Our Robe Offering Ceremony took place amidst torrential downpours, severe weather warnings and major flooding. Defying floods and storms, some 150 Dhamma practitioners still came out to Dhammagiri, determined not to miss this special opportunity for making merit, and to listen to teachings from our visiting senior monk Luang Por Kalyano.

Listening to the rain pouring down, and the frogs croaking, Luang Por takes up the theme of dealing with difficulties and problems. He encourages us to apply Dhamma to the challenges we continuously face in daily life.

He shares some fascinating stories of even worse flooding he had to cope with as a youg monk, when he stayed with Ajahn Piak at Wat Fa Kram, Lamlukka near Bangkok. The monks had to wade through deep water on their daily almsround, and occasionally would be completely submerged in water when stepping into the wrong spot. One day even a cobra was floating by close to where they washed their bowls. However, the monks could manage, as they used the difficult external conditions as a training to apply the principles of Dhamma in dealing with them.

When we take up and maintain the precepts, develop faith in the Tirple Gem, and purify our heart through generating puñña (good karma), we will find that Dhamma starts to permeate our life. The more Dhamma becomes part of our daily life, the more resilience our mind develops to face any difficulties. We apply wisdom (paññā) in dealing with every challenging situation, and reflect on the impermanence of all conditioned phenomena. Through seeing with wisdom we can let go of anger, irritation & frustation, and dwell with a calm and peaceful mind even amidst adversity.

• The formal 'Invitation to Teach Dhamma' ("Brahmā ca Lokādhipatī Sahampatī...) that you hear in the beginning, right before Luang Por's talk, has been recited very beautifully by Aoy. 

• You can watch the whole event, including Luang Por Kalyano's Dhamma Talk, Paritta chanting by our sangha of eight monks, observance of Triple Refuge and 5 Precepts, and the formal offering of forest cloth, on our Youtube Channel here:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJINt0JJBfFm_x0FZcU9QJw

• Photos of Luang Por Kalyano and our Robe Offering Ceremony are available here:
  
  https://www.dhammagiri.net/copy-of-images-of-dhammagiri

More about Dhammagiri Forest Hermitage:

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