The creative impulse - is it a hindrance or a part of the Path?

 Meditating involves stopping the mind as still as you can. Even insight meditation - the insights into the nature of the mind are designed to lead to letting go of the thoughts and desires. So where does this leave the creative urge? Do you have to give up all your desires in your whole life?

 Here is a Sutta description of how mindfulness of body results in the stopping still of the mind, and the detachment from worldly desires and thoughts: 

And he remains thus heedful, ardent and resolute, and any memories and resolves related to the household life are abandoned, and with their abandoning his mind gathers and settles inwardly, grows unified and centred. This is how a monk develops mindfulness immersed in body

 When one stops the mind still in this manner, attaining to whatever degree of unification one can, a certain kind of emptiness is attained, that feels pure, right and has a sense of coming home. The mind is in fact brighter and happier in this state than any form of excitement and absorption in pastimes can generate. Now, whatever you particular bent is, the creative urge will try to express itself. For some people it is writing or music, for others it is dance, painting, designing etc… Touching on the unified mind opens a space that is ready to work and be filled with your creative bent. Your ‘art’, whatever it is, will flow more freely and purely from this space. 

Broken Cistern that cannot Keep Water

In fact, most art is really a way to try and get in touch with some essence that eludes. It does not matter how perfect the artistic expression is, it will always be unfulfilling. No artist paints the perfect picture and stops. No musician writes the perfect tune and stops, their artistic drive finding completion. In fact, good art will always leave the soul hanging in a kind of limbo - it is always trying to express something that is inexpressible. Probably, it is an expression of that deep inner urge towards the centring and unification of the mind that is touched in meditation. Art that leaves you jazzed up and excited is entertainment. Entertainment that leaves you hanging, with the mind momentarily stilled in a Zen koan like awe, is art.

So the bad news is, no art form will ever satisfy either the artist or the viewer. Both, if at all inspired by the art, will continually need to find fresh expression, without end.

The Fount of Living Water

Meditation, which is abandoning all the memories and resolves of the world, needs only be a temporary cessation of mind creativity. If you want to go and spend the peace and space earned on your obsessions or artistic expressions, you should find yourself much more able to do so. Yet, there comes a point where no self expression can compare to the mind that has unified. You will still have to emerge from the meditation. You will still have to work and live in the world. But the importance you place on your expression begins to shift, and it becomes more of a plaything than a driven need. The author Jack Vance hit this zone (he was not a meditator) in his old age, when his books took on a whole new dimension. In his 70’s he had no more youthful desire to change the world or write a masterpiece, and this abandon saw him produce his best work. The archetype bluesman John Lee Hooker was the same. Though always a rich voice and tapping right foot, he produced his most satisfying work in his old age. Perfect as L’Etranger (The Outsider) was, only death made it Albert Camus’ final book, a Camus by the way, who had studied Buddhism in later life. The realisation is that the hanging, hovering stillness of appreciation in any art form, is at bottom just a poor expression of the void in the soul, the non-self, the endlessly fulfilling silent spring of living water at the centre of your being.

They have hewn for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water, and have forsaken I who am the Fount of Living Water  [ Jeremiah 2:13 ]

Below, Drs Holly and Will appreciating some of the work of Sarah Sutro, artist and regular face at Dhamma events in Bangkok. http://www.sarahsutro.com/

(click for larger version)

Shambhala Meditation

 Every Monday

A place to meditate

Every Monday, 7pm - 8pm,  in a spacious shrine room a few minutes walk from the Underground (MRT) line, is a group sitting in the Shambhala Tradition, a reputable lineage and world wide organisation that stems from Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, now led by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. The meetings are run by lay organisers, but do include visits from Monastics or Lay Meditation teachers whenever possible (we will advertise these separately as and when they occur).

The Shambhala approach to meditation combines shamatha and vipashana (Insight and Concentration) with eyes open, hands on the thighs, using the breath as the object of mindfulness. The meditation is silent, but sometimes there is an introduction at the beginning, going through the points of posture, and the technique. Meditation instruction is available (for free), one on one,  or in the group by a certified meditation instructor, meaning someone who has undergone the training course and been issued a teacher’s certificate by Shambhala International.

