41 events, 255 sessions, 2087 excerpts, 118:34:10 total duration
Most common tags:
Ajahn Chah
(422)
Ajahn Pasanno
(183)
Monastic life
(140)
Suffering
(129)
Culture/Thailand
(123)
Relinquishment
(114)
Mindfulness of breathing
(105)
Culture/West
(104)
Teaching Dhamma
(103)
Death
(102)
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 All/Searchable
[Session] Reading: “Toilets on the Path” (continued) from Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 734-745. Read by Tan Khantiko.
1. “When you were living with Ajahn Chah, were many of his talks more related to the Korwat or practical matters, as opposed to the High Dhamma?” [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Teaching Dhamma] [Protocols] [Dhamma]
Quote: “There’s not really a separation.” [Vinaya]
Comment: Ajahn Chah taught to the situation. Contributed by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Learning] [Sequence of training]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Cessation of Suffering] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma]
2. “There were a number of different alms routes out of Wat Pah Pong. How was it decided who went on each one and how was the food distributed for the meal?” [Wat Pah Pong] [Almsround] [Almsfood] [Saṅgha decision making] // [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Ajahn Liem]
Discussion of almsfood distribution at different monasteries. Led by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Pesalo. [Ajahn Tongrat] [Wat Pah Ban Tat]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno helped pass out food at Wat Pah Pong. [Ajahn Pasanno]
Story: Ajahn Tongrat exposes a monk concealing fish in his ball of sticky rice. [Food] [Admonishment/feedback]
Comments by Ajahn Pesalo and Ajahn Pasanno about food distribution at Wat Baan Tat. [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support]
Quote: “It’s incredibly tiresome how organized we [Westerners] have to be....Organic spontaneity–that’s how things work in Thailand.” [Culture/West] [Culture/Thailand]
3. “At Wat Pah Pong there’s a large mural of lay people eating, do you know where that came from or how long its been there?” [Wat Pah Pong] [Lay life] [Food] [Protocols]
4. “I have heard that the food would go into a big pot and get all mixed up. How often did that happen?” [Ajahn Chah] [Food] // [Abhayagiri] [Ajahn Sucitto]
5. Recollections: Deciding who went on the different alms routes at Wat Pah Pong. Recounted by Ajahn Ñāṇiko and Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Pah Pong] [Almsround] // [Rains retreat]
6. “Did the alms routes stay the same over the years?” [Wat Pah Pong] [Almsround]
7. “Do you try to pass most of the houses in the village?” [Wat Pah Pong] [Almsround] // [Culture/Thailand] [Culture/West]
8. “You’d have one village supporting more than one monastery, is that right?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Almsround] // [Forest versus city monks] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
9. “How many villages are around Poo Jom Gom?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Poo Jum Gom] [Almsround]
10. Comment by Ajahn Jotipālo: The cold season is over, so we’ve lost our Kaṭhina privileges. [Kaṭhina] [Vinaya]
[Session] Readings from Sotāpattimagga by Ajahn Anan: “The Peaceful Heart Discovers the Truth” (partial), pp. 21-23; “When Calm Arises, Investigate the Body,” pp. 41-45; “When the Practice Declines,” pp. 68-70; “Nibbana is the Highest Happiness,” pp. 89-91. Read by Anagārika J.R..
Story: Ajahn Pasanno meets Ajahn Anan when Ajahn Anan was still a lay person. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Anan]
[Session] Reading: “Training under Ajahn Chah” by Ajahn Tong Jon from Twigs and Branches of the Bodhinyana. Read by Debbie Stamp. Translated by Ajahn Kovilo.
1. “Are there any stories you can share from the times when you were attendant to Luang Por Chah?” [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Upatakh] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Mentoring]
Quote: “I never asked him for anything. It never occured to me to ask Ajahn Chah for anything.” [Contentment]
Story: Ajahn Chah makes fun of Ajahn Pasanno’s first Pāṭimokkha chanting. [Pāṭimokkha]
Quote: “He would be unrelenting if you were stuck in some aversion....He wouldn’t indulge it. It was inevitably painful if one did.” [Aversion] [Fierce/direct teaching]
2. “Were there any other ways in which he tormented you specifically?” [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Story: Ajahn Chah won’t let Ajahn Pasanno go to a branch monastery to escape the misery of the hot season. [Culture/Natural environment] [Work] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Restlessness and worry] [Aversion]
Story: Ajahn Chah calls Ajahn Pasanno lazy. [Pūjā]
Quote: “Do you give up?” — Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Pasanno. [Vinaya] [Relinquishment]
3. “Would Luang Por Chah teach or test monks and students in different ways?” [Ajahn Chah] [Mentoring] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Recollection: Joseph Kappel shakes with fear when on the receiving end of Ajahn Chah’s admonishments. [Joseph Kappel] [Admonishment/feedback] [Fear]
4. Recollections of Ajahn Chah charming people. [Ajahn Chah] [Personal presence]
Story: “I’ll have her bowing before the end.” — Ajahn Chah speaking of George Sharp’s daughter who travelled with George to Thailand. [George Sharp] [Bowing]
Note: Compare to George Sharp’s version in The Chithurst Story by George Sharp, p. 67.
