February

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Yuttadhammo

Funny thing about writing a weblog is that when there is time to write, it is because nothing worth writing is happening. When there is something to write about, no time.

Lots of going-ons lately; many new meditators in February, rooms almost ready – in the next few days we will have three new bathrooms, and the upstairs rooms in my kuti will be finished.

The well ran dry yesterday, no rain for a couple of months already; we need to dig a new well, not sure if we have the resources for that. It is supposed to rain within a month, so we’ll just have to see.

Lots of other small things; a new cloud server for the weekend broadcasts should allow us to have uninterrupted sessions, though the chat function is still not confirmed; sirimangalo.org site has switched to a new server engine, and it seems to be handling memory better. Some hiccups on the website as a result, though; if you see anything that is broken, please let us know.

The baby squirrel died; I think I either overfed it or gave it hypothermia bathing it. A sure sign I made the right choice in not becoming a mother.

Oh, one other thing, we’ve started an offline schedule; 4:30 AM meditation, 10:45 daily chanting, 7:30 PM meditation. I know, it’s not much, but it has made a difference for our small community, keeping us more focused and building a feeling of community that was lacking – has been lacking for much of my monastic life. Nice to see things are coming together.

Ah, and we went to meet Bhante Dhammajiva at Nissarana, finally. I have to say, he is the most impressive monk I’ve met here yet; highly worth the visit. He is neither pompous, overbearing or aloof; he immediately entered into friendly but pertinent conversation and gave us much to think about, and an invitation to travel with him to visit Bhante Katukurunde Nyanananda (the other Nyanananda) when he goes with his students. Much averse as I am to travel, I’m happy to go at his suggestion. He also offered support of requisites, since they receive far too much for their monks; maybe we can help him with his burden :) and he promised to send us a quotation on a water filter for the monastery (which someone has already offered to donate).

On the way back from Nissarana, we stopped in at the female monks’ residence, both because I wanted to see how they are arranging things, and because there is a male monk from Austria living there. We didn’t meet the Austrian monk, but talked a bit with a Sinhalese monk. I asked him about the Bhikkhuni situation, and what he thought of Bhikkhuni ordination in general. His words were quite apt, I think; he said (approximately, from memory), “well, we have all these rules, the teachings are there… it would be a real shame if it were not possible to put them to use.”

busy is the world
busy body, busy mind
mind your busyness

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Internetish

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Yuttadhammo

Back online again for this weekend… just been busy with the monastery and things, trying to take time for meditation, but construction was finishing up this week, which kept my attention. The construction workers built too more rooms, we received four sets of the Tipitaka in three different languages, and a tree fell on Jens. Pictures of all but the last… we were too busy picking up Jens. He’s okay, though… to bad about not getting the picture. Here’s some of the pictures we did get:

https://plus.google.com/118014954414967440482/posts/P49qqjTfaG1

and a video, too.

Today Jens found two baby squirrels in the bathroom. They’re in a box now, but there’s not much confidence they will survive. Have to get them some milk, I guess…

So, study and monk radio this weekend, then.

In the meantime, another Haiku:

the creative mind
building up and falling down
uncreate the mind

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Books

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Yuttadhammo

Yesterday 420 books came from Thailand – three tipitaka sets, two with commentaries, one with sub-commentaries. Thai-Thai, Thai-Pali and Devanagari-Pali. The rest of the books are miscellaneous leftovers from my seven years there. Three cabinets as well, altogether 695 kgs. Tomorrow comes, coincidentally, A 43-book set of the English PTS tipitaka. We could open a library.

Attempts at seclusion derailed by all of this, and by laziness, and so on. Try and try again, round and round again :)

An interesting book, The Book of the Damned:

If all things are of a oneness, which is a state intermediate to unrealness and realness, and if nothing has succeeded in breaking away and establishing entity for itself, and could not continue to “exist” in intermediateness, if it should succeed, any more than could the born still at the same time be the uterine, I of course know of no positive difference between Science and Christian Science — and the attitude of both toward the unwelcome is the same — “it does not exist.”

A Lord Kelvin and a Mrs. Eddy, and something not to their liking — it does not exist.

Of course not, we Intermediates say: but, also, that, in Intermediateness, neither is there absolute non-existence.

Or a Christian Scientist and a toothache — neither exists in the final sense: also neither is absolutely non-existent, and, according to our therapeutics, the one that more highly approximates to realness will win.

A secret of power –

I think it’s another profundity.

Do you want power over something?

Be more nearly real than it.

– The Book of the Damned, Chapter 3

Not that I agree with it entirely, but with the sentiment, which is what the author would have, I think.

Anyway, back to meditation, here’s this Wednesday’s Haiku:

escape, it follows
chase, it leads you round and round
stop, it’s still at last

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Empty

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Yuttadhammo

Today our monastery is empty… Bhante Anoma took Nagasena and Jens to Ratanapura, Phalanyani left for Thailand, and no meditators until February.

Last night, the workers finished the second floor slab that will become the new bodhi terrace – this morning I went to walk on it for the first time, and indeed it feels sure to be a great place to meditate under the bodhi tree. But, it too has brought emptiness – the monastery bank account is now almost empty again, after months of solid construction and repair. Soon, that construction will have to stop for the time being.

