The wheel turns and once again it’s time to celebrate Visakha Puja, when we remember the Birth, Enlightenment and Passing of the Buddha. Tradition has it that they each occurred on a full moon of the lunar month of Visakha. Note, not the full moon of May but the full moon of Visakha, a lunar month that corresponds roughly with May and sometimes early June.
The story goes that Queen Maya of the Sakyans was on her way to her parental home to prepare for the birth of her first child when, on the full moon of Visakha, she stopped to rest at the Lumbini Garden and there was delivered of a baby boy. This was no ordinary child, not just a prince, but a Bodhisatta, a being dedicated to Enlightenment and engaged in the long process of becoming a Buddha, and it is said that he soon declared that this would be his last birth. When shown the child, the great sage Asita foretold that this boy would be a Buddha and set turning the matchless wheel of Dhamma or Truth, a phenomenon that he, Asita, would sadly not live to see. And there were similar prophecies at the child’s naming ceremony when it was said that he would be either a monarch or a a great religious, although one of the brahmin priests present was confident that he would certainly become a Buddha.
Then when he was thirty-five, on another Visakha full moon, after having woken up to the realities of old age, sickness and death and having consequently gone forth in search of answers and endured all manner of trials and privations, seated under a great tree he realised Full Enlightenment and became the Buddha.
Finally, at the ripe old age of eighty, he set out on his final journey and walking by stages after three months arrived at Kusinara where at the Visakha full moon, lying on his right between twin sal trees the Parinibbana or final passing took place. By traditional reckoning this was two thousand, five hundred and fifty-four  years ago, which since this is how we count the Buddhist Era makes this year BE 2554.
I should think it’s easy to understand why we celebrate the birth and the Enlightenment because after all had the Bodhisatta not been born he couldn’t have grown up and gone forth in search of something higher and better and not subject to old age, sickness and death; and had he not realised Enlightenment there would have been no Buddha and no Buddhism. But why, you might well ask, would we want to celebrate his passing? After all it’s more usual to be sad and mourn the loss of someone special to you, someone you admire and who inspires you. How on earth can you celebrate his death? Well the answer is we don’t celebrate his death, we celebrate his Enlightenment with nothing remaining, usually described as his Parinibbana. We don’t speak of Buddhas and Enlightened Beings dying because we understand death to be followed by rebirth and inevitably, more suffering. But Buddhas and Enlightened Ones have completely and utterly extinguished the craving from which suffering flows and which fuels the round of rebirth. It is that victory over rebirth and suffering that we celebrate and which with his perfect example and  inspirational teachings gives us hope.
The next question has to be how do we celebrate these special occasions? Well, first of all what we shouldn’t do is to simply use a celebration as an excuse to follow our desire for pleasure and allow ourselves to be distracted and lost in fun and games, silly jokes and too much food and drink. It makes no sense to celebrate the Enlightened Mind, an inner attitude entirely free of greed, hatred and delusion, by doing the very things that foster and reinforce in our own minds those very defilements. I’m sure we’re all attracted by entertainment; there’s no doubt it’s enjoyable but does it do us any good? In a famous dialogue with an actor manager called Talaputa that once had a big impact on me, the Buddha pointed out that actors during a performance, while they might give pleasure and entertain also draw their audiences ever deeper into delusion, and in the process cause them to experience even more and more feelings of desire and aversion than usual and so rather than a favourable rebirth an actor’s destiny is likely to be a lower realm. From comments like this we ought to understand that watching and listening to entertainments are not really suitable ways of honouring the Buddha. If we’re to come out of suffering we have to try and understand the impact of what we say and do, both material and psychological, on ourselves and others and do our best to at least avoid what is harmful and incompatible with Buddhist training,
Then what do we do to celebrate these great occasions? Well coming to a Buddhist temple should be something special, it’s a place where you do special things, things that pertain to being a better person and ultimately getting free of your suffering. So the format that our celebrations follow includes the practice of Dana, Sila and Bhavana, that is Giving, Virtue and Cultivation. People usually bring food, vegetarian food, to offer and share, and many other things that they think might be useful and a help to us, they reaffirm and practise precepts and they cultivate their minds by listening to the Dhamma and being in a peaceful and special place. And if the weather is favourable we process three times around the main Buddha Rupa or Chedi. In addition, this year for Visakha Puja we are being honoured by the presence of some important guests and I sincerely hope you will make the most of this rare opportunity and join us on May 29th to remember the Buddha’s Birth, Enlightenment and Passing.
In early 1972, when I first joined Wat Nong Pah Pong, the monastery in NE Thailand of the late, great Ajahn Chah, there were several Thai monks there of roughly my age and we were all relatively young then. We were about the same age but they were nearly all senior to me because generally Thais ordain at around twenty whereas I was almost twenty-eight when I ordained. Two of them, one who is a little older than me and another who is a little younger and both very senior, are visiting England this summer and they with three younger European monks who are accompanying them on their trip, will be with us for our public celebration of Visakha Puja on May 29th. Ven. Chao Khun Rajabhavanavikrom (Luangpor Liam) is now the Abbot of Wat Nong Pah Pong, while Ven. Phrakru Nikrodhammabhorn (Luangpor Anek) has his own monastery about half-an-hour’s drive from Wat Pah Pong. Ajahn Cittagutto, the first monk to be ordained at the Forest Hermitage will also be here, paying his annual visit. It looks like being a very big day and we welcome your interest, your help and your joyful participation.
Our preparations for their visit and our big day have included some redecorating and a few jobs that we’ve meant to do for ages. And our rather grubby and decrepit kitchen has had a total makeover. A few weeks ago a Chinese group that occasionally comes to see us were here and because that day the old gas hob was playing up, mention was made of a gas cooker that they thought might be available for nothing. They were right, it was and it was not long before it was here and our Chinese friends had very generously decided to give us a really good kitchen to accommodate it. So all the old units were ripped out and soon what had been our kitchen looked like a bomb site. And then the transformation began. At the time of writing it’s still being painted, although mostly finished but not yet operational. We are of course enormously grateful to all who have made this possible. Anumodana!
In the midst of all this we’ve just had a brief visit from Ajahn Sopa, another Wat Pah Pong monk whom I’ve known for years. We ordained the same year but again, he’s a few years younger than me.
In the meantime, we carry on with what we always do here. When he’s not staying up all night painting the kitchen Ajahn Manapo looks after the school visits and as I’ve been doing for so many years I continue with my prison visits and my enjoyable weekly date with Warwick University Buddhist Society.