Quote: “Thank you. That was the most delicious meal I’ve had here.” — Ajahn Chah to an anxious English donor. [Food] [Gratitude] [Culture/West] [Culture/Thailand]
1. Reading: “The Beauty Comes from Within” from Paying Our Last Respects in Commemoration of Ajahn Mahā Boowa, pp. 149-151. Read by Beth Steff.
2. Reading: Unpublished talk given by Ajahn Liem at Abhayagiri in 2009. Read by Beth Steff.
1. Biographical information about Ajahn Sim and Simply So. [Ajahn Sim] [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Dhamma books]
2. Reading: “About the Author” from Simply So by Ajahn Sim. [Ajahn Sim] // [Ajahn Mun] [Geography/Thailand] [Posture/Sitting]
Story: Ajahn Pabhakaro asks the Bung Wai villagers to sit full lotus. [Joseph Kappel] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Lunar observance days]
3. Reading: “Source and Stream” from Simply So by Ajahn Sim. Translated by Ajahn Jayasaro.
4. “There was a reference to the four assemblies – what are they?” [Fourfold Assembly]
5. “Within Luang Por Mun’s disciples, were some renowned for wisdom, others for samādhi, determination, psychic powers, faith, and so on?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Abhayagiri Saṅgha. [Ajahn Mun] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Chorp] [Ajahn Khao] [Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo] [Ajahn Wanchai]
6. “Who was the monk that was said to be flying around with the military planes?” [Psychic powers] // [Ajahn Waen]
7. Comment: I heard he [Ajahn Waen] was flying on an airplane engine, investigating it, and they had to ask him to leave it alone. [Psychic powers]
Story: When Ajahn Fun tries to investigate a bus engine with his mind, the engine stops repeatedly. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Fun] [Technology]
8. “In that talk he [Ajahn Sim] seemed to stress doing samatha meditation before practicing vipassana. Is that strictly held within this tradition?” [Ajahn Sim] [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Tranquility] [Knowing itself] [Concentration] [Language]
Quote: “The qualities of the one pointed mind are vitakka, vicāra, pīti, sukha, and ekaggatā....It’s not one pointed excluding. It works together, it harmonizes, it’s balanced.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [One pointedness] [Right Concentration]
9. “When he [Ajahn Sim] talked about nama rupa, is that looking at the fundamental movement of the mind towards unwholesome dhammas?” [Ajahn Sim] [Aggregates] [Unwholesome Roots] [Investigation of states] // [Restlessness and worry] [Self-identity view]
[Session] Reading: “Discernment Versus Self-Deception” and “Awareness Right at Awareness” from An Unentangled Knowing by Upasikā Kee Nanayon pp. 87-90 and 14-17. Read by Ajahn Jotipālo.
