3000 Hours of Meditation
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3000 HOURS OF MEDITATION at the sacred Mahabodhi Tree in Bodhgaya, India and a Traditional Four Holy Sites Pilgrimage Personal Journal entries shared with Dhamma friends, with a closing chapter offering practical advice on how to make one’s life a Sacred Pilgrimage. By Ajahn Achalo Bhikkhu 3000 HOURS OF MEDITATION Personal Journal entries shared with Dhamma friends, with a closing chapter offering practical advice on how to make one’s life a Sacred Pilgrimage. By Ajahn Achalo This Collection of teachings by Ajahn Achalo Bhikkhu has been sponsored for free distribution by a group of dedicated Thai, Malaysian and Singaporean lay students, in honour of several significant occasions occurring in the year 2020. This year Ajahn Achalo enters his 24th year as a bhikkhu, which is exactly half of his life thus far. It is also the tenth year since Anandagiri Forest Monastery was established. FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION 6 CONTENTS FOREWORD 9 by Phra Rachabodhivitate INTRODUCTION 11 by Ajahn Achalo SECTION ONE 17 3000 hours – Meditating at the Sacred Bodhi Tree Personal Journal entries shared with Dhamma friends BODHGAYA – OPENING WORDS 18 CHAPTER ONE 21 The Seat of Enlightenment CHAPTER TWO 26 The Longest Journey Begins With the First Step CHAPTER THREE 34 Pleasant Sounds, Unpleasant Sounds, and the Silent Mind CHAPTER FOUR 38 Our Usual Days CHAPTER FIVE 42 Day of Miracles! CHAPTER SIX 44 Joy, Wonder, and Renunciant Thunder CHAPTER SEVEN 50 The Smell of Real Monks CHAPTER EIGHT 52 95% of the Big Goal is Completed! CHAPTER NINE 56 Mumtaz Gems & Sons CHAPTER TEN 60 Bodhgaya in the Age of Kali 7 CHAPTER ELEVEN 62 Hitting the Bump CHAPTER TWELVE 65 My Favourite Sri Lankan Aunty CHAPTER THIRTEEN 68 Advanced Zazen Practice CHAPTER FOURTEEN 76 The Rise of Gautam CHAPTER FIFTEEN 80 You Won’t Need to Dodge Bullets CHAPTER SIXTEEN 88 Bodhgaya in the Age of Kali (Part II) CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 93 Past the Three Quarters Point! CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 97 The Advanced Quicksand Phase CHAPTER NINETEEN 101 Finding Energy When There Isn’t Any CHAPTER TWENTY 105 The Final 1% CHAPTER TWENTY ONE 108 Forgiveness Supports the Process CHAPTER TWENTY TWO 113 Day 45—The Last Full Day CHAPTER TWENTY THREE 115 Taking Leave of the Bodhi Mandala SOME PHOTOS 122 8 3000 hours of Meditation SECTION TWO 126 Traditional Four Holy Sites Pilgrimage Fulfilling Outstanding Vows CHAPTER ONE 128 Fulfilling Outstanding Vows CHAPTER TWO 137 Pilgrimage Preparation CHAPTER THREE 150 Our Pilgrimage Begins Where the Teaching Began CHAPTER FOUR 165 Sacred Occasions in Holy Bodhgaya CHAPTER FIVE 181 Bowing Towards Heaven and Beyond! CHAPTER SIX 192 Peace at the Site of the Cessation of all Suffering CHAPTER SEVEN 201 Where the Last Birth Illuminated the World CHAPTER EIGHT 208 Fragrant Offerings in Jeta’s Grove CHAPTER NINE 216 Humbly Taking Leave SOME PHOTOS 230 SECTION THREE 242 AFTERWORD 243 Life as a Sacred Pilgrimage GLOSSARY 270 9 FOREWORD by Phra Rachabodhivitate ome students of Ajahn Achalo have made a request for a compilation of his Steachings in order to create a book or two in honour of several things that are occurring in the year 2020 - one is his upcoming 48th birthday, another is 24 years in the robes and the last is to mark the 10th year anniversary of Anandagiri. In Asia time is often marked in 12 year cycles so Ajahn Achalo will be completing his 4th cycle in the world and his second cycle in the robes. Half his life as a bhikkhu!...and ten years of all the hard work that it takes to establish a monastery. That is all worthy of celebrating. The compilation of teachings will cover a range of topics and themes that should prove useful for those new to Buddhism, as well as those who are experienced in this practice. There are some special contributions on the theme of faith, or confidence, in Buddhism - its benefits and how to nurture it. The collection of teachings given here are well grounded in the traditional discourses of the Buddha, along with practical explanations and illustrations from personal experience. There is also a wealth of guidance from Ajahn Achalo’s experiences on pilgrimage, but the themes explored are also useful for daily life practice in the “ordinary world”. All in all, I am pleased to see this collection of teachings come into being and I extend my blessings to all who helped to make it happen. Anumodana! (Ajahn Pasanno - Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery) 10 3000 hours of Meditation 11 INTRODUCTION by Ajahn Achalo reetings from Anandagiri Forest Monastery, Petchabun Province in GNorthern Thailand. I am writing this in my monk’s cabin in the middle of our rainy season retreat. This is the ninth consecutive year I have spent the three-month