Ghosananda in Providence and Lowel

The Brittish monk Ajahn Sucitto visited Maha Ghosananda's small temple in Providence, Rhode Island in 1988, and described the meeting in an old newsletter.

Sucitto was meeting with the Unitarian minister Tom Ahlburn, a friend of Ghosananda, who lived in a small temple catering to the Cambodian refugee community of Providence.

"Although Venerable Maha Ghosananda’s English was patchy, his delightful presence, and the plight of the refugees had motivated Tom to get involved with the Wat Khmer," Sucitto said. "And when I gave my talk to the group, Venerable Maha Ghosananda was there beaming with delight, as was normal for him."

“After the talk, Tom and his wife drove us over to the Wat Khmer on the other side of town where we were to spend the night. It was the rough side of Providence, broken-down streets, boarded up houses -- and as we got out of the car, Tom suggested that perhaps it wasn’t such a wise idea to go pindabaht the next morning."

"In the Wat itself, which was just a simple tenement house, there were posters giving notification of the plans to purchase a center which would be a place for meditation and Dhamma teaching, for medicine, for education and for Khmer culture - it was quite a visionary complex. Maha had found a suitable area of land outside Providence and was asking people to make donations to the tune of half million dollars, which, from the impoverished state of the Wat, seemed way out of reach."

“But Maha Ghosananda, beaming with confidence, was another story. Early next day he breezily suggested we go out on alms round and despite Tom’s initial apprehension, the matter was clinched when a local Cambodian man came in, lit up with glee, and ran out to tell nearby families that the bhikkhus were coming."

"We put our bowls over our shoulders and walked out to the street – and things started to happen. People came tumbling out of their houses, rushing backwards and forwards bearing bowls of rice, loaves of bread, and fruit, and eagerly wedged them into our alms bowls."

"Some people put envelopes with money in to our bowls. Tom diligently collected the money, the loaves of bread, and the things that wouldn’t fit in, or weren’t suitable for monks to carry; and we chanted blessings, and they chanted sharing of merit with the dead, and we chanted some more. And all along this street in Providence, there occurred this wonderful enactment of devotion to the Triple Gem."

"And for those few moments, that back street in the rough side of Providence turned into something more like the Devaloka."

"Providence (the bounty of the divine) never seemed so rightly named as at that time. The refugees certainly weren’t developing any great degree of tranquility, there didn’t seem to be much concern about practice, yet their lives had a foundation of faith in the Triple Gem that gave them a real strength. And one saw how it was going to be possible for them to get their half million dollars and establish their center. I felt that if we, in our hearts, could learn from those people the transforming power of faith, it would have repaid the west ten times over all the foreign aid that has ever been given; because if we don’t learn that, we will surely just wither away through lack of joy."

***

Visiting Lowell, Massachusetts

Ajahn Sucitto next went to vist the temple Maha Ghosananda had founded in Lowell, Massachusetts.

“…Venerable Karuniko and I were invited to the Wat Khmer in Lowell, where Maha Ghosananda had founded another temple for Cambodian refugees.…There are thousands of Asian refugee families in Lowell because it’s an industrial town and there are jobs to go around."

"In one of its homely suburbs stands the Wat Khmer, a large refurbished hall of little charm. Apart from samanera Dhammagutto, who had invited us and who is American, there were five bhikkhus resident there of various Asian nationalities."

"The abbot Ajahn Khan Sao, and another monk were Cambodian forest bhikkhus. Dhammaguto gave us some accounts of the horrors of the Khmer rouge…building the temple."

"Ajahn Khan Sao felt that his main practice was in helping the Cambodians to begin again. They would come to him with their problems, and sorrows and quarrels, and he would tell them to stop , forget and begin again – a very direct teaching. Dhammagutto talked about times when people would come for chanting on behalf of their dead relatives: the monks would start chanting at 6pm in the evening and finish at 3 in the morning. It put some balm on the wounds."

“Dhammagutto, the only American, had decided to become the night watchman, and walked around the Wat at night with a big stick, and through his wits and his quick tongue bluffed and challenged the people who threw rocks at the windows or tried to break in."

“So the place, like Dhammagutto himself, was battered and not very tranquil, but had the features of a good environment for practice: commitment, morality, plenty of opportunities for giving and patience, and not much chance to think about yourself. We felt a glow in the heart at being there.”