Padmaloka Outreach Work

ODESSA: Saddhaloka’s visit September 2006

After the Ukraine won the Eurovision Song contest a few years back the complex Soviet era visa arrangements were removed for visitors from EU countries in the hope of encouraging tourism. When I flew into Odessa on 1st September it was however, immediately obvious that Odessa has not yet arrived as a new-style tourist resort. A stray dog was wandering lazily across the apron where the planes parked. We were met by one of the old mustard coloured trailer buses, and a young border guard in camouflage fatigues was standing by the door urging passengers to move on and pack in. The usual pretty young woman clasping a clipboard was there to count us off the plane and then jump into the cab to chat animatedly with the driver whilst we were driven over to the airport building. A few men and women sat on benches in front of the building looking bored, and perhaps mildly curious about what the latest plane might have brought in. Passport control and customs were pretty straightforward. It was interesting to see a non-uniformed border official warmly welcome a friend who had come in on the plane, and then personally take his papers and get them quickly sorted out so he did not have to queue. Collecting my luggage was made a bit more exciting by there being two small conveyor belts bringing in luggage from the one plane, so I had to keep my attention shifting from one to the other. Leaving the arrival area a guard was checking that the luggage tab on people’s suitcases matched the tab on their ticket. It was probably just a leftover from Soviet bureaucracy, but I found it somehow reassuring.

I was met in the main hall by Vlad, one of our three mitras in Odessa, and another friend Alexey. Alexey drives a sporty red car with a black tiger painted on the side, and he drives fast. We were soon ducking and weaving through the traffic, shifting from lane to lane, overtaking now on one side now on the other. I do not understand the rules of Ukrainian traffic, but Alexey seemed like a master and I felt safe in his hands, even not wearing a safety belt. No one seems to wear seat belts in Odessa. This did present me with an ethical dilemma, as I know seat belts save lives. Sometimes the belts were knotted up and not available, so then I just accepted it and fitted in with the prevailing ethos. Where a belt was available however, I decided to start belting up. No doubt people took note. Whether or not it prompted more than thoughts of fussy, wimpish foreign ways is another question. One striking thing I noticed as we drove along was a lot of new small yellow buses and larger purple buses that had replaced a good proportion of the ramshackle old buses that I had seen on previous visits.

We drove into the city and dropped off Vlad, who had to go back to work, and Alexey brought me to Dima (Dmitry) and Ira’s flat in the northern suburb of Katovskava.

Nagadakini was already there having arrived the day before. I was very pleased that she was going to be interpreting for me. She is from Germany, but speaks fluent English and Russian. Experience over the years tells me that it can be difficult to communicate the real spirit of the Dharma working with an interpreter, however competent and well intentioned, who knows nothing about Buddhist teaching and practice. Nagadakini and I have worked together on several occasions in both Russia and the Ukraine and seem to make a very effective team. Then there is the additional advantage that Nagadakini can lead pujas in Russian.

That evening Dima and Ira went off to their Shorinjo Kempo class, this being the martial art they practise and which has played a big part in their lives. The next day, Saturday, we had our first meeting, between 11am and 5pm. The day was held in the centre of Odessa, in the office where Dima, Vlad and Alyosha (Alexey) all work. The firm used to be called Transocean, but now is called something like Yan Min. Their ‘big boss’, Vitaly, was in Shanghai setting up an office. He is still probably in his mid-thirties, and his very successful container shipping company has now become the Ukrainian agent of a big Chinese shipping company. Desks were pushed back and a shrine set up to provide a pleasant meeting area. The office has a toilet and kitchen, so we could be quite self-contained. A balcony overlooks the recently refurbished Greek Square, now a popular meeting place for local youngsters as well as for tourists, with fountains that seem to be regularly spiked with washing-up liquid. On this Saturday Odessa was celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the city, and traditional folk bands and dancing started up below us in the square as we were coming towards the end of our day.

The theme for the teaching over this visit was ‘The Five Paths’ as set out by Bhante in the 1976 ‘Precious Garland’ seminar, the Five Paths, or Stages of the Path, being Mindfulness, Positive Emotion, Vision, Transformation and Compassionate Activity. It is a teaching we have been looking at regularly at Padmaloka in recent months, and it proved here in Odessa to be a very effective and useful vehicle for communicating the basic principles of a Dharma life. On the Saturday we looked at Mindfulness ( which includes ethics and awareness),and which, together with Positive Emotion, can be seen to lay the foundations of a healthy and integrated life.

On the Sunday we had a meditation day, with a number of shorter meditations separated by periods of relaxation, chi-kung and so on. In this way we got in quite a bit of meditation even though most of our friends there do not usually meditate for more than twenty minutes or half an hour, and not all that regularly. On Monday evening we had a more informal evening back at the flat, sitting around and chatting over tea and snacks and cakes, which was very pleasant.

Tuesday evening we met again at the office and looked at Positive Emotion (which includes qualities such as friendliness, kindness, generosity, gratitude and forgiveness. Wednesday we had an evening back at Dima and Ira’s flat again for the three mitras. They each reported in on their meditation and Dharma practice. I was struck by the sincerity of their interest and efforts even in the midst of their very full lives.