1. “There seems to be a point of difference in teachings – some teachers emphasize mindfulness of the mind and others say “go for the body.” Do you have any reflections about that?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Mindfulness of mind] [Mindfulness of body] // [Cessation of Suffering] [Science]
2. “All Dhammas are not to be clung to.” Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno. [Clinging] [Relinquishment] // [Cessation] [Meditation/Techniques] [Right View] [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Suffering]
Sutta: MN 37 Cūḷataṇhāsaṅkhaya Sutta
3. Comment by Ajahn Kaccāna: When working with the mind in a comfortable environment, one can skip past and the fear of death. [Mindfulness of mind] [Pain] [Fear] [Death]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
4. “With the succinct teaching “know and let go,” I notice a tendency in the mind to go through the motions of that without really being able to enter into it – what do I do about that?” [Mindfulness] [Relinquishment] [Truth] [Perfections]
5. “In my desire to get to the “heart of it” I find part of my mind really wants this, but another part of my mind is not going along with the program. How do I keep myself on the Path?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Desire] [Simplicity] [Volition] // [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Impermanence] [Cessation] [Upasikā Kee Nanayon]
Follow-up: “The experience of arising and disbanding isn’t yet practical for me. I need something more operational.” [Tranquility]
Simile: Making a fire flare up or die down (SN 46.53). — Ajahn Pasanno. [Factors of Awakening] [Energy] [Mindfulness]
6. When the practice is difficult, one can look at wholesome states and say, “This is the result when I did this. There actually was some good that came of it.” Comment by Ajahn Cunda. [Skillful qualities] [Conditionality] [Gladdening the mind] [Kamma]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Recollection/Virtue]
7. Quote: “The art of the pause.” — Ajahn Sucitto [Ajahn Sucitto] [Pace of life] // [Discernment] [Skillful qualities]
1. Introduction to the Death and Dying Upasika Day
2. Reading: Five qualities of good patients and nurses (Kd 8.26.5) [Sickness] [Health care]
3. Reading: AN 6.16: Nakula’s Father [Sickness] [Relationships]
4. Reading: SN 41.10: Death of Citta the Householder [Great disciples] // [Deva] [Faith] [Three Refuges] [Generosity]
5. Reading: SN 55.24-25: Sarakāni [Stream entry] [Intoxicants]
6. Recollection: Traditions around dying in Thailand. [Culture/Thailand] // [Tranquility] [Chanting] [Teaching Dhamma] [Clear comprehension] [Rebirth]
7. Readings: MN 143, SN 2.20: Death of Anāthapiṇḍika [Great disciples] // [Sense bases] [Relinquishment] [Teaching Dhamma] [Lay life] [Deva]
8. “What is Jeta’s Grove?” [Buddha/Biography] // [Great disciples] [Ajahn Sucitto]
Vinaya: Anāthapiṇḍika purchases Jeta’s Grove (Kd 16.4.8). [Generosity]
9. “Why is the story of Sarakāni controversial in Sri Lanka?” [Stream entry] [Intoxicants] [History/Sri Lankan Buddhism] // [Stages of awakening]
Sutta: SN 55.24-25: Sarakāni
Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo regarding the wide range of views about stream entry. [Views]
10. “The suttas say ‘The wise protect their diligence as their greatest treasure.’ How does one protect one’s diligence?” [Heedfulness] [Ardency] // [Sickness] [Mindfulness] [Discernment] [Mindfulness of mind] [Right Effort] [Happiness] [Spaciousness]
11. “Is there a meditation practice to use with someone who is dying?” [Meditation] // [Faith] [Simplicity] [Happiness] [Recollection/Death] [Ageing] [Sickness]
Story about Ram Dass’s dying mother: “Richard, shut up!” [Ram Dass] [Fear] [Restlessness and worry]
12. Comments about uncertainty, impermanence, and denial of the reality of one’s own death. [Impermanence] [Culture/West] [Heedfulness] [Virtue] [Recollection/Death]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
13. Comment: We can’t know the kamma or state of mind of someone who is dying. Because the dying person’s consciousness can be very open, it’s useful to remind them of their wholesome actions. Contributed by Jeanne Daskais. [Kamma] [Consciousness] [Spaciousness] [Recollection/Virtue]
Story: Sri Lankans keep a lifelong record of the good things they have done. Friends and relatives read this to them at the time of death. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities] [History/Sri Lankan Buddhism]
14. Story: A woman dies peacefully while retelling the story of their life together with her partner of 60 years. [Relationships] [Family] [Recollection/Virtue]
15. “Living in the West, chances are most of us will die in a hospital, which could be quite chaotic. Any advice?” [Culture/West] [Health care] // [Spiritual friendship] [Community] [Saṅgha]
Story: The Abhayagiri community attends to a dying lay supporter. [Abhayagiri]
Comments about hospitals contributed by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo.
