Since I've been back it's been quite a busy time what with my normal round of prison visits and a sudden surge of interest from local schools. I enjoy talking to the children, either going to their schools or welcoming them here and I think it's important that it's done, although I'm concerned that my presentation does little more than scratch the surface and is in danger of casting Buddhism in their minds as being yet another collection of peculiar ideas, beliefs and customs. I shall have to be careful about that but mindful too that with religious education we tread on sensitive ground and it's not my business, in this context at least, to criticise what others believe or how they feel about things.

In its place, providing there's no lasting offence, I have no problem with criticism and debate. I should think we all know how useful, relevant and even important these clashes can be to the honing and shaping of ideas and opinions. And I admit to being troubled sometimes by the tenuous grasp some Buddhists appear to have of the things they claim to be committed to, their apparent reliance on questionable emotions and 'good feelings' and a reluctance to explain and test their understanding.

I am also concerned at the unreliability of information that Buddhist writers seem to churn out. I have to qualify this comment with 'seem to' because I don't read much myself and it's only from what's reported back to me or by occasionally dipping into some of the material that gets donated to the Angulimala Resource Centre for distribution in the prisons that I learn of this. This last criticism I hasten to add concerns facts, not opinions, and I do not understand why people cannot be bothered to check their facts.

Some of you may be surprised and even amused to hear that I have come under fire myself recently for daring to suggest that what is described as Buddhism should actually have some fairly close relationship to what the Buddha taught and what is found in Buddhist Scriptures! Even allowing for personal exploration and discovery it seems not at all unreasonable to me - indeed I would think it's very desirable - that there should exist some standard or authority by which to know what is and what is not Buddhist. Thus, for example, with reference to one piece of misleading information I've seen in print lately, by consulting the texts we can get some idea of what the Buddha considered to be wrong livelihood: 'These five trades, O monks, ought not to be taken up by a lay follower: trading with weapons, trading in living beings, trading in meat, trading in intoxicants, and trading in poison.' -- Anguttara Nikaya V.177 (Nyanaponika Thera, tr.). In the Vinaya Pitaka of the Pali Canon the Buddha neither wastes time nor minces his words when telling erring disciples that they've got it wrong. Over and over you come across phrases like, 'It is not fit, foolish man, it is not becoming, it is not proper ...'. Everyone needs guidance because neither life nor Buddhist practice are easy, they're a constant struggle with kilesa, with egotism and with delusion, each of which manages to distort one's vision and understanding of truth.

Think about it, these 'good feelings' we keep hearing about are really more kilesa! And if you're not sure what the term 'kilesa' means, please look it up and contemplate it carefully because it is pertinent to everyone desirous of improving themselves.

This month we will be celebrating the Thai, Burmese and Sri Lankan New Year. This is the famous Water Festival and not a specifically Buddhist occasion, nor has it anything to do with the Buddhist calendar, but the water-throwing apart, we will have a typically Buddhist celebration here on April 19th.

Occasionally people comment that the new and full moon dates of the Buddhist calendar don't correspond with what's in their pocket diaries or they think that because full moons occasionally occur twice in May that there can be two Vesakha Pujas. I think I should explain something about how the Buddhist calendar works.

Since the Buddha's passing we of course count the Buddhist era from then and so the logical assumption usually is that the Buddhist year must begin the day after or even with Vesakha Puja but that is not so, the first month of the cold season is the first month of the year. This normally falls in November/December. The four months of the rainy season - three months of which, usually the first three, are used for the annual vassa observance - conclude the year and this is why Buddhist monks sometimes use the word ‘vassa’ when ‘year’ is meant and why the time ordained is counted in vassas. The Buddhist lunar month always ends on the full moon. This system was in operation of course during the Buddha’s lifetime and probably predates him as does the custom of gathering for religious observance on the new and full moon days and nights. When the Patimokkha is chanted, first of all the Pubbakiccam or Preliminary Functions are recited which record the duties that should have been performed in preparation for the Patimokkha recitation, including telling the season and counting the bhikkhus present. The seasons are named in order beginning with the winter. The lunar month is 29½ days long and the intervals between the Uposatha days in the lunar half-month are thus: 15; 15; 14; 15. Where there is a fourteen day interval it is always a new moon that the Uposatha falls on. The final complication and the one which is I believe often responsible for setting the calendars of different Buddhist countries apart is the periodic insertion of the extra month, the Adhikamasa month. The lunar year is twelve orbits of the moon or 354 days long. The solar year is one orbit of the sun about the earth and that takes 365 days and 6+ hours. So there is an eleven day difference which every three years sets them a month apart. To keep the two calendars reasonably in sync an extra month is added to the Buddhist calendar in either the third or second year - every nineteen years the adhikamasa month has to be added seven times. Thai tradition is to add it at the end of the hot or summer season. I do not know where or when the Sinhalese and Burmese insert the adhikamasa month but it is almost certainly that, that it is done at a different time and/or a different year, that can set our celebrations a month apart.

The picture of these three bhikkhus to the right is a much older one than that at the top. It was taken six or seven years ago during an unusual day out for Buddhist monks when we viewed the inherited wealth of Blenheim Palace. At that time we three were called by the Thais, Luangpor, Luanglung and Luangpee which could be translated as the Venerables Father, Uncle and Brother. While we haven't been together for some years we have remained in touch and 'Ven. Brother' or Ajahn Maha Sompoch has paid us at least a short visit nearly every year and has helped me enormously during my annual visits to Thailand. 'Venerable Uncle' or Ajahn Nom Namakaro I have met up with only rarely, once in Australia and again in Thailand. Earlier this year he surprised me by writing and offering to return and help us again. It all happened rather suddenly and he's here already. I hope you'll come and see him.

I read something recently where it said that bhikkhus of different nikayas, or monastic 'families', cannot stay together. This is not really accurate. In the interests of some kind of purity or standard restrictions may be imposed but in monasteries like this one it's having good monks that interests us and so it's their conduct and Vinaya observance which is the yardstick and not which nikaya.

I was very pleased a little while ago to welcome Ajahn Munindo here with one of his monks from Harnham Monastery near Newcastle. They were on their way to Dorset and Cornwall and stopped off to join us for the meal and a chinwag.

Two days earlier was the latest Angulimala Workshop for Buddhist prison chaplains during which we had a very good session with Trevor Williams, the Governor of HMP Whitemoor. I hope coming here made a pleasant change for him from looking after a high security gaol. We certainly appreciated his sharing his time and knowledge with us. The Buddhist seminar that day focussed on Right Livelihood and during the Report-In I spoke about my visit to Lardyao women's prison in Bangkok.

Before that a team from the FWBO's Clear Vision was here to add some footage on Angulimala to a piece they were filming on a day in the life of Dharmachari Dharmamudra, the long serving Buddhist chaplain at Blundeston Prison.

Incidentally, Angulimala is always interested in Buddhist literature that is reliable, accurate and inoffensive for distribution in the prisons.

Take care and stay happy.