Meeting with Luang Por Joshua at Ashram Bandita : หน้า 68/164

Meeting #11 27 February 2010 – Ashram Bandita LP Joshua has been in Korat for the past six weeks helping with a massive ordination project that the Wat initiated, and when he returns, he brings back two turtle-planters for Luang Por. We fill them now with a beautiful grass that symbolizes long life (turtles are also a symbol for long life) and call to see if Luang Por was available to see us. When we get to the Ashram, Luang Pi Anurak is there. I have also brought along a writing that I have done so he can check it to see if the Dhamma is accurate – or what Luang Por means to say given the fact that English is not his first language. LP Anurak’s spoken English is just about perfect. It happens that Luang Por is in a meeting, but when he sees us, he asks us to come in. When he sees the turtles, he just laughs and laughs. I want to describe his laugh for you because it is so infectious. It is deep, like a belly laugh, and really jolly. Like you know that he means it. This man does not laugh easily, so when he does, it is from his heart and his mind. He closes his eyes narrowly and his eyes then look as if they are a passageway into his most hidden inner self. It is wonderful and amazing both at the same time. He asks LP Josh about his trip up north and so LP Josh tells him several stories about the men ordaining and about the events that occurred at the Wat where he was staying. There seems to be a great deal of alcoholism amongst the village people, and the idea of ordaining and going without alcohol for any length of time is a bit troublesome to many of the men. Additionally, every man is needed to work the rice fields, so ordaining puts a strain on the family’s resources. We also talk about a meditation session we attended that morning which was new and different for both of us – not that it was bad, just different. So we talked about breathing and inside meditation and how wonderful the Dhammakaya meditation is for its ease and brilliance at getting people to focus on their own center. “The best meditation is to focus on the middle of the middle, the center of the center. Other meditation techniques are ok to start, but then you need to practice center of center. Always center of center. Then you will find out everything for yourself. No need to ask people questions because the answers are always there for you.”