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Sayadaw U Thilawunta supervised the building of our pagoda in 1988 and named it the English Shwe Dagon Pagoda. The main structure was completed on 8/8/88 after 8 days of building. Sayadaw U Thilawunta, also known as Aung Ming Aung Sayadaw, passed away on March 17th and his funeral was earlier today in Rangoon. He would have been 99 in June. We were asked to join in lighting a hundred candles for him at the pagoda, a ceremony to be repeated all over the world at other pagodas he built. So after Evening Chanting and the Sitting this evening that is what we did.

Towards the end of March, on what seemed to be the first brilliantly sunny day of the year I was back on my beloved Isle of Wight. It was only for a few hours and I was there to visit the prisons, technically one now as all three have been grouped under the title of HMP Isle of Wight. That doesn’t really sound too good. Anyone would think the whole island was a prison. We left Warwickshire at a quarter to six in the morning and we were back fifteen hours later. It’d been an easy run and a smooth crossing both ways.

In the morning I visited the Buddhist group in Albany. Then when I came out we had nearly a couple of hours to kill so off we went to look up a few of my old haunts. When he came to see me a few months ago Luang Por Sumedho told me that his great grandfather had been born at Godshill on the Isle of Wight. This came as a bit of a shock because my great grandfather lived at Rookley which is two and a half miles from Godshill and they would have been contemporaries. I verified this as I told Ajahn Sumedho later by a little research on the Internet. He said he’d never been to Godshill so while I was there I made a point of going to Godshill. This photos is of me standing in the High Street, close to the Wesleyan Chapel which has a plaque that announces that it was built in 1838. Both our great grandfathers would have passed it as a relatively new building. Who knows, they might have stopped to pass the time of day at this very spot. In the extreme background is an ancient pub called the Loaves and Fishes and next to it is the Model Village that I remember visiting on a very damp day as a ten year old.

There was just time for a stroll by the sea at Shanklin and then a quick run past the house at Little Duxmore that had once been the first Buddhist Vihara on the Isle of Wight. I’d forgotten how wonderful the island is. Then it was a dash back to Newport in time to spend the afternoon first in Parkhurst and then in Camp Hill. These with Pentonville in London were the first prisons I ever visited back in 1977 and I continued going there until long after I’d moved to Warwickshire and The Forest Hermitage.

