These monks in North East Thailand are on Bindebaht (?), the daily dawn walk to receive their food offered by the villagers. Not all monks in Thailand keep stricktly to the discipline prescribed by the Buddha but these monks strive to maintain the original forest tradition of a pure and simple life. They are not allowed to possess money nor grow their own food. This ensures their total dependence on the lay community so they can’t cut themselves off in a spiritual cocoon. For the laity Bindebaht (?) is a way to pay respect for the discipline of the monks and also a way of making merit which many believe brings good fortune in this life and in future rebirths. About 50 monks and novices live at Wat Pah Pong ranging from 13 years old to 70. Some may stay for many years but the majority will only spend a year or two. It is a Thai custom for men to be ordained for short periods of their lives. After returning from Bindebaht, the monks eat their only meal of the day which consists mainly of rice and vegetables. The day began at 3am with chanting, meditation, general chores and duties. It’s now about 8:30, until this time tomorrow they will consume only liquid. After the meal they bow to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. The abbot, the Venerable Ajahn Chah has been in robes for 50 years.
“Here in the forest you can learnt to be in harmony with the way things are in nature. You can live happily and peacefully. Here a monk is able to contemplate the nature of things. As he looks around him, he realizes that all forms of life degenerate and eventually die. Nothing that exists is permanent. And when he understands this he begins to become calm and serene.
(Thai sounding) Bindebaht = (Pali) Pindapat = "alms round".Dan74 wrote:Here are the first 4 minutes. Maybe someone else can do the next bit. If you need someone to check the Russian, you can PM me.
These monks in North East Thailand are on Bindebaht (?), the daily dawn walk to receive their food offered by the villagers. Not all monks in Thailand keep stricktly to the discipline prescribed by the Buddha but these monks strive to maintain the original forest tradition of a pure and simple life. They are not allowed to possess money nor grow their own food. This ensures their total dependence on the lay community so they can’t cut themselves off in a spiritual cocoon. For the laity Bindebaht (?) is a way to pay respect for the discipline of the monks and also a way of making merit which many believe brings good fortune in this life and in future rebirths. About 50 monks and novices live at Wat Pah Pong ranging from 13 years old to 70. Some may stay for many years but the majority will only spend a year or two. It is a Thai custom for men to be ordained for short periods of their lives. After returning from Bindebaht, the monks eat their only meal of the day which consists mainly of rice and vegetables. The day began at 3am with chanting, meditation, general chores and duties. It’s now about 8:30, until this time tomorrow they will consume only liquid. After the meal they bow to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. The abbot, the Venerable Ajahn Chah has been in robes for 50 years.
“Here in the forest you can learnt to be in harmony with the way things are in nature. You can live happily and peacefully. Here a monk is able to contemplate the nature of things. As he looks around him, he realizes that all forms of life degenerate and eventually die. Nothing that exists is permanent. And when he understands this he begins to become calm and serene.
Ajahn Chah teaches that even the most mundane activity can be a form of meditation if carried out mindfully. Much of the day is spent making and maintaining their few basic possessions. Meditation can eventually become a constant practice. (Spoken Thai)
Monks are trained to be content with little, to eat only what they need, to sleep only when necessary, to be satisfied with what they have. This is the foundation for Buddhist meditation.
(Spoken Thai) Buddhist monks don’t practice meditation for selfish reasons. We practice in order to know ourselves so that then we will be able to understand and teach others how to live peacefully and wisely.
This monk has been ordained for 15 years. He is respected not only for his skill in meditation, but also for his practical skills - his consistent mindfulness.
Meditation does not just involve being at peace with the world, confronting the self can be like walking into a raging storm. It is quite usual at first to despair, even to want to kill oneself. (Spoken Thai) Some people think that the monks life is a lazy and an easy one. If that is what they think they should just try and see just how long they can stand it. A monk’s work is hard. He works to free his heart so that he begins to feel loving kindness which embraces everything. He sees that all life has the characteristic of the breath. It rises and it falls. Everything that is born expires. So his suffering diminishes because he knows that nothing belongs to him.
