New Buddhist Monk Advice

Q: The only thing I was interested in, Monk Ajahn Panna, was how you've seen quite a few Buddhist monks come and go, and I just wondered what advice you had for new monk. What surprised me at Wat Boworn, I've seen so many come and go and...When I was ordaining, David Panatello was just disrobing. I've seen quite a few come and go now. I don't know what it is that makes a Buddhist monk ...what it is that keeps one going, why it is

Ajahn Panna: I would say one of two things. One of them you can do nothing about and that's kamma. There is one other thing, that a new monk should, within the first year of him being ordained, I would say, try to get to a good teacher and try to work as hard as he can on samadhi; because until one has a taste of samadhi in meditation, one doesn't know the value of the Buddhist Dhamma and the teachings. If a Buddhist monk doesn't get any samadhi, he gets no experience of it, then he doesn't see the value of it. He reads the books, but paper is not very tasty food, paper and printed ink, and after a while the citta gets rather tired of it. And after that one thinks, well, what am I doing this for? I'm just making difficulties for myself and I'm not getting anything for it. So he gives up the robes. Whereas if a person gains samadhi in mediation, then they know the taste of that, they know that this is right and this is good, and they've had the experience of something which is more happiness than they've had before. If they can only get to that and maintain it, then things are okay. So I would say the best advice for anyone who becomes ordained is get out of Bangkok as soon as you can, get to a wat where there is good teacher and get down to the practice; do the practice as hard as you can, for a long time, and don't stop doing it. There's a great temptation in many ways to stop. Having got some experience, one thinks "Oh, I'd like to talk about this with other people," and so talks with other people all the time about it, and it just fritters away. The thing one has to do is practise, to learn the method and not talk to other people about it. There's a well known experience that when a person gains something or they find out something or they come to know something, if they share that with other people, it's as though it spreads. This is found with bad things. If a person has got some bad things in their past, and they've got some guilt about it and feeling bad about it, they talk about it with someone else, it spreads, it eases it. Well the same thing happens in the opposite way with good things. If you talk to others about it, it becomes much more ordinary. It loses its taste and one doesn't feel it's so valid. So the business of keeping these things to oneself is very important until one has a lot of experience, until one is strong inside. So I would say, do one's samadhi practice, and don't talk about it. If you gain something, some method of your own that works very well, that works well with you, don't go telling other people. Not until you have enough experience with it that you are well used to that method and you know it works well, then maybe, but not until then. This is very important. But the important thing for a new Buddhist monk is to get some experience with the practice. Because if they don't have that, then there's nothing really to hold them, otherwise its just theory and ideas and so on, and they've been doing that all their life. So I would say, get to the practice, get to the samadhi. There must be samadhi. It's no good thinking about things. You've got to keep on to one thing like Buddho, Buddho, Buddho, just that, or anapanasati, keeping the breath here, and stopping thoughts, stop the thought entirely. When one has stopped the thoughts, then one is in the position to determine to use them properly. Until one can stop one's thoughts, one hasn't got control of them, one can't control them, they go everywhere, that's just weak. But having learned to stop thought, then one can learn to put them where one wants them. To make use of them, they become strong. So, the thing is to begin with, stop the thoughts. Learn to gain calm. People in the West need calm. They come from an environment which is a hell of a mess. And because they have been influenced by the environment, mostly, they are a hell of a mess too. It takes a long time to settle down, to allow thought to settle out, and they have to realise they haven't got very long. I mean they haven't got long before their kilesas start coming up and saying "Hey, what are you doing here, This isn't doing you any good." So they've got to work hard at it. They've got to go to a place where they don't have all the distractions, where they can get down to doing the practice properly.

Another thing I would advise, for anyone who is trying to practise meditation for samadhi, stop reading. Don't read. Particularly news magazines or anything of that sort. One has to realise, whatever one reads, whatever one hears, it all goes in, it all goes into the citta, and that's food for it. And it develops in the way that food goes in; I mean, if it is food about the world, it thinks about the world and goes out to the world. If it is food about bad things, it goes into bad things and thinks about bad things. Even if it is good things, it goes in and starts thinking about good things. But if one is trying to stop thought, none of it is any use. So the best thing is to stop all contact and reading, and talk with other people as little as possible. Keep to oneself. Keep away. More Information at this website - Buddhist Monk

Q: I found myself now, I don't know if it is typical of monks, but I talk too much, I think. About stupid things, about petty things. I realise I'm talking about it but I can't seem to....

Monk Ajahn Panna: Yes, one should watch oneself talking, and then reflect on one's talking, and reflect, did that talk do me any good? What good did I get from it? What value? Did the other person get any good? One should really think like this. I mean, we all make mistakes I know. We all forget quite often. All of us, except the real Ajahns, haven't got enough mindfulness, but one has to apply this often and often and often until it starts to have an effect. Then one thinks one's going to talk about something and then one thinks "Why? What's the point of it?" to oneself. Then the teaching is beginning to have an effect.

Also for a monk I would say, don't forget simple things. I think most new monks know about contemplating food when one is eating, they know one should try to be mindful here and there when one is walking and doing things. These things are very important. And although contemplating food may seem to give no results, steadily, steadily over time, they do give results. One gets results from it.

More advice from Ajahn Panna for aspiring Monks: Advice for Buddhist Monks - Continued