Already
half of the Rainy Season Retreat has passed and I am well-settled
into the Vultures Peak Hut in Chithurst Monastery's forest.
Before
arriving here I spent a short week at Santaloka Hermitage in the
Gressoney Valley of northern Italy. Andrea met me at Martiny train
station in Switzerland and drove me over the Grand San Bernardo pass
on a spectacularly sunny, clear day. We arrived at the 2,500 metre
pass just in time to stop for lunch at the small lake, surrounded by
patches of snow. Santaloka Hermitage, at an altitude of 2,000 metres,
was free of snow, with the meadows a profusion of alpine flowers. I
had hoped to do more exploring to higher altitudes than my last
visit, which was early in the spring with still much snow. However,
the weather was not very cooperative, with many cold, wet days. The
one day I did manage a reasonable outing, I got caught in a rain
storm. Fortunately, with Boonjun's rain poncho I remained fairly dry.
Once again the supporters were extremely generous in providing all
the requisites and I met a few new people. One woman from the small
village where Boonjun lives has been listening to Dhamma talks off
the internet for several years, but this was the first time she had
met a live monk. Alas, my time there was very short, and I soon left
the towering mountains of north Italy for the gently rolling hills of
West Sussex.
Santaloka Hermitage and stone stupa.
Ajahn
Sucitto and the resident community generously welcomed me to spend
the Rains Retreat in a hut in the forest. My hut, the Vultures Peak
hut, is situated on a minor 'peak' (but no vultures), near the top of
a ridge overlooking the hilly South Downs, just north of the south
coast of England. It is a twenty-five minute walk from the main house
where we receive food and have showers. Part of the walk is along a
narrow country lane which through centuries of use has now eroded 1 ½
metres below the surrounding landscape, like a sunken walkway. Thick
vegetation grows along the sides, including several large trees, so
that it is well sheltered from the weather. The only minor
disadvantage is that if one meets a vehicle, one needs to squeeze
into the undergrowth along the sides, often meeting thorny brambles.
Vultures Peak hut.
The
second part of the journey is like walking into a children's
wonderland. An old coach-road veers off the paved lane down into the
Hammer Stream valley. With no houses nearby, the sheltered valley is
exceptionally silent and timeless, the wide dirt track lined with
huge old beech and oak trees. The monastery side of the track towards
the Hammer Pond is heavily wooded, with many large trees, and the
other side is a forest of mature chestnut trees. The result is the
'cathedral effect', with a towering 'roof' of leafy branches and a
broad, open 'ground floor'. This effect is greatly accentuated when
the shafts of early-morning sunlight come cascading through the
canopy, reflecting off shining beech leaves or ferns, and diffused
through the hovering mists. Other than one weather-beaten footpath
sign, there is no evidence that one is in the 21st
century. I half expect to meet a horse-drawn carriage bound for the
south coast or see Robin Hood and his Merry Men leap out from behind
a beech tree (although they lived in Sherwood Forest north of
London!).
The
track crosses Hammer Stream at New Bridge. It is 'new' because it was
only built in 1795. Chithurst House, built in 1862, is much newer,
almost 'modern' compared to other features in the monastery forest.
On the eastern side of Hammer Wood is part of the Roman road running
from the south coast to London, while above the pond one can still
make out the remains of an Iron Age Celtic fort.
The
alternative route to the hut, passing the Nuns' cottages and circling
Hammer Pond, is also exceptionally scenic. The narrow lane, sloping
quite steeply down to Hammer Stream, has been eroded up to 5 metres
deep and is mostly lined with large trees, which at one point are so
thick that it is like walking through a tunnel. The lane runs past
the two Nuns' cottages, and then the path turns into a forest track
behind the new Shrine Room. After many years using the converted
garage for a shrine room, several years ago a new building was added
as a Shrine Room and storage room with many windows, topped with a
glass-sided cupola, allowing in even more light. The nuns also have
two meditation huts further up the hill above Hammer Pond.
The
forest path then turns off to meet Hammer Stream and follows it up to
the waterfall over the weir. Most of the year there is water tumbling
over the man-made weir (dam), originally constructed to power a
'hammer' to forge iron ore. From the open space here one can also get
quite an extensive view of the Hammer Pond, at present heavily
covered in yellow water lilies. The path next skirts around the edge
of the pond close to the water, and then climbs up to a track lined
with towering beeches parallel to the pond.
