Freeing the Heart - Teachings of the Nuns at Chithurst

[Mike]

I have mentioned this once or twice.  Chithurst is the training monastery in the Thai Forest tradition in Europe.  As with many spiritual things - especially hgher level teachings - the main products tend to by men.  Now whilst at the ultimate level male and female are both as it were "conditions" in p[ractice as conditioned beings we accept some kinds of styles or approaches easier than others.  I think this book is a very important one as to me the feel is very different to that from the monks ... more heart than kind of left-brain as it were [this is a hugely simplified sketch - please no lengthy replies re 70s sexism/feminism etc lol].

Maybe just simpler to say there are far less teachings by nuns than monks and here is a rare and excellent example 

http://www.cittaviveka.org/documents/books/Freeing%20the%20Heart%202001.pdf 

I recall Tracey saying in some post that she had read this and found it very good.

Here is a newer one I haven't read:

http://www.cittaviveka.org/documents/books/Awakening%20Presence%202005.pdf

It's interesting to note (especially given all last years ructions re nuns and the ordaining thereof in the sangha) that the first was still introduced "by a man" (albeit the abbot) whereas the latter has no "male introduction".

may all beings be happy.

Mike

[Claire]

I am gradually making my way through this and keep wanting to post pieces that "speak" to me but resisting...after all, the book is here for all to read. However, could not resist posting this piece. Absolutely beautiful.

We had no elder nuns to follow and so slowly, as
idealistic women, we came to the painful understanding
that monastic life is never the perfect life that the mind
projects. Rather, it is a carefully honed vehicle for the
contemplation of dukkha (suffering) and the realization
of its cessation — sometimes called ‘The Heart’s Release.’
While serving the individual, it also helps others,
through maintaining a way of life within which the
Buddha’s Path of Awakening is demonstrated and encouraged

[Mike]

Well no reason not to post the odd teaser to increase folks desire to make space to check it out.

Anything leap out at you as to whether (in this case) female spiritual teachers use a different voice/emphasis from male ones?

I suspect some of the nuns after the kerfuffle of last year [which ended in (the always very obvious from the outset) solution of some leaving to have women-only monasteries] some of them feel "not well honed enough after all" 

A propos this and the chithurst podcasts its a lovely place to visit soak up the atmosphere, if you get there before lunch share some healthy food, visit the splendid forest and lake (if you know where to go or are lucky and a Tort Pa Ba day does a tour) and of course have a chance to speak to the monks/nuns.  Only by visiting and the odd small chat with real people did all this "theory" and later "disembodied voices from mp3s" become real for me.  If you (I doubt me ) are lucky you might get to visit the nuns cottage, which is very beautiful (in a cute kinda way), for tea one day.

[Claire]

Anything leap out at you as to whether (in this case) female spiritual teachers use a different voice/emphasis from male ones?

I experience the writing as very human and ordinary. Just a straightforward "telling it like it is" in a personal and honest way. It resonates. I don`t know if this is because they are women.
This is another nice bit but I have lost the page so also who said it!

Anyway..have not read it all yet so commenting on experience to date.

People enter upon a spiritual path for different
reasons. Perhaps one has had insight into what we might
call the ‘Unborn’, or what might be called pure
consciousness, the Unconditioned, or a state of being
that is totally free from the usual constrictions or
constraints we feel as a limited beings. It’s hard to describe
this but people experience it in different ways. There’s a
recognition that there is something more profound to
be discovered, a deeper understanding that can clear away
this confusion that’s present most of the time.
Or one might be following an intuition one has
of an ultimate happiness to be found, which might be
based upon insight or might be based merely upon a
kind of escapist hopefulness — a kind of wanting to
experience the ultimate happiness and make it
permanent, find a feeling that remains peaceful, that
remains happy, that doesn’t change. Most of us want to
find that kind of feeling and keep it all the time. It’s only
when we get a little bit more familiar with ourselves, say
through meditation, introspection and reflection, get
more familiar with the nature of the mind, that we begin
to recognize our own avoidance tactics, and that those
avoidance tactics in themselves are what create the prison
that we are trying to escape from.
So at some point it’s recognized that this
happiness we are looking for — this freedom, this wisdom
and compassion — is not going to come easily, that in
Freeing the Heart
97
fact what we have to do is turn right around and face all
of those very things we have been running from. And
this is where the path begins. This is where we need to
develop many qualities of heart that help us to do that
— courage in the first place, tremendous patience, faith,
willingness, and some faculties and powers of mind such
as concentration, mindfulness, and wise reflection.

[Claire]

Only by visiting and the odd small chat with real people did all this "theory" and later "disembodied voices from mp3s" become real for me.  If you (I doubt me ) are lucky you might get to visit the nuns cottage, which is very beautiful (in a cute kinda way), for tea one day.

Meant to say and not sure if I mentioned in pm to you but feel very drawn to visit. Be very interested to see the energy..it was around the trees surrounding monastary in trip to ireland earlier this year where the shimmering was tangible.

[Mike]

I experience the writing as very human and ordinary. Just a straightforward "telling it like it is" in a personal and honest way. It resonates. I don`t know if this is because they are women.

Well that approach is the defining approach of the Thai Forest tradition (most notably Ajahn Chah lineage) which has perhaps been the driving force between the strong growth over the past couple of decades.

Thanks for the quote - I haven't read this kind of Theravadan shopping list ("develop many qualities" at the end of the quote) for some time but its a useful reminder of how such an approach can turn into a huge shopping list - all these things to develop all these things to reduce.  Very unlike the ultimate simplicity of Dzogchen [for theological reasons Dzogchen can use the language of this permanet backdrop - much harder in Theravada].  Mind you LPS in his constant emphasis on mindfulness gets there as directly perhaps.

Also the problem with these anthologies is knowing how much realisation they have made ... so the first part about oneself constructin ghte prison seems spot on in the above quote (IMHO and all that) whereas the last bit reverts to this idea of a substantial self that has a whole shopping list of stuff it needs to do [as opposed to (mixing traditions) the letting go of yu-wei when wu-wei is then automatic].

Anyway as you say its inspiring stuff and to get sidetracked into my theological comaprisons misses the point.  Plenty of the goodness in what they say (as you say) resonates with ones own heart and in doing so ones own "pure notes" are strengthened [and of course the opposite if one sits and watches the tv news every day ]

Visiting cool - I am not a seeing energy person but for sure there is a very tangible vibe about the place and many different vibes come to that.  Reading and listening are so heady (even if they can set the heart resonating) - walking around a place is such an emodied experience [and cf watching TP on youtube against being in the audience].

[Claire]

Also the problem with these anthologies is knowing how much realisation they have made ... so the first part about oneself constructin ghte prison seems spot on in the above quote (IMHO and all that) whereas the last bit reverts to this idea of a substantial self that has a whole shopping list of stuff it needs to do [as opposed to (mixing traditions) the letting go of yu-wei when wu-wei is then automatic].

Interesting point...made me think

Seems that the experience is one of recognising that, for whatever reason, one has acquired a few of these qualities rather than actually setting out to get them. Realising that responses to situations are very different to how they used to be ( with occassional reverting to type! )