taken up this time. The first is the venue. I complained strongly that the NEC was not a good place for a conference of this kind and said more than once that somewhere like Warwick University would be much better. This time it’s at Warwick University. The second is that there are to be short presentations about the various principal faiths. I often said that when I attended a couple of the old style Christian Chaplaincy Conferences years ago the most interesting bit had been a sort of forum with chaplains from overseas. Admittedly they were all Christian but of different kinds and it had been very interesting to see and to hear them. So, I had suggested something that would inform delegates about faiths other than their own. That too was never taken up but I have just received an email asking me to prepare and lead a twenty minute session on Buddhism. I’ve also been asked to offer a two minute reflection. The only trouble is that everything including these presentations has somehow to relate to the conference theme of a journey. The title of the conference is Trusting the Journey.

Thinking about this has brought flooding into my mind memories of New York in late 1965. I was an actor then and there for a couple of productions that never quite happened and while flat hunting I bumped into the wife or girlfriend of an actor called Walter McGinn and we became friends. Walter was then on Broadway in a dreadful epic called The Subject was Roses. He got me tickets and took me to meet his co-stars, Chester Morris and Maureen O’Sullivan and then I had to sit through a matinee with his wife. Well, because she was with me I couldn’t leave and so I had to endure the whole wretched thing, including the supremely cringe-making moment when poor Walter had to utter the line that contained the words ‘the subject was roses’ and a frisson went round the auditorium as the New York matrons whispered excitedly to each other that that was the title, that was the title of the play!

If anyone thinks that at the Prison Service Chaplaincy Conference in either of my presentations I’m going to include a line that has ‘trusting the journey’ in it, they’re going to have to think again!

All good things come to an end and so did our short stay at Sri Panwa. With so little to do and only the simplest and most basic of decisions to be made our time there passed at nothing like the snail’s pace you might have imagined. It was soon over, our few things were packed and the tuk tuk to take us to the car was at the door. Then it was the ride to the airport, the flight and the drive through Bangkok’s legendary traffic to the kuti at Khun Jung’s for our last night.

Again there were visitors, that evening and the next morning. In the afternoon of our last day we drove over to Wat Sraket to pay our respects to Somdet Keo, then went to get me measured for a new pair of glasses before calling on Sulak Sivaraksa for tea. Sulak is described on the cover flap of his autobiography as a prominent and outspoken Thai Buddhist social critic and activist who throughout his tumultuous life has endured death threats, exile and gruelling legal ordeals – and somehow has thrived. Of course I have known of Sulak for years and people have thought we ought to know each other but we’ve never quite managed to meet until that afternoon. Ken, another Thai former Warwick student, succeeded in arranging it and I’m very grateful to him for that. Sulak was very welcoming, very gracious, fascinating to listen to and generous – he presented me with a stack of books to add to the boxes we had already.

Back at Khun Jung’s we hastened to get ourselves ready and then off we sped to the airport where Thai Airways staff were waiting to speed us through check-in and care for us all the way to Heathrow. Khun Tipvadee, looking younger than ever, was there to see us off. So were Pie and Mark, who was looking forward to getting off back to Korea in a day or two. And Tahn Dhammabhojo, now Chao Khun Chonnyanamuni, with the young monk who hopes to join us in England in the summer, were also there to speed us on our way. Once through Immigration, we were sat in tall futuristic buggies that raced us as near as could be to our Departure Gate, from where we were ushered onto the plane and into comfortable seats to cushion our approach to the culture shock awaiting us at Heathrow.

If you’d like to see some of the photos you can look here.

So here we are now on the island of Phuket. And just for the record Phuket is pronounced Poo-ket. Literal transliteration doesn’t always take into account pronunciation.

 

The sun has not long gone down on our first full day here and I’m sitting at a table in our villa and looking out across the darkness of the sea below to a few lights twinkling on the boats and islands opposite. We came here to Sri Panwa yesterday after a night in Bangkok. Since my last entry we have gone from Bangkok to Ubon, back to Bangkok and now Phuket. But before setting off for Ubon there was Pie’s wedding to go to.

