Ringkasan dibuat dengan bantuan AI • Belum diverifikasi
Ceramah ini membahas tentang betapa berharganya kesempatan untuk berlatih Dhamma dalam kehidupan manusia. Pembicara membuka dengan syair Dhammapada yang menekankan sulitnya memperoleh kelahiran manusia, mendengar Dhamma sejati, dan munculnya para Buddha, lalu mengajak pendengar untuk menghargai kesempatan langka ini. Ia merenungkan bahwa memiliki kehidupan manusia yang dilengkapi perhatian dan kebijaksanaan adalah keberuntungan besar, sehingga kita tidak boleh menyia-nyiakannya dengan pikiran tidak manusiawi, melainkan mengembangkan kualitas baik. Pembicara menjelaskan bahwa Dhamma sebenarnya adalah tentang alam dan hukum alam yang sudah ada, seperti ketidakkekalan dan ketidakpuasan, dan menekankan pentingnya hidup sederhana, kembali ke napas, serta melepas konstruksi pikiran untuk menemukan kedamaian. Ia juga membahas bahwa Buddha bukan hanya tokoh historis, tetapi kualitas kebijaksanaan dan perhatian yang dapat muncul dalam diri kita, mengutip Ajahn Chah yang bertanya mengapa Buddha tidak bisa muncul di Thailand, untuk menegaskan bahwa kita dapat mewujudkan kualitas Buddha di mana pun. Terakhir, pembicara mengungkapkan rasa terima kasih kepada Ajahn Chah atas ajarannya yang fleksibel dan berbasis kebijaksanaan, serta menekankan pentingnya menjaga semangat komunitas dalam praktik, seperti yang dicontohkan di Wat Pah Nanachat. Pesan utamanya adalah agar kita menyadari dan memanfaatkan kesempatan berharga ini untuk berlatih dengan sungguh-sungguh, mengembangkan kualitas Buddha dalam diri, dan hidup dalam kebersamaan yang mendukung praktik.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Namassami, Itoparan, Sakacang, Dhamma, Sutta, Bodhi
So I'd like to start in English tonight
because it's custom since a few years
that at the annual gathering for recollecting Lompo Chah's virtue as a teacher
and as the founder of our whole group of monasteries
that we speak in English a little bit and then also in Thai.
So I wanted to raise the...
the famous quote of the Buddha
Kitcho Manuso Patilapo
Kitchang Machanang Chivitang
Kitchang Satthamma Savanang
Kitcho Buddhhanamupadoti
Hard it is, hard it is to gain the human birth
Hard it is to live a life that's bound for death
Hard it is to hear true Dhamma
Hard it is for Buddhas to arise
So this is like one of the stanzas from the Dhammapada
that is very dear to me because I many times recollect
how fortunate we are to have this life
that's equipped with mindfulness and wisdom
that we can generate qualities that are uplifting
for the heart of ourselves and the heart of other people.
So it's not so easy.
And when we look around in this world presently
there's so many difficult things,
so many really difficult problems
and changes that are really dramatic in many ways.
One feels that the human qualities
that make us born in this privileged situation
are gradually getting lost.
So when we practice the Dhamma
then I feel it's very much our duty to remind ourselves
that it's a task,
in this life,
not to waste the life away
through having inhuman thoughts
and falling prone to lower realms
even while we are in this human birth.
So this is very important that we start with ourselves
and in fact it's one of my own motivations as well
to work on oneself
in order to be part of the human being.
It's a good side of humanity.
Instead of falling into despair of what is going wrong
and how people are practicing,
devoid of human qualities,
we work on our own hearts
and practice meditation for example
and develop loving kindness, friendliness
and recollect those qualities that are universal
rather than specific or that the Buddha would say are self.
Practice selflessness,
practice quality of sharing,
quality of peace.
So this is one of the beautiful benefits
of the practice of the Dhamma
is that it takes us out of our own self-centered view.
For example, when we think about how we experience the Dhamma,
the teachings of the Buddha,
it's always in relationship to the surroundings,
to nature, to human nature,
or to the nature of life.
So this is something I find very important
and it's something that our teacher Ajahn Chah
has stressed a lot.
Like sometimes he says just simply,
the Dhamma is all about nature,
the way it is in itself.
