A Change is Refreshing and Nourishing

There is an annual Buddhist Holy Day that remembers Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death. All three supposedly happened on the same day of the year, just different years, or that is what I am told.  This day is Vesacha Bucha Day and coincides with the first full moon in May which was 10th May for this year.  As I do every year on Buddhist Holy Days, I go to the temple and join in the ritual with Om, my Buddhist mentor.


On these days, crowds flock to the temples to make merit.  Each day has its own ritual to be followed.  On this particular day, the simple ritual begins with buying a lotus, three incense sticks and a candle.  You then light the incense sticks and proceed to walk around the temple three times in a clockwise direction.  When finished this short journey, you place your incense sticks and  the now lit candle into a sand box at the front of the temple.  You then place the lotus before the temple and finish with paying homage to the Buddha image in the temple.  It is all an impressive and simple ritual, done with fervor, or that is my outside observation.


This year Om and I did it a little differently as we decided to go to the local temple in my area.  You see we usually go to a major temple in a central area which is so full of people and as a result difficult to access on the day.  All a bit much and so we decided on a change and see how that went.  In doing so, we found a temple easily accessible and also refreshingly quiet with a tranquil and conducive environment for the sacred.  The experience was not one of dealing with crowds while trying to deal with the physical tasks of a ritual in their midst.  This meant that lighting the incense sticks and candle and keeping them alight was not a major challenge which can be the case when surrounded by so many people.  It also meant that you could more easily focus on a task, instead of the crowds, this simple task that gave meaning to the ritual.

What I experienced this year in going to my local temple was a pleasant surprise as it allowed for me a special experience of a Buddhist feast and ritual which is the way it is meant to be. What I also discovered is that I live near a lovely temple within a quiet and nourishing space.  It only took me 10 years to discover it.  Just goes to show that exploring is the way to discovering good change .

It is the Simple Things that Matter Most

You may ask what is this picture about?  It is very simple actually.

I was at church this morning and this man goes around giving everyone a holy picture.  I get mine and look at him.  He appears as nothing extraordinary.  My image of the sort of person doing such activity at church comes to mind and I figure a simple enough, churchy person.  All may speak of my experience or bias.  Anyway he goes to his car and there it is - a lovely, new, whits BMW.  It blew my mind as the car did not go with all my preconceptions.  This guy was undertaking a simple act that he sees as worthwhile and good but his own life may not be so simple.

I am on the bus on the way to church and I am part of a simple, everyday act of kindness.  An older woman needs a seat and when one becomes free, I tell the younger woman helping her.  Then I notice both the man near me and myself reaching out and helping the woman to the seat.  Nothing complicated.  Very natural thing to do.

Then I think back to my encounter of a month ago with one of fellow workers at the office.  Remember, he was angry with me?  One of his key points was that I am a foreigner and he does not understand foreigners.

Well, today, it struck me in these simple experiences arising in my day that life is rather simple.  Why complicate it?  It is not where we come from or what position or nationality we hold that matters.  It is about our sharing a common humanity.  We naturally share the same day, no matter who we are.  We all have limited bodies and needs during the day.  It is natural for us to help those we see along the way that need some help.  So why do we make it complicated and go on about our differences and how those differences are so ingrained and important, being the cause for separation or annoyance?  It makes no sense.  

Then I had another little insight from work yesterday.  The guy's basic issue is not with me and how we are different.  His real issue is with his own and how he is unhappy or frustrated by the workplace system of authority set up by his own.  It is just easier to blame someone else, an outsider.  Now this is not so uncommon.  It just is that it does not deal with any issue and makes everything all the more complicated.  Let's keep it simple.

Contemplation in my Bangkok

Yes, I did find a centre of learning and prayerfulness at a temple near Pattaya.  Yes, it was an enlightening and enriching experience.  We all need these spaces and as much of them as we can get.  The secret is to create our special, prayerful spaces where we are.  It strikes me that is the great learning from Buddhism as Buddhists create where they are as their sacred space - the same space where they live, do business, do whatever. 

Now I am back at my office where we have moved the desks so as to create more space and this resulted unwittingly in my now having my own contemplative space where I am at work.  You see my desk has been placed at a glass front from which I look out and peruse the surrounds.  It is all buildings, streets and construction sites and some green but it all looks so quiet.  I look out and find it refreshing, inviting me to contemplation.  The Spirit is where we are or where we allow the contemplative to descend around us.  It is a pleasant change wihin the daily routine to be able to just look out and take in my Bangkok.   

I am My Change

This last week saw major holiday time in Thailand as it was the annual Songkran or New Year Festival which is the time for water fun.  Well, instead of indulging in the obligatory water sports, I went with good friends to a resort for a day or two and got to visit this marvelous Buddhist temple with them - Wat Yansangvararam.  It was a most welcome and unexpected surprise. 


You alone can change yourself.

I never knew that I was going to enter a centre where I would gain for the first time such real insights into Buddhism.  On leaving the temple, I had the feeling that I had just been somewhere powerful.  The visit had made its impact upon me.  What was it that had such an effect on me?

