the fundamental place

The Zennist Blog recently quoted Zen Master Chinul's list, drawn from many Sutras, of the different names for Mind. Chinul mentions mind ground, tathagata, nirvana, suchness, and Buddha-nature, among various others, and goes on to quote Zen Master Yen-shou: "The one dharma has a thousand names: its appellations are each given in response to different conditions."

Mind, The Zennist suggests, is "perhaps the most important of all terms in Buddhism from Theravada Buddhism, to Mahayana, Zen, and Tantra Buddhism — although it is seldom discussed in modern pop Buddhism" and adds "when thoroughly empty, Mind is anything but empty. It is just itself and being just itself it is a translucent dynamic substance that is able to animate this walking corpse."

Given my last two posts wrestling with this term, I thought I'd not only quote from The Zennist, and encourage anyone interested to follow the link below, but also add here some more quotes regarding Mind, True-Self, Buddha-nature, etc. I don't usually post lists on this blog, but felt that these are particularly useful, for me anyway, and good to have in one place and without any commentary.

"The name of Nirvana is One-mind. One-mind is the Womb of Tathagata"
- The Lankavatara Sutra

"Observe the empty monarch of mind; mysterious, subtle, unfathomable, it has not shape or form, yet it has great spiritual power, able to extinguish a thousand troubles and perfect ten thousand virtues. Although its essence is empty, it can provide guidance. When you look at it, it has no form; call it, and it has a voice."
- Layman Fu Shan-hui (487–569) in Cleary, Teachings of Zen (from The Zennist Blog)

"Nirvana has innumerable names. It is impossible to give them in detail; I will list only a few. Nirvana is called extinction of passions, the uncreated, peaceful happiness, eternal bliss, true reality, dharma-body, dharma-nature, suchness, oneness, and Buddha-nature. Buddha-nature is none other than Tathagata [Amida Buddha]. This Tathagata pervades the countless worlds; it fills the hearts and minds of the ocean of all beings. Thus, plants, trees, and land all attain Buddhahood."
- Shinran, Commentaries on Notes on the Essentials of Faith Alone (quoted in the Nihonshukyo Blog)

"If you touch the phenomenal realm deeply, you touch the ultimate realm which is the realm of no birth and no death. The ultimate is nirvana, it is God, and it is available to us twenty four hours a day."
- Thich Nhat Hanh

"Having searched for myself in all myriad things
True Self (Juingong) appeared right before my eyes
Ha! Ha! Meeting it now, there is no doubt
Brilliant hues of udumbara flowers spill over the whole world"
- Seon Master Gyeongbong Jeongseok (1892 - 1982)

"You can call Juingong one thing or inherent nature. You can call Juingong the thing that does not have anything, or you can call it Amida Buddha, or the main Buddha. You can call it God or my love because it is the fundamental place. Juingong can never be fixed because it can become anything. Juingong is the parent as well as the child, the highest person as well as the lowest. Juingong is the true self that leads you, no matter what name is used."
- Seon Master Daehaeng Sunim, 'No River to Cross'

Links:

The Zennist: The different names for Mind

Nihonshukyo: Shinran quote

Seon Master Gyeongbong Jeongseok

further thoughts on Hanmaum

I've thought a little more about this term 'mind' since my blog post last Friday, whilst also trying to remain aware of Barry's wonderful comment that "Of course, if we make "mind" (one mind, many minds, no mind), then we fall into the ditch!"

Funny how words can snag you. Juingong, True Self, and Hanmaum, One Mind, are both exactly the same as Buddha-nature, the term I find easiest. But the Masters tell us words are not the point. The goal is to attain it, the practice is to let go.

I discussed this at the Seonwon yesterday, and saw, not for the first time, how body language reveals what translation doesn't when it comes to this particular term. When I say 'mind' I think of the brain. If I were to point to it, I'd point to my head.

And when I talk about Buddha-nature, I point to my heart. In contrast, my friend points to her heart for both Buddha-nature and for mind. They are synonymous, and for me that's the best way to approach what could be an otherwise difficult concept.

