Our Life Is Like Our Breath

Our Life Is Like Our Breath
Our life is like our breath

Sem Nome
Published on May 11, 2014
Our Life Is Like Our Breath... This documentary film describes in detail the daily life in the international forest monastery, Wat Pah Nanachat in Thailand. In this story, the viewer comes to know about the Vipassana meditation practice and the philosophy and customs of the beggar monks through the eyes of a European monk, the actor in the film. Besides the main Buddhist philosophy (Theravada) and the Monastery life, this film also shows Thailand's social structures very impressively. In addition, one accompanies the Forest Monks to a smaller monastery in a national park on the Mekong river, the border river to Laos. One of the highlights of the film, is the monks' jungle retreat in the far west of the country, very near to the border with Burma (Myanmar). This malaria infested national park, is home to the famous river Kwai, which flows through it. Here the audience becomes a witness, to how the head of the monastery, a Canadian and environment activist, is engaged in the fight to stop the last jungles of Thailand being cut down and cleared by fire. The main monastery of the forest monks, the Wat Pah Nanachat, was founded in 1975 by the well known Buddhist master of meditation, Ajahn Chah, for the increasing number of his western disciples. Under his guidance, more than 100 monasteries have been established, some of them in western countries such as England, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Italy and the USA. In England, there are already 4 monasteries in this tradition! The first head of the forest monastery, Wat Pah Nanachat in Thailand, was an American, Ajahn Sumedho. He is now the spiritual head of the international Thai Forest Sangha and the corresponding Buddhist Center in England, the Amaravati.

 

The Ballad of Liberation from the Khandhas
by Phra Ajaan Mun Bhuridatta Mahathera
Know that evil comes from resisting the truth.
Evil comes from not knowing. If we can close the door on stupidity, there's ultimate ease. All evil grows silent, perfectly still. All the khandhas are suffering, with no pleasure at all. Before I was stupid & in the dark, as if I were in a cave. In my desire to see the Dhamma, I tried to grab hold of the heart to still it. I grabbed hold of mental labels, thinking they were the heart until it became a habit. Doing this I was long enthralled with watching them. Wrong mental labels obscured the mind and I was deluded into playing around with the khandhas — Poor me! Exalting myself endlessly, I went around passing judgment on others but accomplishing nothing. Looking at the faults of others embitters the heart, as if we were to set ourselves on fire, becoming sooty & burned. Whoever's right or wrong, good or bad, that's their business. Ours is to make sure the heart looks after itself. Don't let unskillful attitudes buzz around it & land. Make it consummate in merit & skill — the result will be peace. Seeing others as bad and oneself as good is a stain on the heart, for one latches onto the khandha that holds to that judgment. If you latch onto the khandhas they'll burn you for sure, for aging, defilement, & death will join in the fray: full of anger & love, obvious faults, worries, sorrows, & fears, while the five forms of sensuality bring in their multifarious troops. We gain no release from suffering & danger because we hold to the five khandhas as ours. Once you see your error, don't delay. Keep constant watch on the inconstancy of sankharas. When the mind gets used to this, you're sure to see the Singular Dhamma, solitary in the mind.
by Phra Ajaan Mun Bhuridatta Mahathera
.....................

 

Monks from Wat Pah Nanachat, June 9, 2015

Phrasuchart
Published on Jul 14, 2015
Monks from Wat Pah Nanachat, June 9, 2015 by Ajahn Suchart Abhijato
Wat Yannasangwararam Chonburi Thailand
www.kammatthana.com www.phrasuchart.com
www.facebook.com/abhijato