|
In the rainy season of 1996, there were ten monks at the Hse Main Gon Forest Center. Other than Shwebo Sayadaw U Nanda and the author, the other eight were foreigners. Among those was the German monk U Vivekânanda. He has seven vâssa (rainy seasons as a monk) already. Since he has lived with Sayadaw for every one of those seven years, no doubt he has gotten many words of advice from Sayadaw. The first piece of guidance which he recounted when the author asked him was, 'Just as you hold this steel begging bowl resolutely, may you hold to the life of a monk resolutely". Those were the words of guidance Sayadaw gave to him after offering him his begging bowl. Hearing those words of guidance, I couldn't help but remember one thing U Vivekânanda said on a Myanmar television broadcast. His words were, "I will spend the rest of my life wearing these robes."
It would not be easy to live as a monk in his motherland of Germany, he says. He is happy here in Myanmar, he says. He is very happy at the Hse Main Gon Forest Center. He really delights in the practice of meditation. On a day that he doesn't get to meditate, he's not satisfied with himself. He tries not to have any days on which he doesn't meditate.
Back at the Shwe Taung Gon Sâsana Yeiktha, Sayadaw asked him to teach English to the 'working monks'. That was during the rainy season. He wanted to spend the whole rainy season on retreat. He had to spend one day a week teaching English. The day after he had to teach English, his noting wasn't good because his momentum slackened, he says. After he had been giving those lessons for a while, the lesson were not a disturbance to his practice anymore, he says. He was able to keep noting well, he says.
Thus he finally understood, "Sayadaw gave me this responsibility in order that I could learn to practice so it did not become a disturbance."
I couldn't help but remember a line related to that which Sayadaw has a habit of saying. "One part to people's affairs. One part to the practice of Satipatthana. One has to do one's work with those two parts. One also has to set aside some time for the practice of Satipatthana."
As the saying goes, "There are many issues in the human realm". In the human world, what a great many matters there will be. No matter how many matters to attend to there are, don't give the excuse that there's too much to do and neglect the practice of Satipatthana. It's a inspiration to set aside time and do it. In the beginning one will probably meet with difficulty, as the German monk U Vivekânanda did. In the end, though, it will doubtless become easy, as the German monk experienced.
Another piece of advice of Sayadaw's that he remembered is "Be Strong". Sayadaw gave him this advice speaking in English. The German monk explained his situation this way, "The day before Sayadaw told me to 'Be Strong', I was talking with a foreign yogi in my room. Meanwhile, Sayadaw had come by room. Sayadaw said, 'Don't talk, Don't talk,' very loudly. I was trembling with fright. When I went outside
|
|