Dhamma Experience in Panditarama Sydney

Here I am, having left the land of the Buddha, Burma to arrive thousands miles away to the country of crocodiles and kangaroos. Having crossed borders and oceans, I’m now in Sydney, Australia. Seems like another world. But surprisingly, the atmosphere that I feel at the place I’m staying is very much the same as the one I have just left a few hours ago. The same smile of the Buddha which greets me and fills my heart with much joy and peace; the same kindness stemming from the heart of the Burmese people, food and language.

No wonder, I just came from Panditarama, Bago-Burma to Panditarama, Sydney-Australia. And invited by Sayadaw U Pannathami to stay here a short while, I rejoice to see that such a place dedicated to the happiness and peace of beings exists here, in a Western country like Australia; and that there are kind, devoted, generous and faithful people like the Burmese community who keep on supporting the Sangha. Such a place where spiritual qualities and genuine happiness can be developed and build up is indeed so precious in this modern and materialistic world.

The modern world is indeed quite rough and tough not materially wise but spiritually wise. People can get the opportunity to acquire education, earn a good living, and live comfortably in a nice house. They can rely on various kinds of electrical appliances and gadgets to smoothen the practical aspects of their everyday life. So on a mere material level, one can enjoy much comfort and have an easygoing life. But in the meantime, harmful values such as competition, rivalry, aggressiveness, selfishness and individualism, greed are promoted, while people forget the importance of lofty human qualities such as patience, forgiveness, loving-kindness, altruism, respect, gratitude. The focus is on getting more of this or that: having more money, a bigger car, house, a newer mobile phone, iPod, iPad and so on. \

There is an underlying belief that the more we have, the happier we will be. And it can sound somehow true. Getting the last fashionable shoes or clothes, or the new biggest LCD screen may bring us some sense of pleasure and a certain kind of happiness… but this feeling is a quite fleeting, lasting eventually some time before an even wider LCD screen is released on the market, or another pair of shoes is seen in the shop. Then we go for it again, in search for the new something that will bring us some short-lived pleasure. And this is what we called happiness, this sum of momentary pleasures amidst the pain and suffering to gain them.

For we don’t know or forget that genuine happiness is not realized by possessing things but rather stems from a heart contented and peaceful. The materialistic society in which we live puts value on ‘matter’, and makes us believe that happiness is to be build by getting and enjoying material things. The Buddha reminds us that true happiness is to be found in a heart where all the beautiful spiritual qualities of generosity, patience, energy, sincerity and truthfulness, loving-kindness and so on are fully developed.

So I really rejoice to find in Sydney a ‘PANDITARAMA’. Panditarama is a compound pali word made of ‘pandita’+’arama’. ‘Pandita’ means the wise, the one who can discern between what is beneficial and not, what is appropriate and not; and ‘arama means happy place, place where one gets delight. So I’m presently staying in “the place where the wise cultivate happiness/are happy.”

Isn’t it wonderful to have such a place, where one can go far from all the turmoil of our speedy, pleasure-seeking, money-centered and selfish daily life so to learn to become wiser and happier? We can practice Dana and develop generosity, practice Sila, moral conduct, and develop our mind, spiritual qualities… the very spiritual virtues which pave the way to genuine happiness. In this place, we can learn to be happy by becoming wise rather than by merely be wealthy, powerful or educated.

Thus, such a place is a blessing for us, for all the beings who seek genuine peace and happiness in this world of consumption and delusion. And I’m all the more happy to know that this Panditarama Meditation Center is about to become bigger with a new two storey-building to welcome the yogis. Mediators, the true peace makers and happiness builders will thus find more suitable conditions to undertake their noble endeavour.

May all the center’s devotees and supporters be able to conduct this building work smoothly, harmoniously and successfully. May many people through their generous heart be able to support this project, so to create an even more peaceful environment for beings to practice meditation and gain peace and freedom - contributing thereby to keep the Buddha Sasana, the Buddha’s teaching flourishing in the world.

Sayalay Ma Candasobha, Panditarama Sydney, June 2010

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