I have two photos I took in Thailand showing some of the evolution of monks requisites, which I want to display below, but I don't know if I have enough room on the website.
The first bowl is Burmese style. The bowl itself is probably made of clay and the lid of wood, maybe bamboo.
The other bowls are from Thailand. The black one metal with an aluminium lid and the other stainless steel.
The first two? fans are Burmese. The third is probably an early Thai style. The fourth is an example of a fan signifying a special rank, or title, given by the King to recognise service to Buddhism. The third and fourth styles, the Thai styles, are now only used for ceremonies.
I returned to Brisbane on the 5th of January and have been asked to lead the meditation classes. They were only on Wednesday nights, but now I hold them on every night.
I have made contact with locals who are interested in meditation and have arranged to put an invitation to the meditation classes and other temple activities in the local Neighbourhood Watch Newsletter. I am preparing information for new-comers on Thai Culture, Buddhism and meditation, which I can hand to them when they turn up, or email them.
I am living in the only hut on the property, which is about 100m away from other buildings. It doesn't have electricity or running water, which is fine for me. I hope to upload a picture of the hut here soon.
I was asked to teach meditation [with my broken Thai] to 5 new temporary Thai monks over the next few days. One is an actor who works in Taiwan, another is his cousin.
I have been learning to read Thai with a teacher in the school here, which is funded by the temple. We should finish a book of 16 lessons before I leave.
Wat Umong [Tunnel Temple] on the other hand, was very welcoming. I wanted to see this place too. It practises according to the method of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu [Slave-of-the-Buddha Monk], to whom I have linked on my home page. I met him the first time I was a monk and was impressed that he encouraged people to read what the Buddha is supposed to have said himself. Of course, he had to translate it from high Thai to common Thai, so they could read and understand it. I chose my monk's name Dhammadasa Bhikkhu [Slave-of-the-Dhamma Monk] partly due to his inspiration and partly because the Buddha is supposed to have said that the only refuge he had was the Dhamma.
In Bangkok I did some shopping. :-) I ordered some monks' bags to be made with "BUDDHIST MONK FROM THAILAND" embroydered on them for the monks in Australia. I also ordered some monks' meditation umbrellas and mosquito nets to take to Australia. I need to return in one week to pick them up.
Regarding studying Thai, I just asked my Preceptor when I can start studying and he said he is waiting for the Deputy Principal to set the program and didn't say when that might be done. I'm not too confident it will be done very soon. While in Bangkok I arranged a teacher and a place to stay and said that I'd give the arrangements in Kanchanaburi a week to see the benefit. If that does not work, I told them I intended to come back on the first of December.
I don't mind living in Bangkok if there is great benefit. For example, studying Thai four hours a day with a person skilled in teaching language. If a teacher is found here, I'll have to see what skills they have and how much time each day they will have available.
On a totally different subject, the king's older sister died not so long ago and the government is sponsoring a memorial tomorrow in this temple and possibly all the royal sponsored temples.
I have been invited to see Chiang Mai with the monk whose room I am using, who is from there. I'd like to visit and introduce myself to the people at Wat Ram Poeng (Tapotaram), Northern Insight Meditation Center for future reference. Once back from Chiang Mai, I intend to go to Bangkok to look for a place to study Thai for a few months. If I don't find a place in a week or two, I hope to return to Australia.
I was in contact with my eldest brother the other day and he said he is now married to a Thai lady and living back in Caloundra. So now I have a Thai person in my family. He updated me on family news. My father separated from his wife of only a few years, as she now has dimentia. She is in a nursing home and is 84 years old, six years older than my father, who is now in a retirement village and not so well. This news spearheads my return to Australia.
A couple of not so good things I've noticed about temple culture in Thailand is, because people revere statues etc of respected people, they can't throw them in the rubbish bin, if they get broken. Instead they deposit them at the base of a Bodhi tree, which is often at the nearest temple. People also deposit unwanted animals. I recently saw 4 kittens in a box outside an entrance to the main hall and two small pups were deposited near my room the other day. I made a kennel for the pups from things lying around. Fortunately a monk took them both to his temple today.
My Preceptor is also preparing to leave for Australia for the Kathina Ceremonies in the two temples the former abbot of this temple established: the one in Brisbane and one in Melbourne. He will fly out tomorrow with 10 other monks and 11 laypeople. He has asked me to stay here till he returns on the 12th of November.
