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VOL. 2.5

ARCHIVES:

Seeking Enlightenment in the Tiger Cave

By Chris Miller

Many came and asked if he could teach them, but his guru said no.

If was five years before Acharn Thamma Taro gave permission for the monk to leave together with one hundred other monks to set up his own monastery. They traveled across southern Thailand from Surat Thani Province to Krabi. Here, where the Ao Luk mountain chain created a deep natural amphitheater entirely enclosed by towering limestone formations, Archarn Jumnien founded his monastery. He called it Wat Tham Sua, or Tiger Cave Monastery, because a tiger once lived in the cave, which became the monastery’s main hall.

Acharn Jumnien chose the spot because of the hidden amphitheater that lies behind those natural walls of limestone, an island of untouched virgin forest which in the past could only be entered by scaling the almost sheer, seventy-metre rocking face hand over hand, clinging to the vines that draped it. (Later, however, the monks were to build a concrete staircase to reach this secluded retreat.)

The amphitheater itself is stunning. Primeval trees cluster silently together, their great trunks supporting the jungle canopy. Beneath huge limestone outcrops that dwarf the sky, natural open sided caves house Buddha images and the kutis of the monks – little houses which look more like oriental garden sheds. The whole place has the feel of a hidden world untouched by time and man.

This timeless forest island is the perfect place for meditation, somehow in the world but not of it. As the monks descend the staircase from their retreat, the first thing that comes into view is a great golden statue of Kuan Im, the Bodhisattava of compassion and loving kindness – the spiritual embodiment of those fundamental attributes which must be cultivated if one is to win the struggle with the self. Here in the quiet of the trees the monks practice vipassana, or insight meditation.

This is not an easy escape from the world, make no mistake; it is rather a constant struggle with the self and its desires. As the Buddha told his followers: it is he who fights with himself and wins who is the true warrior. Amid the serenity of Wha Tham Sua, the monks engage in that age-old battle, guided by the Acharn and the teaching of Buddha.

Wat Tham Sua is a community of meditators; both monks and nuns devote themselves to the struggle to escape the bondage of the succession of lifetimes. Acharn Jumnien exhorts his followers to spend their time looking into themselves so that they can realize the Buddha nature within, rather than merely spend their time in study.

In the main hall – the former haunt of the tiger – the monks are further reminded of the focus of their meditations by the cadavers and skeletons, which are set among the shrines. These remind them of the impermanence of life, the fleeting fullness that is full of decay and change. Here, the Acharn teaches them the battle skills necessary to overcome the illusions of self.

The day at Wat Tham Sua begins early with the traditional alms round. The monks leave the monastery before dawn and go to the nearby town of Krabi to beg for food. At 08:00 AM they return to the monastery to dine together in the great hall where once the tiger ate. After the meal, the monks and nuns get involved with various ongoing construction projects – most notably, at the moment, the building of another staircase to the top of one of the limestone outcrops surrounding the hidden meditation valley. The staircase, when it’s finished, will give access to the peak where, the monks believe, there is a footprint of the Buddha. When this writer climbed the dizzy heights, clinging fearfully all the while to the rockface, laughing monks and nuns balanced on the sheer mountainside and passed small bags of cement to one another, making of his fear a worldly display of little faith.

In the afternoon, those not busy with special tasks spend the time meditating. The heated stillness is only broken by the sound of the Acharn’s teachings on tapes. In the evening the community convenes in the main hall for further teaching and group meditation. The advanced monks, those who the Acharn feels are ready for intensive meditation, remain in the amphitheater and receive special instruction. Nights are also spent in meditation: nobody here sleeps for more than a couple of hours, all they feel is necessary.

Acharn Jumnien is not a hard taskmaster; he is simply the head of a dedicated community who believe that he has reached a stage where they can gainfully learn from him.

He was born in Nakorn Si Thamarat fifty-one years ago, the son of a travelling monk. When he was twenty he became a monk under the spiritual guidance of Acharn Thamma Taro, a leading teacher of the time. The young monk studied the art of healing with his master, reaching such an advanced stage that he received teaching which the guru had never passed to anybody else.

Recognizing his special wisdom, many came to ask him to teach; but Acharn Thamma Taro would not allow this until he felt that Phra Jumnien was fully ready to take on the mantle of spiritual teacher. Then he gave him the permission to start his own community of meditators. That community is Wat Tham Sua. It has grown from small beginnings to a thriving centre of Buddhist practice. More and more people are coming to visit the monastery and experience, just for a brief moment, the sense of purpose and spiritual devotion that the community shares.