32 events, 92 sessions, 186 excerpts, 14:18:01 total duration
Most common topics:
Ajahn Chah
(60)
Ajahn Pasanno
(16)
Relinquishment
(15)
Discernment
(13)
Similes
(12)
Monastic life
(11)
Culture/West
(10)
Dhamma
(10)
Happiness
(10)
Self-identity view
(10)
Page: 1 2 All/Searchable
10. “When you contemplate, 'Who is thinking? Who is breathing?' how does thid differ from thinking? Why doesn't it generate more thought?” [Hua tou] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Proliferation] // [Insight meditation] [Tranquility] [Restlessness and worry]
Quote: “The mind can still think and be peaceful. What a concept!”
18. “How do we take refuge in awareness (Buddho) in daily life?” [Buddha] [Recollection/Buddha] [Knowing itself] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Everyday life] // [Precepts] [Mindfulness] [Discernment] [Recollection] [Clear comprehension] [Right Effort] [Seclusion] [Nature of mind] [Proliferation] [Culture/Thailand]
Sutta: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta
Note: In the answer to this question, Ajahn Pasanno equates awareness with mindfulness.
Quote: “The literal meaning of Buddho is 'the one who knows,' but it's also being the one who knows, where you have the opportunity for us to be that knowing.”
19. “So being the one who knows, you don't have to react to dislike and like?” [Recollection/Buddha] [Knowing itself] [Aversion] [Greed]
Quote: “The difference between an awakened mind and an unawakened mind is that the unawakened mind keeps following likes and dislikes. An awakened mind can see that arise, establish itself, and pass away. The mind is the same.” [Nature of mind] [Stages of awakening] [Impermanence] [Cessation]
21. “How do you not objectify this awareness?” [Knowing itself] [Mindfulness] [Proliferation] // [Four Noble Truths] [Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Investigation of states]
Quote: “If you objectify awareness, you're going to suffer.” [Nature of mind]
Quote: “These Four Noble Truths are not an endpoint, they are something that you're internalizing and using in your meditation practice and in your daily life.” [Meditation] [Everyday life]
22. The values of the Thai Forest Tradition. [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Knowing itself] [Mindfulness] [Recollection/Buddha] [Four Noble Truths] [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Tate] [Ajahn Mun] [Heart/mind] [Three Refuges]
Quote: “Pay attention to the difference between the mind and the objects of mind.” — Ajahn Mun [Nature of mind] [Moods of the mind] [Discernment]
24. “Ajahn Mun's biography describes a constant fierce vigilance, watching the mind. But meeting you guys, you're so peaceful and calm. How does this work in terms of practice?” [Ajahn Mun] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Right Effort] [Tranquility] // [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Culture/Thailand] [Dhamma books] [Teaching Dhamma]
Quote: “Any great teacher is not monochromatic.” [Buddha] [Arahant]
Sutta: AN 4.243: "But Ānanda, when has Anuruddha ever concerned himself with disciplinary issues in the midst of the Saṅgha?" [Great disciples] [Personality]
25. “So what about the Bodhisattva practice?” [Bodhisattva] // [Theravāda] [Mahāyāna] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Generosity] [Ajahn Chah] [Upatakh] [Teaching Dhamma]
Sutta: AN 4.17-20: Practice that benefits self, others, both or neither.
