The Arahant’s Empty Citta
I have attached a video and pdf of a talk by the Venerable Maha Boowa who had a forest monastery in Thailand. The talk is given at the commencement of an annual rains retreat. As such there are many monks and lay people present.
Ven. Maha Boowa’s body is 96 years old at the time of the talk. It is just skin and bones which need to be carried around and lifted by the students.
The video begins with The Venerable being brought in and seated, followed by chanting and then the talks to the monks and the lay people. It would be easy to just read the pdf but then you’ll miss getting a glimpse of how a modern day Thai Forest monastery operates.
Here are the attachments:
pdf link:
-
Amazing!
Read the article and also saw the video!
Very rigorous monk with perseverance and funny and gave very cheeky responses to his followers.
Great to hear from arahant who got rid of kleshas and achieved empty chitta !
-
"The body ages and gets weaker but chitta has no age, it gets stronger or it gets weaker."
Enlightening to hear from him
-
This video of Arahant Maha Boowa is very emotional and he sheds tears on describing his enlightening experience, which he says is the same as the one Buddha and other arahants experienced before. Still, he considers himself to be a mouse in front of Buddha.
It is interesting how he saw his countless past lives and he says corpse after corpse after corpse, he saw it. He did see that he was relocated to hell many times and also Brahma's realm, but he phrases all his aimless drifting rebirths in samsara as "corpse after corpse after corpse", that ultimately he says if he arranges those corpses it will cover the length and breadth of Thailand. Very strong monk/arahant!
There is one interesting catch in the beginning when he describes his experience of enlightenment.
The countless immeasurable radiance in chitta at one focal point, that he forgot himself and was attracted to that infinite radiance at the focal point in chitta from which self-identity arises. Then a maxim from Dhamma arises which is "Anatta", when he kills or goes beyond the delusion of being, the paradise, and hells, all crash down, it was all radiance. And Arahnt gets overwhelmed and starts sobbing on recollecting in even after 53 years (at 2002 recording).
This delusion of self (anatta) is the avijja (ignorance) that binds the self to countless rebirths and roaming around with all afflictions and sorrow in this world.
Acharya's experience looks like he explained the atma (core-self) radiance and he went beyond it.
His experience of the crossing of self (Atma) also looks very close to how brahman effulgence (great ball of spiritual radiance where atma goes in, merges, and ejected out ) would look like. Then, a plane of sunyata or emptiness might have been revealed to him.
It was interesting how he described the atma and other experiences which followed.
-
This talk was controversial to his followers. Many people said that because he shed tears and was very emotional, he couldn’t possibly be an arahant. I certainly would not dare to sit in judgment. He is a truly great and noble monk in the tradition, whose teachings on the citta have guided my practice. The details he gives are not easily accessible in English language.
-
I was asked by a site visitor about why the monk is constantly putting something in his mouth, drooling and spitting into a spittoon.
Please clarify if you can.
-
In one talk of Venerable Maha Bua, he mentions that his practice was always very intense and that Venerable Mun would have to rein him in. By that he said that he would fast to extreme, not eating for days on end, and also sit in jhana for extended time periods. Due to the fasting, he said that 10 years into his practice, he had ruined his stomach. What exactly does that mean? I don't know. He further commented that Ajahn Mun would chasten him for sitting too long in jhana, at one time saying, "Are you going to die in jhana?"
For the specific account see this pdf, about 3 pages in, where he talks about his practice and how Ahjahn Mun guided him:
"Only we can take care of our citta"
Also, back in the days of Ajahns Mun and Bua, the chewing of betel was very common; nowadays not as much so. Could Venerable Bua have been chewing betel, or perhaps some other substance? It is all speculation.
Also, it appears in the video that he has few, if any, teeth. Could he be chewing something for tooth or gum pain?
This type of question, in contrast to the content and insights that Venerable Bua is sharing, just seems to be unprofitable. However, I've tried to give a response.
-
Yes, I thought of betel leaf too.
It was a very common practice in India and Eastern Asia back in the day. Even Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and others had it too.
Sometimes before going to bed or for fun, they would have one or two puffs of hookah. This was a custom in the 19th century.
No need to dig deep into these regional customs or cultural food or recreational habits, as it won't yield much spiritual insight compared to their spiritual achievements.
-
Regardless of any spirituality or religiosity, the pot used is actually called a spittoon. It was very common in several cultural settings. A grandmother of mine used one. She would fill it with river sand for absorption until she’d change the content.
-
The chewing of betel by Ajahn Maha Boowa is confirmed at the 4 minute mark in the video below.
It was a common practice in Thailand but it is considered to be a narcotic:
-
Yes, bethel nut is very common in some cultures. In West Africa, it is traditionally and still part of most ceremonies, including initial offerings of items in view of marrying a woman. So symbolically, the groom’s family’s first step around here is to send a delegation (of his family elders and responsible members relatives) with a particular number of kola/bethel nuts in offering.
Acceptance and sharing in consuming (at least symbolically for non users) of the nuts indicates acceptance by the future bride’s family of the alliance.Additionally, the gentlemanly thing to do when a man gets a woman pregnant out of wedlock is to offer the nuts in appeasement (as a form of social commitment) before taking care of the rest…
It was always used in traditional offerings to local as well as family deities/totems. In that context, it may be similar in significance to the usage ghee in Hinduism.
It may be classified as narcotic (?, not sure), but many elderlies routinely chew on it throughout the day. In that sense it is like coffee in the US. So it very easy to find in market places, kiosks (corner shops) as well sometimes carried in woven basket filled with bethel tree leaves to preserve freshness by walking street vendors. It comes in two varieties, a large typical one that may be whitish or reddish that can split in halves. The other variety is small and more bitter in taste, about 1/3 of the size of a medium sized typical one. You can now get dried bethel powder on Amazon (I guess it’s not really a narcotic).
Those elderlies back then also used chew. That is crushed powdered tobacco leaves, same as used in the US. Baseball players are know to use it, and of course they also can spit a whole lot! But they are given the exceptional pass to spit publicity, in a culture that is generally spooked by bodily fluids.
The habitual usage causes teeth to discolor much like the case with coffee, cigarettes, chew or wine. Bethel does contain a great deal of caffeine and is more so a stimulant than a narcotic, strictly speaking. It is also purported to have some aphrodisiac virtues as well as an appetite suppressant (for hard laborers with minimal/reduced access to nutrition/food.
-
Thank you, Surya, for that clarification!
