Head Boy to the Bodhi Tree

Head Boy From A journey to enlightenment Bodhi Tree to the

ASHVAJIT DHARMACHARI (OC 1952 – 1960)

Ashvajit Dharmachari, formerly known as Michael Wharton, re-visited Caterham in February to talk to pupils on Buddhism as part of our Wellbeing programme.

He is a Meditation practitioner and teacher with more than 40 years’ experience and a well-travelled lecturer and teacher of Buddha-dharma and Buddhist mindfulness. Omnia talked to him on his life in Buddhism and his memories of Caterham.

What first sparked your interest in Buddhism? It was the absence of satisfying answers to my existential questions and the accompanying puzzlement that led to my search for meaning and purpose in life other than a purely hedonistic one. It wasn’t until I met Buddhists and began to practice the Dharma myself that I began to discover satisfying answers and felt happy and at ease amongst people who I realised were of like mind.

Was it difficult to adapt to a Buddhist lifestyle? It was a gradual process, but it didn’t take me very long. The first time I attended a question and answer session with my Buddhist teacher I was profoundly reassured that I was dealing with people who didn’t have two heads. The teachings made complete sense to me.

As far as practice of the Dharma was concerned, it was a bit more difficult. For example, as a Buddhist you are supposed to practice non-violence or harmlessness. So that means one should be a vegetarian. The Buddha told his disciples, the full-timers who lived a homeless life and subsisted by begging, which was something regarded as worthy in those days provided you were a sincere truthseeker, that they could eat whatever was put in their bowls. There was no question of regarding meat as impure, it was a matter of practising kindness and compassion, and eating what caused the least harm to living beings. So if one has a choice, which not all people do even nowadays, one really should be a vegetarian, both out of compassion and for ecological reasons. And not incidentally, for health reasons too, except in those rare cases where for medical reasons one must have meat or fish.

At first being rather fond of my steaks, I began to realise that if I was to be a sincere Buddhist, I should give up meat. So I gave it up little by little, taking about 18 months. First red meat went, then poultry, then fish. During that time, I learned to prepare healthy and tasty vegetarian food, and have now been completely vegetarian, apart from the occasional cheese, for 48 years, and remain in excellent health.

In terms of challenges to my practice as a Buddhist today, a significant one is that of skilful communication, even the supposedly simple one of telling the truth. The whole idea of truth is under siege nowadays. I use Facebook regularly, allowing myself no more than half an hour a day, and you meet all sorts of people who present challenges; even amongst one’s friends, or especially amongst them! One’s views are often opposed. How do you deal with that? It’s an emotional and an intellectual challenge. The most basic challenge, however, is that of trying to live according to one’s highest values in a world of moral shallowness. We are living in difficult times politically, psychologically, emotionally, ecologically. The challenge is to maintain real equanimity amongst all of this; to respond wisely and kindly to people who seem to be indifferent to one’s own concerns and not blame others when one fails to live up to the ideal. 

The most rewarding aspect of my Buddhist belief and practice is simple; it’s friendship. Not that one doesn’t have friends outside of one’s own belief system and way of changing one’s life for the better, but if you are with people of like mind it is very much easier. It is possible to develop and maintain very deep friendships. Before I began to practice I had maybe a half a dozen friends, now I have hundreds.

Tell me about your time in India and Sri Lanka? I spent many years there as a freelance wandering monk. It was both a very interesting and disturbing time, as I was involved in what was known as the Revolution by means of Truth in India, and at the beginning of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

A number of considerations took me to those places. I wanted to see what had happened to Buddhism since its massive shrinkage over the last few centuries, and to participate in the revival of Buddhism in India. I thought I might learn something from Sri Lankan Buddhism, though that proved not to be the case; it was bogged down in merely ethnic concerns. I also wanted to tread in the footsteps of the Buddha as a robed monk with no possessions, no worldly interests.

Be that as it may, the whole experience was new and stimulating and challenging. What left the deepest impression on me was going on pilgrimage to the places of great spiritual significance for Buddhists, such as the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, where the Buddha gained enlightenment, to Sarnath, near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, where he communicated his enlightenment to five sceptical companions, and to Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, where he passed away from mortal ken after 45 years of exemplifying and communicating his teachings to thousands of people.

