Welcome to the EDN Weekly Digest
This is the first in what I hope some week in the future will be a weekly digest of content produced through the Everyday Dhamma. My long-term goal is to generate quality Dhamma teaching content from both the Sutta Pitaka and from teachers of the Forest Tradition of Theravada Buddhism. I’m not there yet, but I’m getting closer.
The EDN Weekly Digest is intended to be an offering for subscribers. Because I am sharing Dhamma content, it has to be free of charge. It was given freely by the Buddha and by wise and compassionate teachers, and I will pass it on in a convenient format free of charge also as a gift of Dhamma. However, for those generous supporters that help me pay the bills of EDN, I will package it in the EDN Weekly Digest which is delivered via email as a convenience and way of saying thank you for your support.
Dhamma Quotes
If you let go a little you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely you will be free.
Ajahn Chah
What would you do when your everything in your life burns to the ground?
In many ways, the following story seems so mundane. Yet sometimes gems of deep spiritual significance can be found hidden in the most worldly of events.
It was late January 1991. After many weeks of a typically bone-dry Western Australian summer, record-breaking temperatures coupled with strong winds were fuelling a devastating bushfire a few kilometres south of Bodhinyana Monastery. As the wind propelled the enormous fire, wiping out hectares of bush in its wake, Ajahn Brahm and the rest of the monks were gathered in the monastery’s main hall, discussing evacuation plans with the fire brigade.
It was a frightening scene.
By the time the monks evacuated, there was no doubt that the fire would reach the monastery. They knew the outcome would be devastating because wood was an important construction material in the monastery buildings, especially in the roofs. At that point, it was clear to Ajahn Brahm that the monastery would be burned to the ground.
Imagine that for a moment. If it were you, and your home of many years, or a project you had worked on for the best part of a decade, was about to be wiped out by nature’s rage, what would you do? How would you feel? Most people would sink into a bottomless pit of despair and anger. They would probably question the injustice of it all, and perhaps even reject their belief system, with the wail, “Why is this happening to me?”
But not Ajahn Brahm. “At that moment, I knew the monastery was going to burn down. I knew it would be no more. But I also knew that the following morning – with the fire gone and only ashes left – I would return and start building it again from scratch.” Picture that – having the ability to let go so completely and quickly of your life’s work! If there is a superhuman power, it is this. Of all the superpowers we sometimes celebrate in Buddhism, such as walking on water or flying through the air, this is surely far more impressive. This is the sort of authentic spiritual power that has real significance.
But how do such profound acts of renunciation actually happen? How was Ajahn Brahm able to let go so utterly and completely in a matter of seconds? His explanation is both surprising and interesting: “I was able to let go because I was not interested in results. The outcome was not the point. My main purpose had not been to build a beautiful monastery. Instead, I did it because it was a good thing to do. I did it as an act of generosity, as an act of compassion and kindness for the world. As soon as it had burned down, I would be able to continue practicing that kindness on the very next day by starting the rebuilding process. You see, the fire did not take anything away from me because everything I had done, I had done for a very different purpose. It was to build up good spiritual qualities inside.
Those qualities were still there. And I would have the chance to continue building up the same good spiritual qualities on the following day.” As we plough through life, it is so easy to lose sight of what truly matters. Ajahn Brahm’s life philosophy is one we can all learn from: do not focus on results. Focus instead on the process. In our troubled and uncontrollable world, we need to remember what counts in the long run. We need to focus on how we live our life, on how we deal with things, not on the outcomes.
Outcomes are always going to be beyond our control, as Ajahn Brahm found out. But what we can control, at least to some extent, is the quality of our heart and the kindness and care we put into our actions.