I created this timetable as a template for future practice by myself, in Brisbane, or in the meditation centre in Kanchanaburi that I mentioned in the entry below for 20080725. It has time for chanting, mindful work, Dhamma discussion and study. So I think it is quite balanced. It also makes optional cutting back on sleep and my intention there is that people only do so as their practice improves, not as an egotistic game to prove one is a "good meditator". I gave a copy to the monk who is organising the meditation centre for his interest and comment. When I told him about my plans for study in Bangkok, he suggested I stay at Wat Paknam, as there are usually quite a few foreign monks there and they would have ideas on studying Thai in Bangkok. So I intend to ask for a recommendation letter from my Preceptor to stay at Wat Paknam.
I remembered another strange event that you might like to know. After I gave my short Dhamma talk in Thai on the 14th, I passed some bottles of water, which were in front of me, to the senior monks who sat behind me. I gave them the bottles which had straws, out of respect. There was one bottle left which didn't have a straw and I kept that for myself and drank directly from the bottle. I was sitting next to the Abbot and facing a large audience. The Abbot took one of the straws from one of the bottles I had offered the senior monks while he was talking to a lay supporter and held it in one hand, which he waved about in an expressive mode, while talking. After he had finished talking to the layperson, he gave the straw to me and said to use a straw when drinking from a bottle and I thanked him. I thought that his insidental waving the straw around was intentional to draw the attention of the laity to him telling me to use a straw. I think this is part of the strong "must be seen to do the polite thing" [keeping face] in Thai culture. Of course, for a westerner like me, it seemed ostentatious.
Only four other monks joined me. I was ashamed to be associated with them due to their not abiding by the agreement they made at the start of the retreat, specifically not to eat together and not to chit chat. At least they kept their voices low when they had their regular chit chat sessions in the room next to mine. I expressed appreciation for that, but I also scolded them once when the four of them were having lunch together.
My practice went quite smoothly, not that I didn't have emotional ups and downs, but I noted them. The week before going there I had suffered from a fairly mild case of amoebic disentry. The night before we left, I decided to go to the hospital and get medicine, which I was taking for the first 3 days of the retreat. I did sleep more than recommended, but I think the timetable is flexible for those that cannot manage on 5.5 hours sleep.
Since I am quite familiar with the meditation technique, I have decided to prioritise learning Thai before returning to Australia for my planned Masters in Religious Studies starting next March. I plan to stay in Bangkok for the "cold" season and go to AUA and stay in a temple near by. One short-term monk that I met during the retreat, lives nearby AUA and said he'll help me find a suitable temple once he disrobes on the 31st of October. I have yet to get permission for all this from my Preceptor.
Those that take the 8 Precepts stay in the temple the whole day and spend time chanting, reading, discussing and meditating. At 8pm there is another sermon [Dhamma talk].
I have asked the Abbot if I can give a short sermon [Dhamma talk] in Thai, after the main one in the morning and he said "yes, very good".
You may not have picked up that there has been a bit of a culture clash as far as my future goes. There are basically two kinds of monks, study monks and meditation monks and I have taken ordination with study monks. I thought there would not be a problem, as the former abbot, who was a study monk, encouraged me to practise meditation. He saw I was very interested in it and maybe he knew most westerners are, but my current Ordinator [Preceptor] has not had the same attitude. He wants me to study only, whereas I want to meditate AND study, but in that order. The reason being, I believe more intensive meditation will cure my chronic fatigue, which affects my ability to concentrate and remember short term, which are needed to study successfully.
I thought it would be better for me to learn Thai first, but getting help with Thai has been a problem. One hour a day, has not worked out and even if it did, I'm thinking that would not be enough. I have looked into Thai studies in Bangkok for 2 months, 4 hours a day, six days a week, which I was contemplating after a meditation retreat. I have now given up on trying to get help from others to study Thai. Since I'll be continuing to learn Thai by myself, I could do it anywhere and thought the Thai temple in Brisbane is just as good as here.
Also I've decided against the New Monks' Studies as they are mainly regarding secondary material, not the words of the Buddha. I now think doing an MA would be better, as initially suggested by my Preceptor, but I'd rather do it in Australia. I've said I'd like to start my MA in Australia March next year and would like to do more meditation in the mean time. It is being considered.
Anyway my Preceptor has asked me to join him in visiting Ayuthaya, an ancient capital of Thailand, where the university that he wants me to study at has been relocated and I said I'm happy to do so. It will probably happen after the 25th, which is our Kathin Ceremony. In the mean time I've planned a week-long meditation retreat and six or so monks would like to join me.
