Gradually, gradually, A moment at a time, The wise remove their own impurities As a goldsmith removes the dross. Dhammapada verse 239 in any given moment Ajahn Munindo In Any Given Moment by Ajahn Munindo This publication is made available for free distribution by Aruno Publications Aruno Publications is administered by: Harnham Buddhist Monastery Trust Company No. 6688355, Charity Reg. No. 1126476 Contact Aruno Publications at www.ratanagiri.org.uk This book is available for free download at www.forestsangha.org ISBN 978-1-908444-69-1 Copyright © Aruno Publications 2021 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Produced with the LATEX typesetting system, set in EB Garamond, Alegreya Sans and Merriweather. Revision version 2.0, 2021 CONTENTS Preface x i TAKING SHAPE 1 1 . 1 The End of the River 3 1 . 2 Being Different 7 1 . 3 Doctor Albert Schweitzer 1 1 1 . 4 Difficult Lessons 1 7 1 . 5 Getting Ready to Leave 2 5 YEARS OF CHAOS 2 9 2 . 1 Out Into the World 3 1 2 . 2 Jumping Sundays 3 5 2 . 3 Lifelines 4 1 2 . 4 Journeying 5 1 2 . 5 Ready to Leave, Again 5 9 2 . 6 A Very Foreign Country 6 1 THE SPIRIT OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 6 9 3 . 1 A Reorientation 7 1 3 . 2 What Next? 7 5 3 . 3 Heading For Asia 8 1 3 . 4 Dark Clouds Descending 8 9 3 . 5 The Land of the Free 9 5 3 . 6 Different Perspectives 9 9 3 . 7 First Encounter with the Forest Sangha 1 1 3 3 . 8 Lessons to Learn 1 1 9 3 . 9 First Rains Retreat 1 2 5 RESHAPING 1 2 9 4 . 1 The Missing Ingredient 1 3 1 4 . 2 A New Kind of Disorientation 1 3 9 4 . 3 The International Forest Monastery 1 4 5 4 . 4 The Spirit of Spiritual Community 1 5 3 4 . 5 Reconfigurations 1 6 1 4 . 6 Burning, Burning, Burning 1 6 5 v i i i 4 . 7 Visiting Luang Ta Maha Bua 1 6 9 4 . 8 Time in Thailand Coming to an End 1 7 3 TRANSLATION 1 8 1 5 . 1 Better a Monk Than a Drunk 1 8 3 5 . 2 Spreading the Word 1 8 7 5 . 3 A Relief to Be in Britain 1 9 7 5 . 4 Chithurst Emerging 2 0 1 5 . 5 Emphasis on Letting Go 2 0 5 5 . 6 Early Lessons on Learning How to Speak 2 1 1 5 . 7 The Devon Vihara 2 1 9 INTEGRATION 2 3 3 6 . 1 Returning to Chithurst 2 3 5 6 . 2 Venerable Venerables 2 4 3 6 . 3 Creative Vigilance 2 5 1 6 . 4 Our Spiritual Toolkit 2 6 3 6 . 5 Ordeal in the Attic 2 7 1 i x 6 . 6 The Forest Sangha Calendar 2 7 5 6 . 7 Heading North 2 7 9 6 . 8 Tan Ajahn Chah’s Funeral and Teachings 2 8 7 6 . 9 Symbols and Rituals 3 0 5 6 . 1 0 Riding the Waves 3 1 5 SUPPORTIVE STRUCTURES 3 2 3 7 . 1 Shared Aspirations 3 2 5 7 . 2 Staying in Touch 3 3 9 7 . 3 Why Study? 3 5 5 7 . 4 Expect the Unexpected 3 8 5 7 . 5 Contentment 4 0 9 7 . 6 Sitting in the Buddha’s Waiting Room 4 5 7 Epilogue 4 9 1 We Are All Translators 4 9 5 Be Like A Tree 5 0 9 References 5 2 1 x PREFACE This book has been compiled in large part because dwelling on thoughts of gratitude brings happiness. Also, as I approach seventy years of age, I find myself drawn to recollecting and reviewing earlier events in my life and noticing how differently I now feel about them. As the writing of these notes progressed, it became apparent that, in addition to gratitude, I have been reflecting on two other themes: the dynamic of spiritual community and ways of supporting our spiritual life. The title, ‘In Any Given Moment’, means two things to me. One way of reading it reminds me that in any moment there is the potential to let go of our painful habits of clinging and consider the larger, spacious context in which this drama of life is taking place. This is how I understand, ‘Going for refuge to the Buddha’: trusting that there is selfless, just- knowing awareness. In another way of reading it, the cover image of an open sky (thank you Chinch) together with the title, suggests that whether or not we notice the beauty of life in any given moment depends on how present we are for it. When our faculties are obscured by self-centredness, we risk becoming lost in memories of the past and fantasies of the future; as a result our attention readily settles on what we perceive as lacking or ‘wrong’ with life, and we fail to notice the goodness and beauty right here in front of us. If our vision begins to clear, if the dross of unawareness is gradually removed and the gold of awareness revealed, a thoroughly