16. Story about creating sacred space around her dying husband. Told by Beth Steff. [Health care] [Devotional practice] [Relationships]
17. Comment: One can sign oneself out of hospital against the physician’s wishes. [Health care]
18. Comments about hospital care and advance directives. [Health care] [Commerce/economics]
19. “Is it possible to dedicate merit to our four-legged companions after they pass?” [Animal] [Merit] [Grief] // [Generosity]
Sutta: AN 10.177: Jāṇussoṇī
20. Comment: As a Westerner who hasn’t participated in dedication of merit until this winter–it’s worth trying. [Culture/West] [Merit]
21. “Can you dedicate merit to someone who is approaching death?” [Merit]
Story: Ajahn Paññānanda speaks out against superstition but tells the story of a shipwrecked sailor who benefited from dedication of merit. [Ajahn Paññānanda] [Superstition] [Suffering]
22. “I read about the advice given to dying devas. Should more people know about the cosmological background of the Buddha’s teachings?” [Deva] [Realms of existence]
Sutta: Iti 83: Five omens that appear when a deva is about to pass away. [Rebirth]
23. “In Vajrayāna you visualize a column of light and going out the top of your head in preparation for death. Is there a related practice in this tradition?” [Vajrayāna] [Visualization] [Recollection/Death] [Theravāda] // [Tranquility] [Mindfulness]
Reference: “Our Real Home” in Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 145.
24. “If beings are reborn immediately, how does ritual [sharing of merit] benefit the person who has passed?” [Rebirth] [Ceremony/ritual] [Merit] // [Theravāda] [Realms of existence] [Goodwill]
Sutta: AN 10.177: Jāṇussoṇī
25. Comment: Merit is faith driven, so there aren’t any limitations to where that can take you, and it has real value. [Merit] [Faith] [Realms of existence]
Story: Two Thai doctors take temporary ordination to make merit to rejoin their deceased brother in a future life. [Culture/Thailand] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Temporary ordination] [Family] [Rebirth]
Story: The mother of a woman killed in a bus crash dedicates merit so that the dead woman will be reborn in the family. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Ghost] [Relinquishment] [Ceremony/ritual] [Kamma] [Volition]
Quote: “We live in a fairly limited concept of the world; it’s very material in the West. There’s a lot more happening than what we can see.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Nature of the cosmos] [Culture/West]
26. “If a family member who has passed turns into a hungry ghost, how might one help them when they’re in that realm?” [Family] [Rebirth] [Ghost] [Compassion] // [Merit]
Sutta: AN 10.177: Jāṇussoṇī
Follow-up: “Does it work the same way if the person hasn’t made much merit?” [Kamma] [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities] [Human]
1. Introduction to Ajahn Yatiko’s reflection. [Christianity]
2. Information about the memorial service for Iris Landsberg. [Abhayagiri] [Funerals] [Culture/West]
3. Reflection by Ajahn Yatiko: “Authenticity and Freedom”: Ajahn Yatiko reflects on his brother Glenn’s life, values, and suicide from the perspective of a “Siamese twin joined at the soul” and from the perspective of a Buddhist monk. Originally offered at Glenn’s memorial service on September 30, 2013, at Ascension Lutheran Church in Edmonton, this talk was replayed during the 2014 Upasika Day on Death and Dying. [Family] [Suicide] [Truth] [Liberation] // [Christianity] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Mental illness] [Idealism] [Spiritual search] [Judgementalism] [Impermanence] [Kamma]
4. Reflection by Jeanne Daskais: How Dhamma practice helped me be with my mother’s death and support my family through the process. [Parents] [Sickness] [Buddhist identity] [Family] // [Grief] [Christianity] [Health care] [Relationships] [Recollection/Death] [Generosity]
Sutta: SN 47.19: The Bamboo Acrobat
5. Reflection by Debbie Stamp: Caring for dying and grieving Abhayagiri supporters and family members. [Abhayagiri] [Sickness] [Family] [Parents] [Grief] [Health care] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Christianity] [Forgiveness] [Fear] [Impermanence] [Merit] [Doubt]
Reference: Debbie transcribed Ajahn Pasanno’s 2008 Metta Retreat, published it as Abundant, Exalted, Immeasurable, and dedicated the merit to her mother. [Meditation retreats] [Dhamma books]
Story: Ajahn Ñāṇiko hikes to the top of Mount Dana to dedicate merit to deceased relatives. [Ajahn Ñāṇiko]
6. “Have you found a difference between being afraid of death and being afraid of dying?” Answered by Debbie Stamp. [Fear]
7. Comment by Jeanne Daskais: The reflection on kamma has helped me watch this person [my stepmother] disappear through the course of Alzheimer’s disease and other loss. [Kamma] [Sickness] [Grief] // [Recollection/Virtue] [Compassion] [Right Speech]
8. Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo: It’s hard to convey the naturalness of death in Western culture. [Naturalness] [Culture/West]
9. Stories about being with dying relatives. Told by Debbie Stamp and Jeanne Daskais. [Parents] [Family] [Children]
10. Comment: I appreciate the Buddha’s saying that the real stable investment is your merit. [Merit] [Commerce/economics]
11. Comment: When we stop fixing the dying process, we can be with it in such a different way. [Naturalness]
12. Comment: In Western culture, we’re not given enough space to be with death. [Culture/West] [Spaciousness] [Grief]
Story: Hospice workers took the body of my father-in-law away too quickly. [Health care]
Story: When my husband died, we kept and washed the body. [Ceremony/ritual]
Response by Debbie Stamp.
