INSIGHTAotearoa
A newsletter for New Zealand's insight meditation practitioners and communities
98 Riverside Road, Gisborne, 4010 Aotearoa New Zealand
deborah @ insightaotearoa.org | ISSN 1177-5076
JULY 2009
IN THIS NEWSLETTER YOU'LL FIND...
1. EDITORIAL: Sangha
2. Companions On the Path
3. Alone Together: Finding Friends on the Path
4. Book Review: Dancing with Life
5. Poem: On My Rebirth
6. Poem
7. Questions ... questions ...
8. Sangha news
9. The Last Word: Spiritual Friends
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1. EDITORIAL: Sangha
Sangha has traditionally been defined as a Buddhist monastic community. The more contemporary Western definition of sangha includes any group that practices and supports each other in meditation. Sangha may be your weekly meditation group, your fellow yogis at a retreat, or your virtual sangha INSIGHTAotearoa.
The past months have gifted me with numerous experiences of gratitude to sangha for its blessing of connection and support. Our Gisborne sangha hosted a half-day vipassana and yoga retreat on Mother’s Day. The following Wednesday evening we celebrated Vesak with an intimate ceremony of candle lighting with the story of the Buddha’s life. I was not only moved by both events, but also profoundly grateful to have a sangha of spiritual friends. Later in the month, while on holiday in California, I was able to sit a 5-day retreat with my old sangha. It was wonderful to sit in silence with many old friends and teachers and share being home in the dharma.
This July edition of INSIGHTAotearoa is dedicated to sangha and offered with deep gratitude. It includes two wise articles about sangha by Kanya Stewart and Christina Feldman. Euan Krough reviews Phillip Moffit’s new book Dancing with Life. The Last Word is the Buddha’s wisdom of the value of spiritual friendship.
I wish to thank Gaye Sutton for stepping up as editor while I was on Holiday. Thank you Gaye, Kanya, Peter and all those who contributed to the wonderful June newsletter. Blessings.
With metta,
Deborah White
Editor
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Nothing in the world is as soft as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.
-- Lao-tzu
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2. COMPANIONS ON THE PATH
-- by Kanya Stewart
To be fully present in the truth of each moment’s experience of arising and passing away is the primary intention in following this rigorous and radical path set out by the Buddha; not attaching to personal views and opinions of how we think things should be; giving up trying to manipulate or control our experience; taking responsibility for our actions; responding wisely and appropriately to conditions without anger, greed or ill-will; giving up grasping; practicing generosity, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity ; guarding the sense doors and renouncing gossip; giving up attachment to status, preferences, people and places.
Despite our intention and efforts to move towards greater clarity and wisdom, we are nevertheless still impacted by the tremendous force of delusion that masquerades as “reality” internally and in the outer world. Even though our commitment is to renounce unskillful ways of being and move towards a heart centered reality, it is important that we don’t underestimate the pull of delusion in our lives. Out of the sheer force of our habitual tendencies, we still get distracted and drawn in. We can fall into forgetting what is true, what is of value. Delusion, like a sticky web woven through the layers of our conscious and sub-conscious minds, has us entangled like a fly in a spider’s lair. Once we come to understand that we are bound, we find we cannot become unbound on our own. We need help. The sticky web we are caught in is too vast for us to get out of on our own.
This is why the Buddha emphasized the importance of sangha, the third of the three jewels he offered to the world. When birds migrate over vast distances in autumn, crossing over thousands of miles of land and sea, they do it together, as group. They can’t do it alone because the journey is too fraught with danger. Together, they have the energy, strength and support required find their way without giving up or losing their way. So too for us, the journey towards liberation is similarly fraught with danger and deception. We need the help of like-minded others in an ongoing way to support and encourage ourselves and each other to stay strong in our resolve to transform. Not only can we learn with each other, but we learn from each other on this journey as we slowly release the habits and unconscious ways of acting and being in the world. With sangha, we have connection to others who are also committed to freeing themselves, others who, by their presence, their example and their support, help us to maintain our connection to the truth.
We can trust with sangha that the values of non-violence, generosity, truthfulness, sexual responsibility and commitment to remain free from intoxication, are the ground of our being. The aspiration to live these values can be assumed, even if we are not able to maintain them fully all the time. They are what we all aspire to. Even though we may not know a lot personally about sangha friends, we already share something that is profound and primary in our lives.
