July 1997 / BE 2540

From Venerable Ajahn Khemadhammo

This is the time of the year when we celebrate the Buddha's very first sermon or the anniversary of when in a remote deer park in Northern India the Buddha 'set rolling the Wheel of Dhamma'. On July 19th this year it will be the Full Moon of the ancient Indian month of Asalha and it was on just such a day, according to tradition, two thousand, five hundred and eighty-five years ago (or from sixty to a hundred or so less if you prefer the views of some Western scholars) that the Buddha sat down with the five ascetics with whom he'd just been reunited and told them what had happened to him. You will remember from the story that previously when he was still not yet the Buddha these five had been staying near him, waiting and hoping that he would soon be Enlightened and that then they as close friends and disciples would cash in on his achievement; but when he dropped his heavy ascetic disciplines, they, upset, disillusioned and disappointed, pushed off leaving him alone. Unknowingly that was perhaps the best help they could have given him because it was then when he was all alone that he was able to mount what proved to be his final assault on what still bound him to the round of rebirth, ignorance and suffering and to emerge victorious as the Buddha, Fully-Enlightened and utterly free. It was this that two months later and many miles distant in a deer park not too far from Benares that he sat down to explain to these five.

Metaphorically that unpretentious gathering of six ragged contemplatives, sitting together on the ground and in the open is described as the occasion when the Lord Buddha first set rolling the Wheel of Dhamma. This is a wheel that rolls and rolls, until like any other, its momentum declining, it will hesitate, then wobble, and finally, its energy spent, will fall and be still. But while it rolls and rolls it touches the minds of beings here and there and turns those minds, turns their understanding, overturns their prejudices and ignorance and shows them the way to freedom, peace and happiness And happily, that wheel still rolls, even here in the British Isles, even here in what was an ancient deer park in the Heart of England, two-and-a-half thousand years on. So, we invite you to come here on Sunday, July 20th to join us in celebrating the First Turning of the Wheel of Dhamma and the Entry to the Vassa, the annual Rains Retreat which always follows on the day after Asalha Puja and which therefore commences that very day, July 20th.

The contents of that First Sermon form the essence of Buddhism and it's worth reminding ourselves from time to time what it was that the Buddha explained to those five and what it was that set one of them, Kondañña, irrevocably on the Path to Enlightenment. You may remember that the Buddha began by referring to his own history and the fact that as a prince he'd enjoyed the pleasures of the senses and as an ascetic he'd gone to the other extreme and disciplined and deprived himself of practically anything and everything and so he knew and was able to say that neither of these extremes was profitable. Thus the first principle he had to teach them was that of the Middle Way. Then came the Four Noble Truths which in a nutshell point out that we have a problem, for which there's a reason, a solution and a way to that solution. And the way, which is also called the Middle Way, is the Noble Eightfold Path. All this you can read about and study in greater depth for yourselves but I recommend that you keep things simple and remember that basically Buddhism is just as outlined in this sermon or as the Buddha said on other occasions, it's just about suffering and the end of suffering or, if you like, the problem of life and its solution.

Although lots of people would prefer to deny that they suffer and do their best to persuade themselves and others that life is wonderful the fact that so many resort to ways of dulling and deflecting their pain only exposes the deception they're struggling to live with. Surely almost everyone must wonder sometimes just what life is all about and question why we are here and at least in their own minds challenge some of the theories and ideas that parents and others would have them swallow? Currently we have enormous social problems with alcohol and drug abuse, crime and violence. And all that the the authorities seem to be able to do is adopt more and more repressive measures to try and lance the symptoms. If it does ever cross their minds that there's a reason for everything and that people invariably use drugs and alcohol and generally behave badly when they're confused and unhappy they're certainly not letting on. When you wake up to the enormity of what we have to live and cope with - everyday aches and pains, being separated from the people and things we love, time relentlessly passing with no turning back, illness and ageing, the dropping away of family and friends, death at one's own shoulder, the wars, the violence and cruelty, you could go on and on, and worst of all, not knowing, not understanding - then you realise that addressing this problem of suffering is the most important thing of all and that's what Buddhism does.

