Hello to all,
With all due respect, I knew Nanasumana, one of the last people to see Nanavira alive, and I visited Bundala, the sire of Nanavira's life and death. I have read "Notes on Dhamma" often and respect Nanavira's claim of Sotapanna. His sexual troubles notwithstanding, his Amoebiosis was what he claimed was killing him.

I do not deny the Satyriosis that he admitted to. It is a psychological problem I am told, yet does this mean he was deluded about his attainment? does this cast doubt on "Notes on Dhamma"?

His suicide was tragic, but he claimed he believed that he would be reborn in a state where he could practice Dhamma as he would have done had it not been for his disease. I read all of his letters and helped compile his writings with Sumana and Nanasuci and others.

I feel often that many did not understand what Nanavira tried to do by sending out "Notes on Dhamma" and that this has caused criticism.
Please forgive me if I have offended, that is not my intention.

Peter Tomlinson

Piya Tan <dharmafarer@...> wrote: On 5/26/07, Piya Tan <dharmafarer@...> wrote:

Lest Yong Peng be misunderstood, please note that he is not criticizing me,

> but
> referring to section of "The danger of subjectivism" (Intro 2) in my
> essay. I need to
> clarify this.
>
> Looking back (I worked on the essay in 2005), other than the Sutta
> translation, I enjoyed researching section 5 of the Introduction, about why
> and how the Italian wealthy eccentric Baron Evola tried to force his
> romanticized idea of suicide into Buddhism, and how the tragic western monk
> Nanavira, troubled with his sexuality, in the end committed suicide. These
> are painful truths many monks even today face.
>
> For them, let me say it is vital to find good spiritual friends in
> teachers with still minds. There is often the danger when they don the robe
> they think they should not listen to
> other teachers, esp teachers from other Buddhist ordinations. As they
> reach seniority,
> it becomes harder for them to learn, esp thinking more devotees respect
> them. So they
> live a Jekyll and Hyde life.
>
> Buddhism is about liberating yourself, not about self-pride or which
> school one belongs to.
>
> Piya Tan