My visit to Kushinagar was particularly memorable. It was a long trip by rickety bus, but the nearer I got to the pilgrimage place, the more at peace I felt. I was reflecting deeply on death, which may seem morbid, but which was actually inspiring. It helped me feel light and free; it’s the one thing of which we can all be certain! As we approached Kushinagar, everything seemed to become more and more beautiful. It was a part of the country that was at that time completely untouched by the industrial revolution. The little villages and farms and people seemed to be in complete harmony with nature. I found it very beautiful, very moving.

I don’t have any plans to return to India or Sri Lanka, but I haven’t made up my mind yet. I could perhaps help organise a pilgrimage if there was sufficient interest.

What are your memories from Caterham School and how did it influence you? Leaving the family and going to an all-boys boarding school had a big impact on me. It was a completely new situation and I was quite nervous; I had to stand up for myself. My schoolmates had all sorts of strengths and abilities and you couldn’t be best at everything, so you had to discover your own place in a community of very competitive young people. I rather enjoyed it!

At the start of the Upper Sixth I was voted Head Boy. It was a great surprise to me and I had to pinch myself when the results came through. It wasn’t something I had sought, or ever dreamed of being. But it was a characterforming experience; I had to conquer my shyness and give talks to the Old Boys, give votes of thanks to visiting singers, speakers and magicians and so on. There were difficulties, of course. You were suddenly neither a student nor a master and had to become more of a real individual, thinking for yourself and working out how best to do

A life in Buddhism, highlights:

Buddhism and Meditation teacher and Public Speaker Triratna Buddhist Order and Community August 1972 – Present UK, India, Sri Lanka

Anagarika (freelance monk) in India and Sri Lanka Triratna Buddhist Order and Community September 1982 – Present India and Sri Lanka

Meditation Teacher Triratna Buddhist Order August 1972 – Present Affiliated to Shrewsbury Buddhist Centre

Meditation Teacher and Public Speaker in Sri Lanka Triratna Buddhist Order September 1994 – 2004 Visited Sri Lanka every year to teach meditation and Buddha-dhamma.

Ordination Team Member Triratna Buddhist Order September 1992 – 2004 Padmaloka Retreat Centre things. I really valued that experience. I was supposed to keep order amongst the boys when the masters weren’t present; you could use the slipper in those days. I used it just once on a rather provocative chap but didn’t think it would be effective and felt uncomfortable with the whole thing. I went to speak to the Headmaster, Mr Leathem, and he said, “Wharton if you think you can keep order without the slipper, good luck to you!” Well, I stopped using it, and at the end of the year he called me in and said he’d like to congratulate me as order in the School had never been better.

I remember many of the masters of course, they were all characters who had quite a marked effect on us. There were two who really stand out in my mind. One was an English master by the name of Mr Thomas, who was a supply teacher while the regular English master was on sabbatical. Mr Thomas was a rather extraordinary young man who inspired everybody with his love of poetry, literature and music. You felt you were dealing with an individual of real spiritual stature. He was the first master I had met whom I could regard as a mentor. Then there was Doc Maddock, the physics teacher, who was always very helpful and encouraging, he helped me construct a radio transmitter. The Headmaster Mr Leathem was very good too; kindly and sensible but firm. Everybody respected him, which was quite a feat in a school full of high-spirited boys.

What advice would you give Caterham students today as they leave school and enter adult life? I would ask them to consider what comes first in determining their actions, the body or the mind? It is of course the mind, and so if you want to live your life happily, with some measure of direction and control, and instead of coming under the sway of popular opinion and market forces, you have to learn to calm your own mind deeply and regularly, and see what is real. This can be done through meditation, which is essentially calming and stilling the mind, and cultivating positive mental states, states of freedom and happiness.

Whether or not you are interested in Buddhism or any other religion, I would say take up something that involves working with the mind as directly as possible. It doesn’t have to be sitting on a cushion meditating, though that is the direct method par excellence. Indirect methods such as yoga, Chi kung, the study and practice of art, reading good literature and poetry, playing and listening to music or involving yourself in a choir or orchestra are also good ways of developing positive states of mind. And more generally, practice generosity! My days are quite full nowadays, what with meditation, keeping the house and garden in good order, reading, walking when the weather is fine, and staying in touch with friends. I often invite them home, where we might meditate, listen to music, study Buddhist texts, cook, reminisce about our experiences or go sightseeing. It’s a simple but happy and very rewarding life. 