Coming together with sangha as a group, or even one other person, gives strength to the momentum of our formal practice, just as conversation and sharing of our journey, our ups and downs, strengthens and helps integrate the teachings into the reality of daily living. Through sangha, those we meet with regularly or the wider circle of practitioners we are connected to, we encourage each other to bring forth and strengthen the qualities that our practice is moving us towards. It’s very important that we don’t feel alone on this path. We need each other. For myself, the energy I experience when I meditate with one or more others nourishes a sense of connection and belonging. Through this contact I am encouraged to keep up a regular sitting practice, to maintain my efforts towards reducing identification with a personal sense of self. It also reminds me that I am not doing this practice to make my own life better, more manageable. I am not an isolated individual, I am part of the whole and the more I move towards realizing the dharma in my life, the more I make a contribution to the greater whole of which I am but a part.
Creating sangha can mean gathering together with people we may not necessarily be drawn towards, people we wouldn’t normally choose to be friends with. But this is one of the reasons why building sangha is so important. If we surround ourselves only with people we like and want to be with, we are creating an environment which is not particularly conducive to moving away from judgment, self-view, ill-will. Where is the challenge to overcome our prejudices and learn to be more flexible, more open and relaxed with the way things are? So relationship to sangha needs to have the quality of open acceptance to whoever wants to participate. Letting go of preferences is a powerful form of practice. We all have likes and dislikes, and they won’t necessarily go away, but what can change as we put mindfulness into practice in all areas of our lives is that we can note our preferences, but not let them rule us. We can chose to be open to interaction and involvement without having to make anybody “wrong” for the way they are, or the way they think. When we give in to our preferences we know for sure that ego is in the driving seat, and are put on notice that a shift is required. Letting go of control is painful, but in doing so we are moving away from the inflexibility of limited consciousness. Far more painful is having our hearts closed and missing out on the possibility to become more kind and caring.
If we are really serious about deepening our practice, we can begin to look at the areas in our lives where we cling to maintaining a sense of comfort and ease. Just as we would prefer to have pleasant experiences in meditation, so in daily life we also prefer things to be smooth. There wouldn’t be many of us who would say we love to be uncomfortable, whether that’s physically or emotionally. We tend to incline towards that which is safe and predictable, to known ways of being and doing. One of the ways we can intensify our practice is to pay attention to and note when we feel uncomfortable during our interactions, where we may be challenged to “hold our seat”, and not run away. If we can stay with the knowing of what is arising with clarity and awareness in the midst of resistance or fear, we can keep facing into the challenge. It is in the places that we may feel out of our depth, where we feel inadequate or incapable, that great possibilities are present for letting go. If we don’t accept the challenge, then we are likely to remain contracted and bound.
Community is the wider sphere in which we live our lives. Interaction with others is the foundation of everything we do, of how we live, whether that community consists of just a few people close to us or a wider group. And community is essentially about interaction, involvement, connectedness. The issues that come up for us as we consciously move towards integration of living the dharma are much the same issues that confront everyone else in this world. Issues to do with work, personal relationships, dealing with life’s challenges, relating with others at work and at home, finding a way to make a living and to care for those we love as well as trying to look after ourselves. The difference is that we are moving towards a very conscious and deliberate uncovering of the ways in which we don’t act skillfully, learning to see more clearly the ways in which we get caught up in resisting, judging and attaching, learning to be more congruent in unifying our thoughts, words and actions. This doesn’t mean that we don’t make mistakes. In the context of our interactions within the sangha, we can use these times as opportunities to practice, to see where we miss the mark. We can use this knowledge, not to give ourselves or others a hard time, not to recriminate or accuse, but as stepping stones towards greater clarity. As we move more deeply into integrating the teachings into our daily life, we have the opportunity to look at our projections and how much we attach to them by thinking that they are true. How often is our perception colored by our personal view and opinions, how often is it flawed? My experience is that I can make an assumption about someone, only to find later, when I have got to know them better that my initial response to them was inaccurate and included some sort of judgment. We can learn a lot about our reactions/responses. With investigation we can come to see that these tell us more about ourselves than about the other person.