A week ago Wednesday we welcomed the arrival of Martin who has come to be our live-in helper and especially to drive for me. What a relief to be able to get on the road again. Looking at my travel spreadsheet I’ve made very few prison visits so far this year, which means quite a bit of catching up to be done.

Last Saturday we had an excellent Angulimala Workshop here. It was not as well attended as some but was nevertheless very enjoyable and useful. Most of the afternoon was devoted to a presentation by Katherine Lam, supported by Yasmin, on Vietnamese and Chinese Buddhism and culture. We have an increasing number of Vietnamese in prison and in the Removal Centres, most of whom don’t speak English, and helping them is proving a challenge for several Buddhist chaplains. Katherine is of Vietnamese parentage but brought up in this country, she speaks Vietnamese and practises Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, and Yasmin is from Singapore and has attended retreats here as well as practising Chinese Buddhism. The help and advice they provided was really good and provided for a very rich and varied discussion. And of course the proceedings were admirably oiled by the wonderful food that Khun Oiy and her kitchen assistants cooked up for lunch. But still the day was spoilt a bit by our having to announce that the small grant that the Prison Service has given over the years can no longer be used to support these workshops and cover travelling expenses and that we don’t know if there is to be any funding at all after this year. Also as part of the drive to save money I will be losing the Prison Service laptop that gives me access to their secure intranet and email system. Never mind, we’ll manage, we have to.

One day recently I had a small parcel of Dhamma books come from someone who had no further use for them and who’d decided they might be of use in the prisons. That was very thoughtful of that person and I gratefully added those books to the resources we make available to our team of Buddhist prison chaplains for distribution in the prisons. It occurs to me that there might be some of you reading this who might have a few reliable Buddhist books gathering dust on your shelves that we could make use of. Do contact me if you have.

On Monday evening I was out at Warwick University Buddhist Society. On alternate weeks we are now able to meet in the Chaplaincy Centre which is so much better than the classroom we still have to use on the other Mondays. The attendance wasn’t quite up to the 21 we had a fortnight ago but it was still pretty good.

Tuesday afternoon I was out at Gartree Prison.

On Wednesday Martin drove me down to London for a meeting of TBSUK (Theravada Buddhist Sangha in the UK) at the Thai Wat Buddhapadipa temple in Wimbledon. There wasn’t that much for the agenda: possible attendance at the UN Vesak celebration in Bangkok in May; the meeting in Hammersmith to celebrate the 2,600th anniversary of the Buddha’s Enlightenment; and the trouble that the new Points Based Immigration system is causing us by making it virtually impossible for us to bring bhikkhus from overseas into this country. I haven’t yet made up my mind whether I will go to the UN Vesak celebration. I am reluctant to be away then but I am glad of the chance to raise the profile of TBSUK. I had nothing to say about the other celebration in Hammersmith. I just listened to the rather vague proposals to have displays of chanting, cultural events and songs included. Frankly it didn’t sound my cup of tea at all. About the last matter, it seems that different temples have been approaching it in different ways and I made it clear that we can only succeed by working together. We agreed to write to the abbots of all the Theravadan temples and circulate a letter for the Home Office for us all to sign that explains the problems we have with the current Immigration rules.

On Thursday I went to Broadmoor and on the way back called at Thornford Park Hospital, a medium secure psychiatric unit.

And that was the week that was!

It’s nearly four weeks since Ajahn Manapo and I returned from our annual visit to Thailand. Unfortunately, over the Christmas and New Year not only were we snowed in at the Forest Hermitage (Wat Pah Santidhamma) but we were both prostrate with flu. I had been the first to go down with it and being the older was the last to recover. In fact my first real day out was the day we were driven to Heathrow to catch a plane for Bangkok. That was on Tuesday, January 11th. The main purpose of our trip was, of course, to attend the annual Remembrance Day for Luangpor Chah on January 16th, the anniversary, this year the nineteenth, of his passing. We were away almost three weeks and our stay in Thailand as it unfolded fell into four distinct parts. First was in the North-East, in Ubon Rajathani, when we stayed at Wat Pah Nanachat and took part in the events there and especially at Wat Pah Pong. The second was in Bangkok where I attended and was the keynote speaker at a day long conference. The third was a very enjoyable visit to Phitsanuloke and Sukhotai. And the fourth was a few days rest by the sea at Cha-am.

