Watpacittaviveka
Chithurst Buddhist monastery to give it it's proper name is known as Watpa (temple) citta (heart) viveka (discernment or discrimination). A place to discern the contents of ones heart.
When I was planning the journey a month or so before setting out, I realised that the route from the Farmfest to the cross channel ferry at Portsmouth ran very close to the monastery, so I wrote to the guest master and asked if I could stay overnight on my way through. In his reply he explained that the guest accommodation was fully booked and he couldn't offer space for the tent as there had been some problems with persistent non Buddhist visitors in the past. But he asked if I would like to call in and take the triple refuge and the five precepts as a blessing for the journey. As a practicing Buddhist of around ten years this was something I could not refuse.
This meant I would have to find myself a place to camp out as there were no Warmshowers hosts in the area. The monastery is in very secluded countryside and I had no trouble finding a quiet spot about half a mile away, out of sight in a woodland next to the river Rother at the end of an agricultural track. Once I'd got the tent up I went back to the monastery for evening chanting and meditation. Beautiful, it was like coming home. Then back to the tent in the pitch black of a moonless night. I thought I would never get to sleep. First there were a pair of muntjac barking at each other, then about three different kinds of owl, punctuated by acorns falling from the trees all around. But all of a sudden I was gone and slept like a baby until after dawn.
The Thai Buddhist tradition is very straight forward and there are really no blessings as such, there is only the dhamma or the teaching. The blessing is to accept the teaching. Full stop. Pretty much everything else is an embellishment. So after "taking refuge" in the Buddha, the dhamma (his teaching), and the Sangha (the community of Buddhists), and formally adopting the five Buddhist precepts, Tan Sudhammo, the guest monk, invited me to share the main meal of the day with the community, and he suggested that I might wait in the main dhamma hall.
The dhamma hall was a once derelict agricultural storage building and was restored in the 1970's and 80's by the English Sangha Trust, the charity which holds and manages assets on behalf of the monks of the Thai Forest tradition in the UK, who are prohibited from holding property. It has been lovingly restored, as far as I can see using traditional techniques of craftsmanship. Although it has a very rustic feel the overall impression is breathtaking. This is what it looks like from the inside
The roof details particularly caught my eye, being at once elaborate and simple. I could see no trace of a screw or a nail in the entire building. Everything seemed to be held together with wooden pins.
While I was waiting the hall gradually filled up with people, mostly dressed in white, and after about half an hour the monks drifted in wearing their characteristic ochre robes. The abott had a microphone and started talking about "this special day" and it gradually dawned on me that I had become involved in a memorial celebration for someone who had recently died. A 40 year old woman from Sri Lanka who had been suffering with cancer for several years. All the people dressed in white were her friends and relations. They invited me to join their reception meal. The monks were offered food first, a simulation of the Alms round that is a part of daily life in many Buddhist countries for the monks are prohibited from preparing their own food.
The mourners brought with them a lot of flowers for the Buddha shrine
It was quite a feast, probably at least 40 different dishes, all vegetarian and delicious. I spent the rest of the afternoon writing this up and chatting with various of the other guests, then back to my little camping place.
