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First of all a little history, the picture above on the heading of this newsletter is from my archives and was taken at the Forest Hermitage in February 1991. I am in the midst of preparing next year's Forest Hermitage calendar and this is one of the photographs that I will be using , which is why I had it conveniently to hand when I was looking for something to head this newsletter. It shows my one and only attempt to sculpt a Buddha-rupa. In the background you can see the then newly planted hedge which marks our boundary with an adjacent field and the pine trees which are now quite tall but then were only babies.
The sharp-eyed ones amongst you will also have spotted that where the date is given it's not just the month that has changed but the Buddhist year as well. We're still in 1998 CE but as from November 4th we have entered the year 2542 of the Buddhist Era (BE).
And now to retell a little story that I came across the other day. It concerns a certain woman who spread a bit of gossip about a neighbour. Later on having damaged her neighbour's reputation and upset her terribly this woman realised that what she had been telling everyone was completely untrue. So she went to an old wise man for advice and to ask him how she might right the wrong she had done her neighbour. The wise man told her to go to the market and buy a chicken from the butcher and on the way home to pluck it and one by one to discard its feathers. Having done this she went back to him the next day and the wise man then told her to go and collect the feathers she'd dropped the day before and bring them to him. Try as she might she was able to retrieve only three feathers. When she brought these to the wise man he told her that it was as impossible to take back her gossip and bad words as it was for her to retrieve all those feathers.
This story not only illustrates vividly the danger in gossip but has something to say to us about the law of karma and the irreversibility of action. Deciding to do what she did and spreading that bit of gossip changed that woman. She knew that she didn't know the truth of the matter but smothering her doubt, she went ahead anyway, and she was no longer as she had been. Karma is a word that has almost been absorbed into English but is not well understood. Broadly, karma means the doing of what we do and the changes in ourselves and in others that are brought about by what we do. To this the Buddha added that the scale and quality of those changes depends on just what and how much is intended. Note that it is the intention and not the motive - intention and motive may not necessarily be the same. When the woman in the story decided to spread that bit of gossip she knew very well that she didn't know whether it was true or not and to be able to go ahead she had to suppress her doubt with something like self-assertiveness and anger and maybe she even convinced herself that it was a good thing to do, the right and proper thing to do, her duty. Then what she did changed her and what she said changed the minds of others. Whether they believed her or not, the minds of those who heard her were altered, how they were altered depended to some extent on them, but they were altered. And what she did and what she said could be neither undone nor unsaid. Just so, in this way we are continually being shaped and changed by what we do, by our karma. When she realised her error, then there were more changes - guilt, fear, remorse all chasing each other through her mind. But what could she do? What could she say? And so she went in search of help and advice and the old sage taught her that what had been done could not be undone, what had been spread could never be retrieved but she might learn from her mistake. Mistakes are inevitable, we all make them. But we should understand that how we react to anything remains our choice and therefore our responsibility. Choosing to react to our mistakes by learning from them is yet another positive way in which we can grow and mature.
Karma as described above is self-evident and easily verifiable but karma as effects experienced beyond death in another life, resulting from things done in this life is not so obvious. But karma and rebirth were taught by the Buddha. I appreciate that neither are easily comprehended and I recognise the temptation to appeal to the K2l2ma Sutta to justify scepticism or a downright rejection of things not understood but you need to take into account the circumstances and context in which any advice was given and when the Buddha told the K2l2mas not to accept things without knowing for themselves their worth he was talking to people who had not taken him as their teacher and in whom he had yet to inspire confidence. When any of us has the confidence in someone to take that person as our teacher then we generally accept that that teacher knows more than we, is more experienced than we are and that he or she has something to teach us. Obviously the Buddha knew a thing or two that we do not and if we are to be like him and realise Nibb2na then we must be open to his advice. That doesn't mean closing one's mind down and surrendering to a blind faith but opening to possibilities - that "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Just about a month ago, on the 29th of October, I went to Nottingham to bless and open the large new Thai restaurant, the Siam Thani. Most of the ceremony took place in the lower dining room which is furnished in very traditional Thai style with low tables and elegant floor cushions. One of those present and tremendously excited at the birth of her new venture was Khun Janchay (Nang) Hutchinson, one of the partners. I remember her that evening beautifully dressed, glamorous, smiling and radiantly happy. Four weeks later to the day, I was back, this time at Khun Nang's house and for a very different reason. This time the smiles did not come easily, and many faces were crumpled and stained with tears. The week before, early on a foggy morning, Nang's car had collided head-on with a huge out of control artic lorry. Her death was probably instantaneous. The funeral was a very big and moving occasion with many of her friends, Thai and English, crowded into the crematorium at Loughborough to pay their respects and say their farewells. She had obviously touched the hearts of many in the short time that she had been in this country and it was clearly a shock to everyone that someone so lively, someone so vibrant could be gone so suddenly. But, unfortunately, that is just how vulnerable and uncertain our lives are and there's nothing we can do about it other than try to understand that this is how it is. She leaves Dougie, her husband, and Calvin, a little three-year snooker fanatic. Our hearts go out to them with both sympathy and loving-kindness. And whatever now has become of Nang, may she be happy and at ease and one day realise the secure peace of Nibb2na. This picture of her was taken about three years ago at Wat Pah Santidhamma circumambulating the chedi.
The other day I was very sorry to hear Rosemary Alcock saying that she wanted to step down as Buddhist chaplain to Brockhill and Hewell Grange prisons and to Onley Young Offenders Institution. When I objected, she pleaded that she was after all nearly seventy. In fact Rosemary will be seventy on December 7th. In case this doesn't reach you in time to send your greetings personally we can all offer a combined Congratulations, Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns right here and now.
Well done Rosemary, have a Happy Birthday and thanks for all you've done for the people you've visited in those three establishments.
If I may offer a reminder to those whom it concerns of the next Angulimala Workshop on December 5th. The guest speaker will be a young woman trainer from the Prison Service's Newbold Revel Training College which organises courses for Prison Race Relations Liaison Officers that include an evening at the Forest Hermitage.
Time moves on so rapidly that it's difficult to keep pace and remember what you might know of what has been happening and what you won't. Most immediately I have had a couple of monks visiting from Ratanagiri monastery near Newcastle. Then recently we have had a very enjoyable visit from a coach full of Thai students from Nottingham and a bus-load from Cambridge who were all very generous and had raised a substantial contribution towards a proper sound and P A system. Further back, the Merit-Making after the Vassa went very well and again people contributed handsomely, although I have to say again that while we are of course dependent on your generosity and very grateful for it we do not normally hold functions just to raise funds, even if it sometimes must look that way. And the drive has been tarmacked.
Take care, and I hope to have the calendars ready for you soon. These will be the page-a-month type with a photo accompanying each month, just like the ones I did last year. There will be an English version and a Thai version. Those of you reading this on-line can write in if you want one. Otherwise the single page version is available on-line.
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The Buddha-Dhamma Fellowship, Reg. Charity No. 289913