New Moon Update: 4th November 2021
Today, Thursday 4th, is the New Moon day for the month of November 2021. The next Uposatha Day will be the Full Moon and falls on Friday 19th November.
The community recently observed another week of monastic retreat and is now noticeably becoming more active. With increased possibilities for travel come more exchanges between monasteries. Shortly two of Harnham's resident community will travel down to Amaravati and join in the Precept Ceremony (Upasampada) of Samanera Jotisaro. The then Bhikkhu Jotisaro will return towards the end of this month. Tan Atthadassi, who has been here for the Rains Retreat, will return to Amaravati. In December Tan Tikkhanyano will travel to Amaravati where he will spend the Winter Retreat and Tan Mahesako will travel to Wat Pah Nanachat in Thailand where he will stay for about one year.
For those who wish to bring food and requisites to offer in the morning, please note that in keeping with the clocks going back our mealtime is now 11am, not 11.30am.
Change and Agility was the theme of my talk last Saturday. Change is happening constantly, however if we fail to pay proper attention we can assume that some aspects of life are really stable. It is true, some aspects are apparently stable, or somewhat stable, but they are not truly stable. And when they display their instability we can be caught unawares. Much of the Buddha's teaching is about skillfully exercising our inner faculties so as to not be caught unawares. This can mean developing agility in areas where we might normally have been inflexible. Such as clinging to fixed views about ourselves and about others. As children we held fast to mummy and daddy's hands and it made us feel safe. As adults we inspect our efforts to find safety and security and hopefully see that clinging contradicts reality. We do need to be able to hold firm, just not too tightly. If we develop this kind of skill then we won't limit ourselves with such beliefs as 'I am just this sort of person and can never change'. Or, 'That person is like that and they will never change'. 'Humanity is like this and will never change'. Such limiting views get in the way of our ability to accord with change. Letting go of fixed views supports freedom from limitations.
With good wishes,
Luang Por Munindo