Quote: "What are the mind states of an enlightened being?" "Only compassion." — Ajahn Mahā Boowa [Arahant] [Compassion] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
29. “The Buddha teaches to end suffering, but from the ordinary person's view, cultivating the practices of forest monks is also suffering. Who is right?” [Buddha] [Suffering] [Ascetic practices] // [Four Noble Truths] [Faith] [Investigation of states] [Happiness] [Feeling]
Quote: “The teaching of the Buddha isn't about language....The teaching of the Buddha is the language of experience.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Language] [Dhamma] [Direct experience]
3. “Is mindfulness of the body fabricating a wholesome mental image of the body as opposed to an unwholesome image? But how can we know the body in any way other than vedanā?” [Mindfulness of body] [Visualization] [Feeling] // [S. N. Goenka] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Postures] [Clear comprehension] [Right Mindfulness] [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation] [Delusion] [Characteristics of existence]
Quote: “The availability of insight is through stepping back from the assumptions that we make, whether it's around the body or feeling or mind or the sense of self.” [Relinquishment]
7. Quote: "Do you still have anger?" "Yes, but I don't take it." — Ajahn Dune. Quoted by Debbie Stamp. [Ajahn Dune] [Aversion]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Arahant]
Follow-up: “Do we know if the Buddha had anger?” [Buddha] [Sutta]
Comment: Māra cam to the Buddha many times after the Buddha's enlightenment. Contributed by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Māra] [Buddha/Biography]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Idealism] [Culture/West]
4. “Is pain an obstacle to reaching right concentration?” [Pain] [Right Concentration] // [Happiness] [Postures] [Direct experience]
Quote: “What's really painful about pain is the way we hate it.” [Aversion]
1. “What is your experience of directed thought and evaluation?” [Directed thought and evaluation]
Quote: “Directed thought [vitakka] is like lifting up the object in the mind. Evaluation is then looking at it from different angles.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Similes]
1. “Is it easy for a person with attainments to deal with the world?” [Stages of awakening] [Everyday life] // [Discernment] [Conceit] [Culture/West] [Wrong concentration]
Quote: “To push away the world is also to reifying it. One gives it power when one is afraid of it.” [Craving not to become] [Proliferation] [Fear]
Laypeople with highly developed meditation practice function well in the world. Comment by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Lay life] [Meditation/Results] [Energy]
7. Quote: “How do I get me some of that non-grasping stuff?” — Ajahn Sucitto. Quoted by Beth Steff. [Ajahn Sucitto] [Clinging] [Self-identity view] [Humor]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
Story: "Do I look macho?" Told by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Cittavivieka]
1. “Does AN 4.94 undercut the whole debate about whether to practice insight meditation or samādhi first?” [Insight meditation] [Calming meditation] // [Views] [Buddha] [Suffering] [Human]
Quote: “Just work with what you've got and try to free the mind. It's pretty straightforward.” [Liberation]
8. “Do you have to emerge from jhāna to contemplate the characteristics of the aggregates?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Jhāna] [Insight meditation] [Aggregates] // [Mindfulness] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Knowing itself]
Sutta: AN 9.36: “Jhāna.”
Quote: “Contemplation gets really good when you stop thinking.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Directed thought and evaluation]
9. “Is the goal (Nibbāna) a thought-less state of mind?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Nibbāna] [Heart/mind] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Formless attainments] // [Cessation of Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Impermanence]
"Who is the only person who doesn't think? An arahant? A Buddha?" "No. The only person who doesn't think is a dead person." – Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Arahant] [Buddha] [Death]
2. Discussion about kamma and the results of kamma. Led by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Kamma] [Conditionality] // [Abuse/violence] [Abhidhamma] [Ajahn Chah] [Vajrayāna] [Sickness] [Compassion] [Culture/India] [Equanimity] [Disasters] [Christianity]
Quote: “Too much Dhamma.” — Ajahn Buddhadāsa. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
Sutta: AN 4.77 Acinteyya: "Vexation or madness."
Story: Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Munindo: "If it wasn't supposed to be this way, it wouldn't have been this way." Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Munindo] [Self-pity]
Thai saying: "That's as far as their merit takes them." [Culture/Thailand] [Death] [Merit] [Thai]
5. Examples of signs and secondary characteristics of sense objects? Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Sense bases] // [Ven. Analayo] [Sensual desire] [Conditionality] [Food] [Appropriate attention]
Sutta: Thig 14.1: Subhā.
Comment about the feedback loop of perceptions looking for reinforcing perceptions. [Views] [Clinging]
Quote: “The underlying tendency to aversion is like a search engine.” — Ajahn Sucitto. Quoted by Beth Steff. [Ajahn Sucitto] [Aversion] [Similes]
7. “What is the mileage from Lumbini to Bodh Gaya?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Jotipālo.
Quote: “One mile in India does not equal a mile in America.” — Ajahn Karuṇadhammo [Culture/India]
Reference: Rude Awakenings and Great Patient One by Ajahn Sucitto and Nick Scott.
3. Quote: “Tudong should be something you're learning from.” [Learning]
7. Recollection: Ajahn Chah laments that the forests in Thailand are being destroyed so quickly that there's not much place for monks to wander any more. [Ajahn Chah] [History/Thai Buddhism] [Environment] [Culture/Natural environment] // [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Dtun]
Quote: “Nowadays it's hard to tudong because you taludong (go through the forest).” — Ajahn Chah [Thai]
9. “Is renting a good metaphor for not-self?” [Similes] // [Ajahn Chah]
Quote: “We only rent this house. We don't own it.”
