Journey of Discovery - Part 1

By MAJORIE CHIEW
star2@thestar.com.my
Pictures courtesy of AJAHN CAGINO

A photography exhibition offers a rare glimpse of the lives of forest monks.

VENERABLE Ajahn Cagino, 43, lives in a cave with two snakes and eight bats. The cave is 2km from the nearest village in Mae Hong Son in northern Thailand. Nestled in a deep valley hemmed in by high mountain ranges that border Myanmar, Mae Hong Son is isolated from the outside world and is covered with mist throughout the year.

“I’ve had enough of wandering,” says the Malaysian monk of the Thai Forest Tradition, which is a branch of Theravada Buddhism.

Silence in the streams: A monk practising sitting meditation by the running waters of a waterfall

For 12 years, Cagino had been walking through the remotest jungles of Thailand, before settling down in a cave. It was all part of the spiritual training of a forest monk.

All those years in the forest have brought out the best in him. Cagino, who is back in Malaysia on a vassa (a three-month annual retreat observed by Theravada practitioners during the rainy season), is out to raise funds to build an orphanage in Thailand.

“When I was a forest monk, the villagers gave me food as alms. Now I want to give back to these impoverished tribal people,” says Cagino who hails from Seremban.

The way it is: 'I enjoyed those years even though I know not if there was a meal for tomorrow or where I was heading,' says Ajahn Cagino

Cagino, a former professional photographer, found a new focus in life after he set up the Dhammagiri Foundation in Mae Hong Son in 2009. The foundation was established when local Buddhists met a group of forest monks who were passing through the village several years ago, seeking help for the tribal communities.

Cagino rang his sister, Crystal Lau, to ask for financial assistance for a few orphans. Later, when the school headmaster asked the monks to help “adopt” more orphans who were staying in the school, more individuals were recruited to sponsor a child each.

“We rented two houses – one built of bamboo and another of wood – which could accommodate only seven children. We’re planning to have a bigger place to house more orphans.”

The foundation hopes to provide financial support for 21 children, aged six to 18.

Cagino, who was an award-winning photographer, is putting up his first solo photo exhibition (as a monk) to raise funds to build an orphanage.

The sixth of seven siblings, Cagino (whose birth name is Lau Yong Fang) studied at SM Datuk Sheik Ahmad in Seremban before he graduated with a diploma in graphic design from the Malaysian Institute of Art in Kuala Lumpur.

He found work as a professional photographer, and his first job was at a bridal house. He quit after a year as he did not enjoy coaxing smiles and taking posed shots of newly-weds. Cagino became a freelance photographer and part-time lecturer, teaching students of photography clubs in schools and colleges.

He took part in various photo competitions and won over 40 prizes, including the first prize of RM10,000 in the Asian Photography competition organised by Country Heights (Kajang, Selangor) in 1990.

Despite his success, Cagino did not find happiness and fulfilment. As a photographer, he had to keep honing his skills.

“What used to be the best photo was not the best anymore. At the next photo contest, you’ve to improve your skills and get the winning shot,” he says. “Nothing seems to be the ultimate.”

Floating to the other shore: Meditating on a bamboo raft for spiritual tranquility.

Cagino was miserable and disillusioned, and wondered if there was more to life than its never-ending challenges. At 27, Cagino turned his back on all material pursuits, sold off his worldly belongings, and became a monk.

Over the next two years, Cagino visited forest monasteries in Thailand and New Zealand to learn more about Buddhism.

Cagino was ordained as a samanera (novice monk) at 29, and stayed at Ang Hock Si Temple in Perak Road, Penang, for the next one-and-a-half years.

He trained as a forest monk under Thai master Ajahn Ganha for five years, and was re-ordained at Wat Pah Nanachat (The International Forest Monastery), a Buddhist monastery in north-east Thailand, in the Theravada Forest Tradition.

The monastery was established by the late Ven Ajahn Chah to provide English-speaking monks the opportunity to train and practise in the way Buddha taught his monks in the forests 2,600 years ago.

The Thai Forest Tradition stresses on meditation and strict adherence to monastic rules. Known for its orthodoxy, conservatism and asceticism, the Thais greatly respect monks who observe this tradition.

Scaling new height: Sometimes there are no roads in the woods and you have to climb the rocks to get over the other side and continue your journey, says Ajahn Cagino. Once he did this ‘stunt’ and fell off the ledge. Fortunately, his fall was broken by the branches of a tree before he landed by the riverside.