A "Nibbana Market" in Burma

U Sarana shares the following story. He updates a weekly newsletter full of Dhamma information about Myanmar, to which any interested meditator may subscribe.

"In the Dazaunmon Month you may see in villages and especially towns what is called Nibbāna Market. Why is it called Nibbāna is little bit mystery to me, but most probably it is because all the 'sold' goods are 'sold' for free.

In the beginning, the people who will participate in this ‘run’ will gather at a certain place, make a queue, and one by one will receive tickets with numbers. Each of the ticket points to a certain stall where are already waiting volunteering ‘sellers’. There are however many such stalls, let’s assume about 50 to 100. But the person standing in the first queue will receive a single ticket only, with a single random number. These stalls are also not mapped at all – so the ‘customer’ will run here and there around the village or a town quarter, searching for the stall of his number. He comes to that stall, and gets one single thing – a soap, a packet of uncooked rice, a washing liquid, etc. If he wishes, he will obtain another ticket right at that stall. That ticket of course also contains number, and our poor customer will run here and there again – to find his new destination. In this manner the people are going here and there and searching for stalls with the right number, spending thus great amount of time just walking. And believe it or not – it is this running, which greatly reduces number of the participants and the number of stalls the visit, and thus also the goods they receive. Maybe this is also called Nibbāna Market because many people 'give up their attachment,' and realize that there is a lot of peace in detachment from craving from this constant and mindless running around, striving, and accumulating.

There are also special places where people are offered rice or sweet drinks (not with a number). These places are arranged not only during Dazaunmon, but also during various other occasions. Because people from any direction (North, East, South, West,) are welcome to come and have the meal or drink, these places are called “satuditha” (စတုဒိသာ, “four directions”)."

Panditarama: "A Requirement for Every Human Being!"

"Panditarama is on the top of my list for meditation centers. Effective and extremely well organized, they say that two months at Panditarama is equal to one year at any other center. It caters very well to foreigners through their yearly 60 day retreat. Having done their retreat, I feel it should be a requirement for any human being! The nightly Dhamma talks are simple, succinct, clear, to the point and even though they stick to the basics, in that sense they are brilliant. They keep bringing the meditator back to what is essential and most important for progress and for seeing through rising and falling of phenomenon. 

The staff and all material details are extremely organized so that one can simply focus on the practice and not have to worry about anything. The encouragement to stay with the practice is extreme as they want the practitioner to be mindful every waking moment to the time one opens one eye lids. This in a sense provides great opportunity for swift advancement. I cannot say enough good things about the center, the staff, the talks and the intention with which the retreat is built upon. There is no room for falling through the cracks or failure. The main office has everything and more if the yogi is in need of something, the food is abundant and has both meat and vegetarian and Indian options as well. The single room kutis are clean, quiet and peaceful and again, directed toward success and progress. With the structure, the support and the environment this leads to very successful results that one will not be disappointed with."

Sayalay Sukha (Sarah Wilds)

"I Moved to Myanmar with the Determination that I will Attain Nibbana Here Indeed."

"My name is monk Sarana (Ashin Sarana), as a lay person I was known as Jan Šťovíček. I am from Czech Republic, Pilsen City. Born in 1987, at the age of 20 I left to Sri Lanka because I wanted to become a monk, and preferably attain psychic powers. In Sri Lanka I was ordained ca. 6 months later as a novice. I realized that best psychic power that an ardent monk can attain, is Nibbana. The monastery where I stayed supplied me with peace and the most important necessities, so that I could dedicate myself to meditation, calm the mind, develop loving-kindness, get control over subtle greed and hatred, and keep equanimous even in difficult times.

I attended Buddhist and Pali University while staying in a village monastery in Sri Lanka. Thanks to the monastery, I could dedicate my time to the studies, and study not only what was required, but also additional subjects, such as Myanmar language. Because of the peace and freedom I gained in monastery, I was able to learn and understand great portions of Buddha's teachings - and to repay this wealth provided to me by lay people, I taught lay people Dhamma and meditation. Once I had a Dhamma discourse in Sri Lankan TV during the Vesak day, and ca. 10 million people were reportedly listening to my words. It was so successful, that it was repeated again next day in the morning. Also, I tought once loving-kindness meditation to ca. 3000 people, still while in Sri Lanka. In different monasteries I taught loving-kindness meditation to groups of 10-50 people, daily. At a certain period I was appointed to be a chief-monk, to increase moral of a whole village, when I stayed in a monastery where a monk just passed away. I believe the moral of the people increased, and their morality as well.

After four years in Sri Lanka I moved to Myanmar, with the determination that I will attain Nibbana here indeed. A few days after my arrival to Myanmar I gained the higher ordination, I became a bhikkhu. I continued to practice loving-kindness meditation under most positive conditions here in Shwe Oo Min, and with help of Sayadaw U Tejaniya's teachings I was able to penetrate the truth of reality in the way the scriptures praise it. Since then I helped a great number of visiting lay people and monks to understand the nature of meditation, and support them in purifying their views and methods, so that their practice progresses smoothly.

