‘Pelos teus próprios pés’. Pense nisto: estabilidade, confiança, dignidade pura e simples. A frase é utilizada como uma metáfora, mas, na verdade, é mais do que isso. Para quem queira conseguir fazer uma pausa de uma mente dispersa e de humores stressantes, pode ser tão fácil como literalmente deixar-se estar firme nos seus próprios pés. Se, por outro lado, gostaria de meditar, mas sente-se desafiado pela ideia de ficar sentado, quieto, sem fazer nada por mais de cinco minutos… ficar de pé pode ser uma forma razoável de iniciar o caminho para o seu equilíbrio interior. Vai ajudá-lo a sentir-se enraizado. E, se já gosta de meditar, ficar de pé pode ser uma forma de aliviar algum desconforto físico e ampliar a sua prática de uma forma inesperada, mas eficaz.

"Ajahn Sumedho est un moine de la Tradition de la forêt. Il fut ordonné en Thaïlande, à Nong Khai, en 1967 et s’étant rendu peu après à Wat Pah Pong, il fut le premier disciple occidental d’Ajahn Chah. Après avoir passé une dizaine d’années auprès de son maître, ce dernier lui proposa d’aller en Angleterre à l’invitation de l’English Sangha Trust qui invitait des moines venus d’Asie pour vivre, pratiquer et enseigner le bouddhisme de la tradition Theravada.

Ses enseignements clairs et directs attirèrent rapidement l’attention d’un grand nombre de personnes venues de toutes parts, et en 1979 fut créé Chithurst, le premier monastère de la Tradition de la forêt en occident.

Ce livre est un des premiers recueils d’enseignements qu’Ajahn Sumedho donna à la communauté de moines et de nonnes ainsi qu’aux résidents laïcs au cours de plusieurs retraites d’hiver entre 1979 et 1989. Il offre au lecteur un vaste éventail des aspects les plus importants du Bouddhisme et, par son approche approfondie de la pratique, il nous transmet une vision limpide du chemin du Dhamma. [...]"

"Embora o objetivo da meditação seja cultivar a mente (e o coração), utiliza o corpo como referencial. Para isso, colocamos a nossa atenção na experienciação do nosso corpo e das nossas sensações e ‘escutamos o nosso interior’. Chamamos a isto estar consciente, numa atenção não reativa, que permite estabilizar as energias, os estados de espírito e os processos mentais que surgem no nosso dia-a-dia. Apoiados nesta atenção, podemos aprender a sentir estes processos surgirem e a deixá-los passar, em vez de nos deixarmos enredar por eles. Surge um espaço ‘sem stress’ no nosso coração."

TO GET YOU ON TRACK...

It may be that you don’t read prefaces – if so, go ahead and dip in. But if you’re interested, this introduction explains the wrap that binds the ensuing passages together.

In Buddhist culture, one celebrates one’s birthday by making offerings and sharing the good kamma of such offering with one’s parents or departed relatives. So, as I was coming up to my 75th birthday, I was moved to consider what would be a suitable offering.

All I have to offer are my explanations of Buddhist teaching and practice; something I’ve been doing for a number of years now. But I rather like those collections of sayings and brief quotes that one can read in a few minutes and yet leave a point for recollection through the day. So I thought I would like to present such a collection.

Tato malá kniha vznikla v návaznosti na den praxe, který uspořádala organizace Buddhist Womens Network (BWN) v buddhistickém klášteře Amaravati v srpnu 2019. Toho dne byly vysloveny téměř všechny meditace a úvahy, s výjimkou krátké eseje „Štědrost, spokojenost a vděčnost“, napsané během zimního ústraní v roce 2021. Nápad na téma a název „Tajemství štěstí“ se objevil po mé úvaze nad prvním setkáním s Adžánem Sumedho v roce 1977, jen několik týdnů po jeho příjezdu do Velké Británie. Velmi na mě zapůsobil pocit lehkosti a radosti, který, jak se zdálo, s sebou přináší. V knize je zahrnuto několik vedených meditací a doporučuji vám, abyste si je nahráli tak, že budete – pomalu a s přiměřenými pauzami – text nahlas číst. Můžete to použít jako oporu pro svou vlastní praxi nebo sdílet s ostatními.

This story is intended to be a partner to the two novels ‘The Pilgrim Kamanita ~ A Legendary Romance’, written by Karl Gjellerup in 1906, and ‘The Killer ~ Mara and the Mangala, Book I’, written by myself, published in 2019.

This present book exists as a tale that both stands on its own and serves as a continuation of the stories in the previous volumes. There is no need to have read the earlier books in order to make sense of this one; however, should the reader wish to go to the source from which many of the characters and scenes of this tale have sprung, the previously published books can be found here and here.

In the tradition of such eminent authors as Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Alexandre Dumas, the present book is being released as a serial novel, one chapter every fortnight, over the years 2025-26. It is planned that, once all the chapters have been released, an edition of the whole story will be published as a single book.

One of the worst things that can happen to a tale to be read for pleasure is to have it surrounded by footnotes and appendices. This is true; but it’s also true that some readers might like to know: ‘Did this come from the Buddha?’ ‘Where can I find the rest of that quote?’ ‘Did that really happen!?’

An appendix of notes and references has therefore been created, which outlines the sources of the derived material that has been used. The main body of the text is not marked in any way to indicate these notes; however, if the reader is curious about a certain passage, they can go to the end of the chapter, look for the page and quotation in question, and see if there’s a comment or reference for it. In this way, if one just wants to read the story and ignore the rest one can easily do so but, if one is interested in finding out more and checking the facts, the origins are mostly outlined there.

Also, gentle reader, please note that the original author (Karl Gjellerup) switched freely between using Sanskrit (the language of the Northern Buddhist and Hindu scriptures) and Pali (the language of the Southern Buddhist scriptures) during the course of his foundational tale. In our efforts to be true to his style this mixture of usage has been maintained in the two subsequent volumes.

Ajahn Amaro
Amaravati Monastery
Spring, 2025