It feels great to be back in touch with you after another wonderfully enriching rains retreat- a three month "monastic holiday" - which simply flew! As I ease back gently into Anukampa service, I feel immense gratitude for the opportunity to grow in Dhamma, not only through meditation, but through meaningful service, too. 


The glow of happy retreatants post-vassa- an international bunch from Malaysia, Italy, America, Hawaii, Germany, England, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Japan- in the evening light at Jhana Grove :-)

Anukampa now enters an exciting time for activities and developments. With Ajahn Brahm's visit almost upon us, we are currently finalising volunteer duties, transport arrangements, and accommodation and food requirements- and the search for our first Bhikkhuni residence is on!  

We hope you enjoy the reflections and articles in this letter and discover new ways to be involved as we move into the next phase of our journey together. 

 

                                                                                                                                                        This year's vassa (rains retreat) was delightfully varied. Before sinking deeply into the silence of retreat, I was invited to attend and give a short address, at Ajahn Brahm's birthday gala lunch. Every year, Ajahn uses the occasion of his birthday to not only age gracefully (!), but to perform merit by supporting and celebrating some of his monastic projects, and this year he chose Newbury Buddhist Monastery near  Melbourne, and Anukampa. International supporters were present and had great fun bidding for items such as Ajahn's meditation cushion- a flattened 'Kung Fu' panda bear- as an excuse to donate! 

After so much wholesome stimulation, the solitude and silence of the bush felt even more enticing, and the energy of stillness began to build among the retreatants.  

Ajahn Brahm's teachings emphasise non-doing and letting go as a means to calm the will and still the mind. For those of us coming from cultures, or even Buddhist traditions that emphasise striving, it can be tricky getting the knack of this at first, without becoming restless, zoning out or nodding off! We are so deeply conditioned to use willpower to achieve our goals, that we bring this same tendency to do and to control into our meditation.

As frequent 'retreat junkies' will know, every retreat has its own flavour and offers unique insights and gifts. One of the main focuses in my practice this year was the rousing of pure energy born of gratitude, giving and inspiration that softens the ego; as opposed to the energy born of striving, generated by a sense of self.

To really allow such wholesome energies to build, (without interfering, assessing or otherwise getting in the way!), requires a subtle and pivotal shift in perception.

We GIVE to the meditation, give to the breath, by infusing awareness with the most beautiful qualities of our heart. We pour our love onto the breath without expecting that it quietens, becomes blissful or bestows anything else in return. Such unconditional giving directly counters any incentive to GET something for ME, as well as any notions of personal failure or success. Moreover, generosity is essential to the Third Noble Truth- the cessation of suffering- in practice. This includes caga, (giving, or giving away); patinissagga, (relinquishment, letting go); mutti, (freeing the mind of self-concern and discontent); and analaya, (having no place for a sense of self to dwell).


We develop gratitude towards the breath. This humble little breath has been coming in and out, without our request, since birth and has never yet let us down. What a miracle it is to be alive and able to practice the Buddha's teachings!

We find inspiration with the breath. This is our inheritance from the Buddha and our Noble Teachers, who gave themselves so completely to the breath, that it lead them into deep states of stillness, giving rise to wisdom. We now have wonderful Spiritual Teachers to guide our practice- all because of the breath! 

Using these types of reflections and perceptions enabled me to gain an important insight: that joy arises in proportion to relinquishing increasingly subtle aspects of what we take to be a self. And, unlike striving which tires the mind, the wholesome energies of inspiration and gratitude build, the more we tap into their self-less source. 



Towards the very end of the retreat I was invited to visit Dhammasara Monastery and Patacara Hermitage with Bhante Sujato and a very special guest. Ranjani De Silva (standing, in white) was a disciple of the late Ayya Khema. In 1993, she organised the 3rd International Conference of Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women. Attended by women from 27 countries, the conference raised consciousness about nuns in Sri Lanka and greatly elevated their status. At the 4th International Conference, Ranjani was elected as the President of Sakyadhita. Ranjani de Silva has offered vast wisdom and inspiration to Buddhist women world-wide, lecturing at conferences and seminars and arranging higher ordinations in India, Taiwan and Sri Lanka.

Our visit clearly left her brimming with joy- and the nuns with hearts of gratitude. Read more about the history of Sakyadhita here.