American Buddhist Monk: Bhante Subhūti

The Message From Long Ago I was recently interviewed by Skynet television. The monk in charge of foreigners tracked me down for an interview. I originally refused to climb up the Mountain for an interview at the Bodhi Tree. "Too much trouble. Get another monk." I said. Then he arranged for an easy location to be interviewed and he even sent a messenger to my kuti to make sure I would come. I was originally told three questions, but they had a bunch of questions they wanted me to answer and the interviewer could not speak English. I answered the […]

The "Beverly Hills" Section of Pa-AukThis is my neighborhood. Over the years, the price of wood had skyrocketed, and concrete kuties have become the new standard. However, that does not stop them from laying teak floors inside. I think teak is quite inexpensive in Myanmar compared to the rest of the world. The same could be said about flowers and mangoes, let alone medicine and treatment. This neighborhood is quite old now and some other kuti donor/builders have really "gone out to town." Kuti #93 recently burned down. It was a wood kuti painted with old engine oil for bugs […]

Flower Art Served on a Bowl CoverThe middle flowers go bad within a few hours. It is a good prop for the reflection on impermanence."Sabbe sankhārā aniccā'ti" This was posted on Google+

Which part is the car? Which part of you is you?A Buddhist classic to explain "The Self and Not Self Paradox." The Pa-Auk Garage was working on the Pa-Auk SUV and I could not help myself. This was posted on Google+

3D BuddhaI borrowed this Buddha from a friend's kuti for a little while. The Buddha you see is actually a mold of a Buddha. The eyes create this 3D effect with the inverted statue that will always stare at you no matter how you look at it.  This was posted on Google+

New Pa-Auk Thailand MonasteryPicture of location in An-ton 2 hours from Bangkok.The sima was officially completed (by vinaya transaction) about 6 months ago.To complete a legal vinaya transaction, one needs the permission of the residing monks in the village. This could be a problem because monks often do not like newcomers on their own block, especially from Burma. To avoid such technicalities, the Thai donors who arranged this, picked a site in a village with only one monastery, which is abandoned. Most of the village is water. The mayor or equivalent, is connected with the owner which is leased on […]

Knowledge of Microphones, Knowledge of MeaningThe last two patimokkha recitations have been clear sounding without feedback (except when they were playing with the controls). All is due to my recent arrangement for a proper microphone. This makes me very happy and I can rejoice in my efforts when we have our meeting on the new and full moons. I learned about microphones from a monk at my Amaravati visit last year and a professional DJ/ambient music composer who visited Pa-Auk last April. I found out it is not how much the microphone costs, but the type of microphone one gets. […]

Alter States of Mind♥♥♥If you look at the center of the picture, you will see a transparent pink heart!I did not notice this until I prepared this post. Very cool!♥♥♥This was going to be the post below:Alter States of MindChanting and setting up my alter is a good excuse to be beautiful. Beautiful is a group of mental ingredients (sobhanacetasika) contained in every wholesome mind. Sitting on the floor, I was just appreciating what I have, and I thought I would take a picture to show that moment. An Alter State of Mind. No editing:Other than the words pasted on […]

Umbrellas — Excerpt from Going For Broke from "Walkman Karaoke" (2004) Rainy Season is luckily my favorite. I love all five months of it. It is the perfect temperature also, not too hot, not too cold. It's quiet and the noises around me get white washed out from the rain striking the metal corrugated roofing. We had over 350 Bhikkhus and a total of more than 600 residents this past Rainy Season. One problem is that nearly everyone has the same brown or silver umbrellas. Surprisingly, up until last Rainy Season, everyone sort of knew which umbrella was theirs just […]

Little Wing Strikes AgainMy cardboard paper sign that goes around my 20L water bottle for refill identification was soggy from the rain, and so I threw it away a few days ago. I thought internally to myself, "Maybe I could ask the sangha computer room for a laminated sign before the next refill?". However, that would be complex because it would be done with communal property for a private use. Last night, the Librarian passed me this laminated label. Judging by the old email address of Pa-Auk and my old passport number, this must have been leftover from my trip […]