retreat period here and it is the quietest time of year by far. The five bhikkhus and one mae chee (eight precept nun) are living harmoniously and there are no building projects to impinge upon our time. The mist and the clouds and the sound of the insects on our remote and quiet mountaintop leaves me feeling a long way away from noisy and dusty Bihar, northern India, just now! By way of introduction to this collection, firstly I should mention that this book has come about due to the request of several close students and fellow pilgrims. While I wrote the journals herein mostly for my own enjoyment, I also shared them with a group of laypeople and monks who had joined me either on pilgrimage or for periods of practice in India. The intimate and candid tone of the writing reflects the fact that these people and I know each other quite well. I’m also a very open kind of a person, not so fond of secrets. Several of these people felt the content would be encouraging, and possibly even educational to a broader audience, and subsequently offered to co-sponsor the production of a book. Many people are interested in formal Buddhist teachings, which are usually non-personal and are more about a process than an individual’s story. But another type of person, perhaps more curious in nature, also wants to know about the conventional person who is giving the teaching. And about a teacher’s personal process along the path of mental cultivation. Autobiographies of famous monks and nuns are very popular in Asia. Some people have a big appetite for intimacy, and like to learn by hearing about how a person practises with the actual struggles, rather than simply hearing about the results and insights from their sincere practice. We all learn in different ways. So what is this book about? There is writing from four different occasions or sources presented within this book. Section One contains journal entries from 12 3000 hours of Meditation a time when I was striving to fulfil the last portion of a vow to meditate three thousand hours at the site of the Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya. Section Two contains journal entries and commentary from a recent three-week-long pilgrimage, during which I led a group to the four main holy sites—the place of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, first sermon, and final Nibbana—as well as other significant sites in northern India and Nepal. Third, there are reflections from other monastics and pilgrims who have joined me on these occasions. The final section contains recommendations for bringing more devotion, commitment, and effort into our everyday lives. These writings have been bundled together here because of the similarity of the under-riding themes. Briefly put, they involve the intensive engagement in Buddhist practice, in places historically associated with the Lord Buddha, with a focus upon demonstrating, deepening, and drawing upon the faith faculty. The fact that most of this writing was composed on-location in India is another cohesive element. Some Context Theravada Forest Monks normally live in monasteries that are situated within secluded areas of forest. These days they are usually quite structurally solid, well established facilities. But this was not always the case. Our tradition is also one where wandering has played a central role. From the time of the Buddha himself, monks and nuns would practise in various places at different times. Rather than being sedentary and cloistered, we have lived very close to nature. Often, monastics have been willing to leave their monasteries—even living in caves, under rock-hangings, or in large fields under a tree in the dry season— if doing so supports spiritual growth. Such wandering can support the practice of renunciation and non-attachment. In the recent past, places like Thailand and Burma were still eighty percent covered in jungle, and it was quite easy to find quiet and secluded places set in lush forests not far from the edges of towns. But in today’s Southeast Asia, the human population has increased and the forest cover has lessened to such a degree that forest monks must surround themselves with a buffer of forest simply to keep the outside world at bay. In many cases in Thailand, including at Anandagiri, the monastery which I founded and where I usually live, we’ve even had to plant the forest ourselves! Change is inevitable of course and all of this is okay—as long as we still have some quiet places to practise in, which we do. In fact, it has been a great joy, here, to watch a new forest begin to become established. However, there are still occasions where moving around is useful. Going on pilgrimage and practising in holy sites are such examples. Not necessarily because INTRODUCTION 13 these places are quiet, but rather that they can bring the Buddha’s life to life in a tangible way.