Santacittarama Newsletter
March 2003
Coming and Going
With the monastic retreat drawing to a close and spring in the air, some movement of personnel is beginning. Ajahn Dhammiko is on his way to the Zen Hospice at San Francisco, where he will do a course on spiritually assisting the dying, and should be back here this summer. We’re counting on him to stay around for long enough to help us when our time comes! After his 3-month break in Thailand we are expecting Ajahn Jutindharo on the 7th of April, with Ven Kalyano returning the following day. Samanera Suddhano, who has been with us for the winter retreat, will return to Chithurst in early April.
Ajahn Sucitto
Ajahn Sucitto is due to visit again, on the invitation of ‘A.Me.Co.’, to lead a residential retreat at the Don Orione Centre at Casaprota, not far from Santacittarama. The retreat is from 25th April until 1st of May, and it is possible to book from March 24th. To avoid disappointment we recommended booking as early as possible. For information please refer to the Programme page below. A book of teachings by Ajahn Sucitto, entitled ‘Kalyana’, has just been published in Italian by Ubaldini Astrolabio and is available in bookshops. A short piece written by Ajahn Sucitto for our newsletter a number of years ago is reproduced below.
Enough cloth to cover a piazza
An unusual artistic event took place this year on International Woman’s Day at the Piazza di Campidoglio in Rome (see photo, left). Promoted by the City Council, an artist called Maria Dompè covered the piazza with cloth of various shades of red and brown, to bring attention to the plight of Amina, a Nigerian woman condemned to death by stoning. For more information see:
About half of this cloth – several hundred square metres of it – has been very generously donated to Santacittarama. Since it is far more than we are ever likely to use, we have put aside some for our future use and the rest we have put in the small meditation room. Anyone who would like to take some of this cloth is welcome to do so, and is invited to donate towards a fund, that we will then divide between 2 worthy charities. One is an Aids outreach programme founded by a Buddhist centre in KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa (for information see: and the other supports projects in Cambodia, such as a school for novice monks.
Meditation group in Rieti
A room has kindly been made available by the resident friars of the Franciscan Sanctuary ‘La Foresta’, for a regular Friday evening meeting, starting April 11th. See below for details.
Spring Programme
11th APRIL Meditation in RIETI
Begins a series of weekly meetings at the Franciscan sanctuary ‘La Foresta’, 6 – 7 pm. For information contact Giovanni: 0746-653985 (evening) or . Led by Ajahn Chandapalo, in Italian.
12th APRIL Meditation Afternoon in ROME
Led by Ajahn Chandapalo. At vicolo d'Orfeo 1, Borgo Pio, 14:30–19:00. Booking not required. Teaching in Italian.
13th APRIL SONGKRAN – Asian new year celebration
At Santacittarama, 10:30 am – 2:30 pm. Everyone is welcome to this joyous if not very meditative occasion! Please bring contribution for shared meal at 11am.
19th APRIL Study and Practice Day
Santacittarama, 9:30 am – 5:30 pm. For non-beginners. Periods of meditation with readings and discussion. No need to book. One is welcome to bring a contribution for shared meal at 11 am. Theme: “Dhamma practice in lay life”. In Italian.
21st APRIL Documentary: “The Cross and the Bodhi Tree”
Santacittarama, 3:30 pm. Two committed Christians talk about there meeting with the Buddhist path. In English.
25th APRIL – 1st MAY Residential retreat with AJAHN SUCITTO
Organized by the ‘A.Me.Co’ at Casaprota (Rieti) near Santacittarama. Bookings will be accepted from March 24th onwards at: 06-6865148 from 6 – 8 pm Monday, 6 – 9 pm Tuesday or Wednesday or 3 – 8 pm Thursday. In English with Italian translation.
27th APRIL Guided Meditation for Beginners
Santacittarama, 3:30 – 5 pm. In Italian. No need to book.
4th MAY Guided Meditation for Beginners
Santacittarama, 3:30 – 5 pm. In English with Italian translation. No need to book.
9th – 11th MAY Retreat near PIACENZA
Led by Ajahn Khantiko,residential retreat at "Pian dei Ciliegi", Ponte dell'Olio. Contact Gianni: 0523/878948, . In English with Italian translation.
18th MAY VESAK Celebration at Santacittarama
10:30 am – 3:30 pm. Celebrating the Birth, Enlightenment and Parinibbana of the Buddha. Everyone welcome. Please bring contribution for shared meal at 11am.
23rd MAY Meditation evening at CASERTA
At Centro Satya, viale Lincoln 121, time: 18:45 – 21:00. For information contact Giuliana at tel. 0823-210021 (9:30-14:00 or 17:30-20:30, any day except Monday morning, Thursay afternoon or Sunday) or . No need to book.
31st MAY Guided Meditation for Beginners
At Santacittarama, 3:30 – 5 pm. In Italian. No need to book.
Fundamental Happiness
By Ajahn Sucitto, abbot of Cittaviveka Monastery, Chithurst, England.
