NEWS and MUSINGS

This week the monks in Burma have won the admiration of the world for their courage and peaceful protests.
To be Buddhist is to try to follow the Buddha's advice and to maintain our metta, our loving-kindness, even for those who oppress us and who prefer to follow in the footsteps of Mara.
This afternoon we went to London to a gathering at the Peace Pagoda on the South Bank of the Thames in Battersea Park. Burmese monks were there and we joined them for the chanting of the Metta Sutta, the Buddha's discourse on Loving-Kindness. There were many people present looking on and offering their silent support, English and probably various nationalities, as well as Burmese. A Burmese monk talked briefly in Burmese and then it was my turn to speak in English. What could I say? What can we do? At least let us not give way to anger, nor to despair but let us hope for better things and put our trust in the Buddhist Path and particularly in the power of Metta, of Loving-Kindness, to overcome the dreadful things that we hear of happening now to the monks in Burma. What can we do? Not much, unfortunately but we can show we care and we can make sure that the monks and people who have paid such a price this week are not forgotten and that the cause they have suffered for so dreadfully is not lost or abandoned.
May all beings be well and happy.

It's six years since it was last done, so we decided that this year the Shrine Room really had to be painted and this week we finally got around to it. Tuesday afternoon and evening we did the preparation and painted the first half and Wednesday we did the rest.

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You don't always know when you're well off, although having said that, there's always room for improvement and I believe one should try to do better. Well I tried and that took me and my blog away to Blogspot but I'm still trying and now I realise that I was better off with Opera, so back I've come. Unfortunately there's no way now to import blogs from Blogspot, so I've copied my recent blogs with Blogspot all in one go into one big blog. The links and photos are gradually being added when I have time. Enjoy.

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Ant appeared here today with his enthusiasm for things Thai taken to new heights - now a black haired boy no less! He'd arranged a sponsored walk in aid of funds to pay off the Wood Cottage debt. Thirteen young people from Warwick University led by Tahn Manapo walked from Hampton Lucy, by the river and up along the bridle path to Wood Cottage, where they revived themselves with a cream tea that Ant had thoughtfully arranged. Tahn Manapo of course just got the tea. Sadly, I couldn't walk with them. My foot is much better and on the flat I'm walking normally but I still have to be careful on rough ground. I did walk over to Wood Cottage and joined them for a few minutes in the Shrine Room, which is where this group picture was taken. As he took it and wasn't in it and as his new look deserves a wider appreciation, an individual shot of Ant is included.
Hopefully these walks will catch on and there will be more of them as the year progresses, with me joining in. Amazingly, they raised £220 today, which is absolutely marvellous. Well done and Anumodana!

Last weekend, from Friday to Sunday, the first ever Armed Forces Buddhist Community Conference was held at Amport House, the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre.
I attended on the Friday afternoon to support the opening and introductory session and again on Saturday afternoon when I gave a talk.
Amport House lies deep in the Hampshire countryside and is not easy to find or get to. Nor is it easy to escape from and on Friday I'm afraid I thought that just as well as we laboured through one speech of welcome and introduction after another. Of course it was very kind and very nice of so many from the Amed Forces Chaplaincy and the MOD to be there to wish us well and impress on us all the importance of this historic occasion. It was interesting too to hear the Jewish version of that old chestnut about members of different faiths all going up the same mountain by different paths. In his version, the good rabbi had us all shopping at Harrods when a fire alarm goes off and we all have to find our way out, some down the escalators, some in the lifts, some in various other ways, all to the one and only exit. Well, in its way this is all very nice and yes, we do share some things in common but different religions do differ from each other and Buddhism is especially different from the rest.
That was how I began my presentation the next day on the Saturday afternoon when I pointed out that the other great religions all have a God and believe in God, while we do not. For them their morality depends on what they believe God sanctions or wants them to do while for Buddhists it's the principle of harmlessness and close attention to what is intended that is important. This means, for example, that some who believe in God see killing and violence as acceptable but for us that's never the case. I talked about the formation of a multifaith chaplaincy in the Prison Service and how I saw the importance in that of being able to be on friendly terms even with those with whom you disagreed. And I spoke of the difficulty some Buddhists still have with the idea of a Buddhist chaplaincy to the Armed Forces. Buddhism is after all essentially pacifist and unlike other religions gives no justification whatsoever for violence and warfare. I told how I had had to explain that a Buddhist chaplaincy to the Armed Forces was not there for what the Forces were there for but for the people in the Forces, people who suffered and who might benefit by hearing and practising the Dhamma. I have never forgotten visiting the wounded in Ubon Hospital during the war in Vietnam and Laos nor seeing anguished high ranking soldiers sitting at Ajahn Chah's feet. Then I spoke about my thirty years of Buddhism in the prisons and Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy. Of course I told them the story of Angulimala, the serial killer who became a bhikkhu and an arahant. And I told them of the admirable tenacity and commitment with which many prisoners practise meditation and Buddhist teaching against odds and in conditions that your average middle class Buddhist would scarcely imagine. I concluded my presentation by trying to make things a little more interactive and asked if any of my audience would care to say what they felt about their job now that they were exploring Buddhism.
On our way back on Friday we stopped at Avebury and strolled for a few minutes amongst the stones; and on Saturday we made a bit of a detour to the coast to enjoy a wonderful evening walk and a breath or two of invigorating sea air.

