“You Are What You…”

Back in Chithurst years ago, I was living with a small group of nuns at Āloka Cottage down by the river near the beautiful forest of Hammer Wood. We were just five or six nuns living and practicing together, working hard and giving ourselves to the Path. A short walk up the hill was the monks’ monastery. They were a larger community, and we would join them for meals and evening meditation.

One day, a monk named Bhante Dhammavaro came to stay. He was a Cambodian monk who was at the time 106 years old. He had come to visit the monastery and share his wisdom, and also to enjoy the sense of community there.

Being so old, he did everything very, very slowly. He insisted on staying upstairs in the big house with the other monks, even though they would have made a room for him downstairs. The daily meal was at 11am, and at 9:30am the monks would let him know, “Bhante, it’s time to get ready for the meal.” Then would begin a very slow process of him walking down the stairs with a monk on either side. He refused to be carried, although the monks would have been delighted to carry him down.

One teaching that he gave again and again in his very slow speech was

You…are…what…you…think.
You…are…what…you…eat…and…drink.

He was pointing to how whatever we take into our minds and whatever we do with our thoughts influences who we are. And how the food and drink that we take into our bodies literally becomes our body. It was a very simple teaching, but profound.

This reflection by Ayya Ānandabodhī is from the book Leaving It All Behind, (pdf) pp. 9-10.