Monastic life
Monastic life
1. Story: Ajahn Amaro tells his mother that he’s never eaten so well since he became a Buddhist monk. Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Amaro] [Food] [Monastic life]
1. Story: Ajahn Chah visits Seattle. Told by Joseph Kappel. [Ajahn Chah] // [Joseph Kappel] [Family]
Story: Venerable Pabakkaro’s grandmother hugs him at the airport. [Monastic life] [Vinaya]
Story: Ajahn Chah visits Mount Ranier. [Culture/Natural environment]
6. “When there is a lot of pain in the body, it is difficult to maintain “right effort,” yet sometimes through patient endurance the pain lessens or dissipates. Could you speak about right effort and the connection between right effort and samadhi?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pain] [Right Effort] [Patience] [Concentration] // [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities] [Fear] [Aversion] [Discernment] [Naturalness]
Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno learned from pain and illness in his early monastic life. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sickness] [Monastic life]
1. “One of my lay insight mediation teachers said, ‘The Western lay practitioner is an experiment in Buddhism.’ What do you think? To me it seems our lay teachers are also an experiment.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Culture/West] [Lay life] [Lay teachers] // [Monastic life] [Abhayagiri] [Sīladharā] [Culture/Thailand]
Quote: “Because the monastic presence is so strong in Asia, oftentimes people overlook the strength of the tradition of lay practice and lay teachers.” [Monastic life] [Cultural context]
Story: The Buddha tells Māra he will found the fourfold assembly (UD 6.1). [Buddha/Biography] [Māra] [Fourfold Assembly] [Stages of awakening] [Learning] [Monastic life]
14. “Do you think being introduced to Buddhism guided you to the contemplative life or would you have become a monk in any tradition?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] [Spiritual traditions] // [Meditation]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s aunt remembers that he said he wanted to be a priest when he was young. [Monastic life]
4. Story: Ajahn Chah asks Ajahn Sumedho if he might go back to America as a monk. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Culture/West] [Monastic life] [Tudong] // [Almsfood] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism]
Quote: “You mean to say there are no kind people in America?” — Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Sumedho [Compassion]
5. “What is your take on satisfaction, being in tune, and stagnation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Contentment] [Energy] [Ardency] // [Skillful qualities] [Discernment] [Buddha/Biography] [Spiritual search] [Right Effort]
Sutta: AN 2.5: Effort and noncontentment with wholesome states.
Story: The Thai government made it illegal for monks to teach contentment. [History/Thai Buddhism] [Monastic life] [Teaching Dhamma]
Comment about the simile of the lute. [Middle Path] [Similes]
Sutta: AN 6.55: Soṇa Sutta
5. Story: Ajahn Ñāṇiko takes on too many adhiṭṭhānas as an anagārika. Told by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Ajahn Ñāṇiko] [Determination] [Abhayagiri] [Monastic life] [Ascetic practices]
2. Story: The Buddha asks a monk to recite the Aṭṭhakavagga (Snp Chapter 4) (Ud 5.6). Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha/Biography] [Monastic life] [Sutta] [Chanting]