Teacher's Credentials
Upon being
asked to speak to a group at
some Universities in 2004,
some students requested that
it would be nice to include
his credentials, as any
speaker would, in the form
of a curriculum vitae. So,
finally, after fours years
his students urging him to
divulge who he himself had
studied with during his
years in Asia , it was put
into a written form..
Bhante
Vimalaramsi has practiced
meditation for more than 30
years. His study and search
for what the Buddha
accomplished has been
pursued in a very
traditional way. In the
older instructional
tradition, a teacher
introduced a student who was
serious in his pursuit, to
their colleagues requesting
that they teach that student
for periods of time on
various parts of the Dhamma.
Bhante
Vimalaramsi was very
fortunate with this custom
still being in place during
his training and was
privileged to study with
several monks who held the
title of “ Bhivamsa”
. This means they
had completely memorized
12-15 books of the Sutta and
Abhidhamma Pitikas and they
had been tested on this
passing with a minimum of
90% right! This is not done
much anymore in these modern
times except in Burma .
The
“Bhivamsas” he studied with
were U Pandita, U Lakkhana,
U Silinanda, U Janaka, U
Dhammananda, U Dhammapia. He
further studied with The
Mingun Sayadaw, who had
memorized the entire
Tripitika, Sayadaw U
Thatilla, who had a pure
audiographic memory. Other
teachers for long periods of
time were K Sri Dhammananda,
Venerable Punnaji, Ajahn
Yanitra, Ajahn Buddhadasa,
Ajahn Cha Lee, Ajahn
Santititho, and many others
in Thailand .
He also
had a 4-day visit with the
Dalai Lama during which he
had an open door policy to
have Dhamma discussions
during any time he had free.
There were, oddly enough, no
other appointments going on
those four days!
- Most
of these teachers, were
renowned Abhidhamma
Scholars and had
memorized much of the
Tripitika as well as
teaching Abhidhamma.
- All
of these teachers
studied in Pali first
and then they studied
meditation and they were
successful in their
practice.
- Those
in Thailand did not
study Abhidhamma but
"only" the practice.
- They
were all asked to
"Forget all intellectual
studies" and just do the
meditation when they
began to develop their
personal meditation
practices.
- In
the case of K Sri
Dhammananda, he only
studied the scriptures.
He gives absolutely
brilliant Dhamma talks
that are deep and very
clear.
- All
of these teachers saw
the need and encouraged
Bhante to learn to
present very simply the
Dhamma in English to
students in the United
States .
During the
first 20 years of his
training, his position as a
student was to believe the
teacher and to follow their
instructions and that's it!
During the last 10 years, at
the encouragement of an
elder monk, he dedicated
himself to "direct
experience through study of
the suttas and meditation
practice". What caused this
change in direction was
meeting a Sri Lankan Senior
monk named Bhante Punnaji in
Malaysia who pointed out
this way for him. The advice
given was that he needed to
‘study the Suttas directly
and to let go of relying on
commentary'. Specifically he
said, ‘Read only the Suttas.
Then practice.' This was
very significant because the
commentaries were
influencing how he was
seeing the entire Dhamma at
the time. He was not told to
abandon the commentaries but
to place them into their
original position of
references beyond one's own
experience of following the
suttas.
When he
began to do this, he
discovered firsthand the
interwoven nature of the
Teachings. In each sutta
Bhante found the elements of
the 4 Noble Truths, the
8-Fold Path and the
impersonal process of
Dependent Origination to be
the core of the teachings.
He realized that the word
sutta literally meant
"thread" and that the
threads together created a
finely woven cloth whereas,
one single thread does not
equal a cloth! Through his
own objective experience, he
found that Venerable Punnaji
was right! The 8-Fold Path
began to come alive with
full meaning as he pursued
this directive.
So, as you
study the teachings, take
into account that it is
vital to consider the
interwoven and
interconnected nature with
which these teachings can be
applied in your daily life.
Understood clearly, it can
bring you great happiness
and can open the door to
Peace in your life and for
the world.
So, as
students we submit this to
you to verify for yourselves
that one can, in fact, find
a guiding teacher right here
in the United States who has
had such a traditional
experiential training. As
one student pointed out to
us this past summer, "It is
not necessary to go to Burma
to find a teacher who was
trained in this way". We
hope you will consider
coming to the center to
study with Bhante at some
time. We know it will deepen
and expand your practice to
do so.
With Much Metta to all.
KK
Nov. 2004
