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On July 8th this year is the festival of Asalha Puja when we remember the occasion of the Buddha's first sermon in the deer park near Benares, when, shortly after his Enlightenment, he set rolling the Wheel of the Dhamma. Nearly three hundred years later, the great Buddhist Emperor of India, Ashoka, caused a huge cetiya to be raised on the spot. Known as the Dhamekha Stupa and now about 2,300 years old, its remains are still to be seen at Sarnath to this very day. The picture of it above dates from my own visit in 1971.
This is the spot where the newly Enlightened Buddha caught up with his five former companions. These five, when they'd seen him abandon his extreme ascetic practices had misunderstood and assumed that he'd given up the search for Truth. Disillusioned and disappointed they'd left him. Then, after the Enlightenment, while deliberating to whom he should first explain his realisation, the Buddha recognised his debt of gratitude to these five and saw that they were ripe, ready and able to understand. So, it was to them that he went and to them that he explained the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.
The day after Asalha Puja is the first day of the first month of the Rains, or at least it was in Northern Central India at the time of the Buddha, and so it is the first day of the Rainy Season Retreat that all bhikkhus must observe every year. This is known as the Vassa in Pali and the Punsah in Thai. During this three month period all bhikkhus are supposed to remain stable to the one monastery or dwelling. We may only go away overnight for up to seven nights and then only for particular reasons, otherwise it is incumbent on us to greet the dawn every day within the boundary of the place that we have determined as our Vassa residence. The original reason for this retreat period was the damage that wandering bhikkhus in the days of no roads and few paths inevitably caused to the rice fields they travelled across. That nowadays would not be quite such a problem and of course of no relevance at all in the West but down the centuries the Vassa has become a vital period of retreat and stability for monks and monasteries and has played a significant part in the rise and development of Buddhist monachism.
When a special occasion falls on a weekday we usually find it more convenient to nearly everyone who might wish to join in to celebrate on a nearby Sunday. With Asalha Puja falling on Wednesday, July 8th the choice for our Asalha and Vassa celebration had to be between July 5th and July 12th. When I found out that the World Cup Final is on the 12th, I was so relieved that we'd plumped for the 5th! Please join us on July 5th.
One person who you won't see here on the 5th is Samanera Jotiyo, the novice whose ordination at Songkrahn in April of last year was included in a television programme about things happening in the countryside. He's just flown off to continue his spiritual journey in Thailand. I am delighted for him and I'm sure you will all want to wish him the very best.
I don't want to repeat it all now but back in the April edition of this newsletter I gave an explanation of how the dates of the Buddhist calendar are arrived at and why there may be a slight variance between the astronomical full moon as given in your pocket diaries and the date established through the traditional Buddhist method. The date we had this year for Vesakha Puja, the full moon when we celebrate the Birth, Enlightenment and Passing of the Buddha, was May 10th, but the astronomical full moon was on the 11th and for many outside of the Theravada tradition and even outside of Buddhism, it was the 11th that was the anniversary of the Buddha's Enlightenment. And that was the day when India, the home of the Buddha, once again shook the world. But sadly, this time it was not with wisdom and peace but with the simultaneous explosion of three sophisticated nuclear devices. I haven't been aware of anyone making this connection in the UK but I heard that the front page headline over the report on these tests in The Weekend Australian had been 'Thunder as Buddha Smiles'. Thanks to the magic of the Internet I was able to locate The Weekend Australian on the web and they kindly airmailed me a copy of the edition that carried that article. It was there in that report that I discovered that this had not been the first time that India had marked the anniversary of the Buddha's Enlightenment with such an explosion. Twenty-four years ago the day chosen for India's nuclear fulfilment was the same but then to compound the crime the news of that 'peaceful nuclear explosion' was broken to the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Gandhi, with the code words 'Lord Buddha has smiled'!
I hope you share my disappointment that the government of a country with such a rich spiritual heritage should apparently prefer not only to ignore the advice of the Buddha but on the very anniversary of his Birth, Enlightenment and Parinibbana offer such an awful affront to the principles and freedom he stood for.