While the group will remain focussed on the Shambhala techniques and methods, meditators from other lineages are welcome to attend to benefit from the group sitting and practise according to their own style ( so long as it’s silent of course ). Sitting lasts 45 minutes, with 15 minutes for any questions or group talk.

Address:

Monterey Place Condominium Building
On the 7th Floor
398 Soi Phai Sing To, Rama 4 Rd.,
Khlong Toei, Bangkok

Directions:

Take the subway to the Queen Sirikit Station, exit #4 to Soi Phai Sing To. You’ll see the building, “Monterey Place“, on the right as you’re coming up the escalator out of the subway.

Turn left to get to the soi, and follow the road around to the left, then right, to the front entrance of the building. Take the elevator to the 7th floor, exit to the left. The meditation room is next to the exercise equipment.
A limited amount of secure parking is available on site. These parking spaces must be reserved in advance via telephone or e-mail.

Contact

Phone: 086-788-7408 (Jamie) or 02-663-8477 (Andy)

You can contact via comments below, or via our contact page - which will be forwarded to Jamie and Andy.

(we don’t publish email addresses to prevent them being picked up by bots and spammed)

 Below is an ariel snap shot, and diagram of directions to Monteray Place. Click to expand them.

“In meditation, we train the mind to wake up. First we train it to focus on what is happening in the moment, underneath our habitual self-absorption. The mindfulness and awareness we learn offer the revolutionary opportunity to observe the movement of the mind without being swept into it. In following the breath we soon see that thoughts are mere vibrations of the mind, not our personal identity. In relaxing our grip on “me,” we’re laying the foundation for a shift in attitude that has the power to change our lives.” ~Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

Imagine living your life in such a way that in the same sentence as your death is announced, the New York Times includes mention of your ‘arrogance and greed’ :

Leona Helmsley, the self-styled hotel queen whose prison term for income tax evasion and fraud was greeted with uncommon approval by a public who regarded her as a 1980s symbol of arrogance and greed, died yesterday at her home in Greenwich, Conn. She was 87.

Earlier this year chain smoking Hotel Magnate Leona Helmsley, nicknamed ‘Queen of Mean’ for her treatment of customers and staff, passed away age 87, and cut a number of her grandchildren from her will. They claimed it was for no known reason, but earlier reports claim it is because they refused to name their children Harry after their grandfather. The heirs were disgruntled.

in real life she was known for being a tyrannical boss whose petulance seemed ill-suited to the hospitality industry. The slightest mistake was usually grounds for firing.

She did however, leave 12 million dollars to her pet dog Trouble , which by all accounts was a spiteful little critter.

Her choice to leave $12m to her white Maltese, Trouble, was branded 3rd in Fortune’s “101 Dumbest Moments in Business” of 2007

The lesson points to the way a person lives their life - if you have developed a practise of Dana, giving, then you would have no shortage of people and charities to give to. If you live in a dry and mean manner, then perhaps your only real friend in the world is a nasty little dog. The story goes that it once bit a customer and Helmsley snapped “I guess Trouble doesn’t like you!”. She is also famed for her comment We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes. Tax evasion earned her nearly 2 years in prison. After the spell in prison she was known to have donated some millions to various charities, but started losing control of her empire, which included the Empire State Building,  since state laws did not allow convicted felons alcohol liscenses.

A later story, also blogged on here, told of the lasting trouble that dogged the surviving pet. Disgrunteld heirs had issued death and kidnap threats trying to secure their share of the 12 million dollars. Thus the dog had to use its fortune to hire a 24 hour security team to protect it.

In the latest developments the heirs have managed to overturn the will and get their slice. The dog has been left high and dry with a mere two million dollars , which was deemed sufficient for its care for the next 10 years, including $100,000 per year for full time security. One can hardly blame the heirs who’d been cut off from the 2 billion plus fortune, while a nasty Maltese Terrier got millions. But the whole episode lacks dhamma on any part - Helmsley who valued a pet dog above her fanily or other worthwhile cause, the anger and threats, the court case which has to prove the hotel magnate of unsound mind …

Seems only the nasty dog is enjoying some good karma.