Amongst the contemplative practices recommended as ways to overcome suffering are those that make us view head on some of the things that distress and worry us, like decay and death. When Ajahn Chah was alive and well, prominent in the meeting hall at Wat Ba Pong, our main monastery in NE Thailand, were two skeletons. Now in the smart new meeting hall they're still there but rather off to one side and in the wings. In the old days they were bang up front where no one could miss them. Ajahn Chah used to chuckle at their effect on unsuspecting visitors: 'Some come running right out again! They can't bear to look. They're afraid, afraid of the skeletons. I figure these people have never seen themselves before. Afraid of the skeletons ... they don't reflect on the great value of a skeleton. To get to the monastery they had to ride in a car or walk ... if they didn't have bones how would they be? Would they be able to walk about like that? But they ride their cars to Wat Ba Pong, go into the main hall, see the skeletons and run straight back out again! They've never seen such a thing before. They're born with it and yet they've never seen it. Even older people see the skeletons and get scared. Maybe they go home and can't sleep for three or four days ... and yet they're sleeping with a skeleton! They get dressed with it, eat with it, do everything with it ... and yet they're scared of it. This shows how out of touch people are with themselves. How pitiful!' That was from a small book of Ajahn Chah's talks called 'Living Dhamma'. This picture of a skeleton is not one of those in Wat Ba Pong but the skeleton of a young woman which hangs in the meeting hall at Wat Pah Nanachat. I'm not sure I knew her and certainly I don't remember her. A good supporter of the wat, she took her own life when the pain of an illness got too much and afterwards the family gave the body for the skeleton to remain as an object of contemplation.

We don't have a skeleton here yet, so we have to make do with pictures. But if anyone would like to have their remains serving some useful purpose and would like to make some adjustment to their will we'd be more than interested. But not everyone please, not all at once.

For the past couple of weeks we've been on stand-by to receive from Thailand a life-size bronze image of Venerable Ajahn Chah. Unfortunately, with the holiday season at its peak and masses of heavily laden tourists struggling home, Thai Airways are having trouble finding room on a flight for it, so we're having to cultivate patience. But I'm hoping like mad that it will be here and installed in time for our celebration on July 20th.

Continuing my policy of bringing guest speakers in to talk at Angulimala Workshops and broaden our Buddhist prison chaplains' understanding of the penal system in which we aim to make Buddhism available, at our last gathering we were addressed by Andy Mann from Broadmoor Special Hospital. Andy, who is one of the jolliest and nicest men you could wish to meet and who must be a real tonic in a place like Broadmoor, began by introducing himself as a Buddhist, or doing his best to be a Buddhist, who has what he reckons is the best job in the hospital, just under management and just above the others and one that takes him about all over the hospital day in day out. He's worked at Broadmoor for seven years and loves it. Illustrated with slides of views of the hospital he gave us a fascinating and occasionally hilarious description of the history and workings of this often much maligned and misunderstood establishment. Broadmoor is a hospital but Andy admitted that despite recent reforms there are still signs of the penal institution it once was and the tension remains and probably always will between the two approaches. As a Buddhist Andy finds Broadmoor a great teaching: a place of suffering but one where you can witness tremendous kindness. Although not everyone at Broadmoor is guilty of some offence it is a place where people who we're seeing in prison are occasionally sent and I felt it was important for us to have an understanding of the place. I'm grateful for the insight that Andy gave us.

I'm still working on a speaker for the September meeting but for December I've got Graham Clark coming to talk to us. Graham recently retired after nine years at HMP Wandsworth where he was its longest serving governor this century.

When you've been on the phone to me you might have heard Osric, my very vocal cockerel, crowing in the background. Sadly, he's without his tail at the moment after an alarming brush with disaster when a fox yanked him down from the tree where he was peacefully sleeping one night.

Take care, and stay well and happy!

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