This novice is 14. He comes from a local village and has been in the monastery for several months. What is the hardest thing about being a novice? (Spoken Thai) Being a novice is not difficult but being in the world is very hard. Why is that? Why? Because there are a lot of problems involved in looking after buffaloes.
I was tired with the world, so I wanted to come and live here to practice the dhamma. I used to have a wife, six children, buffaloes - all these I had to give up. I felt that coming to live here was more useful to myself and to others. As I experienced the teaching of the Buddha, so I can pass it on to others.
Discipline is a crucial part of the experience. The 227 rules which a monk has to observe are not ends in themselves but stepping stones towards mental resolve. Shaving the head is a symbol of the renunciation of the world. This monk from London is one of several western monks here.
The life is very simple, very light, very simple. And yet, if you look at the rules, they all seem very complicated, um, which seems a bit of a contradiction. But in actual fact the two work together. Because um, simplicity also involves always coming down into the moment, the moment which you are in, which simplicity helps you to do that. And then the complication of the rules helps you do that more, because you always have to be
recollecting what you are doing.
The days’ activities are regulated by a bell. Twice a month it calls them to confession. They recite to each other categories of offense. The most serious, which include sexual intercourse, are punished by expulsion. Lesser offenses incur various penances. Of course a monk is free to leave the order, if he finds the discipline irksome.
A monk learns to challenge his moods. Our aim is to become aware of everything that passes through our minds, knowing the greed, hatred, delusion. We watch these feelings, but we don’t cling to them and follow them. We just watch them come and go.
After the confession comes the patimokkha, the ritual recitation of the 227 rules. Occasional prompting is sometimes necessary.
Bloody limeys!You can’t control yourself, in a way, you know I mean, you try and you fail. But then you find out why you fail, that is the thing. And through that, then you get understanding which enables you to, um, to work it. Let’s put it like that, that is one way of saying it, talking about it, uh, a certain way of looking at it.
So it is a question of becoming aware – Right - it is not running away – right - I mean you have got to look right at them, confront them all, and, uh, through that, then you can - if you just push them away then, I mean, that has happened, see, we’ve done that, and we’ve ended up going crazy, you know. Because we are not trying to be anybody special or anything, so these rules aren’t leading us on to sainthood or something like that, that is not the idea. We are just looking at what we are, and we’ve got to get the muck out of the way. And that is what they help us do.
It is Done.Originally I had uh some feelings inside, (but they kept things uh, they ..uh ) they were frustrated by my, my external conditions, or so I thought, but actually that wasn’t so, cause these external conditions were helping, just to grow, you know, and I feel that now is, is about the first time that I really feel I have got a whole view of things, if you see what I mean, in the right perspective. But I wanted it, for myself, from this inner kind of feeling I had, which sometimes I thought was all wrong, and cause it wouldn’t fit in with the outer life, you know , and, and this kind of thing and now I feel that uh things have come together in the right way, in the right way. Before they had come together, but never, never so right, I would say So uh that is not to say that everything is alright, hahaha by any means, but um things uh I feel I feel right about things ?facing me? [or ?basically?] [so it is [mumbles…]]
Indeedthe monk, uh, speaks, um, in a way, so to speak, if you know what i mean, that is uh, difi, difi, difi - cult to uh really um be sure zactly what uh he um is saying sometimes, you know, about uh these things sometimes
SureZom wrote:Could you also make this clear - the passage from 13:58 to 14:40..
If there are any questions about correcting the translation, better grammar, whatever - just ask.But what does all this do for the laity? The monastery exerts a tremendous pull on the lay community and they provide all the money for the buildings. This man used to be a village spirit priest, but now in response to Ajahn Chah’s teaching, he’s turned his back on spirit belief and he is now revered because he walks without fear through forests others believe are spirit haunted. In Thailand, Buddhist practice is often blended with pre-Buddhist belief. Many villagers make offerings to guardian spirits whose powers they are fearful of, but coming to the monastery, they leave all this behind.
Thanks for the opportunity.Zom wrote:O! Thanks a lot!
