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This book is produced by means of donations, and is offered for free distribution. If you are interested in helping with the sponsorship of such books please contact Amaravati Publications, from whom permission to reprint extracts or the whole should be obtained. ISBN 1 870205 14 6
Introduction This book arose out of an interest that I had to celebrate my fiftieth birthday by expressing my gratitude to the many people who have made it possible for me to live the Holy Life, and in some way honour the many gifts of Dhamma that the Buddha and my own teachers have bestowed upon me. For me, the significance of the fiftieth year is that during this year I will have spent twenty-five Rains Retreats as a bhikkhu; approximately half my life will than have been spent in the training. As I was ruminating in this, it coincidentally happened that Richard Allen, a supporter and close associate of the monastery, was also entering his fiftieth year and due to celebrate his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. So out of such a coincidence, and as a very fitting way to acknowledge both the mutuality of our interest in Dhamma and the symbiosis of lay and monastic commitment that upholds the Holy Life, this collection arose. As is often the way with work involving Dhamma, once the project got started, other people came forward to offer further donations and also the acts of service that would put the talks into the form of a printed work. This catalytic spontaneous process is something that still after many years has the flavour of a miracle, or more accurately, the ‘lovely’ (kalyana) taste of the Dhamma that this book commemorates. The material in this book comes from talks that I have given at Cittaviveka Monastery in the past few years. The first two and the last chapters are from the regular Saturday evening talks given to the general public, while the four middle chapters are based on instructions given to the resident monastic community during the extensive Winter retreats. In the process of editing, refining and asking for comments, passages have been extended here, or cut there when it seemed that it would make a meaning crisper and clearer to readers who have no opportunity to ask questions after the talk. It should be borne in mind when reading the retreat material that these were originally given to people who were in the midst of a two or three month period of intensive practice. So they would be most suited for people who have a similar opportunity or experience. The short quotes at the beginning of each chapter have been appended in order to remind us of the scriptural context against which all contemporary teachings should be measured. These quotes were not in the forefront of my mind when the talks were given, so a talk is not meant to be a commentary on the scripture, rather that the scripture may articulate in a condensed or precise way one of the main topics that the talk moved through and thus provide the reader with a further basis for inquiry. It may well be that in articulating some of my own insights, I have only addressed an aspect of an area that a scripture deals with more thoroughly; or alternatively that the language of a scripture seems opaque whereas a contemporary usage more readily hits the mark in the reader’s mind. Here and there I have added the Pali word for a term – such as ‘intention’ (cetana). This is because different people have different ways of rendering these words into English – I even use several myself, dependent on which English word seems to bring out the meaning most clearly in a specific context. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to Nimmala who contributed the book’s cover, as well as to Venerable Kusalo and Ian McMillan who undertook the typesetting, and several other monastics who questioned, commented and put vital energy into this book’s production in various ways. This is also a good opportunity to pay my respects to my teacher and friend, Venerable Ajahn Sumedho, who above all has translated the black and white of the Buddha’s words into a living and joyful hologram for me for many years. If I extend the focus of my appreciation it must include thousands of people: enough of a mandala of goodness to give conviction to the Buddhist sentiment that to live as a human in the Buddha’s dispensation is a blessing. The living support and encouragement that so many people provide also causes me to acknowledge that superior to all the words in this book is that life well-lived. Sucitto Bhikkhu
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