 

We had nothing to do with the actual ceremonies but on the morning of the 15th, the wedding day, we were invited over to the house to take our meal there. We set off in plenty of time with a map and directions that Pie’s mother had supplied but still somehow our excellent driver had difficulty following them and we got lost. I’m afraid I seldom have much idea where I am in Bangkok so I was no help. Eventually the mystery was unravelled and we drew up in the drive of a large house overflowing with people obviously at a wedding. Ant was there to greet us but he didn’t quite know what to do so Pie was summoned and he led us up to the Shrine Room where food soon appeared and we had our meal. Afterwards we were invited to join the photo call. That was when a rather troubled Mark made his second brief appearance of the day. Poor Mark had eaten somtum the night before and been sick ever since. It’s always fun when you suddenly meet people you’ve known as students and always seen dressed as students in another context with smartly brushed hair and wearing suits!

 

The 15th proved to be a full and varied day. By the evening we’d left Bangkok, taken a plane to Ubon in the North-east, and were busy settling in to our rather more austere forest accommodation at Wat Pah Nanachat. Although I’d better add that monks there have a pretty comfortable lot compared to what I knew in my younger days.

 

The next day, the 16th, was the sixteenth anniversary of Ajahn Chah’s death and many of us went over to Wat Pah Pong to eat there. There were a lot of monks, a lot of food and quite a lot of old friends. I sat next to Ajahn Inn who I hadn’t seen for years and who had been one of the chanting acariyas at my ordination. Afterwards the meeting that I was supposed to attend was postponed to the evening and so back I went to Wat Pah Nanachat for a rest. By this time Mark, Ant and Peng, another former Warwick student who’d come for the wedding, and Pie’s cousin, Sandy, were in Ubon. They came out to Wat Pah Nanachat and with them Tan Manapo and I returned to Wat Pah Pong in the afternoon in time for the big circumambulation of the Ajahn Chah Chedi.

 

The students had the use of a pretty handy vehicle and driver for two more days so on the 17th I took them to Kow Phra Viharn which is a pretty impressive ruin on the Thai Cambodian border. It’s also quite high and a fairly energetic climb. We left the students well behind but they did eventually join Tan Manapo and I at the top. Then on the 18th I took them to Wat Keuan where I lived for about a year in 1973. There were never more than a handful of monks there but it was immaculate in my day. It’s on a peninsula that juts out into a huge man-made lake and we drove, then walked to the furthest tip, to Hua Hin, where we spent a jolly time sitting, scrambling about and posing for photos. That evening, back at Wat Pah Nanachat we said goodbye to the two girls, Peng and Sandy, who were returning to Bangkok and so the day after, with only Ant and Mark left, Peter came over from Amper Deht to take the four of us to see my old friend and mentor Ajahn Dang and then to Peter and Tipawan’s splendid home for afternoon tea served in best, beautiful china. The next day we’d lost Ant who’d gone off to see a family he knew and so with only Mark left of our student party we went over to Wat Pah Pong for my guided tour. We were taken there by the two judges, Katekaew and her husband. Katekaew was at Warwick for a year nine years ago. And accompanying us was my wonderful attendant for my stay at Wat Pah Nanachat this year, an Indonesian novice called Visilo. We finished up our visit to all the important sites, the Ajahn Chah Chedi, Ajahn Chah’s kuti, his hospital kuti where he died and the place where he had first camped, by picking up four boxes of books to bring back. Two subsequently went with Mark who had to race off to the airport to meet up with Ant to join him on the plane to Bangkok and two were later added to by a third and all three boxes are now waiting for us in Bangkok. Later on that day at Wat Pah Nanachat I took a Question and Answer session with the monks and novices that seemed to go down quite well. The day after was Monday, the 21st, and we didn’t go anywhere.

 

The 22nd was a Wan Phra, a Full Moon Observance Day, and we had to hear Patimokkha, the basic Rule for Bhikkhus. At my request that was done after the meal in the morning so that Tan Manapo and I could be there for it before catching our plane in the afternoon. After Patimokkha I was invited to address the Sangha and I enlarged on some of the points I’d made in the morning Ovadas I’d already given. I spoke of the importance of a caring community. What we are committed to as monks can be difficult and demanding and it’s important that we can care for and help each other through any hard times. I have known communities where the emphasis has been on surrendering to the community but it seemed without any corresponding duty of care by the community for its members. It’s easy both for individuals and the community itself to become harsh and judgemental and that’s not helpful. As Ajahn Chah has pointed out, metta or loving-kindness is a vital ingredient in the way of life and training that we have adopted. I also reminded them to not take things for granted and to appreciate the wonderful facilities and support they have and to be worthy of it. I also pointed out that while some things about our life can be inconvenient, this discipline is forever reminding us of our kilesas (defilements) and keeping us aware of them. During my Question and Answer session with them earlier I had described how in the past instead of collecting our food, as is done now, from a buffet and being able to pick and choose, we used to have to sit and watch the food being dished into our bowls by the monks delegated to go down the line giving it out. We could refuse some things if we were quick enough but it wasn’t good form to do so and we were taught to watch our minds, especially when something delicious was immediately swamped by some curry we didn’t like or we didn’t get as much of something as we wanted. At the end of the day, that food is given in faith, it does the job and we’re jolly lucky to have anything at all. And so the old monk rambled on.