I also mentioned Seung Sahn Sunim and learnt that Master Daehaeng Sunim and Seung Sahn Sunim were good friends. I was even shown a book containing some of their correspondence. I hope that one day soon this might be made available in English.

And then we stopped chatting and helped as everyone got the Centre ready for next week. People moved furniture, cleaned, painted, and generally got the place looking great. I swept leaves, loved it, and, naturally, thought of Suddhipanthaka.

On my way out I picked up the new edition of the Hanmaum Journal, and looked for Daehaeng Sunim's latest poem. If I'd written in specifically to ask for a further explanation of what this term One Mind means, the answer couldn't have been clearer.

"We all have different bodies and shapes, but ultimately we are not separate./Thus, in everything we do, we are sharing the same mind." The poem closes "If you grasp this equality,/you can embrace the entire universe;/you can communicate with and respond to everything in it,/and save beings beyond number."

Links:

Marcus' Journal: Juingong

Marcus' Journal: Hanmaum

some thoughts on Hanmaum

Most Sunday mornings I visit the Korean Zen Centre for the chanting, and though it's a bit too fast for me, there are a couple of lines that are repeated throughout the ceremony and with which I have become familiar. The shorter of the two is "han-ma-u-mae-kwui-ha-li-da", which means "I take refuge in One Mind".

Ever since I first came across this term, I've found it odd. Does it mean I take refuge in a mind? That there's only one mind? What does that mean? To be honest, I prefer the untranslated term, Hanmaum. I'm comfortable attending the Hanmaum Zen Centre, whereas somehow it feels odd going to the One Mind Zen Centre.

It was, as far as I know, Master Won Hyo who first popularised the concept of 'One Mind' in Korean Buddhism after an enlightenment experience on his way to China. Waking up in a cave one night he drank from a bowl beside him; in the morning he discovered it was a skull, and that the water inside was maggot-filled sludge.

That was the seventh century, and the term is still used today. Paul Lynch, Guiding Teacher for the Five Mountain Sangha, is currently undertaking the extraordinarily generous project of making available the previously unpublished poems of Zen Master Seung Sahn. The first is called - 'One Mind'.

The opening of the poem, "One mind perceives/infinite time./One is all./Everything is one", does indeed suggest something that is active and that connects everything. It's just that word 'mind' that bothers me. It sounds like we are all little more than particles in a brain somewhere, single cells in kind of super-consciousness.

Equally uncomfortable, for me, is the idea of mind-only. Master Seung Sahn, commenting on the Won Hyo story in 'Compass of Zen' writes "Everything is created by mind alone. You made this whole universe. You made dog, and cat, and tree, and God, and mountain. You made the sun, the moon, and the stars."

So does this mean that nothing exists outside your mind? The Sunday morning chant is from Kun Daehaeng's modern version of the Thousand Hands Sutra, and so I look at her definition. She calls One Mind "the fundamental mind that is intangible, invisible, beyond time and space, and has no beginning or end".

A synonym, she makes clear, for Buddha-nature. "Every single life and thing in the universe has Buddha-nature... Buddha-nature is only one, so it is Hanmaum; it is inconceivably large, so it is Hanmaum; it is not an individual thing, but the interconnected whole, in which all things are working together, so it is Hanmaum."

Strange how the theory of mind-only makes me uncomfortable whereas belief in Buddha-nature seems perfectly natural. Seung Sahn says the important thing is to attain mind. Daehaeng Sunim, in a teaching I find more accessible, talks about entrusting. And it's there that my devotional inclination finds some expression.

But not entirely. Though the Lankavatara Sutra famously states "the name of Nirvana is One-mind. One-mind is the Womb of Tathagata", which Thich Nhat Hahn translates in 'Finding Our True Home' as "The true nature is Amitabha, the one mind is the Pure Land", I still feel most at ease directing my devotion outwards.

The second of those familiar Sunday refrains says "My one mind is the Bodhisattva of Compassion, so I return to my one mind and rely upon it", which is a lovely teaching, and yet I long to feel the Bodhisattva's embrace without as well as within. The experience is the same as thirty years ago when, as a boy, I worshipped God yet also experienced His indwelling spirit.

