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 here.

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 anew 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.
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.

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.

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!
I’ve posted a few pictures here.

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’.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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 themenjoying themselves and being busy. It was a very nice day. I’m so glad they came and I hope they’ll be back soon.