Although the Buddha taught for forty-five years, he said that there was a vast range of things that he understood but had not taught. And why had he not taught them? Because they were not necessary to know to bring about the understanding that he valued most highly: that there is an unsatisfiable quality to the way an ordinary person experiences their life, and that dissatisfaction can be eradicated. In brief, that a human being can experience a sustaining sense of well-being or happiness that is not dependent on circumstances. The Buddha's intention was not to create a religion, nor to accumulate a great number of disciples, but to help those who wished to be helped towards the simple goal of well-being. No-one needs to be "converted" to this cause, because, if we reflect on it, it is already what we seek through various spiritual and material pursuits. In fact the Buddha encouraged people not to follow his advice without testing it against their own experience. It is only through questioning and establishing our own certainties that we can realise the truth that grants us this "independent" happiness. If we believe, or disbelieve, blindly, then we are depending on a set of assumptions about what we should or might be, the way we think the world is, or what we hope (or dread) happens to us when we die.
When we examine it, we may recognize that most of our reality is made up of assumptions. We assume we inhabit a physical body that we will leave at the moment of death; but actually where in the body do "I" dwell? If you open up a body, you don't find anyone in there! Nor can this "interior person" see inside the body, although they experience themselves sometimes as a subject, creating thoughts and moods, and sometimes as an object receiving a wide range of sensory impingement. Although trapped in this position, the "interior person" is incapable of assuring that this continual inflow and outflow is pleasant, interesting or manageable. This is a major source of tension, need and disappointment.
What a Buddha knows is that this particular "I" is impossible to satisfy: even if pleasant input can be sustained, eventually it becomes boring. In fact the whole sense of pleasure rests on one of two transient modalities of experience: that "I" am either carried along and united with what is pleasing, or that "I" am separated from what is unpleasing. However, when one's consciousness unites with what is pleasant, it can no longer have the space which allows it to relish the pleasure, and it needs to have more pleasure. A lot of our apparent pleasure is bound up with the anticipation of the pleasure that we are about to have, or the memory of past pleasure. On the other hand, unpleasant things keep happening to us, however hard we try to protect ourselves from them; and the effort to maintain security and comfort itself becomes unpleasant. Lasting happiness does not seem to come through having pleasure or avoiding displeasure; in fact can happiness be found in anything which this sense of "I", with its needs and judgements, experiences?
We may find ourselves objecting to this attitude as being negative. Because we have rarely, if ever, experienced anything without the sense of "I", we can only feel depressed when the realm of "my" experience is apparently dismissed. But the Buddha teaches the way to happiness, in this life, with a body and feelings and thoughts - but without the sense of "I". Basically this comes about through a way of living, and a way of steadying and strengthening the mind. The experience of the Buddha was that we don't have to destroy "I": in the same way that a mirage disappears when the conditions supporting it disappear, so the sense of "I" - in fact having no more solidity than a mirage - disappears when the conditions supporting it are no longer created. It is like a profound relaxation or rest (he called it "stopping") which gives the mind the calm of a still pool, and also its wonderful sensitivity.
This requires quite a transformation of our habits, and possibly many years of practice. How do we know whether all this is true or possible? Try it out for a few days - the practice epitomises the qualities of the goal. Even when we have not achieved that profound release that the Buddha pointed to, if we find uplift from the practice, we can find some confidence that the path fits our aspirations.
The happiness of the practice, and of the goal, can be summarised as having three aspects: the happiness of one's good actions, the happiness of one's own clarity and calm, and the happiness of one's understanding. If one acts with a pure mind, with honesty, gentleness and love, then one will live free from regret. One will have good friends, and one will trust and respect oneself. Whether fortune or misfortune visits us, we have a source of happiness that is free from the changes of the world. Secondly, if one learns to train the mind through meditation to be one-pointed, to calm down, and to be fully receptive to both the things that occur and the consciousness within which they occur, the result is the same kind of happiness. Instead of being thrown around, now here, now there, now excited, now bored, now depressed, the mind can live in its own balance. It has strength and an inner quiet that can take us through life's changes.
But the greatest kind of happiness comes through understanding. Having made the mind steady, we can examine the inner sources of our need and anxiety. A mind that has been trained in terms of attention and calm recognises that all the latent sources of dissatisfaction are created out of trying. Trying to make up for the past, trying to make the future secure, trying to find something, trying to get rid of something, trying to know what we don't know, etc. That trying both stimulates the sense of "I" and is responsible for conditioning "I" in the future. With balance and the confidence that the other kinds of happiness allows, it becomes possible to "let go", to relax and approach life from the way it is at this moment. Then the burden, the need and the doubt need not arise.
Sometimes, Buddhists themselves get attached to "suffering" and assume that "everything is suffering" or even that their practice is going well because they are discovering all kinds of emotional conflicts within themselves. Of course no-one can expect introspection to always present images of harmony, but sometimes we may even forget to notice our well-being, or else regard it as unimportant - "suffering is the real thing." But the Buddha's realisation was that unhappiness is not the "real thing", it is an addition. In its original nature, the mind is bright and undisturbed. We forget and fall into dreams. Out of compassion, the Buddha invites us to wake up, and presents us with a way to see for ourselves.