NYT full story

Original story

Death threats

Will overturned

Fianl account of the June weekend retreat, 2008:

Click here for a longer account by Dr Will

Last set of pictures from the retreat are below.

Most meditation systems try to focus the mind on an object of concentration, usually the breathing, light or sound (including mantra). Slowing the mind down facilitates mindfulness, the state of self awareness that has a different quality to the state of absorption in what you are doing. You literally ‘remember awareness’ : where Sati = to recall into mind, and Samapjjanya = awareness, or the feeling of consciousness.

However, in the dvedaviatakka sutta the Buddha tells us to stop the mind completely still, free from all thoughts. Far from entering a zombie state, the ‘dial tone from God’, the mind becomes brighter and more alert, polishing itself into a high state of concentrated awareness in a way that is different from concentration on an object.

Lao Tzu:

Who is there that can make muddy water clear? But if allowed to settle it will clarify. Thus it is that without moving you shall know, without looking you shall see, without doing you shall achieve.

Ajahn Terry Magness:

This does not imply, of course, that a man cease to act, but rather that the mind’s diffusiveness be controlled and put to a stop. It is only when the mind is in a state of concentrated dynamic intensity that it is able to penetrate the material veil that obscures psychic reality … with his mind polished to the highest pitch of perfection.

This style of meditation, focussing on the thoughts themselves, slowing them down not by placing the attention on some other cooler object of consciousness, but by directly looking at the outflow of thought from the verbalised, preverbal and then finally just the tiny shaking in samadhi that entices the mind into thinking, is not the usual approach in modern Buddhism, and it takes some practise. For us mental based people, air signs of the Zodiac, it makes more sense to watch the Subject - the place where the ‘I Thought’ arises, where desires are few with thoughts, and where the sense of self establishes itself, in order to understand and let go of it, rather than just focussing on a meditation object.

Other than the style of meditation, we also took a relaxed approach to the schedule, ditching the nobally silent boot camp of sitting and walking that is traditional in favour of alternating silent meditation with social unwinding. Sangha building is a nice function of gatherings that is more difficult when no talking is allowed. Thus at meal times and through the afternoon we were not in noble silence. There is room for boot camp intense meditation retreats, and room for more relaxed and socially enjoyable retreats. In the future there is no reason for not doing both, and people can choose what they prefer or need at the time.

More on the ‘thinker’ and ‘commentator’

Click images for larger version.

Programme:            WBU Sunday Forum
Topic:                        “Hinayana Buddhism in Practice Today”
Date & Time:           July 6, B.E. 2551 ( 2008 ) 12:00-13:30 p.m.
Speaker:                    Dr Ravindra Kumar

About the speaker
 
Dr. Ravindra Kumar is an eminent writer, thinker, scholar, political-scientist, peace-worker and educationist having more than 100 works on great personalities of the Indian Sub-continent including Gautama Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi and on various social, religious, political, historical, educational and cultural issues to his credit. Some of his well-known works include Morality and Ethics in Public Life, Theory and Practice of Gandhian Non-Violence, Religion and World Peace, Non-violence and Its Philosophy, Five Thousand Years of Indian Culture, Mahatma Gandhi at the Close of Twentieth Century, Mahatma Gandhi in the Beginning of Twenty-First Century, Towards Buddha, Towards Peace, Five Thousand Years’ History of Jammu-Kashmir, Civilization: Its Fundamentals and Evolution, Gandhian Thoughts: New World, New Dimensions etc.
Universally renowned Indologist and the Former Vice-Chancellor of the CCS University of Meerut, India, Dr. Ravindra Kumar has been associated with a number of national and international academic, cultural, educational, social and peace organizations and institutions. He has visited many countries of the world as a Visiting Professor and Scholar and has delivered more than 400 lectures around the world on subject related to Asian values, civilization, culture and history, cooperation, Gandhism, human rights, Indian way of life, international understanding, and world peace. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Global Peace International Journal. Between 1993 and 2007, he has organized many national and international seminars at various places on Religion and Politics, Morality and Ethics, Education, Peace and Development, Non-Violence and Democracy, Hunan Rights, and Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi. Besides, Shan-i-Kaum, Ambassador of Peace, Shantidoot, Sardar Patel National Award, Master of Wisdom and other honours, Padma Shri was awarded to Dr. Ravindra Kumar by H. E. the President of India for his noteworthy services.
Contact address: Phone; 0091-121-2645551, 4010831; Mobile: 9319090160,