Sangha is not just about practicing together, or reminding each other of what’s important. Spiritual friends can offer us glimpses of living without delusion as we witness their wise efforts towards acceptance and surrender to the way things are. Sometimes our own capacity to remain steady and equanimous in certain circumstances encourages us to keep making an effort, and can inspire others to maintain a heartfelt steady practice. We can be beacons for each other at times on the journey, sometimes lighting the way, sometimes falling back into delusion.
Something I enjoy contemplating when I think about sangha is the huge number of people all across the world who are practicing the dharma. Especially at times when I may feel discouraged, it’s helpful to bring to mind this great body of practitioners; the sangha in Aotearoa, those who I have been on retreats with, and the different teachers both lay and monks and nuns that have led those retreats. Then, as in the loving-kindness meditation, to open up the wider space to include awareness of those practicing throughout the country, in all the different Buddhist traditions. By extending outwards in consciousness to include those practicing all over the world, I feel a great sense of connectedness and my resolve is strengthened. There are many different traditions in the Buddha Dharma, the Mahayana path and the Theravadan path, the Zen and Tibetan paths, the Thai, Burmese, Vietnamese and Chinese traditions. We are all part of a great lineage of people from the present time stretching way back two and a half thousand years to the time of the Buddha. To belong to this great body, to be a cell in this body of the sangha is a great gift.
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3. ALONE TOGETHER: Finding Friends on the Path
-- by Christina Feldman
A personal meditation practice is the foundation of Buddhism, but do we need more? Essentially we make the journey alone, but many people find that committing themselves to the three jewels—Buddha, dharma, and sangha—helps take ke them further. These three make up the lineage, philosophy, and community of Buddhism, and their purpose is to deepen and expand our practice.
When we embark on the meditative journey, we may enter through many different gateways. We may begin to practice meditation as a way of finding a little more calm in the midst of a chaotic life, to find respite from our turbulent mind. We may begin to meditate to find a way to meet adversities with greater understanding and balance. We may be drawn to meditation through experiences of joy—glimpses of stillness, intimacy, and connectedness—thathat inspire us to question whether such moments could be more than just accidental encounters. Both sorrow and joy can bring us to a point where we acknowledge the urgency of finding ways to be more at peace with ourselves, to be kinder, and to be more present in all the moments of our life.
Practicing with sincerity, persevering through the peaks and valleys that are part of every spiritual path, we begin to discover that practice does indeed bear fruit. A steady mind begins to be more accessible, we are less prone to be reactive or judgmental, and greater sensitivity and mindfulness allow us to feel more connected to the present moment and to our surroundings. Our capacity to be delighted by life’s beauty is awakened, as is our ability to meet hardship without being overwhelmed. But this is not the end of the journey. Rather, the journey has now truly begun. As our practice deepens, our eyes open to possibilities beyond composure and balance. We open up to the possibility of an unshakeable liberation, a timeless wisdom, and being intimately part of a wider community of people who treasure compassion and integrity. We may be inspired to bind ourselves more deeply to the path and to those around us.
At this point, we may begin to ask ourselves not only what meditation practice is but what it means to live a meditative life. To help us accomplish this, we look beyond our personal practice and seek the support of what are known in Buddhism as the three jewels. These are the Buddha, or other living embodiment of enlightenment; the dharma, the philosophy and teachings of Buddhism; and the sangha, the community of realized beings and of our fellow practitioners. As so many others have before us, we may decide to take refuge in the three jewels as a way of continuing to open to the deeper possibilities we have glimpsed. This is an important step on the journey and one we will repeat many times over. So what does it mean to take refuge and what do the three jewels really mean?
Taking Refuge
I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the dharma. I take refuge in the sangha
In monasteries around the world these three lines are chanted daily, and many meditation retreats here in the West begin with a recitation of this formula. We might see these as quasi-religious sentiments or statements of belief that seem irrelevant to our own life and spiritual practice. But the great power of taking refuge is that it opens our eyes to the whole of the teaching, not just the parts we find convenient. Taking refuge can also help us find the capacity to meet hardship compassionately—and with steadiness—rather than with flight and denial. But before that can happen, we need to come to understand what we commit to when we make these statements. Taking refuge in the three jewels (also known as the triple gem or the three treasures) is a commitment born of reflection and investigation.
