Todd’s life was like a river that flows gently to make all who came to know him happy. He always cared about others without expecting anything in return. He shared his favorite toys, lunch money and allowances with friends in need, not to mention the many sweet smiles to encourage people to be happy. He taught us to be generous, kind, caring and forgiving. As one of his buddies, Stephen, put it, “Todd was one of a kind, like finding a needle in the haystack. I will miss him.” Adopting Todd is the best decision that we made in our lives, and we continue to be thankful to have had him as our child.

A Dhamma Compass is a collection of three dhamma talks that Phra Ajahn gave in the three winter retreats during 2003-2005 at Abhayagiri. Debbie Stamp was most helpful and instrumental in ensuring that the manuscripts were ready and arrived in time. Ronna Kabatznick was the editor of the talks, and Dee Cope helped transcribe the talks, to whom all of us would like to record our thanks. Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Jayasaro were so kind as to look over the final version of the texts.

“The Ways of the Peaceful” is one of the many possible renderings of the term “Samana-Dhamma”, an expression that summarizes the whole lifestyle of a Buddhist monk. “Samana” means somebody who is peaceful. Generally in the time of the Buddha all kinds of recluses, ascetics, contemplatives, and members of ordained communities living the life of a homeless practitioner (anagarika) were referred to as “Samanas”. The Buddhas disciples were often called the “Samanas of Gotama” or the “Samanas of the Sakyan clan”, using the Buddhas family and clan names. Whenever the aspect of celibacy of these religious practitioners is stressed, the term “brahmacariya” is used, which translates in short as “Holy Life”. The Buddha himself called his monks “Bhikkhus”. This literally means beggars, but especially in the Thai Forest Tradition a second translation is popular: “Those who see the danger in the round of rebirth”. Besides the specific monastic code that the Buddha established for his monks (the “Vinaya”, with its 227 major training rules and countless minor rules), that spells out the conduct of a Buddhist monk in great detail, there was a general understanding of the etiquette, the virtues and qualities of a Samana, a peaceful ascetic. This is the “Samana-Dhamma”

TWINTIG JAAR GELEDEN, in 1984, betrok de kersverse kloostergemeenschap van het Amaravati Buddhist Centre, een barakachtig onderkomen op een winderige heuveltop in Hertfordshire, Engeland. De naam van het nieuwe klooster (met de betekenis (“De Doodloze Wereld”) was gekozen als weerklank van de oude Boeddhistische stad in Andara Pradesh in Zuid-India, en als neutraliserende kracht tegen de in die tijd heersende wederzijdse vernietigingsdrang, de nucleaire wapenwedloop, destijds nog gloedvol ondersteund door Ronald Reagan, Maragaret Thatcher en de Sovjet-Unie.

De meditatieruimte die we in gebruik hadden was de voormalige sport- en vergaderzaal van de school. De ramen waren stuk, opgelapt met plastic en plakband, tochtig en soms ontbraken ze helemaal; er liepen kris-kras gekleurde lijnen over de houten vloer van de sportzaal; het grote gouden Boeddha beeld stond op het voormalige podium in een spotlicht en omringd door dunne blauwe gordijnen die we hadden opgehangen in een poging om het geheel wat op te fraaien en vanwege de suggestie van oneindige ruimte die er van uit ging.

Sinds 1981, toen de gemeenschap nog voornamelijk in het Cittaveka Klooster in Chithurst, West Sussex was gevestigd, was het onze gewoonte om de wintermaanden na Oud en Nieuwe vrij te maken voor een groepsretraite. In die tijd van het jaar is het weer er niet naar om te verbouwen, het bezoek neemt af en de dagen zijn kort en donker — zodoende is het een perfecte situatie om de aandacht naar binnen te richten en de tijd te nemen voor een grondige beoefening van formele meditatie.

Amaravati opende de deuren in 1984 om de snel groeiende gemeenschap (groepsfoto’s uit die tijd laten zien dat er 40 monniken/nonnen waren en meer dan 20 novicen) meer ruimte te geven, en om in staat te zijn retraites te organiseren voor geinteresseerden. Toen de verhuizing een feit was bleek dat er een mogelijkheid was ontstaan voor ruim opgezette winter-retraites en voor Ajahn Sumedho, om op zijn onnavolgbare, veelomvattende en inspirerende wijze leiding te geven aan de gemeenschap.

In this discourse, I want to focus on the nuts and bolts of walking meditation. I shall address the how, when, where and why of this form of meditation. I intend this dis- course to include both practical instructions of the technical aspects of walking med- itation and instructions for creating the quality of mind that leads to concentration, insight and wisdom through the physical activity of walking meditation.

The meeting of spiritual traditions, including that of Theravāda wisdom teachings and Dzogchen, two great expressions of the Buddha-Dharma, is one of the major beneficial aspects of life in these times. The technological revolution makes the ability to travel, to communicate, and to study across traditions very simple. Most of the world’s great spiritual texts are online, and a steady stream of conferences and retreats brings meditators, scholars, and spiritual masters together to practice and to openly discuss their lineages, insights, and knowledge. The breakdown of separate spiritual encampments that is occurring nowadays is both remarkable and unprecedented. For the first time, we can enjoy a broad view of all traditions and see where they merge as well as where they collide.

I was reminded of this marvellous confluence of traditions the other evening, just as this retreat began. Shortly before 7:00 p.m., I was sitting in my room. In the midst of the quiet and calm, I heard a loud thumping noise coming from outside. We were doing a lot of earth moving at the monastery at the time, so the noise made me think that maybe some heavy equipment was […]”

A talk given to a group of lay meditators in Bangkok in April 1979

Meditate reciting “Buddho”, “Buddho” 1 until it penetrates deep into the heart of your consciousness (citta). The word “Buddho” represents the awareness and wisdom of the Buddha. In practice, you must depend on this word more than anything else. The awareness it brings will lead you to understand the truth about your own mind. It’s a true refuge, which means that there is both mindfulness and insight present.

Wild animals can have awareness of a sort. They have mindfulness as they stalk their prey and prepare to attack. Even the predator needs firm mindfulness to keep hold of the captured prey however defiantly it struggles to escape death. That is one kind of mindfulness. For this reason you must be able to distinguish between different kinds of mindfulness. The Buddha taught to meditate reciting “Buddho” as a way to apply the mind. When you consciously apply the mind to an object, it wakes up. The awareness wakes it up. Once this knowing has arisen through meditation, you can see the mind clearly. As long as the mind remains without the awareness of “Buddho” , even if there is ordinary worldly mindfulness present, it is as if unawakened and without insight. It will not lead you to what is truly beneficial.

This book arose out of an interest that I had to celebrate my fiftieth birthday by expressing my gratitude to the many people who have made it possible for me to live the Holy Life, and in some way honour the many gifts of Dhamma that the Buddha and my own teachers have bestowed upon me. For me, the significance of the fiftieth year is that during this year (1999) I will have spent twenty-five Rains Retreats as a bhikkhu; approximately half my life will than have been spent in the training. As I was ruminating in this, it coincidentally happened that Richard Allen, a supporter and close associate of the monastery, was also entering his fiftieth year and due to celebrate his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. So out of such a coincidence, and as a very fitting way to acknowledge both the mutuality of our interest in Dhamma and the symbiosis of lay and monastic commitment that upholds the Holy Life, this collection arose. As is often the way with work involv- ing Dhamma, once the project got started, other people came forward to offer further donations and also the acts of service that would put the talks into the form of a printed work. This catalytic spontaneous process is something that still after many years has the flavour of a miracle, or more accurately, the ‘lovely’ (kalyana) taste of the Dhamma that this book commemorates.