Includes tags: Energy, Devotion to wakefulness
See also: Right Effort
3. Quote: “Ajahn Chah was a wonderful teacher, but more important, he was a trainer. He trained people how to live.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Teaching Dhamma] [Monastic life] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Ajahn Chah]
Story: Māghā Pūjā at Wat Pah Pong. [Festival days] [Lunar observance days] [Wat Pah Pong] [Meditation] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Lay life] [Saṅgha]
4. Stories: The Chipmunk Story and The Donkey Story. Told by Kittisaro. [Kittisaro] [Depression] [Humor ] [Similes] [Ajahn Chah] // [Recreation/leisure/sport] [Perfectionism] [Meditation] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Sickness] [Animal] [Learning] [Health care] [Self-identity view] [Joseph Kappel] [Compassion] [Energy] [Right Effort] [Equanimity] [Lawfulness]
2. “Why did Ajahn Chah found Wat Pah Pong?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [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]
10. “Would you share some of your personal journey, including the time before you became a monk, and why you became a monk, and how the holy life can help people grow and change?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Monastic life] // [Culture/West] [Travel] [Culture/Thailand]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno begins meditation with a month-long Mahasi Sayadaw retreat. [Meditation retreats] [Mahasi Sayadaw] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s first visit to Wat Pah Pong. [Ordination] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong]
Quote: “If you want to stay here, you have to stay at least five years.” — Ajahn Chah [Sequence of training]
Reflection: “Five years is five years. I’ll go back and give myself to Ajahn Chah.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Relinquishment] [Mentoring]
Quote: “There’s no such thing as the ideal monastic or the ideal practitioner.” [Idealism] [Lay life] [Faith] [Disrobing] [Suffering] [Energy] [Patience] [Long-term practice]
5. “When you guided meditation in the past two afternoons, I’ve enjoyed slipping past the high energy of rapture/joy. I found these meditations grounding and at the same time streaming with energy. I’m finding it difficult to get past joy without your vocal guidance. Can you offer suggestions?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Rapture] [Energy] [Right Concentration] // [Mindfulness of body] [Mindfulness of breathing]
2. “When you and other Western seekers went to Thailand [and returned to teach], are the teachings of lay and monastic disciples of Ajahn Chah the same or different? How can we as laypeople relate to the teachings and tradition of the monastic establishment?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah lineage] [Lay teachers] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Ajahn Chah] // [History/Thai Buddhism] [Military] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Virtue] [Right View]
Story: Abhayagiri’s bell is an American bomb casing. [Abhayagiri]
Diligent lay meditators attend Wat Pah Pong’s all-night vigil on the lunar observance days. Recollection by Ajahn Pasanno. [Lay life] [Ardency] [Wat Pah Pong] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Lunar observance days]
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
1. “Thank you for your talk. Can you flesh out: ‘dispassionate about what?’ Also, trying to encourage dispassion along with arousing energy.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Dispassion] [Energy]
11. “I had a hard time getting up this morning...Any advice on getting up?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Devotion to wakefulness]
2. “What were the interesting practices you used so that you would get up as soon as you woke up?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Devotion to wakefulness] // [Mindfulness of body] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Sitter's practice]
5. “With investigating sleep, it seems sleeping less is an effect from good meditation practice rather than a cause; is it because there is less proliferation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Devotion to wakefulness] [Conditionality] [Proliferation] // [Craving not to become] [Sloth and torpor] [Habits] [Ardency] [Energy]
2. “Which of the three unwholesome roots is most prominent when the mind is lazy?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Energy] [Unwholesome Roots] [Sloth and torpor] // [Delusion]
5. “How does one work with dullness and drowsiness in sitting meditation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sloth and torpor] [Posture/Sitting] // [Hindrances] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Ajahn Chah] [Posture/Walking] [Culture/Natural environment] [Posture/Standing] [Continuity of mindfulness]
Sutta: AN 7.58 Capala Sutta: “Are you nodding, Moggallana?” [Great disciples]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno walks in the forest without a flashlight to dispel drowsiness. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Dtao Dum] [Devotion to wakefulness]
5. “Did Ajahn Mahā Boowa always praise the dtuaṅga practices?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ascetic practices] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Mun] // [Qualities for non-decline]