Click here for clear maps and directions, and background on the WBU
Place:     Meeting Room, the World Buddhist University, 3rd floor,
               WFB Headquarters Bldg., in Benjasiri Park, Sukhumvit 24,
               Bangkok, 10110 Thailand. (5 Minutes from Prompong BTS Station
q                       All are welcome to join the programme free of charge. 
q                      For more information, please call 02-258-0369-73
              Fax.02-258-0372. www.wb-university.org,
              E-mail; wachira_wbu@yahoo.com

On our June Weekend Retreat we watched the documentary on Louise Hay - which relates to the theme of the meditation we had been doing; watching ones thoughts.

Louise Hay is an eighty year old ‘new age’ inspirational speaker and spiritual guide to thousands, if not millions. Certainly her books have reportedly sold over 35 million copies. In her 60’s she wrote her best seller You Can Heal Your Life in which the central message is hammered home - you can change your life, health, and even your finances, if you only change the way that you think.

Changing your thoughts is no easy thing however. Positive thinking is not an easy task. You have set up an endless karma with your thinking, where thoughts will replay according to your past thoughts and the importance (karmic weight) you have given them. Here Hay goes a step beyond most other ‘positive thinking’ philosophies by providing an effective and pr oven method to turn about ones thought patterns. She calls this method ‘affirmations’.

The Buddha recognised that thoughts are distracting, troubling, and sometimes dangerous. In one sutta he finds himself in a grave yard at night where the merest gust of wind swirling around a few leaves sets his bones chattering and his hair standing on end with fright. He refuses to let the thoughts overpower him, and vows on each occasion that if he is sitting, he will continue to sit until the fear and dread has passed. If he is walking he will keep on walking until the fear and dread has passed. Etc…

While the practise requires one to give up all thought (See Dvedavitakka Sutta which explicitly states that one must stop even the good thoughts) when thought patterns, or ’scripting’ as psychologists call it, are negative and unwholesome they should be carefully managed, just like a cowherd who carefully tends his cows in the rainy season when they might wander on farmers crops earning him a beating. To do this, one method given is to bang out the unwholesome thoughts by replacing them with wholesome ones. In other words, positive thinking.

While we have had this pragmatic teaching in Buddhism for 2500 years, Louise Hay has taken it to a whole different level. No, her teaching will not gain you enlightenment in the Buddhist sense, but it is an entirely sensible and proven method for replacing unwholesome thoughts with positive ones. Her ‘affirmations’ entail endless repeating to yourself of set lines. A mental exercise for the thinking that works in a similar way as physical exercise works for the muscles.

• I love myself, therefore I forgive and totally release the past and all past experiences and I am free.
• Deep at the centre of my being there is an infinite well of love.
• I love myself, therefore I love totally in the now, experiencing each moment as good and knowing that my future is bright, and joyous and secure, for I am a beloved child of the universe and the universe lovingly takes care of me now and forever more.

Cheesy these affirmations might be, but they do work. They have worked and changed the lives, and health, of millions of people world wide. Most especially they have worked in the American culture where the practise has grown up in response to quixotically American issues of self worth and self esteem. You can write your own affirmations according to your particular blockages and needs. In fact, the affirmations are not entirely different from some Tibetan lineages that give individual practises to the yogis of concentration on certain deities depending on ones disposition. For instance, if you are trying to develop compassion you focus on Avalokiteshvara (or other deity) along with the requisite mantra. These repeated determinations, counted on a mechanical clicker carried in the hand, can turn the thought patterns around very effectively. Along with Hay’s affirmations comes plentiful good advice for making them work. One central theme is that of forgiveness for all people around you: She explains you do not have to figure out how to forgive. You are to complete your affirmation exercises until you are willing to forgive, and the universe will take care of the rest.