13. Stories about ageing and dying relatives. [Grief] [Humor] [Ageing] [Sickness]
14. “Ajahn Pasanno, in your Dhamma talk “Letting Go of the Wheel,” you described a driver who saw an oncoming car cross into his lane and let go of the wheel. Is this a metaphor?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Relinquishment] [Similes]
Quote: “When there’s death in your face, you don’t start negotiating. You have to be willing to let go.”
Follow-up: “So do you let your merit carry you?” [Merit]
15. Stories about car accidents. [Clear comprehension] [Perception]
16. Stories of two dreams about deceased Abhayagiri supporter Iris Landsberg. [Dreams] [Abhayagiri]
17. Comment: You spoke of death as the dissolution of the body and awareness coming home. The life that we think we’re leading is not the life that we know about when we’re aware. [Form] [Knowing itself] [Nature of mind]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: When death comes, our life is like something that is built up out of crystal that becomes a pile of rubble in the end. It’s so important to recognize that within that there is this possibility of awareness and purity of heart. [Similes]
1. Devotional practice and the context and history of the Thai Forest Tradition. [Devotional practice] [Culture/Thailand] [Types of monks] // [Vinaya]
2. The current popularity of the Thai Forest Tradition can be attributed to Ajahn Mun. [Ajahn Mun] [Teaching Dhamma] // [Tudong] [Ajahn Chah] [Spiritual search] [Culture/Thailand]
3. Structure the June 2014 Upasika Day: The Thai Forest Tradition.
Reference: Winter Retreat 2014 DVD: Our Roots in the Thai Forest Tradition [Abhayagiri]
4. “What shaped the Thai Forest Tradition and gave it its flavor?” [Culture/Thailand] // [Simplicity] [Vinaya] [History/Early Buddhism] [Ajahn Mun] [Attachment to rites and rituals]
5. “Was there much contact between Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka at the time of Ajahn Mun?” [History/Thai Buddhism] [History/Sri Lankan Buddhism] [History/Other Theravāda traditions] [Ajahn Mun] // [Language] [Dhamma books]
6. “Could you review the transmission of the ordination between Sri Lanka and Thailand?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [History/Thai Buddhism] [History/Sri Lankan Buddhism] [Ordination] // [Leadership] [History/Other Theravāda traditions] [Commerce/economics] [History/Mahāyāna Buddhism]
7. “Could you say a few words about the structure of the Thai Saṅgha and where the Thai Forest Tradition fits in?” [History/Thai Buddhism] [Types of monks] // [Ajahn Mun] [Ajahn Kinaree] [Ajahn Tongrat] [Ajahn Chah]
Story: Ajahn Chah asks Ajahn Mun, “Shall I reordain in the Dhammayut Order to live with you?” He responds, “Mahānikāya needs good monks also.” [Ordination] [Thai sects]
8. “So then technically Abhayagiri belongs to the Mahānikāya?” [Abhayagiri] [Thai sects] // [History/Western Buddhist monasticism]
9. Story: Ajahn Mun becomes enlightened and goes back to teach his teacher. [Ajahn Mun] [Ajahn Sao] [Liberation]
Story: Ajahn Mun’s relics [Relics] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Abhayagiri]
10. Reading: “The Ballad of Liberation from the Khandas,” from A Heart Released by Ajahn Mun, p. 37 // [Ajahn Mun] [Culture/Thailand]
Quote: “The Dhamma stays as the Dhamma, the khandas stay as khandas. That’s all.” [Dhamma] [Aggregates]
11. “What language was ‘The Ballad of the Liberation from the Khandas’ written in?” [Dhamma books] [Ajahn Mun] [Language] // [Thai]
12. “Was Ajahn Mun well respected by the Buddhist establishment or was he more of a renegade?” [Ajahn Mun] [History/Thai Buddhism] // [Thai sects] [Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo]
Story: Ajahn Mun leaves the day after he is appointed abbot. [Abbot] [Seclusion]
13. “Ajahn Mun spent a lot of time teaching the devas. Can you share any thoughts on this relevant to Western culture?” [Ajahn Mun] [Teaching Dhamma] [Deva] [Doubt] [Culture/West] // [Faith] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Nature of the cosmos]
Reference: Venerable Ācariya Mun Bhūridatta Thera: A Spiritual Biography by Ajahn Mahā Boowa
14. “I can’t imagine not having meditation as part of this practice. How does Buddhism exist without it?” [Meditation] [History] // [Ceremony/ritual] [Generosity] [Faith] [Devotional practice]