”Taking refuge,” a good translation of the original Pali, literally refers to the act of returning to a place of sanctuary or shelter to find safety, peace, and protection: a child finds refuge in the arms of a loving parent; we find shelter from a storm beneath the branches of a tree; we return home to a caring relationship for sanctuary and peace. Taking refuge in the three jewels is an inner journey, coming home to what is true. It is a profound act of devotion and inner commitment to a clear mind, an open heart, and a way of engaging with life that is pervaded with integrity, respect, and compassion. If our commitment is profound, we give ourselves unreservedly to a life of wakefulness, to bringing all that is truthful and healing into every aspect of our life. If our devotion is wholehearted, we align our thoughts, words, and acts with the teachings that lead to liberation.
Taking refuge in the Buddha, we commit ourselves to our own capacity for freedom. Taking refuge in the dharma, we bring the path of awakening to life. Taking refuge in the sangha, we acknowledge our interconnectedness.
The Buddha
The Buddha is the personification of an awakened being, a person who knows unshakeable inner freedom, peace, and compassion. In this context, the Buddha represents not only the historical Siddhartha we are familiar with, but also all the great teachers throughout time who embody a depth of wisdom and compassion that changes the world around them. The Buddha is a symbol of the third noble truth (cessation)—that it is truly possible to know the end of anguish and struggle, to discover a heart that is liberated from confusion and pain.
The Buddha also points to the potential for awakening that lives in each of us. The Buddha encourages us to discover for ourselves the same freedom that buddhas throughout time have found. The Buddha is a symbol of possibility—encouraging us not to despair but to dive deeply into our hearts to find the wisdom that can heal and liberate us.
When we think of the Buddha, our immediate association may be with the statue seated on a lotus flower that lives on an altar, in a museum, or in our garden. We can be inspired by the stories of the Buddha, yet still feel minimal relationship with this historical figure. The path and practice invite us to bring the Buddha out of abstraction and into reality, to bring the Buddha to life. Many of us have glimpsed the Buddha in others and ourselves. It is our buddhanature that inspires us to reach out a hand to comfort and support a friend in need, to forgive someone who has harmed us, and to say no to injustice. It is our buddhanature that grieves at the pain in the world and rejoices at happiness and love. Our buddhanature brings us back to the cushion when we face difficulty and pain, trusting that we can find the understanding and steadfastness to meet our life.
When our eyes and hearts are open, we glimpse buddhanature shining in countless moments. My first teacher lived in a simple mud hut, never knowing where his next meal would come from, yet he welcomed us unruly Westerners with a beaming smile and a limitless willingness to offer the teaching of wisdom and compassion. I have friends who are raising a severely disabled child with boundless patience and love; for them it is a spiritual journey. My own heart is touched on a daily basis not only by the great people of this world who have dedicated themselves to justice, peace, and compassion, but also by the many acts of generosity offered by strangers. Our practice of awareness opens our eyes to the many acts of peace, kindness, and compassion we encounter in our daily lives.
In addition to serving as an example of the buddhanature that lies within all of us, the Buddha was a teacher, a healer, and a guide showing the way to peace. He empowered students to discover the same liberation within themselves that he found. He wanted graduates. He showed the way to the end of suffering. The teachers I have been privileged to practice with in my own life have offered the same generosity. As Westerners we are prone to be either in awe of or mistrustful of authority. The Buddha discouraged blind faith in teachers, but also honored their place in the journey of discovery and transformation. To find a teacher who will not only console us in times of difficulty but will also challenge our delusion is a great blessing. We sense their buddhanature in the fact that they want nothing from us. They want neither honor, flattery, nor allegiance. They only want us to find our own buddhanature. Inviting the Buddha into our heart is, in the deepest sense, to also invite the dharma and the sangha into our life. It means taking upon ourselves the willingness and responsibility to embody our buddhanature.
The Dharma
The dharma is the path that leads to the realization of our buddhanature. It teaches us the universal story of change, unsatisfactoriness, and nonself that runs through all of our lives. It reveals our interconnectedness, which is usually clouded by delusion and fear.
The dharma is what we practice when we sit down with the intention to let go, to calm the waves of agitation in our hearts, and to understand what is true. When we go out into our day with the commitment to not harm and to protect the well-being of all living beings, we are practicing the dharma. When we are generous with our time, attention, and love, we embody the dharma. When we resolve to be truthful, to treasure a clear mind, and to engage the world with respect and appreciation, we live the dharma.
