Greetings from Wat Buddha Dhamma;

I have not updated this Blog for some time, mainly because I have not been ‘rambling’ very much the last while. Following my trip to Indonesia last year, I have not left Australia and, since I am still waiting for results of my visa application, am not able to travel overseas.

Last year, following the Rains Retreat, I did, however, take a road trip with Ajahn Khemavaro and Anagarika Luke to visit one of the Buddha in the Bush properties in central north NSW near Bourke. This is a 10-hour drive from WBD but we took our time, staying overnight in the town of Dubbo.  We also stopped at Lithgow in the Blue Mountains for a picnic lunch in the park, the spectacular Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathhurst and the Bornore limestone caves outside of Orange.

The second day we drove the short distance to the property at Byrock where we had our lunch beside the reservoir amongst the herds of feral goats, and 37C temperatures. This area is called ‘The Gateway to the Outback’ so is extremely dry although still having some scrub forest growing through the red clay.

We returned to WBD by the northern route passing through Bourke, Brewarinna, and Walgett, for an overnight in Narrabri to visit Mt. Kaputar National Park. The park is an old volcanic cone rising up to 1,500 m out of the surrounding flat plain. In the morning, we hiked through the Waa Gorge to a towering rock face and then visited the more famous Sawn Rocks, a tower of basaltic crystals beside a paved walkway.*

We headed to WBD the following day passing through the Upper Hunter weaving through the open-cast coal mines and then along a scenic valley next to Yengo National Park to Mangrove Mountain.

  Bornore Caves, near Orange, NSW

In the earlier part of this year several senior Thai Ajahns visited. Ajahn Dtun opened the new monastery near Kempsey, Wat Buddha Metta; Ajahn Piak visited Wat Dhammacakkha near Brisbane and taught a weekend at WBD, and Ajahn Liam spent several days at WBD giving teachings to many of our devoted disciples. We also had short visits from Ajahn Karuniko from Chithurst Monastery and Ajahn Sukhacitto from Germany.

I was scheduled to offer some teachings at Ratanagiri in northern NSW, however, a cyclone blew in and my trip was cancelled. Just as well since flood and storm damage was quite extensive. I then arranged a visit towards the end of June, the Sunday workshop turning out to be a warm, sunny day with a keen group of meditators. However, for most of my time there it was cloudy and wet. I departed Gold Coast in a rain shower and thick cloud. Then, just as we flew over the Upper Hunter region the skies cleared and I could look right down into the gaping black pits of the coal mines which we passed the previous year. Then we passed over the rugged, thickly wooded Yengo National Park, crossed the Hawkesbury River at Wisemans Ferry – I could see the ferry crossing – over the yellow sand quarries of Maroota, and then into the suburbs of Sydney crossing the coast over the northern beaches with Sydney harbour and the CBD stretched out below, before banking west into Sydney Airport.

                                                Wattle in bloom at WBD

The theme of my teaching at Ratanagiri, as well as that at talks at WBD lately, has been on selflessness or the practice of going beyond self-making. This is really the essence of the Buddha’s teaching and I think that it is important to keep this goal in mind to give us the right perspective on what practice is all about.

All aspects of the Buddha’s teaching of the Eightfold Path – Morality, Meditation and Wisdom – involve the practice of selflessness. We give up some of our personal urges to follow the moral standard, we give up personal mental habits to train the mind in meditation and we contemplate the nonpersonal nature of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and no permanent self to experience wisdom.

The point is to be able to develop these aspects of the path without bringing self into it. When we think about it, we may notice that this is really a lot easier said than done. How many times have we noticed ourselves thinking ‘Look how virtuous I am following these precepts.’, or ‘My meditation is going really well.’ Ideally, we do the practice, without being the practice. And, perhaps more importantly, we can work at selflessness at any time with selfless acts of kindness, generosity of time or a smiling ‘hello’, not to mention letting go of self-centered thoughts.

Many people believe that cultivating the spiritual qualities of generosity, morality and meditation lead them to some higher realm of existence. In essence, though, cultivating these qualities is really about creating a greater degree of selflessness, which is a higher realm of existence. When we are caught up with our selfish problems, isn’t that like being in a hellish realm? And when we can step out of our self-centered worries or forget ourselves for a while, isn’t that like heaven? The spiritual practices are merely a skillful means to realize selflessness, which is a higher realm of being.   

When I lived with Ajahn Chah at Wat Pah Pong my main interest was to understand the special quality which caused him to be such a wise and skillful teacher. I recorded his talks and conscientiously translated them at my hut. I went to his hut many evenings to listen to his dialogues with various people and asked him my own questions. However, I was unable to discover his secret source of wisdom. Finally, after a critical period of confusion over his inconsistency in giving people answers, it dawned on me that really, ‘there is no Ajahn Chah’ as we usually conceive of him. In essence there was just mindfulness and wisdom functioning, and no permanent self behind it. In other words, the reason Ajahn Chah was such an exceptional teacher was because he was selfless – no permanent self manifesting, just the Dhamma functioning. With this realization I could then understand his inconsistency in responding to people because he was responding to the unique situation which they embodied and he responded to – different every time.

Similarly with us, if we can be more mindfully present with what is happening right now, without being preoccupied with our own self-interest and self-interpretations, we may notice that we are able to respond more accurately to what reality requires. Whenever we notice thought of ‘I’ or ‘mine’ arising, we can try to let them go and attune more to the way things really are.    

Wishing you all progress on the path to selflessness.

Metta,

Ajahn Tiradhammo 

*Some fine shots on YouTube ‘A Geological Wonder, Sawn Rocks – Mt. Kaputar National Park’ – Sawn Rocks at the start and Waa Gorge near the end.