Tuesday, August 24, 2010

"Whatever IS will be WAS"--Bhikkhu Nanamoli



On Sunday July 18th, the mood at the Abhayagiri Monastery was a mixture of sadness and celebration. The scene was a farewell meal offering for Ajahn Amaro. The next day, he left for England to become the abbot of Amaravati monastery.

On special days, like this farewell meal, the kitchen is a busy place. The Thai sangha (community) fill the kitchen with the most savory of smells, cooking dish after dish, yummy curry after yummy curry. Knowing this, I brought freshly smoked tuna, cheeses...simple things that could be prepared easily and quickly.


Midsummer brought an abundance of fresh fruit. Desserts of all sorts decorated the table, and to cap the feast was one of my favorite dishes-a big bowl of Thai sticky rice.


Besides food, sangha members brought traditional gifts for Ajahn: flowers, candles, and incense.

These gifts are expressions of the impermanence of all things: flowers fade, the candle flame goes out, the sticks of incense burn away.


Coming once a month these last nine years, I have encountered many changes at the monastery:

a new kitchen
new kitchen managers
new kitchen reorganizations (where are the towels?)
anagarikas (novices) taking vows
monks coming and going
the passing of Jay

yes, all conditioned things are subject to change...

But I never thought our most perfect co-abbots, Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno, would be split apart--oh pshaw to anicca (impermanence)!

In gratitude to Ajahn Amaro...