245. Āloka David Smith

I was born in Oxford, England, in 1946, and I’ve been a practicing Buddhist for 40 years. I began training with Zen, practicing with the Venerable Myokyo-ni, a teacher from the Rinzai school, at the Buddhist Society in London. This was my practice for more than five years, before travelling to Sri Lanka in 1980. Here I lived for three years as a Theravada monk under the guidance of the Venerable Dhammaloka Maha Thera. It was while I was in Sri Lanka that my spiritual breakthrough took place in 1981, and it is this that forms the framework of my first book, A Record of Awakening, published in 1999. There is an interview made for television by conscious.tv that covers this period of my training. There is also an edited transcription version on this website. On my return from Sri Lanka I matured my practice by essentially living on my own for a number of years in east London. At the time of my breakthrough in Sri Lanka my teacher told me I should travel and begin to teach, but it was to be around 20 years before I took that role when I began leading retreats at centres of the Triratna Community in the UK and abroad. My association with this movement came to an end in 2006, and the DharmaMind Buddhist Group started independently the following year. Other books: Blue Sky, White Cloud The Five Pillars of Transformation Dharma Mind Worldly Mind A Question of Dharma On July 31st 2015, Āloka peacefully passed away.  His funeral service was in the Birmingham Buddhist Centre on August 13th.  He wrote this farewell letter before he died and asked that it be read out at the funeral as his final words to his Sangha and Dharma friends. Summary and Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 8/9/2014 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Aloka David Smith 00:04:59 - The Path of Self-Development 00:09:35 - Seeking Guidance and Support 00:14:11 - Trusting Intuition and Taking a Leap of Faith 00:18:57 - The Experience of Cutting Open and Revealing Reality 00:23:46 - Breaking Up the Illusion of Self 00:28:21 - Burrowing Into Who You Are 00:32:51 - Choosing a Path to Self-Improvement 00:37:21 - The Natural Process of Awakening 00:42:35 - The Difference Between Commitment and Willfulness 00:46:57 - Letting go of distractions and finding stillness 00:51:24 - Cultivating Inner Strength and Patience 00:56:07 - Surrendering to the Support of the Divine 01:01:00 - Equilibrium and the Collapse of the Conditioned Mind 01:06:32 - Revelation of Reality in the Dhammakaya 01:11:55 - Understanding Quantum Physics Beyond Objectivity 01:16:33 - The Advancing Host 01:21:17 - The Nature of Experience and Unattachment 01:25:35 - The Paradox of Non-Dual Enlightenment 01:30:20 - The Subtleties of Enlightenment 01:34:49 - Breaking Taboos in Buddhism 01:39:55 - The Need for a Teacher and Emotional Support 01:44:10 - The Evolution of Buddhist Practice in the West 01:48:14 - The Importance of Traditional Form and Practice 01:52:46 - Practices and Techniques in Zen and Theravada 01:57:35 - The Rejection of True Nature in Buddhist Practice 02:01:42 - The Importance of Authentic Teachers 02:06:13 - Authenticating Awakening and Seeking Approval 02:11:03 - The Importance of Humility on the Spiritual Path 02:15:56 - Being Challenged and Avoiding Complacency 02:19:55 - Conclusion and Farewell