It's a beautiful sunny day and we've just got back from Nottingham where we had been to a Songkrahn celebration at Yod and Nid's Yod Siam Thai Restaurant.
It was a wonderful occasion with a lot of people there. It began with those who wished to taking the Refuges and Five Precepts, then we chanted the Parittas. Next we went pindabaht outside and everyone had the opportunity to contribute to our meal by putting in our bowls something they'd brought or something from the delicious food Yod had provided. After everyone had eaten came the ritual bathing of the Buddha Image, followed by we monks and then whoever you wished. Then there was a lull while three young babies were brought forward for the traditional cutting of the first hair. Next came the very generous offerings of flowers and various supplies for the temple. And that was followed by a few words from me. When I'd said the usual things about keeping the moral precepts and behaving well I mentioned how I'd first come to Nottingham during my career with the National Theatre. I remember it was bitterly cold and snowing and the theatre was old and there was no way we could keep the draughts and snow from blowing into our dressing room. The impression that I held in my mind then of Nottingham was that it was a pretty grim place. But today what a different Nottingham with the sun and hundreds of Thai smiles shining upon us.
We got back safely after a pretty speedy drive at three o'clock, the car laden with food, flowers and all sorts of useful things, including a bag of cash containing £829 which should make our treasurer smile too.
Anumodana and a Very Happy Thai New Year.
Go to the Photos tab at the top to see some pictures of today in Nottingham.
Tomorrow it's Songkrahn at Wat Pah Santidhamma, The Forest Hermitage.

On Saturday, March 10th it was time for another Angulimala Workshop. These are the quarterly meetings we hold here for members of Angulimala's team of Buddhist prison chaplains. We always begin with meditation and then through the course of the day we look at some of the changes in the prisons that might affect us, we spend some time on aspects of the Dhamma and prison life, we even touch on what is known in the prisons as 'gaol craft' and in the Report In session we hear from each other how we're getting on. The day also has an important social element that builds good supportive friendship and which is usually helped by the wonderful food that our helpers here go to a great deal of trouble to prepare.
At last week's workshop we spent some time discussing Multifaith Chaplaincy: the implications of so called 'generic duties' and how far Buddhist principles and morality permit collaborative work with other faiths. We have to admit there are differences between us and those of other persuasions and things about which we will never be able to agree or support but despite that we can still extend our metta and try to be friends. Then we moved on to Restorative Justice and tried to look at this from a Buddhist perspective. As I opened the discussion I touched on the Angulimala story which demonstrates that change even in the most extreme of circumstances is possible and reminds us too that the Buddha succeeded where others had failed not by force and with weapons but by persuasion and example; and that led us to reflect on the importance of the precepts and the maintenance of good personal standards. I went on to tell the story of the Lion's Roar Sutta, about the responsibility of a ruler which again really emphasises the need to lead by example. Naturally, we included in our discussion kamma or karma and the responsibility we must all bear for what we say and do. I had better add that I have serious reservations about the term 'Restorative Justice'. It suggests that you can restore things to how they once were, which of course is nonsense. You can't put the clock back but you can learn and move on, growing as you go. The other term we had trouble with was 'victim'. Most of us have been on the receiving end of crime at some time but wasn't that part of the suffering and unsatisfactoriness of our world and does it help to identify ourselves as victims? That label can imprison us as securely as thinking of another human being only as a criminal, an ex-con or offender.
Our Angulimala Workshops are quite long days, starting at 10 o'clock in the morning, and with the committee meeting that follows they are seldom over before 7 pm. I think they're usually productive and useful, as well as enjoyable. That seemed to be the view last week and at least one chaplain said the day had really cheered her up and she hadn't laughed as much for ages.
Sunday was a pretty full day with visitors and in the afternoon Rob and Polly, two actors who started coming here when they were both at Stratford, made a welcome return. Polly was at Drama Centre where I was a founding student and so we always have things to talk about.
On Monday afternoon it was Long Lartin Prison.
Then on Tuesday afternoon I left Tan Manapo and Samanain painting the main building and went off to London with Pie and Prang to meet Khun Jung, the owner of Sripanwa, the heavenly place where we'd stayed in January, to take her to the House of Lords for tea with Lord Avebury. We had a great time and while we were at it celebrated Prang's completion of her PhD thesis. Afterwards we went back to Khun Jung's flat for a chat with her son and daughter and friends.
Wednesday afternoon and evening I spent in Broadmoor, a place of immense care and compassion that I love to go to, visiting Buddhist patients.
On Thursday evening it was the last meeting this term of Warwick Uni Buddhist Society. As usual there was a sitting and I gave a talk. But unusually, afterwards we had a video. It was the Open University film 'The Mindful Way' about Ajahn Chah and Wat Pah Pong, and very nice to see again and on a big screen.
Since then I've been pottering about here trying to catch up on things I've procrastinated over.
I've just let my dogs out and it was snowing!