It is not necessary to examine Louise Hay and her spiritual guidance to advance spiritually. But if you are the victim of negative scripting in your thought patterns it might be worth giving it a try.

Our group had a varying response to the movie. It was just too new age for some, and too slick and market orientated for others. It was certainly pushing a product, but as Dr Holly pointed out, the product is a worthy one. It is a message of transformation by a lady who has proven her effectiveness in changing people’s lives. The far reaching health effects were questioned, particularly the inevitable cancer-cure claims (by the patients themselves). However the general mood was one of appreciation, and recognition that here is a person who has taken to the heights a straightforward teaching that we find in Buddhism, and changed people’s lives with it.

 The Comsaed Resort:

The first Little Bangkok Sangha meditation weekend

Nice surroundings are conducive to meditation, especially when you are escaping from relentless Bangkok. The Comsad Resort is situated right on the River Kwai, in some 200 rai of carefully managed parkland. Even full of residents the resort is peaceful with lots of space. The grounds are available for anyone to use if you are in the area - for meditation or walking. Our key member David Holmes generally resides at the Resort and will welcome visitors. Room rates are on the pricey side, but anyone can enter and meditate for the day.

      ***

Cherubs - there is lots of detailing around the site  The monks Kuti, formerly the owners house. A newer, larger house was built higher up after a flood.       The water wheel has had several incarnations. It is only experimental, but is capable of pumping a large quantity of water.     

“I can see my house from here”.  There are 6 or 7 such methane gas systems around the site, from a 2000 baht DIY version to large twin tank systems. This one takes 20 KG of waste food a day, and converts it into methane, which is then used for cooking. Used cooking oil is converted into bio-deisel which powers the mini-bus and/or water pump.

No stopping retreatants when it comes to lunch time.

Summary of the June Retreat at Comsaed Resort on the River Kwai :

In total we had 13 laypeople and 2 monks leaving Wat Yannawa for Comsaed in two mini-busses for the first retreat organised by our own group. We only advertised via the Littlebang blogsite, as it is something of an experiment all around. What kind of things need to be organised, what kind of problems will likely crop up etc… Gladly, everything went very well. The costing and budget breaks down as follows:

In the end, most of the people going to the Kanchanaburi Tour bus depot chose to take the mini-bus all the way back to Bangkok, chipping in for the extra cost.

Thanks to everyone involved, especially Will for collecting the names/contact info/deposits, David Holmes for encouragement and mediation with the Resort, and to Comsaed for a remarkable discount and provision of facilities. Though edging towards the pricey end for a meditation retreat, for a weekend in a top quality resort in such beautiful surroundings we were given a very generous deal for the sake of Dhamma.

Tam Boon

En route, to break up the journey and gain some initial encouragement we stopped at the temple of Venerable Bhikkhuni Dhammananda, the inspirational Thai nun who gave a talk for us last year at Baan Aree Library. It is a common outing for Thai’s to take busses about the countryside and ‘Tam Boon’ in a series of temples, making offerings. In similar style we loaded up with the ubiquitous ‘Sanghatahns’ - the yellow buckets and trays of various requisites spanning washing powder, toothbrushes, ovaltine, tissue, towels and such like. Rather than make a purely cash donation to the expenses of the temple the Sanghatahns are a way to make a more physical gesture that one can relate to and feel good about. Far from the mis-translation of ‘merit’ the word boon (Punya) actually refers to the good feeling that is known when you reflect on something that you have done that you feel is a good deed. We all respect Bhikkhuni Dhammananda, and like to show our support for the uphill struggle Bhikkhunis face in the patriarchal Thai Sangha - making our stop for lunch at her temple an auspicious start to the weekend. We contributed 2000 baht from the Retreat fund, and added individual donations separately. Thanks must be made to Bhikkhuni Dhammananda’s close disciples who, specially for us, brought a variety of vegetarian dishes to feed us well.