Dima works long hours at the shipping company and teaches Kempo. Normally they are training several nights a week, but during this visit the time was given over to our Dharma activities. Dima was sponsored by his boss Vitaly to go to Japan for a month last October to continue his Kempo training. He will be going again this year for another four weeks. They are hoping that Ira will be able to go too next year. He is often up very late at night studying Japanese. With all this going on meditation has slipped in recent months. We shall have to see if this visit did anything to help restore a regular practice. Still, hearing Dima report-in, there is a real aspiration to bring the Dharma into his life and be more mindful and ethical. Understandably Kempo remains his main commitment in practical terms. Shorinjo Kempo was set up in Japan after the Second World War, the founder aiming to use a martial arts training imbued with basic Buddhist values to help restore a sense of value and meaning to a confused and disillusioned Japanese youth. The movement has since spread around the world. It was through Kempo, and wanting to find out more about Buddhism and meditation, that Dima and his friends came to read ‘The Guide to the Buddhist Path’ in Russian, and then go on to contact Bhante and ask him to become their teacher.

Ira had her final exams earlier this summer, completing her studies to become a doctor . Whilst I was there she was in the process of organising a two year contract working in a hospital in Odessa to finish her training. After that she will be fully qualified. She has recently started running children’s classes in Kempo, and was quite excited about that, and obviously enjoying it. Nagadakini said she had a strong sense of a bright, positive, caring young woman really starting to come into her own. Very good to see. Ira again expressed her appreciation of ‘Who is the Buddha?’, which she has read and re-read in its Russia translation, and clearly taken to heart.

Vlad has grown his hair and looks different. Over the last year he has written to me with searching questions that have arisen for him. This time he asked about the importance of engaging one’s emotions in the spiritual life. He thinks deeply about things and his questions often seem to lead to the heart of the matter. Vlad is very interested in coming to England for a month in the next months. He has to speak with his boss Vitaly when he returns from China. If that works out I hope he will be our guest at Padmaloka, and if possible I would like to arrange for him to spend a week in Cambridge with windhorse:evolution, as he might be interested in coming over for a longer period sometime in the future, when he has paid off a loan and completed some studies.

There were also some late night kitchen conversations with Dima and Ira, sitting round eating and talking when we got back to the flat after the evening activities. And one day I caught a bus into the city centre to meet up with Vlad over his lunch break.

Returning to the programme, on Thursday evening we looked at Vision (study, reflection on the Dharma, Insight),and at Transformation and Compassionate Activity, rounding of the series of meetings. Then on the Friday I flew back to England.

It was a fairly full time, with a consistent group of seven or eight coming to almost all the events, so there was a real sense of building something between us. Apart from over the weekend they were all busy in the days so I had time to prepare, talk a bit with Nagadakini, visit the beach, and wander around the local markets. The weather was rather cloudy and wet over the first few days, and when the sun came out I discovered the sea had suddenly become extremely cold. Apparently there can be these movements in the Black Sea whereby waters are brought up from the depths, so whilst the sea looked very clean and inviting it was painfully cold.

On my outings from the flat I would walk along some dusty paths and roads through an area once occupied by plots which people in Soviet times were allocated for ‘summer houses’. Obviously self-built, often rather ramshackle buildings would go up on these plots, where all important vegetables were grown and fruit tree and bushes planted. Now many of these plots have been bought up and quite grand new house built on them, or amalgamated plots, by the ‘new rich‘. On one sizeable plot a long low new building was going up looking a bit like a school or clinic. It seemed strangely different from other building sites. Rather sedate workers, well dressed, male and female, of various ages wandered about the site, all wearing white safety helmets . It seemed very tidy and orderly, with fire buckets hanging on a post and various notices around the place. No loud music being played, and no groups of men standing around smoking and watching one another work. I wondered what was going on until Nagadakini told me it was a Kingdom Hall being built by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

On the last morning Dima planned to go into work and then come back out to take Nagadakini and myself to the airport, and Ira had plans to go into town and sort out some documents. In the event the many full days and late nights of recent weeks seemed to finally catch up with them and they slept in, so we had a leisurely final couple of hours with them around the flat. Before we left for the airport Ira again expressed their appreciation for our visit and gave me $50(US) that our friends had collected between them. For both Nagadakini and myself it felt like a very worthwhile visit.

Back at Padmaloka I have been in touch with our publishing partners in St Petersburg. The publishing project received a bit of a blow earlier this year with the death of Tanya Naumenko. Tanya has been a key figure in the project, editing and overlooking a lot of the work. She was friendly, reliable, talented, and very capable. She had been taken away from her publishing work over the last year by needing to take care of her ageing and unwell parents. Then in January she discovered she had cancer of the pancreas. She died in April whilst undergoing chemotherapy. I was very sad to hear of her death. It has taken a little while for the publishing group to reorganise itself, but things are now moving ahead again. The Russian translation of ‘Vision and Transformation’ should be out in the next couple of weeks. We shall have to see where we go after that.

I also received an email in the last weeks from Victor Boychenko in Kramatorsk in the east of the Ukraine, whom I visited on my first trip to the Ukraine in November 2002. When I heard from him the last time he told about a Korean group buying a Buddhist Centre for their group in Donetsk, the major city nearest to Kramatorsk. Now he writes that he is not going to the Donetsk centre, and has decided to stay with the FWBO. I will keep I touch with him.

With thanks to all who support our efforts in Russia and the Ukraine
Saddhaloka

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