Burmese Daze

My first trip to Myanmar was solo, born out of a desire to see Bagan for years. My partner had given me the gold bracelet to sell to buy domestic tickets to fly while there. But, I could not sell it….yet. The political situation there was just beginning to ease, and since I had held off for ten years now was the time when my partner had told me of a airline sale last summer. I booked 13 days, and it became quickly obvious while there, that 13 days is not enough time. I then decided to not rush between cities to get the most of the time there, but instead to just spend 3-5 days in a few places and let things unfold naturally.

I arrived Yangon early morning, and once I dropped off luggage at my guest house, I headed with two European women on a local bus for Shwedagon Pagoda. One paid my way on the bus, because I had no time to change money since I arrived.

We split and walked around. An hour later, I was walking around when a gold and diamond earring-like object fell at my feet from the top of Shwedagon. It was like a ¼ carat diamond in a gold setting that was probably given to the Pagoda for the umbrella. I looked at at a Burmese couple near by and showed it to them, then just gave it to them knowing as Myanmar people they would give it the right person on the property. I know they have a firm sense of kamma and would never keep it, as much as I do. I spent another two hours there talking to monks and shooting photographs.

I later went to change money at the market, and have a late Indian lunch with a Myanmar man I met. He showed me around and then we when back to Shwedagon for sunset. My first night ended with a late dinner of spicy eel.

On the second day I talked with another monk(named the same as my home sangha, Aloka) for an hour at Sule Pagoda, and mentioned that I wanted to bring food for the novices. He said we can go the following day to a Wat near his small temple, so I made an appointment with him. That evening I stopped at a few book stores to find dhamma books and being referred to one, I got to talking to the owner, who gave me his card and was excited to be able to help a fellow buddhist find a temple to meditate in when I return. I have to get a meditation visa, and he will help with the letter of acceptance when I do wrap it up.

This was one of the many people who would go out of their way to help, even when there is no financial gain or kickbacks. I found a really good Kid's Vipassana primary in English, and it stirred up my desire to teach kids to meditate. It sure would helped me as a young man.

In the way out of the guest house I bought enough food for 100 novices, and treats knowing that the small boys are allowed to eat in the evening since they are growing. I found a local man who helped with the transaction and he got a cigarette tip from the owner of the shop. We walked over to give the food at morning meal at temple and I got to talk to the head monk who then gave me a tour of his school. It combines dhamma and regular subjects in what feels like a relaxed atmosphere. I saw novices reading after morning meal, with no formality.They all smiled at me at me from behind various books on geography and sports.

The head monk said he has two schools and luckily in a well–off suburb in Yangon. And because of this the sangha nearby who cooks for the monks provides great meals. And with all coincidences in life the head monks name(Sorado) was the same as the one I sat with in Chonburi for two weeks in October. I wanted to go to a needy monastery but so was my luck this time.

The day continued with Aloka seeing other temples and talking until ‘the bacteria’ got me, and I had to head back to the guest house to get on my antibiotics I brought.
It was the cusp of a full moon and who knows what might happen. Anyway I owe a Myanmar family copies of the photograph of their new son I took at Shwedagon because I had the camera skills to do so...and I promised. From the window of my guest house I shot a Buddhist full moon procession in the street. It became obvious early on to get the camera out of your face and interact with the lovely Burmese.

New Year's Wisdom from a Real Source

(click on photos to enlarge)

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

I've come to the understanding this year especially with my current journey away from "home" that I don't know anything. My experience in life, although somewhat unique...will never transfer over to others unless I naturally come from a realized place. This may mean I might have to shut up, to give others the space to see themselves. This happens with some monks I have encountered where I ordained or meditated with. They let you, see youself.

TREAT EACH HUMAN FRIEND BY THINKING THAT :

He is our friend who was born to be old, become ill, and die, together with us.
He is our friend swimming around in the changing cycles with us.
He is under the power of defilements like us, hence he sometimes errs.
He also has lust, hatred, and delusion, no less than we.
He therefore errs sometimes, like us.
He neither knows why he was born nor knows nibbana, just the same as us.
He is stupid in some things like we used to be.
He does some things accordingly to his own likes,

the same as we used to do.
He also wants to be good,

as well as we who want even more to be good - outstanding - famous.
He often takes much and much more from others whenever he has a chance, just like us.
He has the right to be madly good, drunkenly good, deludedly good, and drowning in good,

just like us.
He is an ordinary man attached to many things, just like us.
He does not have the duty to suffer or die for us.

He is our friend of the same nation and religion.
He does things impetuously and abruptly just as we do.
He has the duty to be responsible for his own family, not for ours.
He has the right to his own tastes and preferences.
He has the right to choose anything (even a religion) for his own satisfaction.
He has the right to share equally with us the public property.
He has the right to be neurotic or mad as well as we.
He has the right to ask for help and sympathy from us.
He has the right to be forgiven by us according to the circumstances.
He has the right to be socialist or libertarian in accordance with his own disposition.
He has the right to be selfish before thinking of others.
He has the human right, equal to us, to be in this world.
If we think in these ways, no conflicts will occur.

— Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
Translated by Buddhadasa Indapanno
Mokkhabalarama, Chaiya
22 May, 2531

A Liberated Mind?

In the pursuit of wisdom in the midst of a slight funk I was reading Buddhadasa Bhikkhu on Anapanasati Bhavana about seeing if the mind is stable(done in meditation). "Normally most common people have not been emancipated spiritually in so far as the mind is concerned, so how are we going to know what a liberated mind is like? The answer is to think of the reverse of the present troubled state of mind. For example(s), if at present the mind is full of worries, a liberated mind will be just the opposite—free from all worries, if the mind clings to happiness, a liberated mind clings to nothing, not even happiness; if the present mind is troubled, chaotic and full of suffering, a truly liberated mind will be free of troubles, peaceful and calm. This is the way to picture what a liberated mind is like."

Now, we all know you can implement this in daily life as the person who meditates is the exact same one who is out trying to make sense out of daily life. We can chose to let go of mental images that provoke dis-ease and start to introduce joy even under the most difficult situations. So, how do you see yourself?

Because I think this can be an entry point. Case in point, I like people to know that I have a brain injury, so they know why talking is difficult for me, but upon further examination no one can know your suffering or understand it, they have their own and are really engaged in their own. So, exactly why would they trade sides?

A Little Bit of Joy

“An event becomes an experience

only when I am emotionally interested.

I am in a state which is complete,

which seeks not to improve on itself.

Of what use is experience to me?”

— Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

10 Silent Minutes with Buddha

Can't fine the ideal time or the place to meditate?

Here you go, take 10 minutes. No surprises.

The Purpose of Samadhi

“So we see that it is most important to know about our self. How we came to be born, how we will be reborn, and when we sleep and dream what is the cause and condition for it. And again, when our thought flash here and there each moment, what it is all about.

Now that which flashes here and there in thought is called the ‘heart’. Before coming here, when still at home, your thought had already flashed here, is that not correct? And the next instant, did it not flash off to other things elsewhere? Now you are seated here, your thoughts flash back home, and elsewhere...

The purpose of is Samadhi to control these flashings of the ‘heart’. If we are able to control these flashings and keep the mind still, then he mind will attain to great power, to great utility, to great purity, and be able to achieve whatsoever the mind intends. The mind which is uncontrolled, flashing here and there, is a force which is being wasted in all directions, like a river flowing from the heights, which channelling off into streams and tributaries loses its original impetus and force. If this force were to be damned up, the power would be indeed great and could turn a great machine. So it is with the concentrated and controlled mind....”

— Teachings of

the Venerable Chao Khun Monkol-Thepmuni, Wat Pak Nam

When Wisdom Slips in the Back Door

I’ll pass this along in hopes that it helps someone else. My partner asked me to go running Monday, and we took a bus to the park and started. Shortly, he was fast ahead of me and I was running alone. I knew he had a goal in mind, but then my “I” started to feel left out. Annoyance crept in while running, I said in my head, “Why ask me to go running with you and then take off, what is the point?” The annoyance stewed into a bit more working its way toward anger. Yes, I will say it to him when we meet at the stretching bars area. So, since I had quite a bit to go, I ran it though my head, I’ll just tell him, I am going home there is no point in me being here. When I said the ‘me’ part, something sounded wrong. Then I thought that any confrontation, or showing my displeasure will throw a wrench into his happiness and bounce back on me. Obviously, this is what he wants to do right now, and again he rarely, if ever does things with any intention to hurt me. He is just setting high goals for himself that’s all, and hey, guess what? I get to enjoy his hard work, too.

I ran my course, got some water, and in effect let my annoyance go by looking at I really want. We met at the bars, and in a short time he and I were done stretching, and we walked back happily and I never said a thing. I was not just keeping a lid on it, I, instead fully examined my anger and let go of the “me” quotient. We walked to get dinner items with joy and then he bought me a sports drink. When home, he prepared dinner and laid it out, no questions. He was tired and happy. After dinner he gave me a kiss and laid his head in my still sweaty lap. He was showing his appreciation for me, and I gave him a kiss and said, “Let me shower, Na!”


The following day we went running in the park again, and without a blink… he ran only at my pace, sometimes inspiring me to run faster. This was all done without me saying what I wanted the previous day. I told him thanks, and he said, “I will run one lap with you and then workout and let you run a bit further.” By the time I ran my share and got to the bars he was ready to go, with ease and great timing. We arrived home again and I said you go shower I’ll prepare dinner, and I did laundry. He was very thankful I did it all, he had a hard day at work. Two days of bliss that I would have missed if I started my Monday with a needy demand. I felt so lucky to have some wisdom come to me during my cool down. Or perhaps it was my own words from when in the past, I've said, “I really want to make his life easier,” slipped in the back door to greet me with open arms.