But trying to figure this out is like the nuns in Seung Sahn's story fighting over how to chant. Their dispute is settled only when the Zen master shouts "KAAAAAATZ! Put it all down!! Kwan se-um Bosal is Kwan se-um Bosal. Kwan Se-oom Bosal is Kwan Se-oom Bosal!... Don't attach to speech and words. Only do it!" On that, Masters Won Hyo, Seung Sahn, and Daehaeng would all agree.

Links:

Chan Poetry: One Mind

Marcus' Journal: Juingong

Ajahn Jayasaro on precepts and meditation

Ajahn Jayasaro started his talk last night, to over 200 people in the Baan Aree Library, with the story of a scholar willing to go through any hardship to find the perfect teaching. Eventually he's directed to a great Master and he bows before him. "Tell me" he asks, "the highest, the most profound Dharma, the one single verse that encapsulates all that we ever need to know".

The Master looks at the scholar and says, in the Pali with which they were most familiar, "Sabbapapassa akaranam. Kusalassa upasampada. Sacitta pariyodapanam. Etam Buddhana sananam. Avoid evil. Do Good. Purify the mind. This is the teachings of all Buddhas". "That's it?" the man complains. "That's it? What kind of answer is that? Even a child of five can recite that verse."

"Yes" replies the Master. "But even a man of fifty finds it hard to practice", and the rest of Ajahn Jayasaro's talk focused on that practice. He started with the part about training the mind, saying it is best done in what he called the 'classroom' of the present moment, but also said that it is inseperable from the earlier part about avoiding evil and doing good.

In fact, he suggested, sila is itself a perfect practice. Mindfulness needs to be mindful of something and what, in daily life, could be better than the precepts? "Keeping the precepts" he taught "is not just the foundation of practice, keeping precepts is itself the practice of liberation", and he went on to give an example.

"By taking on as a life principle the intention not to harm" he said, "we immediately illuminate the intention to harm", and he explained that by observing the precepts we can more easily see when our intentions run contrary to them. This, in itself, he said, is mindfulness meditation. It is not a preliminary to practicing the Dharma, but is the actual practice of the Dharma.

Talking about his own efforts over the past thirty years following rigorous monastic precepts, precepts that include, he said, rules over even such things as how to place your bag when sitting down, Ajahn Jayasaro compared keeping precepts to playing music. Watching a violinist in concert, we don't think "you poor musician, every note was decided for you hundreds of years ago".

Rather, we see how the notes, far from restricting him, are the means to his creativity, and Ajahn Jayasaro emphasised again that the practice of sila is liberating, not least in the way it eliminates remorse and builds confidence and self-respect. Only then did he turn to look specifically at the practice of samadhi.

Through meditation, he said, we can find inner refuge, stability, and integrity. Not, he said, by looking for blissed-out states, but by seeing things as they actually are. And not, he said, through studying theories, but through stepping into the classroom of the present moment. You can even do this, he said in response to the first question, for just a single minute, any time you like.

Link:

Littlebang: Ajahn Jayasaro

Tibet Outside Tibet

May the Tara Great Stupa for Peace and Harmony be as firmly established as Mount Sumeru. May the Stupa maintain the teachings of the Buddha for eternity. May the Teachings of the Bodhisattva Tara, who is full of boundless love and compassion, keep the world in peace until samsara is completely empty of wandering sentient beings. - Thousand Stars Foundation

On Thursday night Colin and I took the boat down to the Oriental Pier and followed the signs past the French Embassy and the Haroon Mosque to OP Place, in Charoenkrung 36, for the opening night of a travel photography exhibition by Luke Duggleby at the Serindia Gallery. We got there early and sat outside a coffee shop.

Bliss. OP Garden is a new collection of shops and restaurants in a handful of beautifully restored wooden buildings that avoids the usual mistakes. There were no loudspeakers attached to the trees, nobody trying to sell you anything, and we sat and waited for the opening entirely undisturbed.

