Full Moon Day: Watch out for that lawyer!

 

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DETERMINATION

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“Even if my flesh and blood dry up… I will not leave this seat until I have attained Full Enlightenment.”

The Buddha-to-be, prior to his enlightenment.

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Here we look at determination – one of the Ten Perfections – both in general terms and in relation to our meditation.

DETERMINE!

I recall a time on personal retreat when I was struggling somewhat. I was sat cross-legged in my kuti feeling particularly down – I had little enthusiasm to do anything and this negative state of mind felt like a sumo wrestler sitting on top of me. In Thai they have an expression meaning he or she is ‘in hell‘; that summed up my state of mind. Never-the-less, when it was time to go outside to do walking meditation I peeled myself up off the floor and dragged myself to my path.

Half Moon Day: The Owl and the Two Silly Birds

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On Tuesday I was supposed to go to a school to talk to some children. They had sent me an information sheet a while ago based on the theme they wanted me to address, but staying faithful to habits diligently honed at school I looked at it the night before my visit. The theme was the role of silence in Buddhism. And so, having a cold, I lay in bed and starting making up this story out loud. When I got half way through I thought I should write it down and so I ejected myself from the horizontal and into a chair. Unfortunately I was too ill to go the following day, but I will be going to back to that school, and I’ll no doubt tell it to other children, and definitely to adults!

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Oswold the Owl and the Two Silly Birds

Once upon a time there lived three friends in an old oak wood upon a small hill. They were Pablo the Parrot, Molly the Magpie, and Oswold the Owl.

(the day after) New Moon Day: Playing with Toys in a House that’s Burning Down.

 

I’ve decided not to continue with the series of five posts on meditation that I’d planned. I’ve learnt that it’s not always a good idea to say you’ll be writing / talking about something several weeks from now. It can kill spontaneity. (Plus I’m fed up of talking about the plane!)

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Playing with Toys in a House that’s Burning Down

Before I became a monk I had an experience which caused an earthquake in the depths of my being and which undoubtedly turned me in the direction of devoting my life to the practice of the Dhamma.

Half Moon Day: Meditation I: Be Prepared III

After that brief interval we return to the series of posts on meditation. This is the third so far, being the last of those concerning preparation. If you’ve missed the first two, where have you been?!

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4. WALKING MEDITATION = EFFORTLESS SITTING MEDITATION

Can you imagine a decent pilot saying no to a pair of turbo boosters for his plane? Just as he’d start to move along that runway he’d flick the switch and, ‘WHOOOSH’. Then he’d sit back, calmly pull back the controls, and take off with ease and grace. So too, a decent meditator wouldn’t say no to a little walking meditation before he sits. Walking meditation (cankama) empowers the mind with steady mindfulness. If you want to give your sitting meditation a turbo boost, try doing some walking meditation beforehand.

Full Moon Day, Magha Puja: Raging Bulls

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We interrupt this series of posts to bring an important teaching!

(I thought I’d temporarily suspend the posts on meditation and write on something that’s been in my mind. So you’ll have to wait for the nail biting end of the last post to be resolved!)

 

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Raging Bulls

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.“Whatever you frequently think about, that

  will become the inclination of your mind”

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In the Majjhima Nikaya of the Pali Canon is found a small sutta called ‘The Removal of Distracting Thoughts’ (MN, 20). In it the Buddha gives us five ways with which we can become a ‘master of the paths of thought’.

Powerful

Thoughts have an immensely powerful influence on our lives. Unfortunately most people don’t understand this, let alone the fact that we can actually take control. I was talking about this last night with the group of Banbury meditators, and we commented that most people do not realise that they don’t have to be ruled by their thoughts, and that they can, in fact, become the ruler of their thoughts. Two factors are essential to the development of thought mastery.

Half Moon Day: Meditation I: Be Prepared II

 

3. GOOD MINDFULNESS = GOOD CONCENTRATION

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Once, when I was a young monk, I had been involved in some building work (not unusual). This time one of my jobs was to pour the sand, cement and water into the cement mixer to make the concrete. When that was mixed and ready the contents would be poured into a wheelbarrow and then delivered to the place where it was to be used.

New Moon Day: Meditation I: Be Prepared I

This is going to be the first of a series of posts on meditation. I’ll start by talking about the prerequisites and how we can ensure we give our meditation the best possible start. In the subsequent posts I’ll move on to talk about the process of developing and maintaining a solid and reliable practice.

Day after Half Moon Day: The Flood

We didn’t realise that we were driving right into the middle of the worst affected areas. My brother Tim and I were in his little white van on our way to Wales. I’d been invited to do a retreat on a supporter’s farm. It was July, 2007, the time of the flooding that wreaked havoc in the Midlands and Wales.

Half Moon Day: Excuses, excuses.

I’ve just got back from Thailand, where I attended the annual Ajahn Chah Memorial Day with Luangpor, so you’ll have to sit on the edge of your seats until tomorrow. (The picture above is of Luangpor with Ajahn Chah about 36 years ago.)

Full Moon Day: Dhamma Magic

 

In this practice of the Dhamma there are times of darkness when our minds are clouded and we do not see the progress we are making. In these testing times we may wonder if we’re going the right way. We stand still and scratch our heads wondering which way to go. But these periods pass and the darkness clears. The ways in which the Dhamma works are too subtle for us to see most of the time, and we’re not always aware of how it’s affecting us. And so we must be patient as we allow the Dhamma to work its magic.

Half Moon Day: Mindfulness of the Body

Base Camp

In the last teaching we heard about the importance of developing mindfulness and how it can transform our lives.

Our development of mindfulness should begin with the body. If we can establish this well then we will find we’ll be able to be mindful of our thoughts and feelings much more easily. It’s as if mindfulness of the body is base camp. It’s where we can come back to, to stabilise our mindfulness. Once we are experts in being mindful of the body we’ll be able to live comfortably on the motorway of mind, watching the traffic come and go without being run over. Therefore we must train ourselves to be mindful of the body.

New Moon Day: How many times have you been run over today?

– I imagine quite a few. You probably don’t know what I’m talking about. Well, our minds are a bit like motorways. The thoughts, feelings, emotions, moods, views and opinions that we experience are the traffic. And unfortunately we tend to get run over by it all. By ‘run over’ I mean that we get consumed; we get carried away; we get lost in the thoughts and moods. These various mental states arise and we get run over. And so through the seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years, and, if we’re not careful, lifetimes, we live on this motorway of mind and get hit by every darned thing that comes our way. And what’s it like to be hit? – painful!

Day after Full-Moon Day: “I promise…”

I love teaching kids. Several years ago I visited a school in Warwick to speak to ninety eight-year-olds. I sat in this big sport’s hall, surrounded by the climbing bars and ropes, with this little sea of small wide-eyed faces in front of me. I talked about Buddhism: I talked about why we suffer when we don’t get the latest Nintendo (or whatever) for Christmas; and I spoke to them about generosity – “Is it better to share your sweets, or keep them all to yourself?”; and I talked about morality. I also let them in on one of the perils of being a monk: being given ice-cream when all your food has to go in the same bowl – “Urrrgghhh!”

Full Moon Day: Optimism

Pheewww. Sorry folks. Optimism got the better of me. I’m all typed out after the last few days – setting things up here and what have you. Stay tuned though; we’ll have a Christmas special tomorrow!