It is so natural and pleasant to go out into nature, isn’t it. We can relax and lose ourselves in the scene, feeling at one with our surroundings. This can be especially so in the mountains where we feel so small… I remember many a time sitting meditating high in the mountains, following the breath and feeling like I was breathing in all the vast space around me. Following the breath and continuing to let go into such a scene, we can lose ourselves more and more and something lovely can happen. We can disappear completely and, with no sense of self or centre to our awareness, our field of vision becomes a field of awareness. This quiet, empty awareness opens up to more fully take in the scene. We can still focus on something when needed but if we are relaxed we are still open to whatever is occurring. We can keep an eye on a rocky path we are walking while still appreciating the countryside. This is our most natural state of awareness, beginning at the outside world with our body in the background as we pay attention to our feelings or posture or how we are moving. 

If we remain calm and open even as we are aware of the body we can still feel at one with the scene. We can find that our sense of self still does not arise.

And if we can sustain this kind of awareness and keep letting go, relaxing into it, our mind can become very peaceful, quiet and clear.

Then, if we direct such peaceful awareness in the present right back at the body we may, at least momentarily, see our body as part of the scene, part of nature. This can be a very profound experience, much more so even than we may realise at the time. In this way we begin to see our body in a completely new way as if it were also something outside of ourselves, just like somebody else’s body even.  

Again, if we remain calm this does not feel at all strange but also very clear. We can even realise how confusing it has been to see the body in the usual way. We can realise we have been seeing our bodies or other’s bodies just as a source of feelings, not really as a body or even as a human being very much. With our new view we find ourselves unable to see other’s bodies as different from our own and we have a more natural empathy and compassion. We find ourselves tuning in fully to the natural world and find a naturally loving, very spiritual space.

Perhaps all this is why so many describe having had their first spiritual awakening way up on a mountain peak. 

​

I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

​

In the absence of awakened teachers, what tends to happen is that we do not realise the potential of the practice to completely transform the mind. Then we go ahead and redefine Buddhism as a way of working with the ordinary mind rather than achieving this kind of transformation. Worst of all is when we go as far as redefining the ordinary mind as the enlightened mind or believe that we are all enlightened already. As a consequence we never even see the benefit of the practice or its real urgency. 

The first thing that we might need to admit is that in spiritual terms people are not all the same. In modern egalitarian society, already this can be difficult. But it is made more possible, perhaps, by adhering very strictly to the idea of equal rights on the conventional plane and by preventing any abuse of spiritual knowledge or position for unjust worldly gain or advantage, (this is an important reason for having a mendicant community at the centre of it all). In this way we make everyone the same on the conventional level and can then open to our differences on the spiritual level without risk. 

Still we need to be careful how we communicate on spiritual matters. We are best advised never to boast; and to talk about the practice in general rather than personal terms. This behaviour is what is natural to anyone with any real insight or depth of practice. They will be very humble in themselves, realising that wisdom and samādhi only came about when they went beyond themselves. It can also help others not to feel intimidated or jealous if they know that to arrive at such a transformation it takes an enormous, indeed heroic, amount of effort. Also the result may not be so apparent to the worldly eye. It is only after long association with someone that we may realise that their minds are profoundly different from the ordinary.


What can we really know? 

What we really can know is our own minds and the sense impressions (mind objects) that we gather from the world. Those two are all we can really know. We can arrive at this conclusion philosophically (fairly easily) and through meditation (through a lot of hard 
work) but if we arrive at it through meditation our experience of life is transformed. In meditation we can strengthen mindfulness, the knowingness of the mind, until the sense of knowing, really knowing, is completely tangible to us. Then the world will appear to us as mind objects within a bright field of knowing and we will never be the same again. 

​​​

​​I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

During the autumn of 2020, Ajahn Kalyano was so kind as to offer qigong lessons to the 
community living at Lokuttara Vihara in Norway. During this period of lessons and occasional discussions we gathered some of the information and the following paper and instructional video is the result.

As qigong is also reported to have potentially positive effects on the immune system and increasing the lung capacity, it is our hope that by creating this paper that we can introduce more people to this interesting practice so that they may increase their resilience in these times of crisis.

I want to be solid and shiny, don’t you?
I want to be solid and shiny
I want to be solid and shiny
I want to be solid and shiny, don’t you?