Reference: "Our Real Home" in Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 145
5. “I wanted to confirm that we're also not putting this self on other objects like the redness belonging to the rose.” [Proliferation]
Quote: “It makes me suffer when those roses turn black and they're still on the shrine...which happens all the time!” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abhayagiri] [Devotional practice] [Impermanence]
8. “Do you think it's enough to just be aware of the suffering that's caused by the clinging to self?” [Suffering] [Clinging] [Self-identity view] [Dispassion] // [Characteristics of existence] [Cessation] [Ignorance] [Knowledge and vision] [Release] [Proliferation]
Quote: “The most efficacious investigation comes from a still mind.” [Concentration] [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation]
10. Quote: “One of the things I often attend to is the juxtaposition of stillness and movement. It's not that one is right and the other wrong. We can be still and really dull or the mind can move with clarity and acuity. But stillness and movement, what's generating it, what's pushing it? That bhavadiṭṭhi/vibhavadiṭṭhi is the engine behind it and the force behing the arising of a sense of self, a sense of me.” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Insight meditation] [Calming meditation] [Right Concentration] [Clear comprehension] [Nature of mind] [Conditionality] [Craving not to become] [Views] [Self-identity view]
11. Comment: Before I get to all that [deep reflection on not-self], in the meantime I thing of Luang Por Sumedho's saying, 'Every time I think of myself, I get depressed.' [Ajahn Sumedho] [Self-identity view] [Depression]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Five Precepts]
Quote: “It's difficult but it's not that complicated. The Buddha's teachings go against the grain of our conditioning and habits, but the essence of it is quite simple.” [Proliferation] [Right Effort] [Craving] [Simplicity] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma]
10. “Any advice for cures for burnout? I'm in a helping profession and feel depleted and exhausted. I need help getting the balance between giving and receiving.” [Depression] [Work] [Health] [Generosity] [Compassion] // [Culture/West] [Idealism] [Commentaries] [Selfishness]
Quote: “Compassion in the English language means 'to suffer with.' If you end up suffering with too much, you end up burnt out.” [Language] [Suffering]
Quote: “Don't think you're a ten-wheeled dump truck when all you are is a wheelbarrow.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah]
Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 291: Classical cultivation of goodwill and compassion, first to yourself. [Goodwill]
Quote: “Our ability to be with others and to help and to give is dependent on our being kind and compassionate to ourselves.” [Spiritual friendship] [Self-reliance]
11. “Is sexuality and wanting an intimate connection with another considered a negative desire?” [Sensual desire] [Relationships] [Desire] [Unskillful qualities] // [Food] [Clear comprehension] [Compassion] [Selfishness] [Discernment] [Precepts] [Trust]
Quote: “It's not so much a matter of thwarting desire, but understanding how desire works so we can build those bonds of trust and care.”
1. “I've been struggling with sleepiness while trying to meditate, having the intention to be present and aware, but finding myself dozing off.” [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]
16. “If you know of an abusive situation and both the abuser and victim are stuck in it, how do you hold this? How to encourage them to follow this path?” [Abuse/violence] [Compassion] // [Cessation of Suffering]
Quote: “You plant seeds of possibility. You can't make the seeds grow, but you can plant the seeds.” [Similes]
5. “Is jhāna only in meditation?” [Meditation] // [Right Concentration]
Quote: “Only farangs [Westerners] go into meditation rock climbing! Does he contemplate the Four Noble Trurths?” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Culture/West] [Recreation/leisure/sport] [Four Noble Truths] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Relinquishment]
9. “Isn't rapture and joy a sensual pleasure?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Rapture] [Happiness] [Sense bases] // [Dhamma] [Virtue] [Generosity] [Compassion] [Recollection/Virtue]
Quote: “You can actually give yourself permission to enjoy the meditation.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Meditation]
14. “That sukha (happiness) is still experienced through the sense object of the mind?” [Happiness] [Rapture] [Sense bases] // [Mindfulness of body]
Quote: “The way the Buddha describes the jhāna factors, all the images are grounded in the body.” (MN 39.15) [Similes]
