morning pindapat (almsround)
As usual our week started with Monday being a quiet day. Ajahn Punnyo took the opportunity to leave early in the morning and walk pindapat in Hexham. Google Earth says that Harnham to Hexham is a distance of about 21 miles and should take about 35 minutes. Since he was not in any hurry Ajahn Punnyo took about 9 hours to get there; getting back took perhaps a little longer. (BTW, the nice photo is not of Ajahn Punnyo and it is not North-east England, but probably our friend Ajahn Siripannyo in Thailand).
Peripatetic seekers of Truth are not often seen wandering the roads of Northumberland these days, but in older times they were not a rare sight. They were visible reminders of the inner journey. As they maintained a commitment to their own inner work, these seekers showed others that contentment is not necessarily linked to accumulation. When we get caught up in doing things to get more all the time, we lose perspective and forget about not-doing. We feel like if we stop doing things something will go wrong. The Buddha's teachings point to the middle way; the place of balance. Ajahn Chah told us to 'make doing the same as not-doing'.
It is a joy to find plenty of seekers of Truth coming to stay at the monastery to be reminded. At the beginning of the week Muriel and Ursula came from Edinburgh. Peter was here from Hungry, also Maria Isabel and Juan from Spain and Stephane from France. At the end of the week we were joined by a group from the Church of England.
We are looking forward to next week having Tun Hiriko's mother and father join us from Slovenia, also our dear friend Cesare from Milano. We aim to inspire them to do very little. In fact encourage them how to do nothing at all.
As usual our week started with Monday being a quiet day. Ajahn Punnyo took the opportunity to leave early in the morning and walk pindapat in Hexham. Google Earth says that Harnham to Hexham is a distance of about 21 miles and should take about 35 minutes. Since he was not in any hurry Ajahn Punnyo took about 9 hours to get there; getting back took perhaps a little longer. (BTW, the nice photo is not of Ajahn Punnyo and it is not North-east England, but probably our friend Ajahn Siripannyo in Thailand).
Peripatetic seekers of Truth are not often seen wandering the roads of Northumberland these days, but in older times they were not a rare sight. They were visible reminders of the inner journey. As they maintained a commitment to their own inner work, these seekers showed others that contentment is not necessarily linked to accumulation. When we get caught up in doing things to get more all the time, we lose perspective and forget about not-doing. We feel like if we stop doing things something will go wrong. The Buddha's teachings point to the middle way; the place of balance. Ajahn Chah told us to 'make doing the same as not-doing'.
It is a joy to find plenty of seekers of Truth coming to stay at the monastery to be reminded. At the beginning of the week Muriel and Ursula came from Edinburgh. Peter was here from Hungry, also Maria Isabel and Juan from Spain and Stephane from France. At the end of the week we were joined by a group from the Church of England.
We are looking forward to next week having Tun Hiriko's mother and father join us from Slovenia, also our dear friend Cesare from Milano. We aim to inspire them to do very little. In fact encourage them how to do nothing at all.