As solid and shiny as steel
Or maybe even more
Like the light that reflects 
Like the shining heart
Shining for ever more

Shining 
From the silence

Softly, subtly, lovingly showing us the way

for so often we are blind

blind to our own light of truth and of love

yet opening the blinds to our heart window
we glimpse a light within
a love of truth 
and a truth of love
and we will look for the light

Breathing in
Passed his fear
A bundle of lies
As thick as thieves

Breathing into the dark body-house 
Descending the stair of the watery air
As quiet as a mouse

Toward the light
the light inside
ever bright

​

he was in a playful mood
although the garden hose was not the most exciting thing in the world  
the composition of the scene looked right
with the shadow
and with the mark on the floor
appearing in a sense as though it were the clothing
of the humble hose
he took a picture for fun

dwelling a little longer on the scene
his mind went surprisingly quiet
the sense of order in the scene seemed to be gently stilling his mind
he also began to see a similar sense of order elsewhere in the scene
when the angle was right

he could not explain what it was that was right
and the fact that he could not explain seemed to be part of the reason for his silent mind

somewhere he remembered somebody telling him that computers don’t understand such things as artistic composition
perhaps the computer part of his mind could also not understand
‘maybe this is the way out of the never-ending computer mind,
‘but I had better not touch anything,’ he thought

‘otherwise I will be trying to order the whole world and I couldn’t do that, 

maybe just in my own room,’ he thought

he paused and sat down
something rather monumental was arising in his mind
he was realising that he had been trying to put the world in order all his life

‘so is the answer to do nothing?
no, that is not right
the world needs to have some order 
for us to be safe,’ 

‘putting things in order is part of looking after them, isn’t it’

‘but I can’t put everything in order so what must I do to find peace’

‘I can do what I can, changing what I can change and have to accept what I cannot’
he sat a while longer

‘and if I can see a deeper sense of order than the colours and the shapes
even deeper than a moral sense 
if I can see that everywhere
then I will be at peace,
such is the peace of true Dhamma
where we see everything as natural,’ 

‘but seeing Dhamma is like finding order through peace
rather than finding peace through order,’
he thought

​

There is hope


​​There is hope down on the old farm...

there is hope in the past 
the heart wood
and the history

there is hope in the future
in the swallows return
and in what we can learn 

There is hope to be found
In food rising out of the ground
There is hope, life goes on

There is hope in past and future
Yet in the present there is more hope still

There is hope in love and care
As there is hope in the air

In fact there is always hope
If we look in the right place
There is always hope 
In the light and the space
Which remain forever the same

There is hope just in hope
In the heart there can always be hope
In the light and space of the heart
Which may remain forever the same

(And, believe me if you will,
This is not just a hippy mind game!)
​

Of course the monastery isn’t always like this but this is perhaps the kind of thing that we wish, in our dreams, could happen:

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we can begin...

Once upon a time...when he finally decided to go to the monastery it was the beginning of winter and the frost over the fields was sparkling in the low sun. A few people in the village he knew had met the monks, some of the kids had been to the monastery with school, and they all said they seemed like nice people so he wasn’t so nervous any more. He was excited and tingled a little bit all over, in fact, as the cold north wind swept across his face. 

As he walked over the rise and saw the monastery house below he was immediately struck by the peace of the place. He hadn’t expected to feel anything special, his excitement steadied and opened a little. The first person he met was a man carrying a plank of wood from the barn towards the house. He offered a helping hand and found the ground first of all and himself in the door of the monastery second, all before he quite realised where he was. One of the monks was there and took his end of the plank as he walked in. 

The monk said ‘thanks,’ and smiled. He felt a kind of stillness and stood looking around, not knowing what to say or even, momentarily, what to think.

The room was like an ordinary sitting room only there were no chairs, just mats on the floor, and a small shrine at the far end. The monk and the man were in the middle of constructing a wooden frame by the fireplace, he guessed for the firewood. He passed a hammer to the monk, who smiled again, more broadly this time. The monk and the man were both English and joked around with each other. Other times they were quiet but the quiet wasn’t awkward. This seemed important to him and somehow beautiful in a way he did not quite understand, a bit like looking at abstract art. The silence seemed strong and cool, like dark blue against yellow.

He found himself joining in with the work but not saying much. When work was done for the morning the monk invited him to stay for lunch and to his surprise he quickly accepted. Three Thai ladies were arriving with some food for the monks and he went to say hello. They were very smiling and chatty and took over in the kitchen. They did not seem to expect him to do anything, even to listen to what they were saying and he drifted back into the main room and sat at the back. This all felt different, he thought, yet at the same time seemed very normal, natural. It was just as though he was travelling abroad to an exotic place in a big bus-shaped house. Or was it a big house-shaped bus? There was something about this place that seemed to make something special out of the ordinary and something ordinary out of the special.