So, it seems an ideal time to pause from the Internet as well; this weekend we will not be having our radio or study sessions; daily meditation is now on hold, and I may not be checking email regularly for the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, here’s Haiku #2:

living life in full
fully present, fully here
filled with emptiness

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Haiku #1

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Yuttadhammo

New Year’s resolution is to write one Haiki a week. Here’s my first:

back from Colombo
no to Mahiyangana
broadcasts this weekend

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Happy ‘nother Year

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Yuttadhammo

Yep, it’s a year again. Some newness for us, though, worth mentioning…

First, we’re on a new server now; it’s still a bit unstable, not sure why, but we’re now running a 64-bit operating system, which should help with memory issues (live streaming, for example).

Also, our monastery site has some new pages – an application form, course and ordination info, a construction photo gallery, and a new video tour.

We also have four new rooms that could potentially house meditators as is, but work will continue on the floors, wiring and bathrooms, so there might be some room shuffling in the next month.

We’re off to Colombo tomorrow, to see about visas again, and then to a place called Mahiyangana, where the Buddha is said to have visited (said by who, I’m not sure…). We’ll be back for Sutta Study on the 14th, hopefully with a few hundred tipitaka books from Thailand that we’re picking up as well.

So, newness. In the end, though, it’s all the same newness as before :)

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December 2011 Update

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Yuttadhammo

December has been a busy month on all fronts; after the novice ordination, there was the robe dying, robe-wearing instruction, etc. Then we started an off-line Pali class, which has been fruitful – for me at least, learning a bit more about how to teach Pali… not sure if this batch of students (Phalanyani and Nagasena) are learning anything, though.

A piece of glass got stuck in my foot in November, and even today I’m not sure it’s out; had the doctor cut it up and tell me there was no glass, so I let her bandage me up and send me home. Didn’t take the antibiotics she recommended, though, and it got quite infected for the two days I thought it was healing. Then a fever came, etc. and I was told fever=infection. Opened it up, sure enough, foot was turning blue :) Yes, it’s funny… monk thing. Bhante Anoma broke his wrist in November and it still hasn’t healed… I thought that was funny too. bhārā have pañcakkhandhā, bhārahāro ca puggalo.

Construction progress continues at a very good pace now that the rain has abated (it never really ends, per se). Two projects on the go – the second slab roof and the bodhi tree stairs; a third project on deck – the roof of the two rooms above mine. A man went up and tried to fix the leak in the upstairs cave; reports are that it leaks much less now… still leaks though.

Still no new rooms; waiting for an electrician and some new door and window frames to complete the two lower rooms, then it’s only a few days to plaster the walls, and begin on the individual bathrooms.

Sutta study and monk radio might take a break as they will fall around Christmas and New Year (not that it means much from our end…). We’ll plan to start up again first weekend in January.

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Posted on December 16, 2011 by Yuttadhammo

Went visaing for a day in Colombo, ended up three days there. Nagasena and Phalanyani weren’t able to get one year visas, so we spent two more days trying to figure out some solution.

Got to see the Kalaniya monastery, which is really special… so many people coming to visit the ancient Buddhist site.

Back in the forest now, Jens arrived from Germany, starts a course today. Work continues on the kutis, slow as molasses… but all is well.

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Bhaddekaratta Sutta Gatha

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Yuttadhammo

Just a “for-the-record” post, so I can come back to it again. Many translations of this important passage, none just right for me, so here is my own translation. Also, always nice to share dhamma.

Let one not go back to the past, nor worry about the future -
for the past is lost and the future is unreached;
And what phenomena arise here and now, let one see clearly into them all.

This is unconquerable, this is unshakeable; knowing that, let one devote oneself to it.
Today, indeed, should one strive at the task; who knows if death comes tomorrow?
There is no bargain to be made with him, Death with his great army.
But one who dwells thus ardently, day and night untiringly,
Is said to have a blessed day by the peaceful sage.

– MN 131

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And We’re Off

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Yuttadhammo

Turned ten on Sunday, and within twenty-four hours had ordained a student as a novice. Nicolas Chavez became Nāgasena Sāmaṇera. If you haven’t seen the video yet, here it is:

If you’ll notice, his robes are decidedly orange… fortunately, they were cotton and there was dye in the monastery, so we spent the rest of the day boiling dye and making his robes more, well, monkish.

This morning we had three on almsround, so I took a new route; tomorrow we start our rotation, changing routes every day; seems in line with the Buddha’s teaching to not create attachment on either side:

yathāpi bhamaro pupphaṃ, vaṇṇagandhamaheṭhayaṃ .
paleti rasamādāya, evaṃ gāme munī care.

Just as a bee in a flower, disturbing not the beauty or scent,
escapes with but the taste; so fares the sage in the village.

– Dhp 49

Today we took the first steps towards a yearly visa extension, signatures and such; Thursday off to Colombo to get the remaining signature and actual visa.

So, we’re off and, well, walking anyway. Two new bloggers and respective blogs on Sirimangalo.Org to mention:

http://phalanyani.sirimangalo.org/

and

http://nagasena.sirimangalo.org/

All is well in the forests.

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