Can’t remember when the last update was, the title is kind of a joke…
Back in Sri Lanka. All is well. The worst news is some ferocious termites ate through the plastic floor of my mosquito tent and started trimming the fat off of some of the books I’d securely stowed there, as well as turning a pillow case into swiss cheese. All this after chewing a hole in the cement floor of the cave, so I guess I should have expected as much.
Yasa left while I was gone, whereto I don’t know. Shame to lose another male monastic, but I’m sure I’ll hear from him again. In the meantime, more females… the nun some people might remember as Mae Chii Jai is here now. For those who don’t know, she is a Burmese nun who ordained around the time I did, and has helped me look after foreign meditators at Chom Tong, Doi Suthep, and Wat Sanku. She’s getting old, and not fully healthy, but I guess that describes most of us. I think she likes the place, so I hope it will be more comfortable for her than Thailand was.
Dhammadinna finished her first meditation course at Chom Tong, in what was the final crescendo of a chaotic symphony. It turns out no one was really happy that she came with Bhante Anoma and I, which was really to be expected, I guess. In defense, though, she is strong now, and will make a great monk some day.
Sumedha is still here, making three females to me and the old monk. Not the greatest situation, really… today I had a stray thought that I should just have everyone think of me as a woman as well, and it would solve a good portion of the problems. Not the bhikkhunis-must-wear-shirts portion, but a portion nonetheless.
New meditators coming soon, should be fairly full through the rains.
The plan now is to stay in my cave until November, then probably back to Thailand for three months to look after Wat Tam Bua Tong (todo: add website). In the meantime, I have already waded through a good portion of the emails waiting for me; if you haven’t heard from me yet, you may still be in the queue, but odds are your email has fallen through the cracks… they are wide cracks. There are still almost 200 Q&A posts to wade through, but mostly it just means reading the great questions and answers that people have posted; what a great community! Started today on a new transcription for the book, but it is slow going. Hope to have them all finished by the end of the rains.
Also, I tweaked a FOSS countdown timer for Android for my phone, in case anyone would like to try it out:
Other projects: the Blessings videos, Dhammapada videos, Monk Radio, the Cakkhupala translation, maybe some Majjhima translations. No promises. Oh, and the monastery budget… well, no promises there, either.
Mostly, my time in Thailand was a bit of a catharsis. I really like Sri Lanka better, but even that is beginning to wear off – not in a bad way, just in a resigned way. My intention now is to give up trying to control, to be in charge. Let things happen, interact, be. All is well.