different perspective might emerge. The timeline as it is presented here should not be taken too literally. I have tried to be accurate; however, accuracy over dates and times was not the main point of the compilation. I apologize if any inaccuracies or inconsistencies cause con- fusion. The main point has been to reflect on gratitude, community and sustaining spiritual practice. These three themes are the foreground, with the incidents and events of my life as the background; sometimes the background is not quite in focus. The significant moments that I reference in these pages, both the positive and the negative, are moments and events that stand out as having been helpful in my effort to be freed from the addiction to self-centredness. By no means have all the positive influences been mentioned, and definitely I have not included many of the negatives. Readers will find that the first six parts of the book read somewhat like a travelogue interspersed with Dhamma reflections. Part seven is almost entirely Dhamma reflections. It wasn’t that I set out to write a book in this style, it is just that this is how it unfolded. My hope is that anyone who reads it will discover something beneficial for themselves and perhaps find something that they want to share. Ajahn Munindo x i i TAKING SHAPE THE END OF THE 1 . 1 RIVER Approximately eight-five miles south of Auckland, in New Zealand’s North Island, there is a small town called Te Awamutu. This is where I was born in September 1951 and was given the name Keith Morgan. The Maori name of the town, Te Awamutu, translates into English as the end of the river. In various online resources1 it is explained that it wasn’t that the river Manga-o-hoi actually ended there, it was just that beyond that point it became unnavigable by canoe. I’m guessing that in 1951 the town had a population of about 5000. The area had a history as a place where battles had been fought between opposing Maori tribes, where an early group of Christian missionaries had established itself, and as a settlement used by the British military during the Waikato wars. By the time my parents, Pearl and Ian Morgan, moved there, Te Awamutu had found its identity as a service centre for the surrounding farming communities. Christianity was a defining element in our family. My father was the youngest of six children in a family headed by a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Richard Morgan and his wife Grace Morgan. My mother was the only child of a Baptist minister, Rev. Alfred Dewe and his second wife, Sadie Dewe, or ‘Nana’ as we knew her. Rev. A. Dewe died young and so eventually Nana remarried another Baptist minister, Rev. Christopher Wilfrid Duncumb, after spending a number of years as housekeeper to a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Lloyd Wilkinson. Auntie Nessie, my father’s older sister, was a deaconess in the Presbyterian Church, Uncle Roy was a Baptist minister and my younger sister, Jennifer, went on to become a pastor, who, along with her pastor husband Guthrie Boyd, ministered within the church of the Assembly of God. Recently I found out that my younger brother Bryan, is ministering these days as a lay preacher in the Paihia Christian Fellowship. We lived in Te Awamutu for about two years before moving to a similar sized town, Morrinsville, about twenty miles away. I imagine my father’s work was the reason for the move. Although for much of my life I have struggled to find my place in this family, this does not mean I don’t value it. To be born to parents who worked so tirelessly to raise their four children in a wholesome environment was indeed a blessing. At later stages in my life it became apparent that growing up in that environment was a mixed blessing and it did take some skill and discernment to decipher which aspects were truly valuable and which needed to be left behind. When I think back now about my father, I have huge admir- ation and gratitude for his integrity and kindness. Besides his Monday to Friday job working in Hawkes Motors Ford 4 garage, initially as a mechanic and eventually as the manager, he would spend many hours after work and on the weekends cultivating a substantial vegetable garden that he had planted out the back of our house.