This quiet continued inside the gallery too. Despite being the opening night there was plenty of time and space to look at both the building and the exhibition, and we took our time. Each photo was wonderful but my favourite was, I think, of two female pilgrims dashing under a sacred, but freezing cold, waterfall.

Colin's was of a Church tower, fort-like in front of huge blue mountainsides. These churches, we read, were built by French missionaries in the late 19th century, and though many were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, a few still remain in Yunnan province, along with active and devout congregations.

The exhibition is called Tibet Outside Tibet and highlights areas beyond the Chinese designated Tibetan Autonomous Region. "In fact" Luke writes, "some say that the Tibetan culture in these peripheral provinces is stronger and more traditional. It is in these provinces that I discovered my Tibet."

For anybody wishing to study more about these places, or the pilgrimages and lifestyles in Luke's photographs, there were many books available, not least in a small beautifully furnished room upstairs, where I discovered that the gallery is owned by Serindia Publications, which specialises in books on Tibet.

As we left there was a stall with information about the Thousand Stars Foundation, a Thai organisation that supports community development in Tibetan speaking areas of China, supports the work of Tibetan nuns and monks, and is currently building a stupa dedicated to Tara at their retreat centre near Hua Hin.

Tibet goes beyond Tibet in so many ways. Not everyone is able to crawl through the Bardo holes of Kawa Karpo or to journey into Tibet proper, but Luke's pictures can be seen by more or less anyone. And the Thousand Stars Tara stupa, when it is finished, will be just a short distance away for millions of people in Bangkok.

Links:

Luke Duggleby

Serindia Gallery

Pictures from Tibet Outside Tibet

The Thousand Stars Foundation

Photo: The image here is from the press release and exhibition information released by Serindia Gallery. Clicking on the image will allow you to zoom in and more easily read the text.

Angry Asian Buddhists

a partial, personal, response to Jaed Coffin's 'A Chant To Soothe Wild Elephants'

Among the huge number of Buddhist blogs is one I often look at called Angry Asian Buddhist. It's maintained by someone called Arun, who also writes on the group blog Dharma Folk. And whilst I think that Arun often goes a little too far (he recently compared making a mistake over an unfamiliar name with the bombing of Vietnam), I generally think he makes some excellent arguments.

His latest post on Dharma Folk addresses the assumption made by many that western Buddhism is white Buddhism, whereas in fact, he points out, "most Western Buddhists are of Asian heritage" and that "common sense tells me that I can be Asian and a Western Buddhist without being a contradiction". In this, I fully agree with Arun and with his insistence on avoiding sloppy thinking.

The inaccurate assumption that all western Buddhism is white is amazingly common, and I recently came across a good example of how it might arise in a beautifully written memoir by Jaed Coffin entitled A Chant To Sooth Wild Elephants. The book recounts Jaed's American upbringing and the three months he spent in a temple in Thailand trying to resolve the conflict he felt between his western background and his Thai heritage.

From the very start this is a personal and honest account of Jaed's struggles and is full of eloquent snapshots of the conflict within him. Standing in the non-Thai line at Bangkok airport he describes how he was desperate to distance himself from the backpackers around him, and how, when on the streets of Bangkok, he'd speak in his loudest Thai to ensure that other foreigners knew he wasn't one of them.

And, like so many new arrivals in an exotic new country, he romanticises everything, even the kids playing in the street - "so much happier than American kids" he says. And when he is asked about American Buddhism, Jaed replies "I started thinking of all the meditation retreats and workshops run by white men with long beards and attractive women with fit yoga bodies. 'Yes.' I said. 'There is some Buddhism... it is expensive'."

Jaed, young and with little previous interest in Buddhism, had never actually been to any of the retreats or workshops he'd pictured in his mind. Neither had he been to any of the American Thai temples. His image of white men and expensive retreats was an instant dismissal brought about not from experience, but because he wished to see only negative things about the west, as if by doing so he could become more authentically Thai.