Or in Thai it would be
Dhamma, the teachings that the Buddha taught,
they're all about something that is already there
in the human heart or in the heart of beings
or intrinsically there
in nature, for example, impermanence
or the fact that it's always unsatisfactory
to crave for something or to want something more
or even to count the time and check,
what have I done, what am I going to do?
It's always insufficient.
So then to be able to see this
and rise up to the occasion to transcend these things
to a quality of peace is one of the most beautiful things
that I feel we can offer.
To society and also offer to ourselves.
So the first part of this stanza is like
It's hard to gain the human birth.
So thinking about this precious opportunity that we have.
And then it's also very, very hard to live this life
which is actually full of threatening and dangerous areas
and it leads to death.
It's bound for death.
It's something that we cannot be sure of.
And one day we'll have like a real existential situation
where we face fear and possibly worries.
And how can we live our lives that we are free from worries,
the very end of our life,
that we can feel at peace with whatever we have done.
There are many, many skillful means
and particularly in monasteries like Wat Pa Pong
or all the monasteries in Thailand that practice.
There's many ways of like, you know,
enriching one's life such that one can already discard
some of the worries and anxieties
and live truly in the present moment
with a sense of fulfillment.
And all of us, we trust that this will be helpful
when we face the fear of death
or the hardship of being, as it says in the Dhammapada quote,
immortal, machanang, somebody who is like bound for death.
And of course, this is not something
that people associate directly with Buddhist practice.
When we think about the practice in foreign countries
where there's a lot of meditation retreats
and a lot of like emphasis on the positive sides of life.
But eventually the test for us is,
are we able to let go when we have to?
Are we able to change our sense of like,
this belongs to me to be able to say, nevermind,
I can let it go.
I like, I can let it go.
I can let it be.
So this is a very, very important aspects
of the teachings of the Buddha.
And I remember from my time practicing in lay life,
I did quite a few meditation retreats
and it was actually quite a special thing
to write my name down on a list
for a meditation retreat on death and dying.
And even though I'd been kind of like semi Buddhist
quite a while already,
all kinds of practices and also loved the meditation
with Buddha Buddha,
then to go as far as saying, look,
I want to look so to say at the ending of life.
That was a bit, a bit, a daring enterprise
and daring undertaking.
So, and it was good, of course,
like the teacher was presenting it very humorous.
Like many of our teachers here in the forest tradition,
they actually laugh about these things.
Like, you're afraid of ghosts.
Oh, you're afraid of rebirth.
You're afraid of like dying.
And they take away the seriousness of it
and give us a feeling of familiarity
and that we don't have to worry.
There's something that of course, in our culture,
like over there in Europe, America,
we're very much like centered on present happiness
and like success and things that we can hold on to materially.
Whereas like the idea of letting go everything,
even one's own life,
and then being at peace with it is not so easy to develop
or to find an anchor for in one's own awareness.
So this is like, like the Buddha says,
it's really difficult to live this life if it's limited,
if it's bound for death.
So I don't want to scare people.
So like the good thing is like, so yeah,
like the feeling about like there is the Dhamma,
the teaching or the laws of nature,
it's all very natural.
It's all something that is already there,
whether we have like the teachings of the Buddha
explicitly explaining it or not.
Actually, when we try to practice the Dhamma,
we gradually get to know that this is about
the qualities of life in themselves,
whether there is a Buddha or Lompocha or Kuba Ajahn
or a lay teacher explaining these things
or not actually through this sense of being aware
and being very, very committed to observing
what is happening in our life.
We can actually come to a state of being at peace
with all these things that are arising in our life.
And this is like the Dhamma.
This is the principles of nature, like the Buddha said,
like it's impermanent, it's constantly changing.
It's not something that we can hold on to this.
This is only specifically for me, and this is mine, this I am.
But like it's constantly changing this,
there's aspects to it, there's causes and conditions.
We're in this network of like intertwinedness
of things that arise and cease.
Actually, we're not alone in this,
like there's something where we feel a connection to nature.
And that is like a really beautiful Dhamma teaching.
But it's hard to see that because we're trained
to see the specifics and trained to see our personal angle,
trained to promote ourselves as persons,
promote ourselves as success and all kinds of things.
Like that are actually not very natural, they're constructed.