The outside of our main building, once a pair of gamekeeper's cottages, hadn't been touched in years so we decided to hang the expense and get it repaired and painted before the wisteria regrows. We would have liked to have had it done for Magha Puja but the weather has put a bit of a damper on that idea. Well, more than that really. After a real push yesterday to take advantage of two sunny days that the BBC had promised to at least get the front done in time for our celebration tomorrow, a mammoth downpour last night washed away a good bit of our very expensive paint that we couldn't really afford. Moral: everything's uncertain and take the BBC weather forecast with a pinch of salt.
Incidentally, our choice of colour was inspired by the villas at Sri panwa where we stayed on the island of Phuket at the end of January.
Already this morning the paint is being patched up and made ready for tomorrow - see the last three pictures in the photo album 'Painting the Forest Hermitage'. There are pictures there of yesterday too, you'll find the albums under the Photos tab near the top of the page.
And we are trying out our brand new marquee that we found on eBay. At least we'll have somewhere dry outside where people can eat tomorrow, as long as it doesn't get destroyed by a storm in the night.
If anyone wants to come and help today, you'll be very welcome. And tomorrow we'll still need some help but mostly we'd like you to come and join our celebration and witness Sid's going forth. We start at around 10:30 tomorrow and the ordination is at one o'clock.

As we were driven up the motorway after landing I remembered Khun Ting telling me how when she first came to England and was being driven to Nottingham she asked why all the dead trees were being kept. After Thailand it did look a bit bleak but happily as we neared Warwick the sun came out and although of course it was quite a bit colder than we had been getting used it was still quite pleasant. But as we all know now more change was on its way and this last week it's been bitterly cold and snowed heavily. Under the Photos tab you will also find an album of pictures of the Forest Hermitage and Wood Cottage in the recent snow.
The week began on Monday with a trip back to where I lived as a child for my mother's funeral. She was 92 and died on January 2nd. On Tuesday I managed a prison visit and on Wednesday I went to London for an evening with the Imperial College Buddhist Society, which was very enjoyable. The following evening I was supposed to go to Warwick University Buddhist Society but the snow had arrived and the narrow and winding lane in which we live was pretty treacherous, so it was decided rather to be safe than sorry. On Friday the lane was passable and a coach-load of girls from King's in Warwick visited for an hour in the afternoon but for our evening sitting only three people turned up. On Saturday morning we were driven at some speed to Warwick University to receive alms from two groups of students. It was pretty different from recent pindapaht in Thailand and admirably some of the students insisted on removing their footwear to stand in the cold and sleet and very generously put food in our bowls. On Sunday afternoon we had a meeting of our committee at which we first welcomed two new members, Elizabeth and Prang. We have been wanting to do a few repairs and decorate and brighten the place up but I'm afraid we're going to have to reconsider because the news from the Treasurer was not good. In brief, recent income has been nowhere near what it costs to run our operations. We went on to talk at some length about what might be done to improve the financial position. The £145,000 debt on Wood Cottage of course remains a major burden.

