Newsletter
c/o 89 Fentiman Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 0T7
Tel: (613) 730-0446,
Email: obs_secretary@yahoo.ca
WWW: http://www.geocities.com/obswebs/
February 2001 / 2544
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Newsletter |
| Charity No. BN 11907 1256 RR 001 c/o 89 Fentiman Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 0T7 Tel: (613) 730-0446, Email: obs_secretary@yahoo.ca WWW: http://www.geocities.com/obswebs/ |
February 2001 / 2544 |
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Yatha sakaradhanasmi -- ujjhitasmi mahapathe Paduma tattha jayetha -- sucigandha manorama Eva sakarabhutesu -- andhabhute puthujjane Atirocati pannaya -- sammasambuddhasavako. Just as a sweet-smelling and beautiful lotus can grow from a pile of discarded waste, the radiance of a true disciple of the Buddha outshines dark shadows cast by ignorance. Dhammapada, Verse 58-59 |
We drove in wind and blowing snow, icy roads. The forty-five minute drive to the Galilee Retreat Centre took me twice as long. It was dark. I was tired after a week at work.
Finally we came upon the town of Arnprior; at the end of the road, the Galilee Retreat Centre: a stately stone mansion from the 1850's, with a residential annex, nestled among the snow-laden fir trees, overlooking the Ottawa River and, beyond that, the Gatineau Hills. We had arrived!
The unwinding process began. In the silence, the stillness of the night, the first talk by Ajahn Viradhammo, the first sitting meditation, slowly the stress began to fade away and there was just the present moment.
At 5:30 am, the sound of the bell. Pure as a crystal; the only sound to be heard in the quiet of the morning. Minutes later, we were in the hall, chanting, breathing, listening...
Ajahn Viradhammo's presence was like a light drawing us near, a beacon for the mind and spirit. His teachings brought us back, over and over, to the Present Moment, to Loving-kindness, to the Precepts and the Four Noble Truths. Wisdom, insight, humour, compassion: Ajahn embodies and transmits them all.
The quiet joy of serving Ajahn a meal, the act of Dhamma, giving, sharing, warmed my heart.
Walking meditations in the vast beauty of these surroundings, conscious of my steps, the wind, each sound, emptiness.
At meals, companionship in silence; the unspoken yet profound sense of community.
Three days later, the breaking of silence, the sharing of experiences, the offering of gifts, the sadness of leaving.
Days and weeks later, I go back to this retreat as an oasis in my mind, recreating the stillness, the silence, where everything else falls away.
N.B. This retreat took place in an idyllic setting, with individual rooms, a large teaching/meditation hall, wonderful vegetarian cooking, and lots of space for personal recollection and meditation. Warm thanks to the organizers for having allowed us to participate in this very special event.
Ajahn Viradhammo is a Bhikkhu in the Thai Forest tradition currently the senior monk at Bodhinyanarama Monastery in Wellington, New Zealand
The members and executive of the OBS would like to convey their deepest and most sincere sympathies to Jonathan Chaplan and Nhung Hoang for the sudden and tragic loss of Jonathan's father. Mr. Chapalan was 81 years of age and in good health before being murdered while on holiday in Hawaii. Mr. Chaplan is survived by his wife of 52 years, his daughter and Jonathan.
Jonathan writes about his father:
"My father was always willing to help anyone in need. He was very centred on family, but would extend his caring to anyone else who needed his help. For example, in the last couple of years, there were acquaintances in the condominium that they lived in who were sick (and later died). My father would insist on giving them lifts to the hospital so that they would not have to take cabs.
My father collected things. Newspaper clippings from 1931 to 1939, matchbook covers... He was always had a small kidding sort of joke to make people smile.
My father was very intolerant of prejudice. His experience as a jew and the son of immigrants made him speak out if people were putting down immigrants, or especially if there was criticism of "getting tougher" about refugee laws. Later in his life he also extended his defence to those who criticized on the basis of sexual orientation."
Once a month, members and friends of the Ottawa Buddhist Society gather to practice mindfulness meditation at the Tu-An Pagoda (Vietnamese Buddhist Temple), 3591 Albion Road. We make an attempt to schedule this observance day on the Saturday on or before a full moon, to commemorate the fact that the Buddha was enlightened under a full moon.