So then the Buddha said, yeah, look at it closely and let go
of these factors and just simply be whatever is arising
in nature and let it happen and be happy with it.
And just don't make a problem out of it or want to change it
or make much more out of it.
Just simply like live in the feeling of like,
you can imagine a forest monk or a forest nun basically living
in nature.
Very content with their little hut and every day is merely
like arising and ceasing.
The sun arises and in the end of the day it sets.
And then we have our steady routine.
There's nothing really challenging.
So we have a setting already, like very, very grateful
for that, that we have a setting in the forest monasteries
or even sometimes in our private life where we can just retreat
and be simple.
Simply living in nature and have no worries or no big embellishments
that we need to look after.
Can just simply enjoy life as it is.
And that's what we do when we meditate.
We go back to the breath, the most simple function of life
and look at the breath and enjoy how we breathe in and out
and let it naturally flow.
So that's a very, very good exercise to bring us back to life
or bring us back to Dhamma.
Rather than being in this slightly constructed,
artificial sense of this is my fortress.
This is my life that I want to protect
and everything else doesn't matter.
So that very, very constricted way of relating to the surroundings
and to the passing of time.
If we can have a more relaxed and open way of seeing these things,
a bit like when we imagine how Lompocha was teaching with a sense
of being at ease.
Whatever arises, will cease and a feeling of like,
yeah it's all natural, it's all normal.
And this Dhamma is not so easy to find.
There's not so many access points to that.
Many times we get the Dhamma from the books or we read the history
or philosophy, maybe not even only of Buddhist teachings.
We sometimes compare them to other teachings
and then we're all confused and we try to build
up another construction in our mind what it should be
like.
But actually it's already there.
We're already there as a human being with this breath,
with this life, with this forest,
with this like 32 parts of the body is something that many
of us are aware of like the skillful means of looking
at one's own body as a compound construction
out of various biological factors.
And then we can feel actually very at ease
when we see these things.
It's all natural, it's just very normal whether we're male,
female, whether we are rich or poor, whether we come from Germany or from
Thailand or from Laos or from America, it doesn't really matter. The raw material,
the Dhamma, is already there and we can discover it gradually. So and then of
course it's very hard for a Buddha to arise and of course we think of the
historical Buddha, the Buddha that was born in India 2,600 plus years ago and
it's like an exemplary human being, somebody who's had this wisdom quality
and also that beautiful quality of caring for the truth that he found and
transmitting it to many many people and loving kindness and that he had a very
peaceful nonviolent life where a lot of people were encouraged to live up
to their full capacities by him and his example. Of course we think of
the model of the Buddha himself but in many ways, like particularly in the
forest tradition we emphasize that it's not just about the form or the
appearance of a specific Buddha, it's about the qualities of the Buddha. and I
remember one of the sayings that Ajahn Chah said about the Buddha. People
started in the 70s to be able to travel and have the chance also from
Northeastern Thailand,
and to travel to India and go on pilgrimages.
And then we are very, very happy that we
have been going to the places.
And there's evidence about the Buddha,
and everybody's very elated.
And Ajahn Chah just said, why can't the Buddha
arise in Thailand?
And this is one of the challenges of us,
to make the Buddha arise exactly where
we are in that situation that we are.
And this is not just the Buddha as the historical person.
It's the Buddha as somebody who has got mindfulness and wisdom,
understands, and is knowing, the quality of knowing the truth,
knowing what is happening in one's life,
not being deluded or defiled by greed, hatred, and delusion.
This is the Buddha quality.
And we can gradually discover this and make it arise bit
by bit in our training, in our way of practice,
so that we can.
We can also have a presence of the Buddha,
similar to when we think of Lompoc Chah right now.
Lompoc Khun just mentioned that even though Ajahn Chah has
long ago passed away already, we still
feel connected with Ajahn Chah.
And in fact, I myself have never met Ajahn Chah.
In one way, very unfortunate that I wasn't
in the presence of Ajahn Chah.
But on the other hand, I still feel very fortunate to have
heard the teachings of Ajahn Chah.
And the qualities that he wanted to communicate and have
us develop, they're very, very clear in his teachings,
and the way he talks about his practice,
and how he encouraged people to not take life so serious,
and just take it with a grain of salt,
and investigate what's happening without getting
uptight or stressed out.