The teachings of profound wisdom found in the volumes of scriptures are intended no only to be absorbed only as an intellectual exercise but also to be assimilated and embodied. All of us are asked to take the teachings off the bookshelves and into every dimension of our lives, leaving nothing untouched. We come to know the wisdom of a buddha when the dharma is our life and our life is the dharma. Making life into dharma is an ongoing practice, which is why it is called a path.
The dharma is our heart’s commitment to all that is healing and liberating. It is not a commitment we make just once. Rather, we make it countless times in a single day. It is a commitment not to an ideology or belief system—to the volumes of scriptures—but to our own buddhanature. It is only when we begin to wake up and be more mindful and present in our life that we realize how remarkably forgetful we can be. We begin to appreciate how easy it is to be lost in habits of aversion, resistance, greed, and heedlessness. Every time we can find the willingness to be with what is and step out of the cycles of resistance and forgetfulness, we renew our commitment to the dharma. Each time we choose a path of kindness rather than aversion, seek peace rather than conflict, speak with truthfulness rather than dissemble, we are practicing the dharma. All these small moments of commitment, where we renew our intention to be awake in our life, do bear fruit. Our hearts and lives are changed by the daily commitments we make to act in accord with dharma. In the beginning, trying to live with integrity, clarity, and compassion feels effortful, almost heroic, at times even impossible. But with practice, it becomes less of a concerted effort. It feels quite possible and natural to live according to dharma. We live in greater peace and openness, we fall in love with awareness, and our mind becomes our friend.
The Sangha
The sangha, or the community of the wise, can be understood on at least three levels. One is called the noble sangha, the community of those who are awakened and embody that wisdom. These are the buddhas and teachers who inspire and encourage us. They are the people who have touched us with their unwavering commitment to end the suffering and anguish in our world. We aspire to follow their example.
The sangha is also the monastic order of monks and nuns, people who inspire us with the simplicity and integrity of their lives. In a recent meeting of Buddhist teachers, when many people were reporting on the projects and ventures their centers were undertaking, one of the ordained sangha reported that the monks and nuns really didn’t do very much. On one level that is quite true. They have no mission to build and support centers, create programs, or fundraise. On another level it is by “not doing very much” that the ordained community does so much, reminding us by their presence how deeply important it is to dedicate our hearts and lives to ethics, mindfulness, and liberation. They are a living presence of simplicity, renunciation, and commitment. For many centuries, the long lineage of the monastic sangha has offered refuge to those who have no refuge, brought life to the dharma, and reminded us of the most precious gem of all, the treasure of liberation. Monasteries in Asia are home to those who have left the world but who are also endlessly available to the world. They support children who are orphaned and the elderly who have no family. They educate and speak out for social justice and bear witness to the births and deaths of the laypeople in their communities. The monastic community in a very real way endeavors to be a microcosmic view of a just and compassionate society, rooted in ethics, respect, and wise relationship.
Finally, the sangha is found in the communities and relationships of trust and integrity we nurture in our own lives. Genuine sangha is any relationship that treasures harmony and practices the wisdom of interconnectedness. It is challenging to go on silent retreats and to cultivate a practice where we sit with ourselves on a cushion. But in our individualistic culture, it is far more challenging for many people to cultivate community and true friendship. Each one of us gets up off our meditation cushion and enters into the world of relationship. Bringing our practice and our commitment to wakefulness into that world is what enriches our practice and gives it meaning. Our path remains incomplete as long as this third treasure is omitted.
It is in community that we discover how hard it is to live in a truly ethical way. A friend of mine said that if practicing the Buddhist precepts, the guidelines for how to conduct ourselves with attention and kindness, “does not make your life more uncomfortable, you haven’t understood them well.” It is in community that our commitment to kindness and openness is challenged, that we begin to understand that generosity and forgiveness require letting go. Nowhere else in our lives are we so vulnerable as in our relationships, so the Buddha’s teaching encourages us to cultivate a wise vulnerability. To learn how to speak truthfully, to listen without defensiveness, to learn how to offer and receive kindness, to let go of our personal story and listen deeply to our universal story, are all lessons of wise community.
