In the footsteps of the Buddha

Saturday, 1 June 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By D.C. Ranatunga

I had the rare privilege of witnessing a Buddhist ordination ceremony by Ajahn Brahmavamso at the Dhammaloka Buddhist Centre in Perth last Sunday during Vesak celebrations. At a simple but impressive ceremony attended by monks and nuns along with a large number of lay devotees, Tom Anderson, an Australian national, was admitted to the Order as a ‘samanera’ – novice monk.

Clad in white, Tom sat on the floor before Ajahn Brahm and the gathering of the monks and nuns. After Ajahn Brahm’s introductory remarks on the significance of the event he was asked to receive the robe and the alms bowl from family friends.

After he handed over the robe to Ajahn Brahm and recited the relevant Pali stanzas seeking forgiveness and indicating his willingness to enter the Order, Ajahn Brahm explained that his mission would be to become a monk and seek the end of all suffering with the realisation of Nibbana. He was told he would be given the name ‘Khinabija’ – picked from a stanza of the Ratana Sutta:Tekhina-bijaavirulhiccnda –ibbantidhirayathayampadipo’ (Their desires grow not – Those wise ones go out even as this lamp.

Ajahn Brahm went on to explain the impurities of the body and how the new monk should hereafter contemplate on them. He laid emphasis of the first four relating to hair, teeth, nails and skin out of the 32 impurities.

Ajahn Brahm then handed over the robe back to him to be worn with the assistance of another monk. After they left the hall, Ajahn Brahm continued to explain to the audience how beautiful a monk’s life is. “Once you become a monk, he gives up everything. The monks don’t own anything. We learn to share everything. We live a simple life,” he said.

Pointing out that an often asked question is how monks can live without touching money, Ajahn Brahm said that for 39 years (since ordination) he has lived without using money. “We can live without a credit card or a bank account. We don’t have stocks or shares.”

He reminded how his teacher Ajahn Chah always asked, ‘are the people not kind?’ and was confident that people will give them alms and look after their needs. Ajahn Brahm, however, remembered how in his early days as a monk in Thailand, they ran out of soup for three days!

“We have no cravings. We have no desires. We don’t do anything for money. We don’t get blamed that we are corrupt. Our currency is our virtues, our wisdom, our goodness,” he said. “My insurance is kindness I give the people.”

Donned in his robe, Bhikkhu Khinabija returned and asked that he be given the Ten Precepts which Ajhan Brahm did.

The layman who had spent 13 months as an Anagarika at the Bodhinyana forest monastery at Serpentine in the outskirts of Perth where Ajahn Brahm is the Abbot, attending to the daily chores and the needs of the monks to gain experience before entering the Order, had bid goodbye to lay life.