I think this is very present, particularly living
in the communities of Ajahn Chah.
We try to keep up the values that Lompoc Chah wanted
to implant in our groups of practitioners in the Sangha,
particularly.
And as you know, I'm from the International Monastery, which
was a pioneering experiment.
And it's actually now 50 years.
It's the 50th birthday of Wat Bananachat this year.
And so it was 50 years ago that Lompoc Sumetho was going to be,
was sent from Wat Ba Pong, from the presence of being
in Ajahn Chah's presence.
Like, he was sent to another village about six kilometers
away from Wat Ba Pong, from Ajahn Chah.
And he said, basically, you look after this monastery now.
You develop a group of international monks and novices
to practice in the spirit that I'm teaching.
And please, like, keep the parameters of the practice,
the ,, for example, the monk's rules, just as if,
if you were here.
And don't adapt them, and just keep them,
and make them work for the international community.
And not long after Wat Bananachat was established,
Lompoc Chah traveled to Europe.
And he just simply left Lompoc Sumetho there, and said,
like, OK, just take this Dhamma Vinaya,
even though you'd like to be with me, of course.
Like, you take it and practice it there.
Don't change it unless it's really necessary.
Just keep it like that.
And.
And.
And apply it where you are.
Like, this is where these qualities can arise
and can still be alive.
And I feel very fortunate to be a part of an endeavor
like that, like that.
Even after 50 years, like, the spirit and the parameters
that Lompoc Chah gave emphasis to are still very tangible.
That's how I feel.
And particularly coming here to Wat Ba Pong,
obviously, it's very touching to think about Lompoc Chah
and also the disciples of Lompoc Chah
that are gathered here, who have lived with him
and on thinking about, like, how this, like,
is a transmission of these values that
are arising from good Dhamma practice
and from a mind that is wise enough to see how to apply
these things, really, to one's life.
So you know that Ajahn Chah's teachings is not, like, just
a simple method or so.
It's more like the whole lifestyle, the whole style
of, like, how we relate to each other, how serious we take,
ourselves, and how much we then let go and are able to just smile
and be friendly with each other rather than being righteous
or, like, a bit too tense or so.
This is very much, like, the inheritance, I feel,
that we have obtained from Lompoc Chah,
that way of living together, particularly coming
from various countries, from various backgrounds,
from various human lives that are all bound for death,
and they're all very fortunate to have heard the Dhamma,
how to make that work in a community and give rise
to those values that eventually are the qualities of Buddha,
Dhamma, Sangha.
So this is one thing that I feel we're very fortunate,
and it's not so easy to come by.
Many times we are like copycats.
We just emulate the teacher and just pay lip service
to his teachings, but I feel very much in the way
Ajahn Chah taught when we listen to his recordings
or read his books, even the translations,
they have this spirit of, like, a very allowing, flexible,
and wisdom-based teaching that makes people think,
how can we develop ourselves?
How can we apply ourselves?
How can we let go of the things that are obstructions?
How can we be less selfish?
And this sense of sharing and this sense of creativity,
to me, is very important.
It's very apparent in the teachings of Ajahn Chah,
and so I'm very fortunate that he didn't just prescribe
a single medicine and say, do this and that amount of hours
of practice and this and that posture, and you'll be fine.
But it's more or less, no, you use your wisdom and find out,
here are a few tools that you can use.
For example, we do the chanting together.
We get up early in the morning.
We go on alms round.
We eat together.
And there's not much sense of, like, everybody goes their own
way.
But it's more communal and a sense
of sacrifice for the community or for the spirit
of the whole endeavor is there.
So that would be my, say, gratitude to Luang Por Chah
to have emphasized these practices that
make us not dependent on his own presence,
because the spirit of what he's saying
is so clear in his teachings that we can still
use it so many years afterwards.
So I've almost talked.
I've talked half an hour in English now, so I'll speak in Thai.
So our Thai practitioners won't be disappointed.
May all the things that I said be a source for inspiration
and reflection so that we can keep the spirit of
the preciousness of the human birth,
preciousness of the life of a mortal,
and the preciousness of the true dharma,
and the preciousness of the Buddha arising,
keeping those alive and making much of them.