The other monks arrived and there was some ceremony around the meal but the man, who turned out to be staying at the monastery, told him he did not need to join so he just watched the people as they bowed and chanted blessings and so on. Looking on, it was all very gracious as if there were a little bit of silence and space in and around everything. He was a bit surprised to find out that the monk he had met already was the Abbot. 

Everyone shared in the food. As he relaxed, life started feeling strangely more meaningful, in a more playful kind of way. He tried bowing for the first time and knocked his head gently on the floor by accident. One of the Thais giggled. She was pretty but he didn’t feel embarrassed, he was trying his best. ‘Trying my best not trying too bloody hard like usual,’ he thought to himself. It was fun to follow along and at the same time respectful. Something relaxed in his right shoulder which had been holding on a long time.  He found himself freer to move his head and started looking again around the room. There were all kinds of possible new meanings lurking there in the subtle soft and elegant taste of the East...he was set to dreaming a little…

After the meal the monk came to talk to the visitors and he joined the group, relaxing in his armchair. Everyone sat on the floor. He didn’t quite know what to do with his legs, which suddenly felt rather long and stiff. He shuffled about and tried to follow the conversation. The monk seemed to know the visitors well, enquiring how they were and their families and they talked a little about meditation. There was a very friendly, family atmosphere. He felt a bit like the big kid of the class. 

When the visitors returned to the kitchen he found himself alone with the monk. They exchanged a few simple words, nice day wasn’t it…but he was dying to ask something. He told the monk about the guardian of the forest that he had believed in since he was a child.

‘You are a man now. Now you are the guardian of the forest,’ said the monk, much to his surprise. He had not expected to be challenged like this but the monk was smiling very broadly.

‘Don’t you believe in such things? Does the guardian not exist? he asked.’

‘Keep looking and one day maybe you will see for yourself,’’ said the monk.

Again he was surprised, this time inside. He realised that the guardian of the forest was still just a childish figure in his mind in some way, a bit like Santa Claus and he thought of his grandfather who had told him about the guardian when he was a little boy. He had never really questioned what his grandfather had said and to carry on doing what he had been shown, to bow his head as he entered the forest, had just added a bit of magic to his love of the forest which he didn’t think about so much. He had never wanted to think so much about it, that seemed to spoil the magic. But the way the monk was speaking was not just about thinking or imagining but really looking for himself. 

He didn’t quite know what to say. One of the Thai ladies appeared and offered to take his plate to the washing-up and he instead followed her into the kitchen to lend a hand. The ladies had to leave quite quickly and he found himself alone in the house. He was relieved to have a chance to really arrive and reflect on the morning. 

Something seemed to be opening up inside which had been contracted a long time. He realised he didn’t have to believe or not believe in anything, not in spirits or parties or chocolate or anything. Snow started falling slowly and gently outside in big flakes. The white of the snow seemed so fresh  pure and bright. Right there in the moment he felt he could make a fresh start and look again at the world with the wonder of a child that he had somehow lost in all his doubts and worries. He had entered into a very precious state of mind, called in Buddhism, ‘Beginner’s Mind.’ a state of mind with some faith but no knowledge, just open and enquiring.

He decide to go for a walk in the forest...

to the guardian of the forest he spoke with respect
asking for permission to enter 
just as his grandfather had told him when he was a small child

to the spirit of the forest he listened
through the wind in the trees, the creaking branches 

and the spirit and the guardian seemed to speak to him through his feelings
coming from without or within he could not tell and it didn’t seem to matter

now as he was older and wiser than in his youth
the guardian and the spirit seemed to be coming ever closer
‘are they not actually in the same voice?’
he asked himself

‘surely they are the same’ he thought
the creaking of the branches seemed to speak to him of caution

but there was something deeper
he sat to meditate for the first time 
beneath the great pine in the centre of the forest

very deep down in his spirit
far deeper than he could imagine
the voice of the spirit was beginning to express
in the brightness of his heart
the deeper meaning and truth of the forest

and the meaning was the protector, the guardian
for the meaning was itself protected

this truth was the deepest truth of nature itself
and was the eternal life of the forest
truth everlasting

this was how through humble respect 
he had begun to find nature’s greatest reward
for himself and for the forest

the promise of an eternal life through truth
and through complete surrender  
​

It was Christmas time in the village. There was something about all the rituals of Christmas that seemed a little empty to him this year. 
‘What can I give Aunty so and so, I haven’t seen her since last year.’