Particularly striking is the Medicine Buddha Image in a new Vihara at the rear of the 4 Rai monastery grounds. The image is blue in colour. Very Blue. Apparently the colour of the sky represents healing in the Tibetan tradition. Men are not always allowed into the depths of the temple so we were quite privileged.

We will meet for the June retreat at Wat Yannawa at 8am, and head off in two mini busses just after 8. Call 085 060 7386 if you are lost.

We aim to take lunch at Wat SongDhamma Kalayani around 11 am, where Bhikkhuni Dhammananda will meet us personally. We will also make some ‘Tam Boon’ offerings for the temple.

For the return trip the air-con bus leaves from Kanchanaburi bus terminal every 15-20 minutes, and we were advised not to buy tickets in advance. Therefore, anyone who has to leave earlier than 4 pm can do so, though you will miss the tour of Comsaed if you do. Their projects are well worth looking at.  We can pay a fee to the Comsaed minibus or order a taxt for the short journey to the bus station.

Go to the end of the skytrain line, Satorn line. Get out at Satorn station - Wat Yannawa is on the left as you look towards the river. The vans will wait in the car park as you walk into the temple. Click the map for a larger version.

Detailed Schedule

 Finally

Exact timing is flexible according to the group dynamic and wishes. The schedule outlined is not too hectic, and there should be plenty of time for rest and for enjoying the beautiful site. We will rise early as dawn is a particularly auspicious time to be meditating, but there should be plenty of time for rest.

According to our latest information most of the Comsaed site is booked out to a private party. Our group will be off from the main resort, and we will have our own Dhamma garden and meeting room. Being offered the resources of Comsaed at such a massively reduced rate (below cost) means we will be using whatever rooms and facilities that are available in terms of rooms, rather than being normal hotel residents. Much thanks to Comsaed Resort for their efforts to accomodate our group over a busy weekend at reduced rates.

There will be ample chance for one-on-one meditation guidence with Phra Cittasamvaro or with Ajahn David Holmes (Anagarika Tevijjo). People are free to follow the meditation style they are accostomed to. The focus of the retreat will be dealing with thoughts and thinking in meditation, and the insights that stem from that. This is one of the most useful appraoches to meditation in terms of application in daily life. We will concentrate on meditation itself rather than general dhamma talks, and hopefully everyone will be able to take back home some good experience and insight from the weekend.

Naturally, all participants will be following 5 precepts as a minimum. That is:

• to refrain from killing animals or otherwise harmful behaviour
• to refrain from stealing or taking what is not offered
• to refrain from all sexual conduct
• to pracitse Right Speech that is harmonious and supportive for each other
• To refrain from alcohol and drugs (coffee definitely IS allowed )

H.H. Phakchok Rinpoche will be leading the following events:

Sat. and Sun. 21-22 June 2008

Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation   (JOL)

by His Holiness Phakchok Rinpoche

21^st to 22^nd  June 2008

at the Park Forum Hotel

Soi Vati, Chand Road, Yannawa District

Bangkok, Thailand.

(Located in the lane opposite the Baan Nondzee Condominium on Chand Road.

Near the intersection of Chand Road and Narathiwat Rachanakarin Road.

Round the corner from Makro.)

The Jewel Ornament of Liberation was written by Dharma Lord Gampopa (1074-1153 C.E.), who was fully accomplished in the teachings and practices of Buddhism. Lord Gampopa studied the sutra system of training in the Kadampa lineage and obtained tantra training front the great Saint Milarepa. He completely dispelled the darkness of confusion and reconciled all misunderstanding between the sutra and tantra systems. This is why, among Milarepa’s disciples, he was declared to be “like the sun.” Of the many important texts he wrote, the Jewel Ornament of Liberation is probably the most significant. Gampopa said “For anyone who wishes to see me, studying The Jewel Ornament of Liberation is the same as meeting me”.

Time:  2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.    and   7:00  p.m. to 10:00 p.m.  daily.

            Two sessions per day for two days.

             (A total of 12 hours spread out over 4 sessions of 3 hours each.)