[Buddha-l] Ajahn Brahm

[Piya Tan]

Thanks Joanna for highlighting this interesting interview.

Piya


On 11/10/06, jkirk <jkirk at spro.net> wrote:
>
> >From an interview reproduced on amazon.com's page on his latest book:
> Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond, an encapsulation of the meditation wisdom
> Ajahn Brahm has cultivated since 1973.
>
>
> Q. People call you "the Elvis of Buddhism," "the Seinfeld of Buddhism."
> They
> want to make you into a celebrity. Do you ever have difficulty reconciling
> that with being a monk--and not just a monk, but a forest monk, which is
> very different from living as a famous person?
>
> A. You know, I think one of the first times when it really hit me is I was
> giving a talk in Singapore. There was a huge crowd of five thousand,
> cheering as if they were watching a basketball match or something. Huge
> crowd. In the front where I was sitting, I was just by myself on this huge
> stage. As I walked in, I thought, now what am I doing? But then I thought
> of
> my teacher, Ajahn Chah. I thought he would be very happy that I was
> spreading Dhamma to so many. So you never think of yourself; you think of
> your teachings. You think of what you're doing, rather than who's doing
> it.
> So you actually depersonalize everything.
>
> Q. That's how you avoid the cult of personality?
>
> A. [You get] where you can actually play the role without being the role,
> so
> you get up there and you can really connect with your audience. You can
> enjoy the interaction between yourself and five thousand [other people].
> That way you are not shortchanging the Dhamma. Too often, people --
> because
> they're concerned about their ego -- don't actually put themselves forward
> enough to be able to present the Dhamma in a beautiful way. Whatever you
> believe in, you just give it everything you've got, you go for broke. If
> you're going to talk to ten people, it might as well be ten thousand. It's
> the same as how I'm talking to you now. You just connect and just give a
> talk the very best you can, and then off you go. So it's very powerful. If
> you've got a good teaching, then go out there and give it.
>
> Q. Do you see yourself and your popularity as a vehicle for the Dhamma?
>
> A. Sure, yeah, sure. I mean, when I started [as abbot and giving talks], I
> thought, "Well, I'll give it everything I've got. If it works, great. If
> it
> doesn't work, I can be a nice, peaceful, solitary monk." So you've got
> nothing to lose.
>
> Q. It's funny. You almost have to disguise your useful teachings in an
> entertaining and funny way --
>
> A. Packaging, that's what it is.
>
> Q. -- but you're known for being totally scrupulous to the Vinaya. In the
> evening, you'll have orange juice while other people are having their
> steak
> dinners, things like that. That gives you a kind of authority that simply
> being a monk or an abbot doesn't necessarily confer, because there are
> scandals every day with religious figures.
>
> A. That's correct, yeah.
>
> Q. So what do you think that the Theravada tradition as practiced and
> taught
> by Western monastics has to offer that maybe the other traditions don't?
>
> A. I think it's just clarity. Clarity and simplicity. That just shows that
> you can keep all your rules scrupulously without being uptight. If you see
> a
> person who really keeps those rules, they just so easily go along with it
> and they're just relaxed because it's one of those almost, like, koans of
> life--the more rules you keep, the more freedom you feel. People think,
> "Ah,
> if you keep precepts and you keep these rules, you feel just so enclosed.
> You can't go where you want. You can't do what you want." But [monastics]
> don't feel it that way at all. All these rules -- I can't do this, I can't
> do that -- seem so free and liberating.
>
> Q. And part of the clarity of the Theravada is that there are not a lot of
> cultural accretions added to it.
>
> A. That's right. Of all of the types of Buddhism, Theravada has been the
> least cultural and most international. [As] a Theravadin, I can go to
> Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, and the other traditions --
> old
> traditions and new traditions -- and know exactly what I'm doing. Like
> last
> night, I stayed in the Sri Lankan temple in Toronto. Tonight is in the
> Thai
> temple [in Chicago]. So you just fit in so easily. If you're a Theravadin
> monk or nun, it's like having a Diner's Club card or gold card, and you
> can
> go to any of these hotels called "monasteries" in the whole world and get
> free bed and board. [Laughs.] It's a great, great club to join.
>
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