 

Back in Bangkok that evening a few people came to see me, mostly students or ex students who used to come to the Forest Hermitage when they were in the UK. And then the next day, our Nok Air flight having been cancelled, we stepped aboard a One,Two,Go plane for Phuket and here we are.

 

I don’t want to make you jealous but if you want to see where we are go to www.sripanwa.com.

 

For another account of Pie and Nun’s wedding and some of our adventures have a look at Ant’s blog.

Well we’re here. We arrived safely early on Sunday morning. Inside the aircraft it hadn’t been too warm, when we got out in the new airport it didn’t feel too warm and outside it didn’t look too inviting either with fog swirling all around. Never mind, we pressed on and hiked our way through to Immigration, Baggage Reclaim and out at Exit 4 where Goong met us and drove us through the fog and into Bangkok and to where we’re staying. By the time we got here the sun was out and it was definitely warming up.

Sunday then proved a pretty leisurely day. We didn’t go anywhere but there were a few phone calls and in the afternoon Ant and Mark came to see us, Mark with a present of small temple bell from Korea. Later on plans for the rest of our stay were discussed and laid. Then in the midst of his wedding preparations, Pie phoned.

On Monday morning it was an early meal before Ant and Mark appeared with a mini coach and more ex Warwick students to take us off on a trip to Ayuthia. There we had a gently strenuous time wandering round the ruins and the beautiful gardens of Ban Pa In Palace.

We’d not long got back when Tahn Maha Dhammabhojo, who used to stay with me some years ago at Warwick, arrived to see me. He’s a Chao Khun now and has his own temple. He came with two other monks, one of whom would like to come to Warwick. Then we’d not been talking more than a few minutes when another old friend, Sathienpong Wannapok, made his entrance. We chatted until quite late and took photos and all the rest of it.

Now it’s already the early hours of Tuesday and soon Pie’s wedding ceremonies will begin. We are to go over to be there for our meal at eight. Then in the afternoon we take a flight to Ubon. After that while I’m at Wat Pa Nanachat I’m not sure how easy it will be to update this blog but I’ll try.

I did my best to take it as close to the wire as I dared but yesterday just before I went off for an evening prison visit I took the decision to leave for Thailand on Saturday. So that’s it, all being well, early on Sunday morning, January 13th, we should be landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport not far from Bangkok. We should be back early on January 29th.

For anyone in Thailand who wants to reach me while we are away my mobile number in Thailand is 08-3383-0089.

Hopefully I’ll be updating this blog while I’m away.

เบอร์โทรศัพท์ติดต่อในประเทศไทย: 08-3383-0089

As I stood waiting to speak in Trafalgar Square at the meeting for Burma, I was for a moment transported back to rehearsals at the Old Vic forty years ago, in the days when it was home to the National Theatre. We were rehearsing a Sunday night showing of ‘In His Own Write’ and I was Me. Victor Spinetti of the Beatles films was directing. As I spoke John Lennon’s verse staring into the blackness of an empty auditorium, now and then somewhere out there a lighter would flicker to reveal Victor’s smiling and lively face encouraging me to talk to him. On Saturday as I stood in the chill of a January afternoon in Trafalgar Square I looked up and and amongst the gathering audience saw a hand waving and then there under a cap and behind a beard, older now but still as lively and encouraging, Victor’s smile and wild, friendly eyes.

When it was over we went out of the cold and into the warmth of his flat on the edge of China Town for tea and the offer of a hot shower to warm up. I didn’t bother with the latter but the Jasmine tea in a big generous cup was very welcome and the gossip and reminiscing was fun.