As our practice deepens, we increasingly understand the truth of our interconnectedness and interdependence. All beings long for happiness, to be understood, and to be protected. All beings long to be free from pain, struggle, and fear. In a very real way, both my happiness and sorrow are linked to yours. We cannot seek our own awakening; we can only take part in the awakening of all beings.
The cultivation of community, or sangha, is ultimately to commit ourselves to respectful and appreciative relationships. It is a commitment to discovering the buddhanature in all beings and to embodying our dharma, our own understanding. It is not always possible for us to connect with and be part of established dharma communities, yet it is always possible for us to nurture community within the relationships already present in our lives. We can all learn what it means to be a true friend to another, offering kindness, honesty, and understanding. Making time for friendship to develop—persevering with the challenges that relationship inevitably brings—respects the value that community plays on our path. The triple gem is three parts that are completely interwoven. They hold within them the whole of the teaching and path of liberation. We call Buddha, dharma, and sangha the three jewels or treasures because they have profound and enduring value. Nurtured together, they lead to unshakeable liberation.
Christina Feldman is the author of Compassion: Listening to the Cries of the World. She is cofounder and a guiding teacher at Gaia House, a Buddhist meditation center in Devon, England, and a senior teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts.
Alone Together: Finding Friends on the Path, Christina Feldman, Shambhala Sun, May 2008.
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Ring the bell that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a hole in everything.
That is how the light gets in.
-- Leonard Cohen
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4. BOOK REVIEW: Dancing with Life by Phillip Moffitt
-- reviewed by Euan Krogh
With about three new Buddhist book coming into print each week things can get a bit crowded and new offerings need to stand out to get noticed. The title seemed to connect with me immediately. Forgetting the fluff of DWTS on TV the prospect of life being imbued with grace, beauty, energy, happiness and the prospect of two entities moving as one seemed attractive. My style is better related to a rampant bulldozer relentlessly progressing through this life.
Added to the title a chapter titled “How Suffering Got a Bad Name” clinched the purchase.
Phillip resuscitated Esquire magazine which included the need to judge fine writing. He obviously picked up more than a few skills during his tenure. Being a skilled practitioner as well as a superb writer overcomes the faults of many books from the monastic and scholarly scene which lack good writing skills and produce tomes which tend to heavy going and tax ones tenacity.
Dancing with Life is broken into lucid bite size chunks that hold the interest. I reached the end rather sooner than I expected in a refreshed state. Unusually Phillip covers the Four Noble Truths, the Twelve Insights of the Four Noble truths. A very logical start often skipped over lightly by other books. Frequent quotes and a foreword from Ajahn Sumedo, with frequent references from T S Eliot set the tone. A book I no doubt I will return too. I would welcome a second volume covering the Brahma Vihara and Kamma.
Euan Krogh
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5. POEM: On My Rebirth
-- by Parrill Stribling
On May 21 ‘09, (this was a Thursday)
I dreamt of sitting with Theravada priests around a campfire,
chatting and sipping when
“HA” one shouted pointing to the night
His finger blackened against a spotted blue full white moon.
Another whispered discreetly
“Don’t worry. You shall not be born again.”
Which was comforting, this time had felt eternal.
It was a lot of fun sitting amidst bobbing baldheads glistening in the bright night.
There was endless hilarity, merged with kernels of melancholy.
They became the same.
I slept well assured that Thursday night.
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6. POEM:
-- by Gary Lawless
When the animals come to us,
Asking for our help,
Will we know what they are saying?
When the plants speak to us
In their delicate, beautiful language,
Will we be able to answer them?
When the planet herself
Sings to us in our dreams,
Will we be able to wake ourselves, and act
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7. QUESTIONS ... QUESTIONS ...
Do you have a question about your practice or about Buddhism in general? Send it in, and we will put it before a teacher. If it can be answered easily, it will be in a future INSIGHTAotearoa. Send your question to deborah @ insightaotearoa.org or by post to Newsletter, 98 Riverside Road, Gisborne 4010.
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8. SANGHA NEWS
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9. THE LAST WORD: Spiritual Friends
In the Pali Canon's Upaddha Sutta (SN 45.2), there is a conversation between the Buddha and his disciple Ananda in which Ananda enthusiastically declares, 'This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie.'
The Buddha replies: 'Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, he can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eightfold path.'[3]
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With Metta,
Deborah White, Kanya Stewart, and Peter Fernando