Reflections on Meeting Luang Por at the Ashram : หน้า 19/164

Meeting #2 22 August 2008 - Ashram After our last meeting with Luang Por, Jon has requested another one. Why he did this, I do not know. What do you ask a man who seems to know everything? Thinking this, of course, makes me even more nervous. Having already met him, I know that he can read my mind. I know this and no one has to tell me. All you have to do is look at his eyes, and they say: I know who you are and what you have done in your past. And then he describes you perfectly to yourself, all through the look in his eyes. Not only that, he describes who you have been in your past million lives and what you are going to be doing in the next million lifetimes if you don’t meditate. Again, I am not so sure if this is cool, because I definitely am hiding some secrets in there somewhere. But, here we are at the Ashram, being introduced to our translator, Khun SueWanee, Luang Por’s sister. Although she explains that she is his older sister (meaning that she is about 70 years old), she has beautiful smooth skin and super bright eyes. She is diminutive, coming up to just about my shoulders, with a clear, bright smile and a calm graciousness. We are instantly friends and begin to talk about Buddhism, the book she is writing on learning Thai, and her student (my son) Luang Pi Joshua. When we enter Luang Por’s office, however, we sit down quietly and wait for him to enter. Generally, Luang Por does not enter his office until all of his guests are quietly centered in meditation. Within a few moments, Luang Por enters, smiling. This summer, I have come to realize that the monks who are really worth knowing are the monks who are happy. Happiness, I have discovered, is evident in those monks who meditate all of the time and who recognize the fact that people are the same anywhere you travel… physically or mentally… and these meditators love you no matter what you have done, as long as you are trying to stay on the right path now - today. Ok. Let me rephrase that, there ARE some monks here who are traveling on different realms than I am and who are fighting the spiritual fight and they don’t have too much to smile about because they have SEEN what the “other side” is and don’t quite agree with them. But Luang Por travels back and forth between the good guys and the bad guys, and smiles at me as though all he can see is the goodness that I bring to the world. I am, I suddenly discover today, in love with a monk and that monk is not my son. This is probably not too good for me karmically, but, I am going to have to deal with that in the next life time, and I don’t think it will be too bad for me. That’s what I am hoping, anyway.