Visit To Buddhapadipa By Venerable Ajahn Brahmavamso

Written by Ubasaka Colin

Saturday 21^st April 2007 was a beautifully warm and sunny spring day and along with the anticipation of having a well-known western monk visit from Australia – there was also the promise of the arrival of the sunny weather in the UK that the forecasters had long been telling us about. The warmth of the summer sun was not just to be found in the weather conditions, however. It was on the smiles of the faces of the people who arrived at the temple to participate in this much advertised event. Together with familiar friends from both the Thai and English communities, were many visitors from Sri Lanka, who Ajahn Brahmavamso made a particular point of welcoming in his opening comments. Also present were other unfamiliar faces –some from other traditions and not necessarily Buddhist – who had heard of the Ajahn’s reputation and had come to see for themselves.

The lower Uposotha Hall was arranged with a semi-circle of meditation cushions in front of the Ajhan Brahm’s seat, with chairs arranged in the same semi-circle pattern behind, reflecting the approachability and informality of language and style that are so characteristic of Ajahn Brahmavamso. Ajahn Brahmavamso reminded us at the beginning of his talk that he was no stranger to the UK, having been born and grown up in London and, as a young man, having often visited Buddhapadipa Temple at 6.10 a.m. for Morning Chanting when the temple was located in Christchurch Road, East Sheen. He was equally no stranger to Thailand, having chosen to ordain and train as a monk there on the grounds that of all the Buddhist traditions he had investigated, he had chosen Thai Buddhism because these were the monks who had the biggest, most genuine smiles on their faces. This was proof indeed that the Path of Buddhism leads to happiness!

Happiness and smiles were the note of the day. Ajahn Brahmavamso told us of the recent great interest in Buddhist Psychology in the struggle against one of the greatest ill’s of our time – depression. Cognitive behavioural therapy, using an underlying Buddhist understanding of the world, has been so successful in treating depression that many University Departments have been set up in the United States to do further research into this field. Ajahn Brahmavamso reminded us of the terrible consequences for ordinary people when they loose faith and confidence in themselves and can only see the two glaring faults in their life rather than the 98% of their daily interactions which have been good and wholesome. There are those who go so far as to harm themselves in order to try to ‘blot out’ the mistakes that they perceive that they have made in their life, and this is especially sad in the case of young people. He reminded us how easy it is to get caught up in the ‘Doing’ side of our mind in the busy work lives that we lead in our lay-lives that we forget the ‘Knowing’ side of our mind that tells us we are under too much stress and need to go easier on ourselves and allow ourselves to live with the feelings of tension, depression, feelings of being overwhelmed which are the consequences of our modern day over-activity. Ajahn Brahmavamso’s conviction is that he can set up a Meditation Centre in Western Australia that can offer Australian young people the opportunity to develop the reflective skills they need to face the Anger-Consuming Monsters that eat up their lives. He told us how he had brought the simple truths behind his understanding to a Conference of Business People. He demonstrated to them the greater productivity they can achieve from their workers by having the genuine attitude that the employee standing in front of them at the moment they are speaking to them is the most important person in their life. When this attitude is conveyed to the employee, the employee immediately feels listened to and understood. For Ajahn Brahmavamso it was evident that banning over-time as a means of reducing-stress should result in increased profitability for companies. It is in having deep-Buddhist insight into the real nature of the world that Ajahn Brahmavamso found himself equally capable of talking to the Ministry of Defense in London. He gave these soldiers the message that they need to be more mindful than most of us in their career of protecting the nation because of the difficult decisions they have to make before deciding whether someone is really about to harm another human being or whether the person on front of them has unjustifiably been labeled a ‘terrorist’ or ‘murderer’ by the media and what is being asked of the soldier is an unthinking conditioned, response.

The humour and good-will with which Ajahn Brahmavamso made his points – especially when he ‘embellished’ the Buddhist Scriptures with contemporary examples that he playfully admitted he had just invented – brought smiles and laughter to the faces of his audience. And this, after all, was the purpose of his talk. To show us what he would be able to achieve with depressed people in western Australia given just a little financial assistance from each of us. A donation box was left at the exit to the hall for people to be able to give dana to spread the sunshine and happiness that we had been given at this talk to others less fortunate than ourselves.