The first one, marone, is used in Tibet, Myanmar [Burma] and in Thailand near the Mynmar boarder. The second, bright orange colour, is used in the city [study] temples more, as there are many more people and woman make a special effort to avoid contact with monks. So the bright colour is an aid to that. The third one, kaki, is used in forest [meditation] monasteries more and with the smaller group of monks that was started by a former Thai king. The last one, brown, seems to be popular with city [study] temples, as an alternative to the bright orange colour. If you didn't notice, we use the bright orange in this temple.
The smaller group of monks was created partly because the king didn't like monks using money, which they originally weren't alowed to do, but now many of those monks use money too, just as most of the larger group of monks do. Or as I have seen, some high monks of the smaller group claim money held by laypeole as belonging to their group. The monks' rules are not to keep and use money for oneself, or have others keep it. So one cannot have one's cake and eat it, in this case.
I updated the temple project page. Please have a look.
Pictures of this temple are here.
This is a picture of the river view from my back patio. What you see to the left and jutting out into the river, is the end of the floating deck from which people feed the fish. People also release fish in the enclosure formed by the floating deck, but the fish are free to swim out of the enclosure at any time.
This is a picture of a teak leaf, with an adult's hand to get an idea of the size.
I hope to study the New Monk's Studies in English as well. Then at the end of the next Monk's Rains Retreat, I hope to do the Thai exams for all three levels of the New Monk's Studies.
In any case I can continue my personal practice of meditation, which is going quite well and may have occasional week or so retreats.
I asked my preceptor when the academic year starts in Thailand and he said April/May. So I have some months yet and I'd like to go ahead with my original plan of going on a meditation retreat in November. Since I'll be here for two whole years doing the master degree, I don't think learning Thai is a good enough reason not to go ahead with my original plan. I can learn Thai while I study at uni.
If I go on to do a doctorate, I think I'd perfer to do it in the non-religious university called Mahidol. I remember the time I was doing my BA in Australia. At that time my mindfulness practice was the best it had ever been as a layman.
Today I asked my preceptor if I could go to stay in Wat Pak Nam [mentioned in the entry for 20000827] in Bangkok after the Rainy Season, as they have New Monk's Studies in English. He said he'd think about it, but he was hoping I'd do a Master's in the Buddhist Monk's University, Mahachulalongkorn [of which there is a campus in this temple's grounds]. I explained that I started a Master's in Australia, but because I have Chronic Fatigue I could not continue the studies and this is one reason why I wanted to do meditation again. That is, I believe meditation will help me get over the Chronic Fatigue. I said I don't think I could do full time studies at this time and he said he'd think about it. [I was thinking I could do the New Monk's Studies part time, but I'd have to check that. I'd also have to check that I could stay in Wat Pak Nam. I think staying there was what my former preceptor meant. Even if it was, I'd have to check if they had room.]
The other reason I didn't mention was that in Bangkok, maybe I can attend formal classes in Thai Language. The monks here don't seem to have the time to help me.
I told them how my elder brother had come to Thailand about 9 months ago to do Christian missionary work and now I am in Thailand and may go back to Australia to do Buddhist missionary work.
I explained that I changed from Christian to Buddhist because the Christians don't believe one can liberate oneself from suffering in this life. Most Christians don't accept the teachings of any other religion, even though they have not tested them. The Bible does teach to "test all things and keep what is good", but most Christians don't do that. Believing or rejecting without testing is called "blind faith", which is not accepted in the Buddha's teaching. "Faith" in the Buddha's teaching is called "faith based on reason" at the start, then once one has tested and found the path is true, it is faith based on experience. It is then no longer just a matter of belief, but personal and direct knowledge, but one has not yet finished the training. One has walked the path once and knows it works, but one has yet to perfect the path, so that one is walking it all the time.
Yesterday I found four banana trees had been badly damaged. There were some young kids running around and we asked them if they saw who did it and they dobed each other in. We cut the trees back and they should survive.
My Thai seems to be going slowly. There are many people who want to learn English, but when it comes to helping me with Thai the volunteers don't seem to exist.
I've prepared notes for the other two subjects that I've been asked to lecture at: History of Buddhism and Buddhism in Asia.