The days of mindfulness are scheduled as follows (to be confirmed):
February 17th
March 17th
April 14th
May - no observance day. The Vesak May 11-13 week-end retreat will be held at the Galilee Centre)
June 10th (with Ajahn Viradhammo)
July - no observance day.
August 11
September 8th
October 6th
November 3rd
December 1st
Whenever possible, the Days of Mindfulness will be conducted by a visiting Monk or Nun or by a lay person with experience in conducting such events. However, we will often need to conduct such days of mindfulness in community and your participation and contribution is welcome.
May 11-13 Vesak week-end with Bhante Gunarathana at the Galilee Centre.
June 28 - July 8 Nine day meditation retreat with Ajahn Sona at the Galilee Centre.
We are planning for a week-end retreat in November 2001 but we do not have enough details to publish at the moment.
The OBS Library is happy to receive donations of dhamma books or tapes in new or nearly new condition. Those that are not added to the collection will be freely offered to the membership. Donations may also be made in memory of someone.
The following are some of the recent OBS library acquisitions:
Things As They Are: A Collection of Talks on the Training of the Mind, Venerable Achariya Maha Boowa Nanasampanno, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: WAVE, 1988, 216p. Thirteen talks given to monastics in Thailand by a monk known for his emphasis on the practical application of the Dhamma. Since the monks who had assembled to listen to the talks were at different stages in their practice, each talk deals with a number of issues on a wide variety of levels. Every reader who is interested in the training of the mind will benefit from these pages.(G#206)
Sutta-Nipata, H. Saddhatissa (transl.), Surrey, GB: Curzon, 1994, 135p., 0-7007-0181-8. This contemporary prose translation of a collection of the Buddha's shorter-length discourses presents a code of conduct that provides the basis for a system of moral philosophy. Contains a rational, straight-forward understanding of the ethics and psychology of Buddhism.(Su#209)
Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga), Arahant Upatissa, Kandy: BPS, 1995, 362p., 955-24-0054-6. A meditation manual evidently based on the experience of Buddhist monks in ancient times and compiled by a famous Sri Lankan monk who lived in the first century A.D. for the guidance of those intent on a contemplative life. The work is compiled in accordance with the classical Buddhist division of the path into the three stages of virtue, concentration, and wisdom, culminating in the goal of liberation. It is widely believed that the Vimuttimagga may have been the model used by Acariya Buddhaghosa to compose his magnum opus, the Visuddhimagga, several centuries later. The older work is marked by a leaner style and a more lively sense of urgency stemming from its primarily practical orientation.(M#210)
The executive of the OBS for 2001 was elected at the Annual General Meeting of December 2000. The new constitution of the executive is as follows:
President: Nissanka Pussegoda (npusse@magma.ca) 831-1972
Secretary: Andre Vellino (obs_secretary@yahoo.ca) 730-0446
Treasurer: Lionel Edirisinghe (laz@trytel.com) 591-8760
Librarian: Philip Jurgens (philipjurgens@hotmail.com) 830-8846
Director, Children & Youth Programs:
Priyani Mendis (smendis@magma.ca) 736-9015
Ex-Officio: Anoma De Silva (anomadesilva@yahoo.com) 226-8160
The Buddha advised bhikkhus, "Bhikkhus when you have assembled together you should do one of two things: have Dhamma discussions or observe noble silence."
Noble silence is the state of mind where there are no thoughts. The mind is totally silent. Thoughts can be stopped only if we train our mind to do so through correct meditation practice.
A meditator should begin by paying undivided and uninterrupted attention to one single object without verbalizing the experience in the mind. When you verbalize and conceptualize things, you interrupt your attention on the one hand and on the other you perpetuate your thoughts.
When you verbalize, you add more and more concepts or ideas. The reality is not a word or verb. The reality is what you experience. When you experience aches and pains or pleasure and happiness in or out of your meditation, you directly notice the experience exactly as it is. You don't need a conceptual bridge between your experience and direct knowledge. When you are hungry, you experience hunger without saying: "I am hungry, I am hungry."
You need nouns and verbs only to communicate your experience. When you meditate you observe total silence, not trying to talk to anybody about your experience. You should know yourself exactly as you are. You should feel yourself exactly as you are.
From babyhood through college, we learn to use words, concepts and ideas to make others understand us. But during meditation you are not trying to express your experience to anybody. By training your mind to remain silent, you make it silent. If you add more words to the mind, the mind simply remains busy.
