An appreciation of Phra Dhamma Theerarach Mahamuni and his teachings

(by George D. Bickell)

I first met Phra Dhamma Theerarach Mahamuni in the year 2507 (1964 C.E.), on his first journey to Britain. His first engagement was to participate in the opening of the Sri Lankan Wat and Vihara at Chiswick, his second, to teach at the Viharn in Haverstock Hill.

There was always a large audience at this venue. It was well situated and the charisma of the incumbent Phra Ananda Bodhi was much appreciated by the people that lived in the locale and also by many professed Buddhists, these already knew that’ Buddhism was something to do, not something to believe in, not something just to be told about, not something to just talk about.

The audience were not to be disappointed, in his characteristic manner he immediately started to lecture on the practicalities of purification of knowledge and vision. However some were disappointed for on this occasion the building was overcrowded, so much so, that some people had to be turned away. The fame of Phra Rajasiddhimuni “as Phra Dhamma Theerarach Mahamuni then was”, had ensured this.

This meeting and the others that followed it were a great success, at all hours there was a queue of people on the staircase waiting to give him reports on their meditation experiences, again people had to be turned away lest he be deprived of any opportunity to sleep and rest.

For persons such as myself who had realised the inadequacy of western approaches to an understanding of mind and its problems, its effects on individuals, relationships and society and who had in consequence been investigating eastern understanding such as Yoga, Hinduism, mysticism and their associated Samatha Techniques, struggling with a limited and ^vondhand understanding of true Dhamma; his demonstrations as to what was path and not path were mind bending and revealing.

This was what many western people had been seeking, for there was and is a large audience seeking an effective method to overcome their frustrations and fears. For although there were one or two books available on the subject of vipassana meditation, there had been no teacher available to demonstrate the actions of the hindrances and defilements of meditation and the meaningfulness of these. For no book can be as pointed and as revealing as a good teacher.

What attracted people to him was his energy, confidence and enthusiasm. He had the ability to express the most abstract Dhamma in a simple and direct manner, this coupled with his immediacy in comprehending the mental states of his many pupils gave those around him confidence too and this confidence was transformed into hope, enthusiasm and expectancy when he declared the possibilities of attainment of better states of mind and even Nirodha Sacca through the practise of concentrated mindfulness for all, young, old, rich and poor, monk and layman alike and then verbally and physically demonstrated the method.

This joy in teaching remained with him to the end of his days and this witness to the above events, still stood in awe and marvelled when twenty years later as a monk in section 5, he watched this great teacher still instructing young and old alike with the same enthusiasm as he had in former times.

The ability to teach and explain and the great pleasure that he displayed when he was doing this, was the result of his own experience, for although he was a great scholar he had transformed his learning into direct experience and was able to transform his experience into simple terminology supported by a deep and profound practical knowledge of the Pali Canon and he knew that with the right guidance others could also experience and understand the same knowing and the number of his successful pupils testifies to the truth of this.

These were great and glorious days for the Dhamma in Britain and whilst much has happened to Buddhism and Buddhists in Britain since, “some good, some bad!”, his influence can still be seen there. For when one studies the situation in Britain now, names from that period can still be found that are continuing to spread that which they learned from him.

The following year Wat Buddhapadipa opened its doors to the public, staffed by monks trained by him and the teaching was established in a more orderly manner with Phra Dhamma Theerarach Mahamuni travelling yearly to this and other centres in Europe, guiding and inspiring those that he met, this he continued to do for a number of years until his many duties in Thailand made this impossible but even then old friends and new potential students were always welcomed at section 5 and could and did benefit directly and personally from his vast experience.

Popes, Abbots, Prime Ministers and other office holders can always be replaced but persons and especially persons of such calibre as Phra Dhamma Theerarach Mahamuni are unique and we cannot hope to see such as he again, our only hope, our only chance for a better understanding of our own situation, a chance for a better world for all, is that we try to do what he did. It is our responsibility to put the best, the most effective teachings that we know into practise and we can know no better teachings than those that we have received from The Buddha as expressed and explained by Phra Dhamma Theerarach Mahamuni and we must try and convert his words and thought into our actions.

The beauty of the teaching as expressed by Phra Dhamma Theerarach Mahamuni is that it crosses all cultural barriers, this means both those barriers within a culture and those barriers between cultures. Schooling or a lack of it is not a barrier either.

Many foreigners who have practised meditation under my guidance at section 5 can testify to this, for every person seems to believe that they have special problems and are unique, they are therefore amazed when they find that the meditation experience penetrates their nationality and class and demonstrates their humanity, the humanity that we all share.

