Buddha-Dhamma-Sangha....X-LARGE

Buddham saranam gacchami
(I go to the Buddha for refuge)
Dhammam saranam gacchami
(I go to the Dhamma for refuge)
Sangham saranam gacchami
(I go to the Sangha for refuge)





"Taking refuge in Dhamma is taking another safe refuge. It is not taking refuge in philosophy or intellectual concepts, in theories, in ideas, in doctrines or beliefs of any sort. It is not taking refuge in a belief in Dhamma, or a belief in God or in some kind of force in outer space or something beyond or something separate, something that we have to find sometime later. The descriptions of the Dhamma keep us in the present, in the here and now, unbound by time. Taking refuge is an immediate, immanent reflection in the mind, it is not just repeating 'Dhammam saranam gacchami' like a parrot, thinking 'Buddhists say this so I have to say it'. We turn towards the Dhamma, we are aware now, take refuge in Dhamma, now as an immediate action, an immediate reflection of being the Dhamma, being that very truth.







Because our conceiving mind tends always to delude us it takes us into becoming. We think 'I'll practise meditation so that I'll become enlightened in the future. I will take the Three Refuges in order to become a Buddhist. I want to become wise. I want to get away from suffering and ignorance and become something else.' This is the conceiving mind, the desire mind, the mind that always deludes us. Rather than constantly thinking in terms of becoming something we take refuge in being Dhamma in the present. "— Ajahn Sumedho

Karma Washing

As a treat of compassion, I made plans to drive Buddhist Nuns to see Amma thinking they have never seen her. They had seen her in England a few times and even traveled to Amritapuri, Kerala to her home to see her once. Thursday is the quiet day at the Vihara, and no plans on the calendar it made sense. We packed the day in, to include a hospital visit after, and to conclude with chai at my house before they had to return. Now, I have seen Amma twice in the past who helped to inspire my Buddhist path to begin regular temple attendance, my hospital volunteering, making merit like painting a temple, setting up and helping out at various events.




The energy was high, the people happy, and the children amazing in a world of love. Having arrived early enough to get a token to receive darshan within the first hour, we settled down and talked about seeing her and to the people around us. sitting next to me was a wise 1 yr.old girl with her mother, who still had connections to her previous life(as it seemed to us). When the beautiful chant started just before Amma’s arrival, I got tears in my eyes. The Ajahn sitting next to me, pulled out a tissue, but I said I am fine, and enjoying my tears. It feels wonderful and no longer afraid to express emotion, a by-product of my brain injury. There was video of Amma helping poor around the world that had been showing the whole time while we waited which helped to prime my heart. Amma’s entry was still very casual entry where she walked through the ashram to her chair, and started very shortly thereafter to hug people. The Ajahns went first, and then I followed. I just watched people because most have a lot more love than average person on the street. I approached with the guidance of her helpers and was treated to a long almost double hug. I could not really say anything, and sat close by after her embrace to watch others. While there a smiliing girl of about 18 who was working for Amma, came up to the Ajahns knowing who they are. She said her parents nursed Ajahn Sumedho when he had a broken leg in Europe when she was a little girl. It was fun to watch her story unfold.

Later, when we had tea at my house to show the Ajahns my collection of saints before I sell them to pay for my partner's masters and perhaps a PHD later. One of the Ajahns liked one of the small old saint photos I had on my wall, so I gave it to her.


Amma’s love blessings continued today, when I came home I noticed a car with a huge blue stains on the side. One kid from school, had been playing with a pen that exploded all over the car and they were just trying to clean it up with paper towels. I went into my garage and got some goof-off and a rag and ran over to help. I managed to get most of it off, while the girl was still crying and covered in ink. I told the Mom, to use some rubbing compound on it or to hurry over to a detail shop to have them buff off the residue. All her kids came over and shook my hand, so surprised a stranger would help.

Sssh! The Sound of Silence

I was a goofy kid whenever it was real quiet, I would hear a high-pitched, silvery-like sound while day-dreaming in my room. Mom would say I have good hearing, when I mentioned I could hear high frequency of automatic door closers in the market. In Jr. High, I would ride my dirt bike out to the fields to watch the clouds, sometimes hearing the sound of silence there, too. Lately, I have been hearing it more and more, during quiet times at home and it seems like meditation helps to access it. I did not mention it back as a kid for fear of being called again a freak. I had enough problems. And now, because I felt like it might be another side effect of my brain injury, not really tying it in to the sound I heard as a kid, I never googled it. Silly me, I even thought it could be the wi-fi going to our computers.

I went to all day sit today with Buddhist Nuns, having been familiar with them from a past meeting at a monastery. The first hour was working on your body, then walking meditation. When we came in for the second sit, Ajahn Anandabodhi began to talk about the sound of silence, as taught by Ajahn Sumedho, and she wasn’t talking about that old song. I lit up, and I wanted to burst out and say, there really is one and I am not crazy? She talked about using it to meditate on, either letting concentrate your focus, or broaden it as it encompasses everything in life. This vibration of life I can hear even now, over the drone of my refrigerator. I now know what it is, and with a day of silence I know how to how to find it. It is not something you can look for, because it exists all the time, so you know it intuitively not like a violin sound you listen for. It will come to you when your mind is quiet. It made the remainder of day a breeze to get into if I tapped into this sound. On the way home I told my friend about hearing I but afraid to mention it as a kid and later as a adult, we both laughed because he had the same experience. When I got home I looked at the course title of today’s sit: nada yoga-attending to the mysterious sound of silence and the development of it as a support for both concentration and insight, duh. So, quiet mind means your own tune, not Looney Tunes!