5. Context of “Teachings to Marjorie.” [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Chah]
1. Story: Ajahn Amaro tells his mother that he’s never eaten so well since he became a Buddhist monk. [Ajahn Amaro] [Food] [Monastic life]
2. Story: Ajahn Chah’s early life. [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/Thailand] [Truth] [Leadership] [Ajahn Jayasaro]
5. Story: Novice Chah disrobes at age 16. [Novices] [Disrobing] [Ajahn Chah] // [Sensual desire] [Restlessness and worry]
7. Story: Ajahn Chah ordains at age 20. [Ordination] [Ajahn Chah] // [Monastic life/Motivation] [Spiritual urgency] [Forest versus city monks]
4. Story: “Sleep is delicious.” [Admonishment/feedback] [Goodwill] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Amaro ] [Joseph Kappel] [Upatakh] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Robes] [Mentoring] [Faith]
4. Stories about the people who criticized Chithurst Monastery in the early days. Told by Joseph Kappel and Ajahn Amaro. [Conflict] [Chithurst] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Anando] [Culture/West] [Communal harmony]
2. “Why did Ajahn Chah found Wat Pah Pong? [Inaudible question removed]” [Wat Pah Pong ] [History/Thai Buddhism] [Ajahn Chah] // [Tudong] [Teaching Dhamma] [Personal presence] [Seclusion] [Compassion] [Family] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support]
Story: The first Rains Retreat with Ajahn Chah. [Rains retreat] [Devotion to wakefulness]
3. Question related to age and ordination (audio unclear). Answered by Ajahn Sumedho. [Ordination] [Older monks] [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/Thailand] [Meditation] [Mae Chee] [Relationships] [Liberation] [Culture/West]
Story: A doctor ordains later in life. Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Health care]
4. Story: A hit man hired to kill Ajahn Chah ordains instead. [Crime] [Killing] [Ordination] [Ajahn Chah] // [Older monks]
5. Teachings hanging in the trees at Wat Pay Pong. [Wat Pah Pong] [Culture/Natural environment] [Teaching Dhamma]
4. Story: Ajahn Anando tries to heal Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Anando] [Health care] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Sickness] [Fierce/direct teaching]
6. Story: Ajahn Chah vows not to look at a woman for the duration of the Rains Retreat. [Determination] [Sensual desire ] [Sense restraint] [Rains retreat] [Ajahn Chah] // [Discernment]
7. Story: Ajahn Chah hallucinates female sexual organs for ten days. [Sensual desire] [Mental illness] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Kinaree] [Posture/Walking] [Determination] [Patience] [Rebirth]
8. Story: When asked about the potential for sacred sexuality, Ajahn Chah picks his nose. [Sensual desire] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Ajahn Chah] // [Insight Meditation Society]
Quote: “There’s nothing more to it than that except what your mind adds to it.” — Ajahn Chah. [Proliferation]
3. Story: Ajahn Amaro hears of Master Hsuan Hua through Ajahn Sumedho. [Ajahn Amaro] [Master Hsuan Hua] [Ajahn Sumedho] // [Chithurst] [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas]
Quote: “I always thought I would never meet anyone else like Luang Por Chah, but I just met another one.” — Ajahn Sumedho. [Ajahn Chah]
4. Story: Ajahn Sumedho asks Ajahn Amaro to go to California. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Amaro] // [Master Hsuan Hua] [Elders' Council] [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas] [Ordination] [Jack Kornfield]
5. Recollection: The virtual monastery in San Francisco. [Saṅghapāla] // [Ajahn Amaro]
6. Recollection: Ajahn Sumedho delays the opening of a San Francisco vihara in 1992. [Ajahn Amaro] [Ajahn Sumedho] // [Ajahn Chah] [Disrobing]
7. Story: Master Hua offers land to Ajahn Sumedho the day after the Elders’ Council approves a land search. [Master Hsuan Hua] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Elders' Council] [Abhayagiri ] // [Saṅghapāla] [Gratitude] [Amaravati] [Ajahn Amaro] [Ajahn Viradhammo] [Sickness]