I
first arrived at Chithurst Monastery in 1982, when we spent most of
the Rains Retreat replacing the tiles on the roof of the dilapidated
old house. My first 'lodging' was on a stack of insulated
plasterboards in the area which, after renovation finished, became
the 'Chao Khun Room', where Chao Khun Panyananda and other senior
monks stayed. Over the years much hard work and care have gone into
renovating the decayed Victorian house, so that now it is a very
well-kept monastic structure, a suitable legacy to the memory of
Luang Pa Chah, whose exquisite portrait hangs in the main hallway,
benevolently observing.
The
major change since I lived here is, of course, the superb new Dhamma
Hall and cloister complex. Previously this was the rambling old coach
house and stables. During the time I was here we had drawn up initial
plans, but the final result is much more grand and outstanding than
we first envisioned. Besides the excellent exterior stone-work, the
interior, featuring large oak beams and trusses, conveys a sense of
enduring time, deference to the past and stability stretching into
the future. The Dhamma Hall is connected to the house by a cloister,
which also extends along the eastern side of the pond and lawn,
enclosed with a holly hedge on the south side, creating a peaceful
sheltered space.
During
the Rains Retreat the monastery is full to capacity, with eleven
monks, two novices and five anagārikas, sharing rooms in the house
and the seven huts in the forest. The community alternates with each
person having a three-week silent retreat. Although the monastery is
nearly one and a half hour's drive from London, quite a few people
make the journey at weekends to offer the meal, and an increasing
number of local Thais are becoming regular supporters. There are also
several alms-rounds to local towns, one of them a nearly four hour
walk (with a return ride).
My
retreat time here has been exceptionally peaceful. Even though we are
in crowded south England, with passing aeroplanes, nearby traffic and
local party noises, the huts are far enough from footpaths to be very
isolated. I have been using this opportunity to do some regular work
on my book on the Hindrances. The good news is that it is nearly
complete. We are down to the last details of editing, so it looks as
if we will meet the deadline for next year's printing. While it has
been quite a 'brain-teaser' to put all the materials together, it
has also been a valuable learning experience. Several aspects of the
teachings have become more prominent in my practice since the project
began, and some key points are very important to keep in mind. One
valuable teaching which stands out in working with the Hindrances is
the important of Appropriate Attention. Below is a short passage from
the chapter on Supportive Conditions.
“One
skilful mental quality which the Buddha specifically mentioned as
fundamentally important in working with the Hindrances is appropriate
attention (yoniso
manasikāra:
S.V. 64f; A.I,3f). While it is not mentioned in the standard
categories of teachings (since it is somewhat of a technical term),
the Buddha emphasized it as a very significant factor in the mental
training of meditation. Thus appropriate attention is the key factor
in resolving each of the Hindrances, and its opposite, inappropriate
attention, is instrumental in their arising and increasing.
Bhikkhu
Analayo (2012: p.193-205*) has made a thorough study of the term
'yoniso
manasikāra'
as
it is used in the Pali Canon. He has distinguished three aspects of
the qualifying term 'yoniso':
thorough, appropriate and wise. Thus it has a range of nuances in
different contexts. I have chosen to use 'appropriate', although the
other nuances may also apply.
Attention
(manasikāra)
is
a mental function which is present in any act of consciousness. What
we attend to and how we attend have a strong effect upon the mind.
Unfortunately, the attention of unawakened beings still under the
distorting influence of greed, aversion and delusion is biased in an
inappropriate way, which then invariably perpetuates the distortions.
Most of us already know the effects of inappropriate application of
attention, for example when we are caught in fantasizing about
sensual attractions. Observe how this further nourishes sensual
desire. Thus both too frequent attention and too narrow attention,
not seeing the object from other angles, can be unskilful. If we can
shift our attention wisely by seeing the fantasy as fundamentally
just a perception, we can notice what mental state this can engender.
That is, wisely attending to an object in terms of understanding its
nature can have a transforming effect.
The
Commentaries explain inappropriate attention as similar to the
'distortions' (vipallāsa),
that is, seeing the impermanent (anicca)
as permanent, unsatisfactoriness (dukkha)
as pleasant, non-self (anattā)
as self and the unattractive (asubha)
as attractive. This is, of course, the usual way in which unawakened
beings view reality. The Discourses, however, explain inappropriate
attention in a more practical way specific to each of the Hindrances.
For example, sensual desire is nourished through giving attention to
the attractive aspect of an object (literally, the 'image of the
attractive'). Thus developing appropriate attention requires some
re-training of the fundamental way in which we relate to reality.”
*'Excursions into the Thought-World of the Pali Discourses', Bhikkhu Analayo, www.pariyatti.org
The Heather Meadow in Hammer Wood