This evening we watched our last sunset in Phuket, at least for this year I expect. Tomorrow afternoon we're due to fly back to Bangkok and on Thursday night, London.
To go back to where I left you, the last time I posted we were still in Lamphun and on Thursday about to explore a huge and spectacular cave. It wasn't the one I found many years ago when I was last up that way. This one was different and someone had gone to a lot of trouble to develop it as a tourist attraction but clearly the business wasn't there and it's been abandoned. The steps and walkways are still there and it was easy to get up to but the lights they'd installed had gone and we had to rely on torches to penetrate the darkness.
Next day, Ajahn Lai took us up to the highest point in Thailand: Doi Intanon, about 8,500 feet above sea level. In case you're wondering how I made such a spectacular climb with my injured foot, I'd better confess that it was a pretty comfortable drive. We were lucky, apparently it can be one of those places wreathed in mist where you just read about the view but last Friday it was bathed in brilliant sunshine and wonderfully cool. We did the forest walk and then drove down a bit to the two big chedis built by the King and the Queen, one each. Both were surrounded by beautiful English gardens with antirrhinums and phlox and somewhere a band playing the sort of music I last heard at a Buckingham Palace garden party.
Early on Saturday morning Bob drove out from Chiangmai to collect us and take us to eat at their house. It was Bob's birthday. In the afternoon we went on a little riverboat trip up to a herb garden. Unfortunately there were other passengers and on the way up river we had to listen to a Yank and a Canadian discussing the relative strengths of the Canadian and American dollar and on the way downstream two couples describing their other holidays. Then it was back to Bob and Nee's to get ready for the evening flight to Bangkok.
Early next morning with Khun Jung we were off again to Suvarnabhumi, the new airport, to catch our flight for Phuket. This of course is where the Tsunami hit so savagely a couple of years ago, but not the part where we were going. Our first stop when we'd landed was the hospital to have my foot checked. I'd fallen again the night before and so I had my blood pressure taken again and I had an xray which confirmed that there had been no break. I left kitted out with a new ankle-support and some medicine. Then we went to this spectacular place where we're staying. I don't have the words to do it justice, nor indeed the kindness and generosity that has been lavished upon us by Khun Jung and Khun Songkran and everyone here. All I can say is if you want to take a look and have your breath taken away, just go to Sri panwa.

Wednesday evening Peter brought Matthew to say goodbye. It had been a really nice surprise at the new Bangkok Airport when we were about to get on the plane for Ubon on Sunday to find that Matthew hadn't just come to greet us but was coming with us to the North East. That meant that when we landed at Ubon Airport not only was there the car and monks from Wat Pah Nanachat to meet us but Peter and Thippawan as well as Matthew had arranged to stay with them.
The following day, the 15th, Peter and Matt came to see me and in the afternoon we all went over to Wat Pah Pong. We had a quiet walk to the Luangpor Chah Chedi and paid our respects. It was a wonderfully serene and pleasant time. Monks and lay people were walking and sitting meditation and just being there. And of course it was warm and sunny, full of smiles and profound and easy respect.
When we came back to the outer sala where the car was parked I took up the offer of a massage of my tired and injured foot and had my blood pressure taken as well. I don't understand the figures but apparently my blood pressure was well within normal limits and pretty good for my age! They thought I looked after myself pretty well.
Then we came back to Wat Pah Nanachat and I posted a brief update to my blog to say we were here.
The 16th was the big day. This was the 15th anniversary of Luangpor Chah's passing. Peter, Thippawan and Matthew came for Tahn Manapo and I at midday and we drove to Wat Pah Pong. When I got there, in preparation for the long circumambulation I had my foot massaged again. Then we made our way to the main sala where a Dhamma Desana was in progress. At 3 pm preparations began for the procession out to the Chedi and soon we began, this huge gathering led by hundreds of monks, streaming out of the sala and processing down the drive, through the old gateway and out and round to halt for a while in front of the Chedi. After the short dedication the circumambulation commenced.
When it was over I was pretty tired, or at least my damaged foot was, so I had something to drink and then went for another massage. By then I had bumped into the two judges. These are a really nice couple who are both senior judges and I know them because the wife was at Warwick University for a year.
Next day, Wednesday, was a restful one but at one o'clock the judges turned up with one of the massage men who they had arranged to come and give me another treatment. He worked on me for three hours this time. Then Matthew and Peter came in the evening.
So far future plans are, next week Chiengmai and Lamphun for a few days and then Phuket.

To wish you all a very Happy New Year a new edition of my News & Musings newsletter is published and available on line. You will find links to both the English and Thai versions in the box to the bottom right of this page. For those on the mailing list it will be on its way to you just as soon as we have copies of the Forest Hermitage CD to accompany it.