At Vesakha Puja, in my talk, I chose to focus on the active commitment to be a follower of the Buddha rather than the passive role of just wearing the Buddhist badge. This is a well-worn theme of mine and I believe an important one. After all it's easy enough to call yourself a Buddhist but what does that mean? Often, unfortunately, the answer has to be, 'very little'. If, on the other hand, you try to be a follower of the Buddha the suggestion is that you would like to be near him, to go where he has gone and even to be like him. Not only that, but because you are his follower you will do your best to really go where he has advised you to go and so you develop and gradually grow up.
On June 2nd I attended and spoke at a conference at Broadmoor Special Hospital organised by the Rev. Trevor Walt who is the hospital's dedicated Anglican chaplain. It was called 'The Spiritual Dimension of Patient Needs in Forensic Mental Health'. My contribution was a talk entitled 'Mental Health & Mental Culture: a Buddhist Perspective'. This was in the form of a prepared lecture delivered standing at a lectern and as such, I'm afraid, you'd hardly have called it inspiring. Fairly briefly, I attempted to acquaint my audience with a Buddhist attitude to unacceptable behaviour, the purpose we may choose to give our lives and the importance of a healthy mental attitude. In my introduction I welcomed the opportunity of this conference and went on to say that when we think about how best to help people to repair their lives it is absolutely vital that the remedy should include the search for meaning or the search for truth. I said that in my opinion it is a big mistake to overlook the part played in a person’s unskilful behaviour by the pain and confusion of having to live a life devoid of meaning and without understanding of why they are here. I suggested that prisons should be abolished and replaced with hospitals that in their treatment embrace the spiritual dimension. I tried to explain that a life comes out of or is the effect of things in the past and that Buddhism does not consider that we are born complete with a built-in purpose. It is as we become increasingly uneasy with life that we adopt the objective of finding out and understanding the meaning of our experiences. The spiritual life then is about reaching out for a truth beyond our current limitations. To illustrate the importance of a healthy inner attitude I quoted the first two verses of the Dhammapada and then suggested that in reality we are all unwell and in need of treatment. I wanted to dispel any sense of 'them' and 'us' for in truth we are all in the same boat. To finish up I outlined how we train our minds and included the importance of a caring environment, the avoidance of unskilful and unkind behaviour, the practice of Concentration and the development of Insight and the realisation that all things, including ourselves, are essentially Insubstantial.
For a few days in June accommodation here was at a premium while we entertained Ven. Ajahn Nyanadhammo, the second-in-command at Wat Bodhinyana near Perth in W. Australia, and another monk and an anagarika who were accompanying him.
On Saturday, June 20th, the last day of Spring, one of Angulimala's quarterly workshops included its Annual General Meeting. For that, as Spiritual Director, I was expected to deliver a report. I took the opportunity to remind everyone of what it is that we in Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy are trying to do. I spoke at some length on the importance of having clearly defined objectives and several times quoted Angulimala's principal aim: 'To make available facilities for the teaching and practice of Buddhism in Her Majesty’s Prisons'. I spoke of the specialist nature of our work and set it in the context of the state of the prisons, the nature and effect of imprisonment and the drug culture. I mentioned my role in keeping Angulimala on course, the skilful means we use to fulfil our objective and the ongoing attempts to upgrade and improve what we do. I spoke about the people involved, the team of Buddhist chaplains that we've built up and their selection, training and conduct, their commitment to the Five Precepts and the quarterly meetings. Then I came to the material we use, my own responsibility for an anthology of Buddhist texts for Buddhist prisoners and the literature we're donated and which we distribute. That led to my pointing out that we are responsible for what we communicate and that it should at least be clear and accurate. I reminded everyone present that a Buddhist chaplain should above all be a kalyana mitta or good friend to the prisoners. Then I went over a little history including the meeting with Joyce Quin, the Prisons Minister, last July 17th. Finally I thanked everyone, the Patrons, the committee members and officers, the team of chaplains and all the helpers and supporters who do what they do to help Angulimala fulfil its promise. ANUMODANA!
Stop Press. On Thursday, June 25th we were honoured with a visit from the most Venerable Bhaddanta Sobhita, the eighty-nine year old President of the Sangha Council of Myanmar (Burma), who has come to the UK for the opening of the new Pagoda in Birmingham. He came with other monks and the Ambassador.