Story: Ajahn Mun tells Ajahn Mahā Boowa to stop sweeping when he is sick with malaria. [Sickness] [Ardency] [Attachment to precepts and practices]
Story: Ajahn Mahā Boowa takes on the dtok bhat practice, but Ajahn Mun puts food in his bowl. Told by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Almsfood] [Conceit]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno meets a monk who didn’t need to sleep. [Devotion to wakefulness] [Sense restraint] [Concentration]
Story: Pa Auk Sayadaw didn’t sleep during a Rains Retreat. [Pa Auk Sayadaw] [Devotion to wakefulness]
9. Story: After staying up two nights in a row, Ajahn Boon Choo nods in meditation then establishes samādhi and sits without moving. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Sloth and torpor] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Concentration] // [Ajahn Kinaree] [Kaṭhina] [Wat Pah Pong]
9. “Sometimes I’ve been sitting a long time and am too tired to keep sitting, walk, or stand. Any suggestions?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Postures] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Sloth and torpor] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Pain] [Posture/Standing]
11. “Is it a good remedy to sit with eyes open when afflicted with sloth and torpor? Standing? Any other ideas?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sloth and torpor ] [Posture/Sitting] [Posture/Standing] // [Buddho mantra] [Three Refuges] [Perception of light] [Mudra]
Quote: “With sloth and torpor, we want to give the mind enough work so that it can engage itself in the activitity of meditation.” [Energy]
2. “Is the Buddha quoted as saying “I teach a path of the application of effort?”” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha] [Energy] [Right Effort] [Eightfold Path] // [Aids to Awakening]
Sutta: AN 3.137: Doctrine of energy (vīriyavādā) [Energy]
Sutta: DN 16: Mahāparinibbāna Sutta
3. “Is there a distinction between viriya and vayama?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Energy] [Right Effort]
4. “Can you speak about the roots of wholesome and unwholesome desire?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Energy] [Desire] [Becoming] [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities] // [Discernment] [Right Effort] [Learning] [Ajahn Chah]
Sutta: AN 10.58.
Reference: Listening to the Heart by Kittisaro and Ṭhānissarā (commercial).
1. “I’ve been struggling with sleepiness while trying to meditate, having the intention to be present and aware, but finding myself dozing off.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sloth and torpor] [Clear comprehension] [Meditation retreats] // [Conditionality] [Lay life] [Craving not to become] [Directed thought and evaluation]
Story: Ajahn Boon Choo meditates through tiredness after staying up for days. [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Kaṭhina] [Wat Pah Pong] [Energy] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Ardency]
Quote: “The boundaries we set for ourselves are oftentime much smaller than what we can actually deal with, work with, or be with.” [Self-identity view] [Clinging] [Patience]
12. Comment: Excercise in the morning can be used to overcome sloth. [Excercise] [Sloth and torpor] [Energy]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno]
11. “How can you chant to generate energy?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Energy] [Chanting] // [Postures] [Mindfulness of breathing]
8. Story: The cook assigned to look after Ajahn Pasanno doesn’t understand what he can and needs to eat. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Dtao Dum] [Almsfood] [Food] // [Industry] [Meditation] [Energy] [Health] [Patience] [Culture/Natural environment]
13. “Could you say something about the fact that extreme hardship exists in the world?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Poverty] [Compassion] // [Culture/Thailand]
Sutta: AN 4.162: Modes of Practice
Sutta: AN 8.2: Worldly Winds [Worldly Conditions]
Vinaya: The famine in Verañjā (BuPj 1.2.1, Brahmali translation) [Buddha/Biography]
Recollection: The vast majority of 20th century Thai meditation masters are from the Northeast. They come from a region and area of great difficulty. [History/Thai Buddhism] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Patience] [Energy] [Faith]
Recollection: More Westerners came to study with Ajahn Chah than Central or Southern Thais. [Ajahn Chah] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism]
4. “I have trouble maintaining wakefulness and alertness in the afternoon. What guidance would you give to cultivate more skillfulness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sloth and torpor] [Devotion to wakefulness] // [Buddho mantra] [Recollection] [Unattractiveness] [Posture/Walking] [Posture/Standing]
20. “I wake remembering dreams my dreams often and at times in the dream I know that I am dreaming. There are interesting aspects to this, but also at times I find it intense or tiring. Meditation before bed seems to intesify this. Suggestions?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Dreams ] // [Clear comprehension] [Relinquishment] [Mindfulness]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s Tibetan doctor insists he needs more sleep. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Health care] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Ageing]
4. “What makes you keep on moving?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno ] [Energy] // [Liberation] [Human]