We all have noticed people sitting or walking down the street carrying on a monologue with themselves. They cannot silence their minds. This is an extreme example of being unable to still thoughts. But in our own way, we wrestle with this in daily life and in meditation. It comes down to this; unless you try, you can never stop all that thinking. You still the thoughts only when you determine to do so.
Pay total attention to what you experience through the six senses without labeling what arises. There are certain things you experience for which no words are necessary. You simply know them. Your mind knows them. You stay with this knowing. When you feel cold, the normal habit is to say to yourself, "Gee, it is cold." When you feel hot, you automatically think, "Boy, it is hot." Simply pay attention to the cold you feel without this additional thought. Simply feel the heat without verbalizing the experience. When you remember visiting a place, or talking to someone, or eating ice cream or holding someone by the hand, simply become aware of those objects of your memory.
You need to gain full concentration to stop your thoughts. You do this by paying total attention to one object at a time. If you start the practice by focusing your mind exclusively on one object, gradually you condition your mind to overcome discursive thoughts by sustaining initial contact with the object.
When you listen to your heartbeat you don't need concepts to feel this subtle occurrence. Similarly, during meditation as you pay total attention to your in-breathing and out-breathing, you can notice the beginning, middle, and end of each inhaling and each exhaling. You can notice the brief pause between inhaling and exhaling. You can notice these natural occurrences in your breath if you pay total attention to them.
The mind moves so rapidly yet we can train it to notice these events exactly as they happen because they happen in succession. If you conceptualize these occurrences then you will be unable to notice them. Instead, you hang on to the words and miss the actual experience. You don't have to say, "This is the beginning of breathing in," or "This is the middle" or "This is the end." Simply notice these stages. You don't need thought to notice them. All you need is attention.
By no means do we become a vegetable when we still our thoughts. A quiet mind is receptive to insight. And you can stop the thought process by systematically training the mind.
I use the phrase "quieting the mind" or "silencing the mind" to mean not having thought in the mind, but this does not mean slowing down the mind like slowing down a body's metabolism during hibernation. It simply means not having thought-creating habits in the mind.
The brain does not manufacture thoughts unless we stimulate it with habitual verbalizing. When we train ourselves by constant practice to stop verbalizing, the brain can experience things as they are. By silencing the mind, we can experience real peace. As long as various kinds of thoughts agitate the brain, we don't experience 100 percent peace.
Peace is not a thought, not a concept, it is a nonverbal experience. One can stay in this peaceful state up to seven days. But before one attains such a totally peaceful state of mind, one should gradually train oneself to slow down thoughts. Once slowed down, thoughts fade away and no more new thoughts are fed into the brain.
Even while not meditating, we experience many things deeply for which often there are no words. We may try to find a word or verb for that experience. We may call it intuition. Yet intuitions may arise with no associated words or concepts. You can also listen to sounds without any words arising in the mind. It is said the best way to enjoy music is to listen to music. While hearing music, you listen to the sound without trying to verbalize the sound. Or consider how you listen to a bird's song; you don't verbalize the sound. You may say "The robin sings like this..." but that is your imagination.
This means that even outside of meditation you can experience many very subtle things simply by paying total attention to your senses. Most of the time, we verbalize things after we have experienced them, not while experiencing them. But when you pay total, nonverbal attention to something, you gain concentration which is not possible by verbalizing. Words stimulate the mind. Therefore the mind keeps producing more and more words and we express them in thoughts. By nonverbal attention, you can minimize the number of words you use. When the words are minimized, thoughts are minimized. Finally, this process makes the mind truly free from thoughts. But if you don't minimize the words, you can't free the mind from thoughts.
When you experience something, if you don't try to translate the experience into words you simply have the experience, not thoughts. Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, they can all be experienced directly without words. When you use words, you block your direct experience of sensory objects.
After all, it is not the words that make you experience what you experience. Suppose the color white appears before your eyes. The whiteness reflects on your eyes. The minds knows it as it is. Only if you want to express what you have seen do you really need words. Yet whiteness is not a word, but what it is. Blackness is not a word, but what it is. The same is true for sweetness, bitterness, sourness, toughness, and everything in your experience.
The brain does not manufacture thoughts from nothing. It has to be fed something to use as raw material for manufacturing thoughts. The raw material is what you have fed to it in the past. If you do not feed it words, if you have trained it by avoiding verbalization, the brain cannot manufacture thoughts from a vacuum.