"I found shallow joy in scoffing at my liberal white classmates for romanticizing third-world cultures", he writes at the beginning of the book, unaware that the romanticisation was entirely his. This is evident from his assumptions about the happiness of the kids playing in puddles, kids that likely never get to see a dentist or any kind of specialist doctor, to his romantic involvement with a village girl against the specific warnings of his Thai family.

In fact, he even toys with the idea of staying in Thailand, marrying her, and building a life there. Entirely unaware of course that, unlike America where his mother settled and was given full rights, it would be unlikely that as an American citizen he'd be allowed to ever fully integrate into Thai society. At one point Jaed asks "Was Thai-ness a measure of blood?" If he'd stayed he'd have discovered the official answer to that question.

Here I need to say a little more about why I found this book so fascinating, and how it links to Arun's blog posts. Like Jaed's father, I lived in Thailand, married, and returned to live in the west. Once in England, my wife was granted permanent residency, with no need to renew or extend her visa, no need to register with any authorities, and no need to obtain a work permit. In fact, she is now eligible to apply for British citizenship. All good.

In contrast, at the end of our relationship, I once again returned to Thailand where, despite being a spouse and father of Thai citizens and working for a Thai university, I have to renew my visa and work permit every year. I also have to undergo Alien Registration every ninety days and am fined almost a week's wages if I miss the deadline. My visa becomes invalid if I change employer, and there are only a small number of jobs I can legally apply for.

Arun writes that "in North America, Asian Americans... have had to wrestle with the perception of being perpetual foreigners" and I suspect he's right. However, for non-Thais in Thailand this is no mere perception. The official system is specifically designed to ensure that those without Thai blood remain forever foreign. I have western friends here who speak fluent Thai and have Thai grandchildren, but who have to live with the life-long insecurity of official outsider status.

For me this no longer matters, my future is now elsewhere. For my son, he's eligible for Thai citizenship but he'll have much the same journey as Jaed. I hope one day he'll visit his Thai brother (my stepson) and the rest of his Thai family and spend some time ordained. I hope he'll appreciate the answer his mother will give him, in similar words to Jaed's no doubt, when he asks about his background: "Do what you want. But do not forget that I [gave] you many opportunities". And I hope he learns, as Jaed did, that finding the Buddha is not a question of race or place.

Links:

Angry Asian Buddhist

Dharma Folk: Is Western Buddhism White?

Theravada Zen: a joint Dharma talk on the 25th

The Bangkok One-Mind Zen Centre, as part of its tenth anniversary celebrations (see below for details of other events), is hosting an English-language joint Dharma talk with the Venerable Chong Go Sunim and the Venerable Phra Cittasamvaro Bhikku on Wednesday the 25th of November on the theme of Buddha-nature.

The joint talk will start at 7pm, with people meeting from 6.30 onwards, and will finish at 8.30. This is a very special event and is open to all those interested in the friendly points of comparison between these two great Buddhist traditions. It is hoped that there will be time for questions and answers at the end.

Venerable Chong Go Sunim:

Venerable Chong Go Sunim, originaly from the United States, was ordained in the Korean Jogye Order (the largest Buddhist Order in Korea) in 1993. He completed an MA in Seon Studies in 2003 and received 3rd level certification from the Jogye order in 2002 allowing him to ordain others and serve as an abbot.

Ven. Chong Go Sunim's Dharma teacher is the Venerable Seon Master Daehaeng KunSunim and he practices at the Hanmaum International Centre where he helps translate the works of Master Daehaeng into English and other languages. He also runs several Dharma groups and gives regular talks in English and Korean.

Venerable Phra Cittasamvaro Bhikku:

"There is a beautiful place in the mind, peaceful, bright and aware, that shows itself when you put everything down. It is free to all who undertake the search."
- Phra Cittasamvaro Bhikku

Venerable Phra Cittasamvaro Bhikku, originally from England, has been an ordained member of the Thai Sangha for over 13 years and is the founder and continuing inspiration and guide behind what has come to be known as The Littlebang Sangha, the community of English-speaking Buddhists in Bangkok.