I’ve still got the signed copy of In His Own Write that John gave me.

Yesterday we went to London to join a silent march to Trafalgar Square to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Burma’s independence from Britain and to offer our support for the monks and people of Burma who live now under one of the world’s most oppressive and brutal military regimes.

Here are two videos of my talk.

We’ve just spent a very peaceful and meditative evening leading up to the stroke of midnight when we saw the New Year in chanting the Parittas as those present each lit a stick of incense to symbolise letting go of the old and determining to do better in the future.

We had our usual Monday evening sitting with a little talk from me that focussed on letting go, not just of the past but the future as well. Just as the revolving wheel hits the ground always at one place only, so really our lives are lived just in the present even if our minds don’t usually acknowledge that. Afterwards we had tea and were joined by the little group who are in retreat at Bhavana Dhamma. I read to them a few passages about some of the great forest monks of the past, passages that focussed particularly on overcoming fear. The last few words I read were one monk’s appraisal of what threatened Thailand at the time. Instead of mentioning insurgency as everyone present expected he pointed to kilesa, defilement, greed and anger and all the rest, as the greatest threat. And so it is. It’s the enemy within that we ought to be most careful of. My hope for the New Year is that more of us may make a better job of facing that enemy.

Earlier in the day we had a visit from Karen who has not long returned from Burma, where she saw something of the terrible events that gripped that sad and beautiful land a few weeks ago. She described arriving somewhere soon after a monk had been tied to a lamppost and beaten to death. What can you say! Arrests and brutality are common and the people live in fear. What can you say, what can you do but determine to hold fast to what is good.

A Boxing Day present for Larry was a new home kindly crafted by our new samanera.

Here’s Larry emerging and greeting a new day after his first night in his palace.

Today is the thirty-sixth anniversary of my ordination as a samanera (novice) in Section 5 of Wat Mahadhatu in the heart of Bangkok. Back then on Boxing Day in 1971, I had been in Thailand just over three weeks staying in Section 6 but practising meditation under the instruction of Ven. Chao Khun Dhep Siddhimuni, the Head of Section 5, who became my Uphajjaya or Preceptor.
Before it’s too late I’ve rescued a few old photos of the ordination and posted them here.
The monk with me who looked after me was Phra Maha Raundeg Simuni. I had known him in England at Wat Buddhapadipa and it was he who had first told me of Ajahn Chah. Phra Maha Simuni was from a large wat in the middle of the city of Ubon called Wat Tung See Muang. On January 1st, 1972, Phra Maha Simuni took me to Ubon and eventually introduced me to Ajahn Chah. But before I could go and stay at Wat Pah Pong I had to go with Phra Maha Simuni to a remote village called Ban Pai Yai which he wanted to study and include in his thesis for an MA in Anthropology that he was doing at Durham. My job was supposed to be to check his English but I ended up taking notes and doing some writing for him. I’m very grateful for that experience because it introduced me to village life in the North East of Thailand and gave me a little insight into the lives of the wonderful people of that region that I might otherwise never have had. I’ve never been back to Ban Pai Yai but one day I will.

The third week in November each year has become known as ‘Prisons Week’. Prisons Week was established to pray for and to raise awareness of the needs of prisoners and their families, victims of crime, prison staff and all those who care. This year, some of us were keen that Prisons Week should also be marked by a multi-Faith event. Just as the chaplaincy teams in prisons are exploring a more multi-Faith approach to pastoral care, so it was felt that Prisons Week could demonstrate different Faiths and Denominations coming together to reflect and to commit to a common purpose.
On this Wednesday evening of Prisons Week a group of us gathered in the cavernous old Victorian chapel at Wormwood Scrubs. It was a dark and squally evening and several of our visitors were soaked as they were escorted in from the main gate and others on their way there had to sit for ages in the intense traffic generated by the vital England match at Wembley. In the event it wasn’t the turnout we’d hoped for. No prisoners were able to be present. But amongst my guests was the Head of the London Buddhist Vihara, a Thai monk from the Buddhapadipa Temple who teaches meditation in Brixton Prison, three Burmese monks from Tisarana Vihara, the Venerable Abbess of the London Fo Guang Temple, Venerable Manapo and Sister Khema from the Forest Hermitage, Lord Avebury, two new Buddhist prison chaplains and Christopher Fettes who many years ago taught me at Drama School.
The evening was introduced by Rev. Monsignor Malachy Keegan, then six of us representing the main religions read and chanted from our scriptures – assisted by Tahn Manapo I chanted part of the Metta Sutta and then read an English translation, an address from me followed and the event ended with a joint act of commitment.
The theme of my address was the practice of Metta, Loving-Kindness, and I drew on the extraordinary recent example of the monks in Burma and their exemplary courage. I can’t remember all I said now but I quoted the Buddha’s advice to not perpetuate anger and hatred by meeting it with more of the same and the importance, even in extreme circumstances, of maintaining a mind of Loving-Kindness. I remember saying that not being able to agree with the views and opinions of others should not mean that we can’t be friends and to imagine what a difference it would make if we were able to extend this attitude of Loving-Kindness and friendship beyond the walls of Wormwood Scrubs Prison and throughout the world.
The joint act of commitment that we read was thus:
We come from many different Faith traditions.
Together we care for all those people held in our prisons.
We commit ourselves afresh, as friends and colleagues, to provide opportunities for all to grow and develop into men and women of integrity, wise and truthful, free from crime, from the fear of crime and from anxiety.
We are united in our desire to work for the common good, and to continue to work in trust, in peace and in harmony, in a spirit of friendship and goodwill, confident that it will bear fruit in the lives of many.