I am still staying in Shwe Oo Min monastery, and next year I plan to move to a true forest monastery, not only to meditate, but also to memorize another great portion of Pali Scriptures. Already here, apart from my meditation successes in Shwe Oo Min, I was able to memorize a great amount of Pali Scriptures and gain knowledge and understanding of both theoretical Dhamma as well as monk's discipline. These days the sayadaws here send the visiting foreigners 'monks-to-be' to see me and attend a basic course of monastic discipline under my guidance. Sometimes I am given the role of 'instructor' during higher ordinations. These then become monks for a short period of a month or so, and become lay people again. Thus by the help of a monastery lay people learn meditation, Dhamma, and themselves taste the peace and purity of monks.

I believe that the greatest benefit of existence of monasteries - and with it the support of monks - is that any other people can also become monks (temporarily or undeterminedly) and practice meditation, live in peace and purity. Monks in Myanmar are reported to increase people's moral, morality, happiness, peace, and especially wisdom in terms of non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion."

Becoming a Buddhist Nun: "There is No Guidebook"

"Being a Sayalay here at Pa Auk. Pa Auk Center only does 10 precept ordination. So if you are wanting only 8 or 9 and thus want to still handle money, that is not possible here, but is at other monasteries. There is no guidebook. One really needs to find someone they connect with in order to ask questions and get some basic guidelines on what it entails to be a nun. I requested to be ordained, they accepted, the date was set, my hair was shaved, I was expected to have brown clothes and if not they give you one set and then one recites the 10 precepts in front of the teacher and that is it. You think there is a class or basic training but there is none. Once again, you are on your own to figure everything else out and to discover what is allowed and what is not. Cast to the wind in a sense. Thank goodness there is one Western Sayalay here who has been ordained for a few years now and has been kind enough to answer any of my questions and help me along the way. Without her, I would be completely lost. 

The ordained community is very kind and very helpful but not all of them speak English or even know what to inform you on as they might assume that you already know what to do and not do. It is an unfolding in every moment and when I make a grave error, then someone kindly comes up to me and then tells me so. A learn-as-you-go kind of experience. There are so many details that I will not go into but can only emphasize that it truly is a learn-as-you-go, thus one must not be in a hurry or have some agenda because it unfolds as new needs arise. Such as how to buy soap? How to travel? Since one relinquishes all one's requisites, one is then dependent on the monastery and thus needs to figure out where the go, who to talk to, how to arrange things, etc....You get a bit of the picture? Everything is relinquished, there is no guidebook or manual for either behavior or for how to acquire necessities and then one finds oneself on the holy grail trail to find out how to get one's needs met. 

Thank goodness ones needs are simple and yet issues and needs to arise. And they do get addressed but it is a treasure hunt in the making! In addition to keeping one's meditation schedule, cleaning duties, interview time slots, etc..." 

--Sayalay Sukha (Sarah Wilds)

A Bit of Freedom

"Pa Auk Meditation Center is a great place if one does not need much support and is advanced enough in their practice to meditate without much guidance on their own. The Center is so large and mainly populated by Burmese thus all the daily Dharma talks are in Burmese and so are the study groups. One can interview with a teacher a couple of times a week, so some quick guidance but even then one might have a hard time understanding the teacher's English. Aside from the regularity of the sitting times, a foreigner can be lost in a sea of silent meditators and no one to go to for support. It is a very beautiful setting and quiet and conducive enough but one needs self motivation and independent effort. 

Many people make their lives here so the level of mindfulness outside the meditation hall is mediocre as people hurry about and chat here and there. Overall, Pa Auk Main Center is a wonderful opportunity to do long term practice and go deeper with ones' practice if one is already well established. Be prepared for very basic conditions such as no fans in the meditation hall and very basic food. One might also be sharing a room which at other centers is not the case. One might take on 10 precept ordination as monk or Sayalay which is a rare opportunity for a foreigner. One can stay as long as one likes and has quite a bit of freedom while at the center."

Sayalay Sukha (Sarah Wilds)

A Czech lesson in Dhamma

The Czech monk Ashin Sarana taught a series of lessons on the subject of "Dhamma", as the board above so neatly indicates. His students were several young Czech boys who were visiting the Golden Land for the first time and practicing meditation at a Yangon monastery. 

But is the Sasana Really Like an Organism...?

In his first blog post for "Burma Dhamma," American monk Bhikkhu Obhasa shared his reflections transitioning from having practiced in the Sayagyi U Goenka tradition to becoming a Buddhist monastic in rural Burma, here. His honest reflection in describing his painful learning bumps have, in the short time since its posting, made it one of the most popular blog posts yet. 

So popular, in fact, that the good folks at Dhamma Wheel have begun their own discussion of the blog post here. Burma-Dhamma readers interested to join the discussion may contribute their own thoughts to this thread.