15. “A list of ten misconceptions about Buddhim in Tricycle magazine included ‘All Buddhists meditate.’ It said that historically this wasn’t true. Is this accurate?” [Meditation] [History] [Culture/West] // [Monastic life] [Lay life] [Devotional practice] [History/Thai Buddhism]
16. Comment about Asian and Western Buddhist perspectives regarding meditation and other aspects of practice encountered at Abhayagiri Monastery. [Cultural context] [Culture/West] [Meditation] [Devotional practice] [Ajahn Chah] [Abhayagiri]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Learning]
17. “One of the great gifts I’ve received over the last few years spending more time with the Bhikkhu Saṅgha is a sense of devotion, how it opens the heart. Is there a Pāli word or teaching around that principle?” [Devotional practice] [Saṅgha] [Gratitude] [Pāli] // [Faculties] [Faith] [Energy]
18. Story: Ajahn Mahā Boowa bows to a newly-discovered photograph of Ajahn Mun. [Ajahn Mun] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Devotional practice] [Bowing]
1. Reading: “Visions of a Sāmaṇa” from Samaṇa by Ajahn Mahā Boowa, p. 11. Read by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] // [Monastic life/Motivation] [Ajahn Mun]
2. “So both Ajahn Mahā Boowa and Ajahn Chah were students of Ajahn Mun? Did they have similar experiences?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mun] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Chah] [Teaching Dhamma] // [Thai sects] [History/Thai Buddhism]
3. “Are there modern monasteries associated with Ajahn Sao, Ajahn Mun, and Ajahn Mahā Boowa?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Sao] [Ajahn Mun] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Monasteries] // [History/Thai Buddhism] [Ajahn Chah]
4. “Does the current interest in meditation in Thailand extend to the villages around forest monasteries as well as urban areas?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Culture/Thailand] [Meditation] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Pong] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Lunar observance days] [Festival days]
5. “So the whole country [Thailand] meditates?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Culture/Thailand] [Meditation]
6. Ajahn Pasanno describes Upasika Kee Nanayon’s life and teachings. [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Women in Buddhism] // [Ajahn Wanchai] [Ajahn Ñāṇiko] [Community] [Virtue] [Simplicity]
Quote: “An inward-staying unentangled knowing, all outward-going knowing cast aside.” — Upasikā Kee Nanayon [Knowing itself]
7. Reading: “Discernment versus self-deception” from An Unentangled Knowing by Upasikā Kee Nanayon, p. 102. Read by Ajahn Pasanno. [Discernment] [Delusion]
8. Quote: “There’s only two things you have to do in practice: know and let go.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness] [Knowing itself] [Relinquishment]
9. “Regarding thought fabrications, in daily life we have to focus on our work. How can we intergrate the principles of anatta and dukkha into daily life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Volitional formations] [Everyday life] [Work] [Not-self] [Suffering] // [Right Livelihood] [Restlessness and worry] [Energy] [Impermanence] [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment]
10. “In the reading, Upasikā Kee Nanayon says the mind takes the fabrications itself as the object. Is that similar to Ajahn Sumedho’s ‘It’s like this?’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Volitional formations] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Knowing itself]
11. “As the mind takes fabrications as its object, does the mind expand?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Volitional formations] [Heart/mind] [Mindfulness of mind] // [Relinquishment]
12. Comments by Ajahn Pasanno about being aware of awareness itself. [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Knowing itself] // [Tranquility] [Becoming] [Cessation] [Fear] [Relinquishment]
13. Comment: I’m reminded of the encouragement to come back to the body as a basis. [Mindfulness of body]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mun] [Knowing itself]