True Practice.

Many years ago whilst on yet another intensive ten-day Vipassana and Loving Kindness retreat at my teacher's monastery, myself and the small group I was part of were meditating in the Dhamma hall. My teacher was in front of us and when the meditation ended, he did not move. This could only mean one thing, he was going to present a Dhamma talk. This was always a source of joy to me, to listen to his words, to take them inside and reflect upon what he had said. The Buddha himself (according to Theravada tradition) has said that to hear the Dhamma is one of the thirty-eight blessings in life (The Mangala Sutta), and certainly this was always my experience.

I could and did, meditate at home three times a day, but to hear the words of Dhamma from him was always something exceptional and to be with a true master, having already been accepted as a disciple, can only ever be experienced as an honour and a privilege.

However, the only role of the Master is to present Dhamma and not allow the disciple to be fooled by anything – especially by themselves.

As we were sitting quietly my teacher looked at me and spoke.

‘Michael, what do you understand by the word, ardent ?’

Ardent is a word found many times in the suttas to describe the necessary attitude of the true disciple.

I felt pleased and honoured that in front of the others he would choose me to define this important word and so I gave the standard definition.

‘Bhante, ardent means to be determined, to be focused on practice, to be disciplined and to make liberation our goal.’

‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘So why are you sitting with your watch in front of you ?

He got me!

I wasn’t sitting for enlightenment, liberation or Nibbana, I was sitting for an hour.

It’s not the same thing !

Every time I would enter the Dhamma hall I would take off my wristwatch and gently place it in front of me. Then I would time the meditation. One hour (in those days) and not a second more. If someone didn’t ring the bell at the right moment a lot of coughing and throat clearing would follow !

It may be obvious that from that moment I never brought my watch into the Dhamma hall again, and always surrendered completely to the meditation.

The gift of the Master is the training given to their disciples. There was no intention in my teachers mind to embarrass or humiliate me, such a thought would not occur to him, only to show directly that beyond the physicality of my sitting posture, something was missing.

Dividing our life into time slots is common and can be useful in daily life, but Dhamma demands much more than that. Dhamma demands total immersion whether we are sitting, standing, walking or lying down.

Dhamma demands that we are determined, focused on our practice, disciplined and that we make liberation our goal.

Dhamma demands that we are ardent.

May all beings be happy.