Includes tags: Teachers, Mentoring, Personal presence, Fierce/direct teaching
7. Quote: “I never lived with him, so I never got the chance to get disillusioned with him.” — Ajahn Jitindriyā [Discernment] [Teachers] [Ajahn Chah] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Clinging]
4. Quote: “I think with any Westerner, we’re so full of ourselves when we go [to Asia]. We want to get enlightened....” — Ajahn Sumedho [Culture/West] [Conceit] [Liberation] [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] // [Mentoring] [Respect for elders]
3. Quote: “The years [ Ajahn Chah] took up his ascetic practices were something of a golden age.” — Paul Breiter [Ascetic practices] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Mun]
Quote: “How do you call yourself a disciple of Ajahn Mun when you only spent seven days with him?” – “If a person with good eyes comes close to something, he sees it.” — Ajahn Chah [Mentoring] [Knowledge and vision]
9. Quote: “I thought of him as the world’s most compassionate sadist.” — Paul Breiter [Compassion] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Ascetic practices] [Ajahn Chah] // [Teaching Dhamma]
11. Quote: “He taught different people differently....He gave us what we needed.” — Paul Breiter [Teaching Dhamma] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Chah] // [Paul Breiter] [Patience] [Monastic life] [Generosity] [Upatakh] [Devotional practice]
1. Reflection by Ajahn Sumedho: From idealism to the way it is. [Idealism] [Equanimity] [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] // [Culture/Thailand] [Culture/West] [Suffering] [Delusion] [Aversion]
Story: A Thai monk’s perspective on worldly stupidity. [Military]
Quote: “Someone with that kind of pure presence is really a mirror.” [Personal presence] [Teaching Dhamma]
1. “How did Ajahn Chah relate to the lay community around him and tailor the Dharma to their own circumstances?” Answered by Ajahn Sumedho and Ṭhānissarā. [Lay life] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Ajahn Chah] [Teaching Dhamma]
Story: Thai villagers tell Ajahn Sumedho that they never understood Buddhism until they met Luang Por Chah. Told by Ajahn Sumedho. [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Monastic life] [Generosity] [Meditation] [Community] [Family] [Mindfulness]
Quote: “He didn’t respond to the external cues but went to the heart and grabbed you in that way.” — Ṭhānissarā [Conventions] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Not-self]
8. Quote: “This is as cold as it gets.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Jack Kornfield. [Ajahn Chah] [Jack Kornfield] [Wat Tam Saeng Pet] [Culture/Natural environment] // [Almsround] [Mentoring] [Suffering] [Teaching Dhamma] [Sickness] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Humor] [Relinquishment]
12. Story: Ajahn Sumedho brings a group of Western women to meet Mae Chee Kumfah, only to discover she has converted to Christianity. Told by Ṭhānissarā. [Ṭhānissarā] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Mae Chee Kumfah] [Christianity] [Ajahn Chah] // [Impermanence] [Suffering]
Quote: “Maybe she’s right.” — Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Sumedho [Fierce/direct teaching]
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]
1. “In the palm reader story, you mentioned that Ajahn Chah still had a lot of anger, but he chose not to act from it. So does this mean that if there was a troublesome monk, Ajahn Chah would still experience a flare of anger but have the wisdom to set it aside and consider what to do with a cool head? This sounds similar to something Ram Das said about his practice....” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Aversion] [Discernment] [Ram Dass] [Unwholesome Roots] // [Personality] [Kamma]
Story: Ajahn Jayasaro is massaging Ajahn Chah’s feet when a monk undergoing a disciplinary procedure walks by. [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Vinaya] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Emotion]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno observes Ajahn Mahā Boowa’s fierce behaivor. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Arahant] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Rapture] [Goodwill]
Quote: “You never quite knew...you were always very careful around [Ajahn Chah] because you never knew which side was going to come out. It wasn’t as if he was just playing with you, but he always responded to the situation or the person.” [Heedlessness] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Personal presence] [Teaching Dhamma]
1. Teaching by Ajahn Pasanno: The role of walking meditation. [Posture/Walking] [Ajahn Chah] // [Thai Forest Tradition] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Lodging] [Sloth and torpor]
Quote: Ajahn Chah admonishes the monks: “I’ve looked at the huts in the forest where you monks live. I see the walking meditation paths, and I don’t see human tracks. All I see are dog tracks!” [Fierce/direct teaching]
1. “Are there any stories you can share from the times when you were attendant to Luang Por Chah?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Relinquishment]
13. “I am still very attached to my husband and children. I don’t want to relinquish the intimacy I share with my husband. I will suffer when they are gone. How do I reconcile this practice of relinquishment with the reality that I am a wife, mother and householder? With love.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Gratitude] [Family ] [Lay life] [Relinquishment ] // [Spaciousness] [Suffering] [Clinging] [Cause of Suffering] [Communal harmony]
Quote: “Relinquishment is a skillful acknowledgement of the areas where we do create suffering.”
Story: Visākhā, the stream enterer who raised 20 children. [Great disciples] [Stream entry] [Culture/India]
Quote: “Families that grow up with strong spiritual models are an incredible blessing.” [Mentoring]
5. “There is a borderline between being fierceful (in a wholesome way) and being aggressive. I can’t say anything about Dhamma teachers as I have never experienced Thai Ajahns, but a few yoga teachers I’ve studied with in my opinion were rather just exercising their power over students. How to tell the difference between a teacher who genuinely means well to their students while acting fierce-fully from someone on a power trip?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Teaching Dhamma] [Fierce/direct teaching ] [Abuse/violence] // [Truth] [Compassion] [Generosity] [Personality ]
Recollection: On the surface, Ajahn Liem appears disinterested in the human condition. [Ajahn Liem] [Wat Pah Pong] [Leadership]
Recollection: Ajahn Chah could be very forceful, but the bigger picture was compassion. [Ajahn Chah] [Fierce/direct teaching ]
Quote: “What is the mind of an enlightened being like?” — “Only compassion” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Arahant] [Fierce/direct teaching ] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
Sutta: AN 4.243: ‘But Ānanda, since when has Anuruddha been involved in disciplinary issues in the midst of the Saṅgha?’ [Buddha/Biography] [Great disciples] [Conflict]
1. “What can we learn when we pay respects to mentors?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Respect for elders] [Monastic life] // [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Almsround] [Ajahn Pasanno]
Story: Ajahn Mahā Boowa visits after Ajahn Chah’s death. [Ajahn Chah]
Story: Ajahn Baen admonishes Ajahn Pasanno at Ajahn Chah’s cremation. [Ajahn Baen] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Quote: “You don’t have to visit me! You know what to do already! It’s all right here (pointing at his heart).” — Ajahn Baen to Ajahn Pasanno [Fierce/direct teaching]
1. Quote: “One of the main characteristics of Luang Por Chah was his loving kindness and compassion.” — Ajahn Liem. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Liem] [Ajahn Chah] [Goodwill] [Compassion] // [Personal presence] [Equanimity]
1. “What should one consider when looking for a teacher or guru to guide one’s personal journey?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Teachers ] [Mentoring] [Discernment] // [Ajahn Chah] [Determination] [Truth] [Perfectionism] [Personality]
Quote: “I saw many people show up [at Wat Pah Pong] with their list of what they thought a perfect teacher should be....and they would leave.” [Teachers ]
Quote: “It is only when we are willing to give ourselves to truth or reality that the teacher makes sense.”