Some such yogins have compared the meditation experience of a few days with months and even years spent on a psychotherapists couch and have been surprised that such meaningful experiences had been denied them for such a long time and that their particular problems, misunderstandings and fears were common to all, but that few had recognised this or had seen that a solution was possible.

There are difficulties of course and these are caused by the simplicity of the method, it is very simple but persons because of their schooling and conditioning tend to be, to want and to make everything very complicated and at first it would seem to be very difficult to understand that the experience of a condition is a different experience from that of knowing a condition. However the practice will quickly demonstrate this simple truth, one will’ easily see that knowing that one is angry is a condition that can replace anger.

It is important that the method is initially learned by a period of intensive practice, to fully understand it and to prevent errors in emphasis and perception arising and therefore a good instructor, guide and the right conditions are needed, then the system is seen as a most practical one as it can and should be applied to all aspects of daily life, whether in the home, a factory or an office and it is therefore an ideal method for those that cannot or are not prepared because of family or social commitments, to retire from the world.

This daily and consistent practice alters the quality of life of those that follow it, their minds are alive, alert and not contaminated in the same way as the mind of someone caught up in the usual whirl of worldly conditions and they are therefore in a position to experience insights denied to others. Such practise keeps the mind clean, uses less energy and therefore can make one more efficient in the ordering of mundane matters, this cleanliness of mind is a useful platform from which to enter a meditation centre for a further and perhaps more meaningful period of retreat.

There have also been criticisms, one such being that the method involves unusual behaviour and is therefore unnatural, a brief answer to this would be that if “normal” behaviour has made beings into that which they are, greedy, full of prejudice and delusion the cure must lie in a different mode of behaviour. Certainly the slow walking technique is a contradiction to the usual frenetic behaviour that people engage in and will prove how difficult it is to relax in this age of compulsive competition and aggressiveness.

Other critics having not realised the momentary nature of the mind and its innate manner of functioning have based their criticism on their own thinly-disguised but not understood need for a soul theory. These persons endeavour to substitute a watcher for the watching and also try to prove that this phantasm, “the watcher” is being distorted by the practice.

Some critics have also suggested that the naming or labelling of phenomena is not necessary and is an introduction of mental activity that is unnatural or conceptual, such persons are probably suffering from the ignorance of book information which they believe to be knowledge, not understanding that they are the victims of concepts which are contradictions of knowledge that they could have.

The naming process when done correctly replaces the usual mental activity which is based on greed, aversion and the delusions that the impermanent is permanent, that the ugly is beautiful and that phenomena is uncaused or that there is beautiful and that phenomena is uncaused or that there is a self performing or responsible for the mental and physical phenomena occurring. Even when the mental activity is obsessive and does not respond easily to mindfulness and energy, the naming of the phenomena is at the very least a temporary interuption of this obsessiveness, the naming also reduces the effect of clinging and craving.

Furthermore quietening the mind in this way helps to give the clear comprehension mentioned in Sutta that is needful for clear understanding, if such critics had a viable alternative method then all the preceeding information would be obvious to them and they could not indulge in their verbal inanities.

Some of this criticism comes from persons that have tried the practice and have not succeeded in understanding that the mind has a natural resistance to understanding itself, to exposing itself to itself, that it has a natural urge to be at peace with itself even if this peace involves being ignorant of the truth of the determining factors of the attributes of the mind. Beginning to become aware of their true nature, their greeds, their obsessions, their aversions, their prejudices, their weaknesses they run away from the experience and then condemn the method that starts to expose thus their minds.

One of the problems of psychology is that it only serves cultures it does not serve human beings, the psychologists of each country try to fit the human person into a particular form of society, but the form of every society is ignorance, igorance of the three signs of being and ignorance of the nature of mind and its relationships to matter, or the relationship of mind and mind unless we are to talk about the adepts of advertising who with their ignorance know how to instill craving and hysteria into beings.

All phobia and other recognised mental disorders that are recognized as being antisocial are an over emphasis on a sense of “I” and the western approach to such problems is to attempt to reconcile the patient to his condition, to show the patient causes for the condition and suggest that this way of seeing things changes things, another approach is just to sedate the patient with drugs not words.

Neither approach can work, for neither the psychiatrist, the psychologist nor the psychotherapist understand that the sense of “I” that is the root cause of these apparent disorders is one that they subscribe to themselves, nor do they realise the distortion that this wrong view can give to perception, or have any experience except in the field of psychosomatics, that mind can and does modify body activity and function.