Many thanks to Father Malachy for organising the evening, to Helen and Wormwood Scrubs for hosting it and to everyone who came.

Afterwards a few of our Buddhist contingent repaired to a nearby Thai restaurant for good conversation and soup for those who could and green tea and coca cola for the rest.

As a boy at grammar school I remember at exam time being told very bluntly to read the questions. The other day someone told me that they’d once read of an exam where a group of students were assembled and at the very top of their paper it said that they should read through the whole exam paper before answering anything. As usual once they’d been told to begin it was heads down and utter silence except for the occasional rustle of paper, then rapidly the pens began scratching away. After about five minutes one student looked up from reading the last page of the paper, looked around, hesitated for a few minutes, looked again at his paper, looked around once more, then back at the paper and then carefully folded it, got up handed it in and left. Everyone else continued writing away until the time was up. Later, when the results came out the only one who passed was the lad who left after five minutes. Why? At the bottom of the last page of the exam paper it said, ‘Don’t answer any of these questions!’
There have been times when I’ve thought of passing that story on to a certain outfit that I have some dealings with.
Some of you who have been to stay at Bhavana Dhamma or thought of coming will have looked at our booking form and seen where it quotes Ajahn Chah who once said that the only thing worth reading was the mind and then it goes on to say that while at Bhavana Dhamma you shouldn’t read anything else. We’ve heard that at another place it’s being said that here you can only read one book, ‘The Mind’ by Ajahn Chah!

We had a meeting today at the London Buddhist Vihara of the Theravada Buddhist Sangha in the UK (TBSUK).

It was a small meeting with only six temples represented but we had a very good discussion and spent some time drafting the objects of our association. We spoke about our concerns about the misuse of the Buddha Image in marketing and advertising and we considered a statement on the terrible events in Burma.
Afterwards I was pleased to see Hui and Nyomee, as well as Jayamati of the Western Buddhist Order. Pie kindly drove me.

We had a great day today. We were packed out for our celebration of the conclusion of this year’s Vassa and the weather forecast didn’t come true.
As ever it was a practice of Dana, Sila and Bhavana – Giving, Virtue and Cultivation. And the giving was especially generous, wonderful food and £1,169.08. So that’s another grand off the Bhavana Dhamma debt. Anumodana.

This afternoon I went down to London to the Bahá’í Centre in Rutland Gate to attend a reception to honour Lord Avebury for his lifelong commitment to the defence of human rights and at which he was presented with the Blomfield Award. The Blomfield Award is given in memory of Lady Blomfield, a philanthropist and social reformer in the first half of the 20th century, who campaigned for the vote for women and was a founder member of Save the Children. She was an early member of the British Bahá’í community.
The Bahá’í Centre is in a rather fine house hidden away in a difficult to access backwater of Knightsbridge. When I arrived a number of guests were already there and chatting amiably over elegant glasses of red and white grape juice (the Bahá’ís are teetotallers). Then Eric and Lindsey, Lord and Lady Avebury, arrived with their son, John William, and his girlfriend, Verity, and we were soon called to order and the presentation got under way. Ann Clwyd MP arrived when Eric was already well into his acceptance speech. She is a colleague of Eric’s on the All Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group and has succeeded him as Chair.