Years ago, not long after Ajahn Chah had passed away and we’d had his funeral and the annual remembrance days at Wat Pah Pong on the anniversary of his death had begun, I decided that if it were at all possible I would go back every year to be there on the sixteenth of January to offer my respects and to join in the grand circumambulation of his chedi. I think I’ve only missed once so far. I go back every year as a mark of respect and gratitude to Luangpor Chah for all that he did for me, and for the inspiration and example that he has given and continues to give to so many. I realise it’s largely symbolic but my presence at Wat Pah Pong every year does have practical benefits too.

When I return to North-East Thailand every year I go back to a part of the world for which I have enormous affection. I go back to a monastery where I spent my formative years as a monk and I meet again friends who I have known and grown older with over almost forty years now. Back there I put aside many of the things that occupy me here and reconnect with a past that was often difficult but nevertheless a privilege to have lived through. And I am reminded that whilst I went there uninvited and unbidden, I was welcomed and by even the poorest with open-hearted generosity given that privilege. I have been fortunate in my life to have known and worked with some remarkable and great men and women but Ajahn Chah without doubt tops the lot.  When I go back now I am reminded of him and I’m revived, refreshed and inspired anew.

We had arrived on Wednesday afternoon and after spending one night in Bangkok, and after my annual eye check-up we flew up to Ubon on Thursday evening. Early on Friday morning a day-long Sangha meeting began for me and other senior monks and that was followed by another shorter one the following evening at Wat Pah Pong. Coming together to honour and remember Ajahn Chah gives us an obvious opportunity to meet and to talk.

By Sunday, the 16th, Wat Pah Pong was packed. I have no way of knowing how many were there but possibly thousands of lay people and certainly hundreds of monks. Many were camping out or sleeping rough in the forest and all the time there was a constant coming and going and practically non-stop cooking to feed so many monks and nuns every morning and to ensure that free food was available to everyone else day and night throughout their stay. In the afternoon the great procession led by the monks in order of seniority, followed by the nuns and then the lay people, started from the main sala and wound its way out to and around the Ajahn Chah Chedi where we paid our respects and reverently laid our symbolic offerings. Then in the evening and through the night those who could and those who wished to listened to a succession of Dhamma desanas.

During our trip practically everywhere we went we had former Warwick University students, as well as alumni of Nottingham and London Universities visiting us and looking after us, including, for most of our stay in Ubon, Ant and Ken and Mark and Jin. So after the Ajahn Chah Remembrance Day, particularly with Ken’s great driving, we were able in the few days left to us in the North-East to get out and about and visit some of my favourite haunts and old friends. And even to take tea in proper bone china, the only time in the year this happens, when I’m in NE Thailand visiting Peter and Tipawan!

Towards the end of our second week, Mark and Jin flew south to the beaches, Ant scooted back to salvage his job at Phitsanuloke, and on the Friday with Ken driving, we left Wat Pah Nanachat to head south towards Bangkok and Ajahn Nyanadhammo’s beautifully landscaped wat on the northern side of Kow Yai National Park where we spent the night and part of the following day. From there we made it back to Bangkok in time for Saturday evening.

The following day, Sunday, my presence was required for most of the day at a seminar organised by Semsikkha (the Spirit in Education Movement). It was held at Suan Mokh Bangkok, a very fine and recently completed complex adjoining a park and lake and built to perpetuate the memory and work of the late Ajahn Buddhadassa. Most of the morning was occupied with a discussion group that included people working in a range of different roles in prisons and places of youth custody. Then after that and two interviews for two different television channels later, I gave a long rather rambling talk and took questions. By the time it was all over the evening was drawing in and so we quickly shot off to see my old friend Sathienpong Wannapok before hurrying back to where we were staying to be reunited with four more former Warwick students who used to come to The Forest Hermitage.

Before dawn the next day, Monday, we set off for Bangkok’s old Don Meuang airport to catch an early flight for Phitsanuloke. We touched down on time shortly before eight o’clock to be met by Ant and driven to the little wooden house in the rice fields that he and Joob had rented for us. We’d not long been there when Joob and others showed up with masses of food for our meal, but then we had to wait a bit because Ant had disappeared to collect the chips! Yes, chips, we were very lucky because this was not the only occasion when Ant or Ken went out of their way to make sure that chips were on the menu. A bit later on after we’d eaten we went for a look around Phitsanuloke, paid our respects at the famed Buddha Rupa known as Phra Buddha Jinarat and visited a sort of Buddha Rupa factory. Then in the afternoon I gave a talk at Naresuan University where Ant and Joob and other alumni of Warwick and Nottingham Unis are working. In the evening Ex turned up with his dad to take me to their house for tea.

