Plus

Plus

Navam Poya falls on Wednesday
Teaching Dhamma for everyday life
Ven. Ajahn Brahmavamso Thero - a renowned guru of meditation from Western Australia was in Sri Lanka on a four-day visit
He came. He saw. He conquered. Before he arrived here on a four-day visit, we had heard of Ven. Ajahn Brahmavamso as a renowned meditation master from Western Australia. Those who had read his books were impressed. But little did we know that he is such a simple yet powerful personality.

Always with a smile, he put everyone at ease at his Dhamma sessions. Wherever he went, thousands turned up to listen to him. Whether it was at the BMICH or in open air, there was pin-drop silence as he spoke. At Maharagama Dharmayatanaya, around 10,000 devotees waited patiently to hear him. When he walked down from the Sanghawasa, they lined either side eager to have a closer look. When he walked back after a near 2 1/2 hour-discourse, he was never in a hurry. He stopped to oblige the autograph hunters and patiently answered numerous questions. And then by 8.00 p.m he was ready to address the monks of the Dharmayatanaya, looking fresh even after a full day's schedule. "I work hard as a monk," he says.

People in Australia and Singapore, where he is the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Fellowship, found his name too long. He asked them to call him 'Ajahn Brahm'. He is quick to adapt.

Ajahn Brahm's discourses centre round meditation but he makes them very interesting with anecdotes, personal experiences and humour. He explains meditation in simple terms. "Meditation is the way to achieve letting go. In meditation one lets go of the complex world outside in order to reach the serene world inside. In all types of mysticism, in many traditions, this is known as the path to the pure and powerful mind. The experience of this pure mind, released from the world, is very wonderful and bliss," he writes in The Basic Method of Meditation, a 30-page booklet.

"During meditation, we should not develop a mind which accumulates and holds on to things, but instead we develop a mind which is willing to let go of things, to let go of burdens," he explains. "Outside of meditation we have to carry the burden of our many duties, like so many heavy suitcases, but within the period of meditation so much baggage is unnecessary. So, in meditation, see how much baggage you can unload. Think of these things as burdens, heavy weights pressing upon you. Then you have the right attitude for letting go of these things, abandoning them freely without looking back."

He wants one to give maximum concentration whether it be meditation, one's job or whatever other work you do. That is the way to success. He related the story of how he gets involved doing manual work in his Bodhiyana Monastery in Serpentine off Perth. "Once there was some construction work. I started mixing concrete. By the time I finished, I was looking very untidy and had dust all over my robe. As I walked back to my kuti to wash, I met a well-dressed Sri Lankan lady. She wanted to know how she could meet the abbot of the monastery. I told her to go to the hall and wait, the abbot would come there in a few minutes. After a wash I went across and spoke to her. At the end of the discussion, with some reluctance she told me it would be better if I get the monks to look better and tidier and told me about a monk she met wearing a robe full of dust. I told her it was me!"

Asked why so many people are getting attracted to Buddhism all over the world, Ajahn Brahm had a simple answer. "Because Buddhism is the best religion in the world. It is the most scientific, it has the beautiful path of meditation and it creates so much of peace, happiness and harmony is the world."

"All the things that we criticise in other religions are absent in Buddhism," he said. "Buddhism is now being discovered for the first time in Europe. And now that they are discovering it, they realize that this wonderful teaching from the East dating back 2600 years, is in their midst and they take to it like ducks to water. Many people have told me "Why haven't we heard of the teachings of the Buddha before? If only we had known that such beautiful teachings of the Buddha were in existence, we would have been so happy."

Ajahn Brahm sees the lack of teachers as a stumbling block to the spread of Buddhism. "We haven't had, not the manpower, but monk-power and nun-power - teacher-power." At his monastery, he trains monks and nuns to be teachers of meditation. He calls it his main role and duty. "I am trying hard to give them a good training not just to study the Dhamma."

"It is very important that monks and nuns should have a solid experience and understanding in meditation. Teaching from books is not enough. They should be able to teach and guide others through experience," he insisted. "People in the western world want to have teachers who can teach the precepts - the pansil. But they should teach by example. People look at the teachers as their leaders and if they are not perfect, they begin to wonder why they should be perfect. Take the English word 'candida' from 'candid' which means 'white'. In the days of ancient Rome, anyone wanting to get into the Senate would wear white as the symbol of purity. You will be elected not on your promises for the future but on your conduct in the past because they want them to lead - lead by example."

Ajahn Brahm maintains cordial relations with all religious leaders in Australia. He spoke of how he made religious history when he was invited to address the Sunday mass from the pulpit of St George's Anglican Cathedral in Perth. At the invitation of Perth's Dean, John Shepherd, he became the first Buddhist ever to preach at a Eucharist, the cathedral's central service of worship - a role reserved usually for Anglican clergy.

Dwelling on his early days, (Peter Beggs was his name then) he spoke of how he became a keen student of Buddhism while studying Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University.

He was ordained in Bangkok when he was 23 years and then spent nine years studying and training in the forest, learning meditation under Venerable Ajahn Chah. In 1983 he was invited to assist in the establishment of a forest monastery in Serpentine. He resides there and at regular intervals is in retreat for six months when he doesn't meet anyone but meditates the whole time. Apart from being abbot of the monastery, he is also the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia.

Ajahn Brahm sees a bright future for Buddhism in Sri Lanka. "People are beginning to wonder why after having Buddhist traditions for so long, they haven't really started practising them. There is faith among many people. They have the seed. All they need is to water that seed. By giving good Dhamma teaching, by leading people into meditation, we can water the seed of the Dhamma in this land. Once again you will see the flowers of the Sasana blooming. The Arahats, the Anagamais, the Sakurdagamis and the Sovans - the four beautiful flowers will adorn the land of Sri Lanka again," he said confidently.

- D.C. Ranatunga

Back to Plus