Quote: “It had been the dream of my life to bring the Northern and Southern Traditions together again, and I never thought I was going to be able to do it until I met Sumedho.” — Master Hsuan Hua. [Mahāyāna] [Theravāda] [Communal harmony]
8. Testing times: Saṅghapāla Foundation scrambles to purchase the plot of land adjacent to Master Hsuan Hua’s gift. [Saṅghapāla] [Abhayagiri] // [Ajahn Amaro] [Faith]
9. Story: Moving onto the Abhayagiri land. [Abhayagiri] // [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] [Ajahn Amaro] [Saṅghapāla] [Gratitude]
11. Recollection: Origins of the Abhayagiri co-abbotship. [Abbot] [Abhayagiri] // [Master Hsuan Hua] [Three Conditions Monastery] [Jealousy] [Ajahn Amaro] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Leadership]
Quote: “You can’t have two tigers living in the same cave.” — Ajahn Mahā Prasert. [Culture/Thailand]
12. Recollection: The connection with Ajahn Mahā Prasert and Casa Serena. [Abhayagiri] // [Gratitude]
1. Story: Ajahn Sumedho’s early visits to California. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Abhayagiri] // [Jack Kornfield] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Amaravati]
2. Reflection: Affinities between the communities of Ajahn Sumedho and Master Hsuan Hua. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Master Hsuan Hua ] // [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas] [Mahāyāna] [Vinaya] [Ascetic practices] [Elders' Council] [Abhayagiri]
Story: Master Hua invites Ajahn Sumedho to help conduct an ordination ceremony at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. [Ordination]
Story: Ajahn Sumedho invites Master Hua to the English monasteries.
3. Story: The formation of Saṅghapāla Foundation in December 1988. [Saṅghapāla] [Abhayagiri] // [Ajahn Sumedho]
4. Story: Ajahn Sumedho visits the Bay Area in 1990 and chooses Ajahn Amaro to lead the California project. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Amaro] [Abhayagiri] // [Ajahn Sundarā]
5. Story: Ajahn Amaro leads a series of temporary California vihāras. [Ajahn Amaro] [Abhayagiri] // [Saṅghapāla] [Elders' Council] [Disrobing]
6. Story: In May 1994, the English Saṅgha Trust gives Ajahn Amaro permission to start looking for property in California. Master Hua offers 125 acres of forest in Mendocino County the next day. [Elders' Council] [Ajahn Amaro] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Master Hsuan Hua] [Abhayagiri] [Generosity] // [Amaravati] [Ajahn Viradhammo]
7. Story: Ajahn Amaro visits the Abhayagiri property for the first time. [Ajahn Amaro] [Lodging] [Culture/Natural environment] [Abhayagiri] // [Master Hsuan Hua] [Funerals] [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas] [Lay supporters] [Simplicity] [Holy Tranfiguration Monastery]
8. Story: Buying the property next to the land Master Hua donated. [Saṅghapāla] [Commerce/economics] [Generosity] [Lodging] [Abhayagiri] // [Lay supporters] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Amaro]
9. Story: Moving onto the Abhayagiri land. [Lodging] [Abhayagiri] // [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] [Postulants] [Ajahn Amaro] [Saṅghapāla] [Lay supporters]
10. Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s involvement in the Abhayagiri project. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abbot] [Abhayagiri] // [Forest versus city monks] [Humility] [Ajahn Amaro] [Personality] [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas] [Hua tou] [Three Conditions Monastery] [Communal harmony]
11. Serendipitous generosity in the early days of Abhayagiri. [Lay supporters] [Generosity] [Abhayagiri] // [Buddha images] [Building projects] [Lodging]
5. “Could you speak more about how to prevent feelings from becoming aversion or desire? How does this relate to Dependent Origination?” [Feeling] [Aversion] [Craving] [Dependent origination] // [Arahant] [Buddha] [Pain] [Mindfulness] [Birth] [Impermanence] [Happiness] [Direct experience] [Proliferation] [Master Hsuan Hua]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno breaks his pelvis in Thailand. [Ajahn Pasanno]