Last week we spent some time reflecting on anger and hatred and how destructive these emotions are - to ourselves as well as others. What is being destroyed by anger and hatred is our own happiness and our own capacity for tranquillity, calm and concentration. Many of you have tasted these beautiful states and learned to cherish them. When we allow anger and hatred to take hold, we are cut off from the beautiful and wholesome states of mind that we turned to meditation for in the first place.
Tricycle Magazine is currently offering a movie called Honeygiver Among the Dogs. Set in the Buddhist country of Bhutan, a beautiful spiritual woman is suspected of murder and tracked by a policeman who comes to believe in her innocence. It turns out she is using the policeman to lead her to the people who wrongly accused her and who are trying to steal land from the nunnery. Her mission is based on compassion as she wants to talk to the perpetrators and help release them from the torments of greed and anger. Toward the end, one of the perpetrators says he has given up trying to steal the land from the nunnery as the greed itself was exhausting and making him unhappy.
Only a movie and only in a Buddhist country perhaps, but the message is an enlightening one for us. The beautiful spiritual woman evinced such peace and calm throughout the movie in her serene expression, her unhurried movements, her tranquil demeanor as she stopped to take in the beauties of the countryside, that the denouement was totally right when it came. Rather than experiencing anger and hatred at the men who framed her and tried to steal the land of the nunnery, she felt immense compassion for them knowing how lost they were in their greed.
Tonight I want to share with you Ajahn Kovilo’s teaching of Transcendent Origination. Ajahn Kovilo is one of two Ajahns who lead the Clear Mountain Monastery in Seattle. His bio includes the following: "Ajahn Kovilo first encountered meditation through the Goenka tradition and entered the monastery in 2006, receiving full ordination from Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro at Abhayagiri Monastery in 2010.” He studied in the Thai Forest tradition with senior disciples of Ajahn Chah whom I have mentioned in the pages many times. More can be found on their website: https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/community/.
Ajahn Kovilo’s teaching highlights the path out of suffering, a path of joy, rapture, tranquillity, happiness, concentration all the way to liberation, a path in which one quality flows out of the presence of the one before as naturally as water flowing downhill.
But the other reason I want to share this with you is the joy and happiness that flit in and out of Ajahn Kovila’s face and being as he talks. His joy and happiness are infectious and, at least for me, reminded me of the wonderful qualities of mind that be found in concentration practice. These wonderful emotions are also a reminder of what we become separated from if we allow anger and hatred to take root in us.
One thing that I want to stress here is that while the Buddha was teaching a path from suffering to liberation or enlightenment, there is the overall path and journey and there are many such smaller liberations along the way. These smaller liberations are available to us all as we practice and many of you have experienced these liberations often. So allow yourself to open to the joy and happiness that radiate from Ajahn Kovilo. You may have a memory of such feelings in your practice and you may also notice how his joy and happiness inspire similar feelings in yourself.
Much of what he says will be somewhat familiar to you but you may notice some variations in how he teaches vs what I have shared here. Nevertheless, everything he says supports the power and beauty of the teaching and communicates his genuine delight in the both the teaching and practice.