Scarcely had the chips had time to settle the following morning and we were piling into a minibus with Joob and Ant and a couple of his young, female students for a day out at Sukhotai. This is an ancient ruined capital covering a huge area and adorned with so many collapsed temples and majestic Buddha Images. I had never been there before and it was absolutely magical. We were there till sunset – a really wonderful afternoon. Thank you so much Ant and Joob for that.

Wednesday, early, we had to tear ourselves away from our little temporary wooden temple in the rice fields and race to the airport for the early plane to Bangkok. There we had our meal, chips again, and then a judge who had heard me on Sunday at the seminar came to see me. When she’d left we repacked our stuff and were off again, this time for a few days rest at a big, empty house by the sea at Cha-am.

We were there until Sunday, and I was just getting the hang of resting and becoming accustomed to the constant roar of the sea a few yards away, and it was time to return to Bangkok and prepare for the flight back. We did have time in the afternoon for me to call again at the eye hospital for my glasses to be updated and then to pay our respects to Somdet Buddhajahn at Wat Sraket. In the evening we had a few last minute visitors, but then it was all over and that night, all too soon, we were on the plane, leaving behind the land of smiles and the land of giving and readying ourselves for a thirty-two degree drop in temperature!

For many more photos have a look here or if you’re a Facebook user you can find me and my photo albums at facebook.com/luangpor.

In a few days time, on Friday, the lunar month of Magha will conclude with its Full Moon. On that day we will celebrate Magha Puja. The Magha Full Moon is the anniversary of an extraordinary event that according to tradition happened more than 2,500 years ago in Northern Central India just outside the ancient city of Rajagaha, now more commonly known as Rajgir in the modern state of Bihar, but then the capital of the Kingdom of Magadha.

At one time, at the first Full Moon of Magha after his Enlightenment, the Buddha was staying at the Vulture Peak. While he was there, not far below at Veluvana, the Bamboo Grove offered by King Bimbisara, a great number of his personal disciples assembled, unbidden and without any prior arrangement. They were 1,250 in number, all were bhikkhus, all of them were Arahants, and every one of them had received his ordination from the Buddha himself. Then the Buddha came down from the Vulture Peak and having joined them in the Bamboo Grove, sat with them through that Full Moon night. And in the night the Buddha recited for them three verses known as the Ovada Patimokkha, thus commencing a practice he would maintain until it was eventually replaced by the recitation of the full Patimokkha of 227 precepts that still to this day must be observed when four or more bhikkhus are met together on Full and New Moons.

Magha Puja is essentially a celebration of the Sangha. That historic meeting in the Bamboo Grove and the decision  to encourage regular meetings with recitations of what in effect was a summary of the Teaching and Discipline that Buddhist monks are expected to follow, both consolidated and went some way to securing the future growth and development of the Sangha.

The Sangha means the twin orders of Buddhist monks and nuns, although at the time of the first Magha Puja only the order of  bhikkhus existed.

This actual meeting as it is described does not appear in the Pali Canon but a similar gathering and recitation by a previous Buddha, Vipassi, is described in the Mahapadana Sutta of the Digha Nikaya. You can also find the verses of the Ovada Patimokkha in your copies of The Dhammapada, verses 184, 183 and 185. The order of the verses in The Dhammapada is slightly different from those in the Ovada Patimokkha.

The date of Magha Puja this year is February 18th and at The Forest Hermitage we will celebrate on Sunday, February 20th.

Here is part of my talk at the Robe Offering ceremony held at The Forest Hermitage on the last day of Pansa, October 23rd. I was speaking about the Sangha and the relationship with the laity.

At the very beginning of May, 1977, Ajahn Chah came to England. Accompanying him were Ajahn Sumedho and myself. It was supposed to have been a two month visit but within two weeks of our arrival Luangpor Chah told us that of course he would have to return to Thailand before the Vassa but we were to stay. Ever since I’ve thought of the day when I might go back to live in Thailand for good but for me, so far, it hasn’t yet come and I think will never come. But Ajahn Sumedho, who is just ten days short of ten years older than me, at the end of last year decided that for him the time had come. Next month he leaves England and goes back to Thailand. He will be succeeded at Amaravati by Ajahn Amaro. Yesterday they both called to see me.

The tree presented to me at the Springhill Buddha Grove Celebration on September 19th, a Ginkgo Biloba, has been planted at The Forest Hermitage behind the Ajahn Chah Memorial Tree.