I can’t possibly reproduce all the wonderful things that were said nor especially the atmosphere but it was very inspiring and hearing of the campaigns that Lord Avebury has waged over the years made the little troubles that most of us have seem so shamefully insignificant. I wished there could have been some of my followers there to have heard said over and over again how tirelessly, consistently and tenaciously Eric has worked over the years. That and his stated determination to carry on as long as possible is such a tremendous example and one that I want everyone to hear.

I had a good time talking to Jeremy, a great friend of Eric’s, who in the columns of the Daily Express many years ago accurately predicted, alone amongst journalists at the time, that Eric would win Orpington. We exchanged stories of the Beatles and all sorts of things. He was a bit surprised when I produced a camera from under my robes but when you’ve got a blog to keep up! And I had a good conversation with Barney Leith about our difficulties with Buddhists who want to pick and choose which precepts to keep. We were talking especially about alcohol and Barney said of the Bahá’ís that abstaining from alcohol is one of the things that you do as a Bahá’í and which makes you a Bahá’í and of course it ought to be one of the things you do as a Buddhist.
Afterwards we dropped JW off at the Tube, Lindsey at a bus stop and Eric at the House of Lords and then we beat it back up the M40 to Warwickshire.

A new term has begun and Warwick Uni Buddhist Society met again last Thursday on central campus in room R1.13. This is a better room than we’ve sometimes used but it made me wonder whether there are any environmentalists at Warwick. By the time we finished on that mild autumnal night the room was like a sauna and the contribution to global warming at WU had been impressive.
Unfortunately for the Buddhist Society some of its previous stalwarts have moved on to higher things so now it’s up to Kay, Madam President for this year, to let our presence be known and drum up some fresh interest and new members. And she’s made an excellent and enthusiastic beginning, although we may have to wait a bit for the full effect to be realised.
On Thursday Kay had arranged for me to give an introduction to Buddhism and to be questioned by a young lady from the Warwick Boar, a Warwick student rag. The reason for the interview was not so much our presence as the recent formation of another religious society at Warwick, the Atheist Society! The young lady who was to interview me was writing an article about it for the Boar and sensibly talking to other religious groups to get their views and see how they felt about the arrival on the scene of an Atheist Society. I was told that it could have been things written and said lately by Richard Dawkins that had inspired the formation of this new society. I believe the President of the Atheist Society had already suggested to my interviewer that Buddhism was probably an atheist religion and so she wanted to hear what I had to say about it. Well of course we don’t recognise or believe in the existence of a creator god and in the Brahmajala Sutta the Buddha warns of the danger of clinging to beliefs that are still influenced by greed and hatred and rooted in delusion. So I felt an immediate sympathy when I saw that Dawkins’ book was called The God Delusion and read that he had apparently said in a Channel 4 programme, The Enemies of Reason, in August that: “There are two ways of looking at the world — through faith and superstition, or through the rigours of logic, observation and evidence, through reason.”
I gather we’re meeting in the same room next Thursday from half-past six, when the subject of my discourse is supposed to be The Mind and Meditation and I hope we will also be practising a few minutes of concentrated and clear observation.

Earlier today I nipped down to London to Abell House, home of Prison Service Chaplaincy HQ, for a meeting about a multifaith event that we’re planning for Prisons Week this year.
Originally known as Prisoners’ Week when it began in 1975, Prisons Week is a Christian initiative to pray for, and raise awareness of, the needs of prisoners and their families, victims of crime, prison staff and all those who care.
I have often wondered why it couldn’t include all faiths and one year I remember I did try to have it observed by Buddhists. Now this year thanks to an initiative by Monsignor Malachy Keegan, the Principal Roman Catholic Chaplain to the Prison Service, we are organising in Prisons Week a multifaith celebration to be held in the chapel at Wormwood Scrubs Prison on November 21st with up to two hundred invited guests. Father Malachy has kindly asked me to give the address.

