Truth (sacca)
Truth (sacca)
2. Story: Ajahn Chah’s early life. Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/Thailand] [Truth] [Leadership] [Ajahn Jayasaro]
4. Reading from the draft biography: Chah decides to enter the village monastery at age nine. [Types of monks] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Ajahn Chah] // [Conditionality] [Conscience and prudence] [Truth] [Generosity] [Kamma] [Work]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 25
8. Reading from the draft biography: Ajahn Chah’s dying father asks him to remain in robes for life. [Sickness] [Recollection/Death] [Parents] [Monastic life] [Ajahn Chah] [Determination] // [Learning] [Culture/Thailand] [Unattractiveness] [Forest versus city monks] [Sutta] [Sense of urgency]
Quote: “I dedicate my body and mind, my whole life, to the practice of the Lord Buddha’s teachings in their entirety. I will realize the truth in this lifetime … I will let go of everything and follow the teachings. No matter how much suffering and difficulty I have to endure I will persevere, otherwise there will be no end to my doubts. I will make this life as even and continuous as a single day and night. I will abandon attachments to mind and body and follow the Buddha’s teachings until I know their truth for myself.” — Ajahn Chah [Buddha] [Dhamma] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Knowledge and vision] [Truth] [Relinquishment] [Suffering]
Reflection: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 40 [Energy] [Doubt] [Continuity of mindfulness]
1. Teachings to Marjorie by Ajahn Chah, Part 2. Thai audio with English translation read by Kittisaro. [Thai audio] [Ajahn Chah] // [Dispassion] [Nibbāna] [Unconditioned] [Cessation of Suffering]
Continued from Part 1.
Reference: “Living with the Cobra,” Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 233.
Quote: “If the tears don’t come, we don’t really accept truth.” [Suffering] [Truth] [Wat Pah Pong]
Note: “Living with the Cobra” omits this quote and other more personal aspects of Ajahn Chah’s teaching to Marjorie.
2. I was the first Westerner, so he gave me an enormous amout of attention for the first two or three years. Reflection by Ajahn Sumedho. [History/Western Buddhist monasticism] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Mahā Amorn] [Other Thai Forest teachers] [Pāṭimokkha] [Conceit] [Truth] [Compassion] [Humor]
Story: Venerable Varapañño chants the Pāṭimokkha better than Ajahn Sumedho. [Competitiveness] [Jealousy]
Note: The story that Ajahn Sumedho didn’t tell is probably told in Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 189.
10. Surrender, dignity, honesty: Qualites of Ajahn Chah. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno. [Relinquishment] [Dignity] [Truth] [Ajahn Chah] // [Saṅgha] [Funerals]
5. “In regards to the simile of the path to Rājagaha (MN 107), could you describe classic mistakes made by sincere beginning, intermediate and advanced practitioners?” Answered by Ajahn Yatiko and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Similes] [Gradual Teaching] // [Faith] [Doubt] [Truth] [Virtue] [Liberation] [Conditionality] [Christianity] [Suffering]
1. “I am curious about ways to know if one is lying to oneself and what to do?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Truth] [Delusion] // [Suffering] [Discernment] [Bases of Success]
Recollection: Ajahn Chah said the fastest way to enlightenment is to look directly at the mind, point your finger, and say “Liar!” [Ajahn Chah] [Liberation] [Proliferation]
12. A retreatant expresses appreciation for Upasika Kee Nanayon’s exhortation to be honest with ourselves. [Unwholesome Roots] [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Truth] [Gratitude]
“You can lie to the entire world if you like, but you must never lie to yourself.” – Mae Chee Kaew: Her Journey to Spiritual Awakening and Enlightenment by Ajahn Dick Sīlaratano, p. 235. [Mae Chee Kaew] [False speech] [Truth]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Truth] [Self-identity view] [Culture/West]
13. “Can you recommend any practices to develop honesty with ourselves?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Truth] [Delusion] // [Unwholesome Roots] [Direct experience]
Quote: “You can’t take yourself too seriously. That’s really deadly.” [Humor] [Self-identity view]
Quote: “Do we have to sweep all of this?” “No, just sweep what’s in front of your broom.” [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Cleanliness]
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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness] [Relinquishment] [Truth] [Perfections]
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] [Death] // [Christianity] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Mental illness] [Idealism] [Spiritual search] [Judgementalism] [Impermanence] [Kamma]
2. Reflections by Ajahn Pasanno on the value of samaṇas in Indian culture. [Culture/India] [Perception of a samaṇa] // [Commentaries] [Buddha] [Virtue] [Truth] [Hospitality]
Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno was really cared for during his tudong in Northern India. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Tudong] [Not handling money]
1. Commentary on the Cankī Sutta (MN 95). Teaching by Ajahn Pasanno. [Views] [Right Effort] [Truth]
4. “Are the skillful means for dealing with not-self aas easy as know and let go?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness] [Relinquishment] [Not-self] // [Discernment] [Truth]
13. “Should someone who follows the five precepts and meditates but has their own faith and belief call themselves a Buddhist?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Five Precepts] [Meditation] [Faith] [Spiritual traditions] [Buddhist identity] // [Dhamma] [Truth] [Eightfold Path] [Happiness]
15. “What was your greatest desire as a kid?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Desire] // [Monastic life/Motivation] [Truth]
17. “Have you broken any precepts where only you know if you broke them?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Vinaya] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Right Speech]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s uncle offers him alchohol. [Intoxicants] [Truth]
9. Reading: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 612-614 “Faith in the Triple Gem” [Faith] [Three Refuges] [Ajahn Chah] // [Buddha] [Dhamma] [Truth] [Teaching Dhamma] [Lay life] [Recollection/Dhamma]
Simile: Digging a well — Ajahn Chah. [Right Effort] [Liberation]
10. “Did you mention what the trancendent truth of the Saṅgha was?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Saṅgha] [Truth] [Three Refuges] // [Eightfold Path] [Stages of awakening] [Conventions] [Chanting] [Recollection/Saṅgha]
11. “Is refining the Five Precepts sufficient for lay practice to be transformative?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Five Precepts] [Lay life] [Ajahn Chah] // [Vinaya] [Mindfulness] [Right Intention] [Relinquishment] [Compassion] [Truth]
11. “What is the best way to navigate the people that we love that have unskillful behaivors but we don’t want to cut out of our lives?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Family] [Spiritual friendship] [Unskillful qualities] // [Compassion] [Patience] [Truth] [Aversion] [Admonishment/feedback]
1. Comment to Ajahn Ñāṇiko: I really appreciate the honest of your sharing. In terms of self-criticism over the years, what brought about any shift was being authentic, but whilst I wanted not to be critical, it was still there. By watching that process and not identifying with it so much, it gradually shifted until I was able to wish myself well more genuinely. [Truth] [Judgementalism] [Long-term practice] [Direct experience] [Not-self] [Goodwill] // [Buddhist identity] [Faith]
Response by Ajahn Ñāṇiko.
6. “How do we deal with a world full of view and opinions?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Views] // [Idealism] [Conditionality] [Impermanence] [Truth]
Story: Sariputta doesn’t approve of a teaching of the Buddha until he puts it into practice himself. Told by Ajahn Chah. [Great disciples] [Teaching Dhamma] [Direct experience] [Faith] [Ajahn Chah]