It was the exhibition presenting the Buddha's teaching in such a succinct and meaningful way.  It presented the Buddha's belief in "a human being's potential to be able to find the path to enable one to be freed from endlessly floating in an ocean of sensual desires, and to reach the shore and end the suffering".
A spiritual path - a path offered by all religions due to the very nature of religion.
So the lessons continued.
"A multitude of emotions circulate in your mind each day.  The soul determines which way to look at the universe."  So "when a viewpoint is changed, your life will be changed".  

The Buddha discovered that to escape from an ocean of sensuous desire, life has to be led not along the path of the extreme but along the path of perfect balance.  This is the life lived by following the way of the Middle Path.

There was much offered to ponder and reflect but here I just offer a part of what so spoke to me, a taste.

For the first time, I felt an inner understanding and appreciation for Buddhism and its message for humanity.  I also started to reflect how it was so lacking in its malpractice by many of its followers today around me in the wider community.  But then isn't that what Ghandi said about Christianity?  The problem was not with Jesus but with his followers.  We can change.  We are our change.

In the Christian context, the word is transformation.  Humanity - all of us and each individual - is transformed into the new humanity through and with the power of the Risen Christ.  This is not magic.  It takes belief and action together.  It is not an easy way to go but the way to go.  I have to remind myself of the way.  This is my preaching to no one but  myself, my sharing an experience that made its imprint on me so that I may not forget.  Happy Easter!  Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

 

Happy Thai New Year!

Yes, it is New Year in Thailand, as in Myamar, Laos and Cambodia, this week. They follow a Buddhist tradition using a lunar calendar.  So the local and real New Year for the locals falls on 13, 14 and 15 April each year.  It is full on holiday time and full on celebration.  I think you can see what the dominant symbol is for the festivities.  It is used freely and just watch out as no one escapes a dousing. 

All get into the spirit - young and old, police and firemen.  It is all quite something to behold.  What you see is the unfreeing of the Thai spirit and let her rip for three days and then it is back to Thai demureness. 

So for now, all one can do is join in and enjoy. 

I am a big man?

As I was told at the office last Friday, by a senior Thai staff - You think you are a big man.  He was not referring to my size but my sense of self-importance. And he was not giving me a compliment but speaking out of anger.  How did it get to this? 

I am not sure actually as I just go along, doing my work and fulfilling my responsibilities as best I can.   In last Friday's conversation, the level of angst escalated after I used the word "big" to refer to my having a big picture of needs in the workplace.  From there, my colleague used "big" to refer to level of seniority and importance which was never my intent. 

In part, I would identify this as being yet another experience of Thailand that tells you that no matter how long you are here, you will never really understand what you are in the midst of.  Even after over 11 years here, I am still taken aback by what I experience and lack a real understanding of what is going on around me.  Like the Trinity, Thais are a mystery.  But is it rocket science?

Maybe it is the experience of this part of the world or maybe it is just humanity at play.  We are all a mystery for my Thai counterpart did say that he just did not understand westerners and that all westerners are arrogant.  From my experience here, I (and other westerners) could make the same reflection in return on Thais.  So maybe it is that as humanity we so fail to understand others who are perceived to be different or maybe worse - a threat.  Then what comes to mind are the words of a mentor - Don't try to understand or explain here. Just accept.   Good advice but here I am being so me, trying to put together what happened and understand so that I can deal with what I face.

I will not go into a blow by blow description as this is not a verbatim for some clinical course.  However, I will share the logic the Thai guy used to present his side of his experience of me in the office.  It is such Thai logic which so ever intrigues me.  Here is a bland, logical summary as I heard the case being presented against me.
A)  There is Thailand and then the rest of the world.
B)  The rest of the world is to blame for the woes experienced here.  
A + B = C.
C)  I am to blame for what is upsetting the Thai person.
Welcome to Thailand! 

This may be enough to digest for now.

Life

I am two weeks back from a memorable time in Europe.  It was for work but it was about much more than just being a successful work tour.  One of the three places I went was Dublin.  It is true that Dublin is a fair city but what stays with me even more is a place called Glendalough.

My Irish friend, Daniel, took me on an afternoon drive.  We went south through bog country on which stood no building, no tree, no animal.  It was eerie.  We went for over an hour to get to this place Daniel so wanted to show me.  It was Glendalough in County Wicklow.

What a treasure of a place!  The countryside was more than eerie.  The hills, the green, the mist, the lake in the near distance made it a spiritual place.  Daniel knew where he was taking me and why.  This was a centre of beauty, history, culture, religion and learning.  While little remained standing and there was but a hotel and a visitors' centre, there was much to behold.  A city was not needed here and would only serve to destroy the place and what it truly has to offer.

This was the home of St Kevin, an early Irish saint, who attracted the people.  They came and built a monastery, a home, a church, a centre of learning, and it all served humanity for some centuries until finally destroyed.  What remains may be little but the feel of the place itself with its natural setting and its ruins, along with the passion of Daniel for all that is there - it all made a huge impact on my spirit.  There was something great there and it still is.  It is the spirit of humanity, the spirit of the divine that is much stronger than any great city or worldly power.

This place, its experience stay with me.  It does not have to be described.  The experience just is and it is good for the spirit.  While it can't be captured by words, it is good to share it and deserves to be shared for it is about sharing life and the spirit of life which endures and is much stronger than we ever realize in our daily existence.  Long live life!  Daniel, you were so right to take me to Glendalough.  Thanks ever so much.