Today there was another march in London in support of the monks in Burma and to keep the terrible situation there from being forgotten. I had been asked to go and I very much wanted to be there but I couldn’t find anyone to take me. Right up until late last night I was still hoping to find a way but without success. I’m very sorry about that.
But that’s the way it is at the moment. We have very few people around who can help us and I have only one or two who I can occasionally call on for a lift somewhere. Without someone to drive me I haven’t been out much lately, which means I’ve done very few prison visits and I haven’t been able to visit Rosemary as often as I would have liked.
Some of you reading this will remember Rosemary. She’s a wonderful lady who used to come here and with utmost generosity supported us in so many ways. The last few years her health has deteriorated and not helped much by a couple of recent stays in Warwick Hospital, where they were incapable of organising someone from five minutes down the corridor to repair her hearing aids, she’s now unable to care for herself and is living in a home for the elderly in Leamington Spa.
But back to this week. Back from the dash to London last Sunday we held a meeting of our Buddha-Dhamma Fellowship Committee and settled on November 11th as the date for the AGM. On Monday evening Tahn Manapo kindly replaced me and went off to Rugby to speak to some cubs who were trying for their Religions badge and on Tuesday we got our car back from the garage where it had been for some expensive repairs. On Wednesday Pie took me to Broadmoor where I’ve been the Buddhist chaplain for many years. I usually go there once a month for a visit that normally last for four or five hours. This time, afterwards, I had an appointment at the nearby Wellington College, which is a large and expensive school founded at about the same time as Broadmoor was built. They are interested in the Buddha Groves that have been built in various prisons and in Broadmoor, which of course is not a prison but a hospital, and are thinking of building one themselves. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the chap I was supposed to meet, so now the plan is for him to come and see me here.
Thursday was Wan Phra, the half moon observance day and it was great to see some Thai ladies bringing food and making merit. That Wan Phra reminded us that with only three weeks left our Vassa this year will soon be over and so this weekend we are anxious to let everyone know that on October 28th we will be having an event here to celebrate the Conclusion of the Vassa.
This afternoon a little party of teachers and students from the school that Matthew teaches at in Bangkok called to see me. They are staying not far from here and travelling daily all over the country to see things of interest, like Stonehenge and Manchester United football ground!
When at first, with no one to drive for me I had to restrict my travel around the prisons, the chance of spending more time here seemed a blessing but as time has worn on I’ve felt increasingly uneasy at letting people down. Fortunately there is a some light now at the end of the tunnel and hopefully I’ll be able soon to get back into my stride.

This week the monks in Burma have won the admiration of the world for their courage and peaceful protests.
To be Buddhist is to try to follow the Buddha’s advice and to maintain our metta, our loving-kindness, even for those who oppress us and who prefer to follow in the footsteps of Mara.
This afternoon we went to London to a gathering at the Peace Pagoda on the South Bank of the Thames in Battersea Park. Burmese monks were there and we joined them for the chanting of the Metta Sutta, the Buddha’s discourse on Loving-Kindness. There were many people present looking on and offering their silent support, English and probably various nationalities, as well as Burmese. A Burmese monk talked briefly in Burmese and then it was my turn to speak in English. What could I say? What can we do? At least let us not give way to anger, nor to despair but let us hope for better things and put our trust in the Buddhist Path and particularly in the power of Metta, of Loving-Kindness, to overcome the dreadful things that we hear of happening now to the monks in Burma. What can we do? Not much, unfortunately but we can show we care and we can make sure that the monks and people who have paid such a price this week are not forgotten and that the cause they have suffered for so dreadfully is not lost or abandoned.
There are more pictures here and the event was reported here.
May all beings be well and happy.

Mark and Jin were here to say goodbye yesterday.

They’re off to South Korea on Thursday, a new experience for Mark who hasn’t yet been to Asia and a new life for Jin who left home alone and returns now with Mark accompanying her. They’ve both been loyal and keen members of Warwick Uni Buddhist Society, they’ve both been on retreats at Bhavana Dhamma and Mark spent several months here helping and driving me. So we’ll miss them. I hope things will work out well for them, that they will continue to practise the Dhamma and above all that they will be happy.
They brought me a couple of farewell gifts, a colourful little model tortoise to add to my collection and a Chinese wall hanging (pictured). I asked a Chinese friend for a translation and this was his answer.
“The Chinese word says 清風高節, let’s have a word by word translation first:

清 -> Pure
風 -> Wind
高 -> High
節 -> Moral Integrity

The whole phrase is an allegory for someone who has a pure character and very high standard of moral integrity.”
So, a lovely present and we had just the right place for it in the room where we eat.