After the ceremony we went to pay respects to the senior monks. There were 5 monks from the Monks' Sangha Council. There are only 9 monks on the council in total, including the head monk of all monks in Thailand, the Sangha-raja. He is like the Dalai Lama in that sense, but the Dalai Lama was also secular head of Tibet. Secular and religious government are separated in Thailand, for the most part. The Sangha-raja is chosen by the Monk's Sangha Council and recommended to the King. The King has to give his approval.
My preceptor from the previous time I was a monk is now on the Monk's Sangha Council. He was present and we went to pay respects. He said three years is enough to study meditation and suggested I should do the New Monk's Studies including Pali. We explained that I had studied Pali in Queensland University in Australia and that my Thai wasn't good enough to do the New Monk's Studies yet. He suggested I visit him at his temple, Wat Pak Nam, in Bangkok, as they have the New Monk's Studies in English. It seems many western monks study there.
We got back in time for evening chanting, so I resumed my normal routine. It started to rain as I was getting ready to do some work in the garden, collecting leaves to mulch the banana trees. I spotted novices collecting the piles of leaves sweeped up and asked if I could have them, instead of them throwing them away, which is what they usually do. I took a heap and they brought the rest, but I still need more to finish mulching.
Last night I tried to get help to do a sample of the Thai version of the new edition of the chant book with word by word translation, but the monk didn't quite understand. The idea is to have a simple word by word translation, so it is easy for anyone to quickly look below the Pali word, as they are chanting it, to see what the basic meaning is. He was translation many of the single words with almost full sentences.
My Non-immigrant Visa was initially for 3 months with a possibility to extend for another nine months. The initial three months finishes on the 27th of September and we are in the process of applying for the extention. We went to the local branch of the Immigration Department, but they said we needed a letter from the National Department of Buddhism. Once we have that we could extend the visa here or in Bangkok. We are preparing to get the letter tomorrow.
This is the end of the semester. I have been asked to teach another Uni class converstational English next semester.
I forgot to mention that I've had some wildlife visitors over the last two weeks. This might be due to the rain increasing. First I found a scorpion wandering round my pillow - people sleep on the floor here and I live on the ground floor. Then I found a tick wandering round my pillow. Yesterday I saw a small green tree snake a few metres from my door.
On a totally different topic: I have uploaded an approximate timetable for me here.
This is the main temple of Kanchanaburi province, Wat Tai [Wat Chaichumpon Chanasongkhram]. They have a museum here about the building of the "death" railway over the River Kwai [Properly pronounced Kwae - "ae" as in the "a" in cat.] to Burma. It is called JEATH Museum, which is an annagram of the first letters of the countries of the people involved [Japan, England, Australia/America, Thailand and Holland]. Sir Weary Dunlop has visited it, as well as officials of Thailand and ex-POW's.
The temple is by the river which is fairly clean - we are quite a way inland and there are mountains all around within about 50km, where I guess the river starts. I see many foreigners each day boarding tour boats. I spoke to some the other day who came into the main hall when the monks were eating. They were a group of young ladies from Slovinia. The monks invited them to have lunch and I chatted with them over lunch.
Since I did a BA and majored in Buddhist studies, yesterday I was asked to give a talk in a branch of the monk's university here to those doing their BA in Buddhist Studies. I presented some new ideas, that I think weren't too challenging as they agreed with basic principles, but maybe not some of the dogma. One monk didn't take it well and said something like "Thai's don't have faith in foreigners teaching them their religion, better you teach other foreigners". A few monks seemed very pleased at my ideas. We'll see how it is taken generally. :-)
Of course I have been asked to teach English to various age groups, which I'll be happy to do, but I will have studies to do as a monk myself and I want to improve my Thai. So teaching English etc will be secondary.
A reply just came to me, that's why I'm adding this entry. "Yes, I'm running away. When a fire is approching one that one cannot control, then it is wise to... RUN AWAY." He had the strong anger fire... part of his inner life, but he obviously didn't have the control over it needed to actually have an open mind and ask questions with an attitude of wanting to understand. This latter quality was obviously missing, even though he DID ask a question, it came from the basis [attitude] of pre-judgement and dismissal.... a lesson I learnt a long time ago: don't ask a question if you cannot accept any answer. That is just wasting your time and theirs. It is an ego game of showing that one wants to learn, but not really wanting to change any beliefs or views. In short, "I want to learn, but I am right."
This pic was taken in the subway in Bangkok showing how much a Buddhist country Thailand is.