Ignorance of the four noble truths and the three signs of being is the cause of difficulties in relationships that are so common in the west and also for the non acceptance of the status that one has, and it also makes understanding and integrating the various facets of one’s personality very difficult and alienation so very common. Practical insight meditation is the only solution to this condition of ignorance.

The practice applied methodically will show the fleeting nature of thought and the compulsive nature of craving and clinging and demonstrate how obsessions arise and then dominate bodily action, determine the quality and nature of speech and colour all the subsequent mental activity, and how this mental activity governs perception and how this perception again causes and controls mental and physical activity, which again affects perception, thus the endless round of distortion is seen. But this seeing changes the determining factors, for it is a new experience and as such a modifying one.

Pyschosomatic malfunctions of the body can and often do cease under this discipline. Mental trauma can also be cleared, sometimes this can happen by a reliving and revision of the original traumatic experience, sometimes the problem manifests and is cleared in symbolic terms and as such freedom from a past experience can be gained with or without a knowledge of the unpleasantness that has been lost and as such is a deconditioning experience.

Our ignorance of our motivations oppresses others, we manifest it as a selfishness that we label as caring, this selfishness dominates our relationships and is usually encouraged by the demands of family, friends and society, individuals must suffer as a consequence of these attitudes.

Kindness, caring, responsiveness is not kindness, caring and responsiveness if it excludes any person, if it is not available to all, if it is selective and only applied to, my relatives, my friends, my conutrymen, my race, or some other manifestation of “my”, then it is not giving, it is not love, it is not caring, it is selfishness, it is greed, it is pride, it is not the result of right views and right effort.

This manner of mental activity makes our worlds small, very small and very vulnerable, such small worlds have no support no foundation for they rest on an illusion of permanence, of self, of separateness and the idea that things can be controlled. These worlds are worlds of suffering and we are this suffering.

We should remember that all these ideas of relatives, friends, countrymen and even races are, as mental activities, subject to cessation and we should also remember that the objects of these activities and perceptions are mortal and as such are a multiple -source of suffering.

If our worlds are dependent upon such greed, such exclusiveness, then they are indeed very small and easily shaken, only when we have an all embracing giving, an all embracing caring and an all embracing compassion will we be free of our past, when we can give and care with no distinction as to class, caste or other background of discrimination, only then can we be truly free. For then our worlds will have become truly universal, will not be limited by our greeds and as such have a reality and not be the product of our delusions.

This the practice can teach us and it will teach us more, it can give us practice in living in the here and now, the experience of spontaneity. It can give us practice in the seeing of mind as mind and body as body. It will show us why we need to practise, it leads to cessation and the fruit of that cessation but we must make the effort, we must do the work, we must learn to see, even great men such as Phra Dhamma Theerarach Mahamuni can only guide us.

The practice of this simple technique under the guidance of a competent watcher and guide will quickly demonstrate the fickleness of mind, its aberations, its superficiality and the various trauma that are its foundation. Then one will go on to understand the difference between mind and matter, path and not path and then proceed through all that one needs to know to reach the goal of dhamma, Nibbana, the only meaningful event that living can have.

The effort cannot be wasted, one cannot be a failure, for even if in the unlikely event that the practice is unsuccessful insofar that one does not reach the final goal of Dhamma, worthwhile achievements will be made, for the greatness of our teacher and his teaching is not only an intellectual one but a practical one, for practice of the path as advocated by him leads to caring and involvement. The teaching develops unselfishness, energy, time and mental capabilities for the welfare of others, for the mental and physical wellbeing of all we encounter.

For in such a crowded world as we live in, it is important that we endeavour to give to each of us, not only physical space but also mental space and it is when we can help others to progress on the path that we can have a chance to make realistic progress for ourselves. Self interest has never been a part of this teaching for such a self is a delusion.

The gain of others is a gain for each and everyone of us, it is our responsibility to help ourselves by helping others, our resposibility to improve our world by improving the world of all others, giving smiles, small kindnesses, gifts of material comfort and the greatest of all gifts, “Dhamma”. We need these in our worlds and that is why we must be able to offer them to others.

There have been and are other teachers of vipassana. Some know some of the words, these can be described as labourers. Some understand some of the words, these can be described as craftsmen. Phra Dhamma Theerarach Mahamuni knew and understood the experience, he was an artist and he expected us to become artists too.