It was also to be his first Christmas without his grandfather, smoking his pipe and telling stories of ships in far away places with a glint in his eye. He would miss him so much.

Wrapping up all the socks for the people he hardly knew at all he regretted all the times he had rushed along with his head down and not even saying hello.

‘And I wasn’t really so busy,’ he thought. I just didn’t know what to say. ‘Oh dear, oh dear..’ he muttered to himself.

Actually there were so many things he hadn’t said, about his sadness over his grandfather. There were so many other things he did not know where to start. Sometimes he thought something was going to burst inside.

And then what was he going to say at the parties he didn’t really want to go to...oh dear, oh dear...he remembered the last one where the only relief he found from all the noise was in the toilet..he had stood there taking a pee and wondering why he was there at all…

Most sadly of all, perhaps, he didn’t realise that other people felt the same as him and that even the confident extroverts of the group liked his quiet presence.

As he cast his mind around the little village he yearned emotionally for the sense of a wider family but he couldn’t seem to find it. He straightened himself up to somehow show that he didn’t need anyone. The truth was that his pride was such that he couldn’t really feel that he needed anyone  though he surely did. But then he didn’t really know the shopkeepers or anyone, he was always in a bit of a rush, wasn’t he? 

He put his coat on and headed for the shop not quite knowing why he was going. The thought of chocolate popped up from nowhere and thankfully, it seemed, took him onto automatic. But as he walked along even this could not overcome his sense of despair. He sat on the bench at the bus stop. He needed to stop and reflect, he was feeling emotionally a little overwhelmed. Much to his dismay people started to gather to wait for the bus. He hardly knew the people and didn’t know what to say but he felt embarrassed to walk away. 

‘It is not very usual for someone to be sitting there, never mind someone in such an emotional state,’ he thought. He was worried that he would make others feel awkward and tried to think how he could look in order not to bother anybody. He realised he had his phone in his pocket. He took it out and disappeared behind the little screen. He pretended to be busy with something, he was good at that. The bus arrived. A young girl looked at him questioningly as she got on the bus and left him sat there. There was only one bus that came through the village. He knew he had been exposed as a mere pedestrian. And she was pretty, he found himself suddenly wanting to look good and that made it all even worse. He was hoping she could not see that he was unhappy and managed an awkward smile. But it was too late, she had already boarded the bus. He felt lonely and forlorn. Life suddenly felt rather meaningless. 

‘Surely there must be more to life than all this,’ he thought, holding his head in his hands.

He decided to take a walk and headed away from the village and the people straight for the forest. Approaching the forest he loved so much he bowed his head to the guardians of the forest before he entered as was his custom. Usually this felt a natural thing to do, today it felt very awkward, he just felt awkward all over. But the forest had been so much part of his life from when he was very young, he soon found himself leaving the village behind in his mind and relaxing, losing himself and feeling at one with the scene around him as he found his way along the path. When he reached his favourite spot, carpeted in moss, where the pines towered over him, so straight and true he found himself bowing his head again, almost as if in prayer. Showing respect, lessening himself in this way, made the forest all the grander and this grandeur served as his welcome in return.

Suddenly, walking through the trees they seemed to him like the wider family he wished for, silent as they were there was nothing awkward. His silence felt accepted and he somehow returned home inside to a place he knew so well. If only he could find this same feeling from the people around him, he thought.


All this was the reason he was to seek refuge at the local Buddhist monastery, many years later, wishing so much that he had had the courage to go there many years before. For there he was to find the same silence and the sense of a wider, accepting family he had always been looking for. He was to meet a monk who was still often not quite sure what to say to people but had learned to love them anyway. And gradually he was to find a whole new identity and way of being in the world that  had something new to say and to offer to his dear village.

And they would all live happily ever after...

​

The greater mind creates matter and matter creates mind. This is the cycle of birth and rebirth where the mind is bound to matter. Nothing arises out of nothing. 

But nothing, or emptiness, can arise out of something, through Dhamma. In fact an eternal, blissful emptiness can arise out of everything. This is the goal, the transcendent.
 
Thus the transcendent is not the Creator of the world. The world of truth, of Dhamma, creates the transcendent which, aware of itself, becomes stable within itself. This is liberation.



​

I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk