bodom wrote:christopher::: wrote:Yes..!:
Im sorry Christopher I didn't realize you had already posted that link.
Not a problem, in the least.
PeterB wrote:I think the point is being missed here....or rather the context.
This is a transcript of a translation of an extemporised talk given by Luang Por Chah to monks who were already his disciples.
It is not a generalised homily written for future generations of unaffiliated westerners.
It assumes a number of things. Chief of which is the given nature of the student/teacher relationship.
It is saying that those who are in relationship to a teacher can find teaching in nature. Or find those teachings illustrated and reinforced.
A wider knowledge of Luang Por's thought...including a direct knowledge of his legacy via his successors would make that clear. He is not advocating a Romantic view of nature of a kind so adroitly skewered by Bhikkhu Thanissaro .
A view of nature which the late M.C.O'Walsh dismissed as Blue Doming " as in "my vihara is the blue dome of the sky "...
You may be absolutely right, Peter. Or- it may be that there was some simple wisdom being expressed here by Luang Por Chah which can be of benefit to others, outside his immediate circle (just as the teachings of the Buddha have "spoken" to millions down thru the ages)....
I do agree, that he's not advocating a Romantic view, he's talking about how we can see the Dhamma in Nature, that Nature is teaching what Buddha taught, we can see the "truth" of
''anicca-dukkha-anattā'' by mindfully observing the Natural world around us....
PeterB wrote:
I can tell you that during his last few months the monks who attended him on a 24 hour basis, said that his awareness and great presence.(.which had to be experienced to be believed, ) was as powerful as ever.
Thanks for that info, Peter.