The Bangkok Hanmaum Seon Center:

The Bangkok Hanmaum Seon Center is an overseas branch of Hanmaum Seon, established by Seon Master Daehaeng Sunim, a female Seon master widely respected throughout Korea, and part of the Jogye order of Korean Buddhism. Seon is the Korean word for Zen, and Master Daehaeng's teaching is to realize and awaken to our inherent nature, sometimes called Buddha-nature, inherent mind, or Juingong.

The Bangkok branch of Hanmaum Seon was established ten years ago and is very much a centre of the Korean Buddhist community. The centre is run by two resident Sunims and holds regular ceremonies and teachings in Korean, and a monthly English-language Seon group that usually meets on the evening of the first Saturday of the month.

The Details:

Date:
Wednesday November 25th

Time:
6.30pm onwards - Arrival
7pm to 8.30pm - Dharma talk by Ven. Chong Go Sunim and Ven. Phra Cittasamvaro Bhikku

Location:
The Bangkok Hanmaum Seon Centre
86-1 Soi 4 Sukhumvit 63
BTS - Ekamai, Exit 1

Leave the Ekkamai Skytrain station at exit 1, on the side opposite the Bus Terminal. The temple is in Sukhumvit 63. A short way down 63 on the right you will see soi 4. Go all the way to end of soi 4 and it's on your left.

You can get a motorbike taxi from the BTS station, just ask for the Korean Temple ('wat gowlee'). It's only a few minutes away and should cost just 10 or 20 baht.

Other events, everyone welcome:

*Saturday 7th of November, 7pm sharp - Regular meeting of the Bangkok Seon Club
*Sunday 22nd of November, 10am - Bangkok Hanmaum 10th anniversary ceremony
*Sunday 22nd of November, 2.30pm - Dharma talk by Ven. Chong Go Sunim

A final point to note:

* There are no bare feet in Korean temples, so it would be much appreciated if all those coming to any of these events, including the joint talk on the 25th, can remember to bring socks! (With the exception of Bhikkus and Bhikkunis of course!)

*See you there!

Links:

Littlebang

Hanmaum

Jogye Order

Daily Life Seon

At those times when your speech can disturb others,
when your words can lower your spiritual level,
when you understand that if your level is lowered, the whole is damaged,
at those times return inwardly all the thoughts and feelings you'd like to express.
Let your inner foundation take care of everything,
and use speech when skillful means are necessary.

No matter how much you talk, it won't help a bit,
if there's no sincere behaviour backing it up.
Let this inner power plant take care of things,
(instead of chasing after outer things).
This is the premier method, the true shortcut of 'daily life seon'.

- Seon Master Daehaeng Kun Sunim, 'Hanmaum Journal', September - October, 2009. Used here with permission.

A teaching from Engaku-ji

Last October I was in Japan with Ikumi, and readers from that time will remember my long blog posts listing all the temples we visited and all the incredible beauty we encountered. Tidying up a few days ago, I came across a leaflet I'd picked up from one of those temples and which I'd slipped into a book for safe-keeping.

The leaflet is from Engaku-ji, which I remember being a two minute walk from Kita Kamakura station, and the first temple of that particular day. I also recall that despite a crowd of schoolkids all buying amulets from him at the same time, the man at the entrance produced for me some incredibly dramatic calligraphy.

There was a high garden cut into the cliff, and we admired the flowers, the views, and the same eagle we'd seen the day before. A metal Buddha was set against the rock face with a cloak containing dozens of smaller Buddhas in the folds, and all of the few people who passed by stopped to take photos and comment on its beauty.

Another interesting thing was the number of thatched buildings, including the mausoleum, a wonderful, almost diamond-shaped structure housing the thirteenth century founder and a statue of Kannon. We sat on benches there and drank thick frothy green tea, and this was where, I think, I picked up the leaflet.

One side contains, in English and Japanese, a short history of the mausoleum, and on the other side there is a teaching entitled Spoon. I don't know if it's familiar now from having heard it before somewhere, or from simply having read this leaflet a few times. But it's a wonderful text and one that certainly speaks to me.

