#bhikkhu

At Sāvatthī. Standing to one side, that devatā recited this verse in the presence of the blessed one:

How many must one cut, how many abandon, and how many further must one develop? When a bhikkhu has surmounted how many ties is he called a crosser of the flood?

[The Blessed One]:

One must cut off five, and must develop a further five. A bhikkhu who has surmounted five ties is called a crosser of the flood.

Spk: one must cut off the lower fetters (identity view, doubt, the distorted grasp of rules and vows, sensual desire, ill will). One must abandon the five higher fetters (lust for form, lust for the formless, conceit, restlessness, ignorance). In order to cut off and abandon these fetters one must develop a further five, namely, the five spiritual faculties (faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom). The five ties are lust, hatred, delusion, conceit and views. A bhikkhu who has surmounted these five ties is called a crosser of the flood.

Recently I was asked what I would like my Dhamma legacy to be, and apart from an overriding emphasis on the cultivation and manifestation of a clear and loving heart for all beings, I would like to be remembered for sharing the beauty and joy of correct and complete Dhamma training. The idea that we can ‘just do it’ without the guidance and care from a skilled and fully trained teacher is erroneous and really only a part of the 'let's make everything easy and convenient', superficial spiritual business world. My own background was with a loving Master in a monastic environment where simplicity, humility and adherence to the rules was expected and the reminder that we came here to train and nothing else. Personal ease and comfort around accommodation and food (though always vegetarian) was never an issue and the only emphasis was that liberation from desire and fear cannot come by continually compromising what needs to be done. So I followed the path of the ancient ones and my own Master who shared this way of ‘self’ submission to the training and the retreat programme, devised especially for me and fellow disciples which allowed my old story, that which coloured every moment of my life, to become known and so released harmlessly into the universe. This way of practice and meditation is popularly known as Vipassana - the way to see things as they really are. This way demands that we leave our self created ‘comfort zone needs’ at home and simply be with the mind that continually demands we are never vulnerable in front of others. However, it is that very social, gender and culture vulnerability that we must meet in order to advance. To put down ‘self’ until all that remains is the loving heart and a smile on the lips. People often speak of meditation as though it is only one thing, but there are hundreds of different mediation practices and to put them all together does no service to any of them. Our practice in Pure Dhamma is Vipassana Bhavana, the cultivation of awareness, and Metta Bhavana, the cultivation of a fearless and loving relationship with life. According to our tradition these instructions come directly from the Buddha, and is for us to apply them and then test their validity in our life. For myself, in forty years of practice, submission to the wisdom of Dhamma and the non-ego way of training has never failed me. The two practices of love and awareness are like two hands that wash each other culminating in a wise and fearless approach to life as 'self' and all its conditions for happiness dissolve. With awareness we see, with love we accept and with wisdom we respond. This is the whole of Dhamma.

"Study Break"

A young monk studying at Wat Rajamontean, who was kind enough to let me take his photo. We had a quick chat, then I let him get back to his work.