Doug, in the comments section of his blog on Japan, has recently written about maintaining a productive ratio between study and practice; it's easy and fascinating to study Dharma, but without practice very little gets absorbed. So I'm reading less and reading slower, writing less and sitting more, and going for the taste.

--- Spoon ---

Although the spoon is soaked in soup many times a day, it cannot understand the taste of the soup. But, unlike the spoon, just one drop of soup on your tongue can give you a complete idea of what it tastes like.

What this means is that there is no benefit in meeting the most honorable men or reading the most excellent books if you are as insensitive as a spoon. It is completely worthless reading many books or receiving a high education if you are too insensitive to learn from what you've experienced.

One who tries to get a sense of peace by giving pain to others will never be able to cut himself off from a chain of grudges against him. We should not be like that. So, wishing for this year to be better than last year, let's uphold a wish to do something good every day, no matter how small it is.

--- ---

Text: This is more or less the exact text of the leaflet, I've just cleared up a few errors in the English. There is no indication of it being copyright material.

Photo: I didn't have a camera during my visit to Japan, so this was taken more recently here in Thailand. Perhaps one day I'll return to Engaku-ji and come back to this post with a new photo.

Postscript: After our tea, we walked down the slope out of the temple past walls made of massive stone blocks covered in moss, ferns, and tree roots. Ikumi and I ran our hands over them, and that precise moment, leaning into the soft moss, the damp against our fingertips and palms, was one of pure joy.

meditation and offerings

It is often said that one of the big differences between western Buddhism and Buddhism in Asia is that Asian Buddhists don't meditate. To some extent this is true. The average lay Buddhist in Asia is likely to put much more emphasis on offerings and chanting in their practice than on silent meditation, and certainly there are many Asian Buddhists who never meditate at all.

And yet meditation does happen, certainly in the two countries with which I am most familiar. The temples in Korea, though filled with chants, are also filled with meditative silence, and last weekend I was lucky enough to witness how rigorous meditation practice is part and parcel of most Thai people's experience of Buddhism from a very young age.

Most Thai men, for a short period in their lives, ordain as monks, and many are encouraged to do this while still in their teens. The son of a good friend of mine here in Bangkok is currently ordained at a popular retreat centre outside the city run by the Young Buddhists Association of Thailand, and I was kindly invited along last weekend to visit him and see how he was getting on.

For the first week the boys were novices and wore white and the meditation came as a shock. Each sit lasts one hour, which would be too much for me let alone a teenage boy with little experience, and at the end of the first week over half decided not to continue. Given the length and intensity of the retreat, combined with natural feelings of homesickness, I'm surprised it wasn't more.

The young man I went to see had also found it tough going at first but eventually settled into it, and by the time I saw him, three weeks into the retreat, he'd been transformed from typical teenager into Buddhist Bhikku. It was a Sunday and all the families there had brought special treats for lunch. Large boxes of pizza, and, from the group I went up with, huge bags of fried chicken.

The young monks ate while their relatives watched, and when they had finished the lay people took their turn to eat. As volunteer helpers cleaned up, the young monks had a little free time to spend with their visitors. Mothers and fathers knelt down in front of their children and bowed three times and paid them all the respect due to an ordained member of the Sangha.

The family I was with chatted and laughed and then, finally, we placed our palms together for a blessing from the young monk. Next week he'll be back home and, even if he never meditates again, there are things he'll always remember. The chants for sure, the behaviour he was expected to maintain, and whatever insights he gained from his month of silent sitting and walking meditation.

I suspect that this young man will maintain his practice, but even those that don't will still benefit from the experience. Everyone does, both ordained and lay. With families coming together to organise and visit the retreat, offering food to the entire Sangha, providing the young Bhikkus with support and respect, everyone is tied closer together, and closer to the Triple Gem.

It was a wonderful experience for me to see this young man practicing hard and supported by both his family and the wider Buddhist community, and I'd like to thank both him and them for allowing me to briefly be a part of it and to share in some of the closeness that such Buddhist practice, the practices of both meditation and making offerings, brings. Thank you.