19. Quote: “There are a lot of confusing views and opinions about jhāna and meditation. It's helpful to ask, 'What's the Buddha actually say? How does he put it?' I have a lot more faith in him than in a lot of what's out there.” [Meditation] [Faith] [Views] [Buddha]
24. “In the jhāna similies (MN 39.15), 'He makes...' seems very active. In dropping away things, is it a conscious dropping or an allowing?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Right Concentration] [Relinquishment] // [Volitional formations] [Conditionality] [Right Effort]
Quote: “Ajahn Chah emphasizes the doing within a sphere of detachment and letting go.” [Ajahn Chah]
8. “I practice the brahmavihāras, and not just on the cushion. How do these relate to jhāna?” [Divine Abidings] [Posture/Sitting] [Posture/Walking] // [Continuity of mindfulness] [Skillful qualities]
Quote: “You can sit on your cushion for a long time. Chickens sit for a long time, and they don't get enlightened!” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Liberation] [Animal]
13. “Ajahn Chah talks about the one who knows. Is this a purely mental excercise or is it embodied?” [Ajahn Chah] [Knowing itself] [Mindfulness of body] // [Culture/West] [Nature of mind]
Quote: “The Thai Krooba Ajahns translate 'Buddho' as 'being the one who knows.'” [Thai Forest Tradition] [Buddho mantra] [Translation]
4. “In the West, we personalize every bit of suffering. Is it different in Thailand?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Culture/West] [Suffering] [Self-identity view] [Culture/Thailand] // [Language] [Liberation]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno can't translate guilt into Thai. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Thai] [Translation]
Quote: “That's really suffering. Tell them not to do that.” — Ajahn Paññānanda [Ajahn Paññānanda]
Reference: Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast (commercial). [Ageing] [Sickness] [Family] [Health care]
6. Story: Ajahn Pasanno visits the elderly Cambodian monk Mahāgossānanda who has Alzheimer's disease. [Preah Mahāghosānanda] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sickness] // [Dalai Lama] [Divine Abidings] [Ajahn Chah] [Heart/mind]
Quote: “That thing you learn in meditation—that you don't lose.” — Ajahn Fuang [Ajahn Fuang] [Meditation] [Liberation]
Story: A monk known for psychic powers visits Ajahn Chah's sick room and reports: "You don't have to worry about Ajahn Chah. His heart is so bright." [Psychic powers] [Dependent origination] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Lunar observance days]
7. A diligent early support of Wat Pah Nanachat reflects, "I don't have money, but I'm not poor." [Treasures] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Wat Pah Pong] [Lay life] [Poverty] // [Lunar observance days] [Thai]
9. “I like the translations 'conscience' aand 'concern' for hiri and otappa. Having done unskillful actions in the past that create suffering, and being aware of the tendency to personalize, how can it be over and done?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Treasures] [Conscience and prudence] [Unskillful qualities] [Suffering] [Kamma] [Self-identity view] // [Four Noble Truths] [Divine Abidings]
Quote: “As a human being, I have the opportunity to learn from the past and move on to skillful action in the future. I don't have to be like a dog that barfs stuff up and goes back and eats it again.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Human] [Learning] [Skillful qualities] [Similes]
Quote: “The not-self refrain, 'This is not me, this is not mine, this is not what or who I am,' is not an abdication of responsibility but an understanding, 'This is the way I can put things down and move on, move past the things that are still creating suffering.'” — Ajahn Pasanno [Not-self] [Relinquishment]
Suttas: SN 42.8 The Conch Blower; AN 3.100: A Lump of Salt.
12. Comments about ongoing Dhamma practice and coming back to the heart. [Long-term practice] [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Ill-will] [Forgiveness] [Mindfulness of mind]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Merit]
Quote: “We're making choices all the time anyway; we may as well choose to be happy.” [Volitional formations] [Happiness]
13. “When you're living on the precepts, how do I relate to (for example) a friend who tells me about an affair they are having?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Precepts] [Spiritual friendship] [Sexual misconduct] // [Skillful qualities] [Admonishment/feedback] [Discernment] [Right Speech] [Vinaya] [Abhayagiri]
Quote: “Don't admonish your fellow monks before the meal.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Monastic life] [Food] [Eating after noon]
14. “Could you comment on the tendency to use one aspect of the teaching to bypass another?” [Spiritual bypass] // [Four Noble Truths] [Recollection/Dhamma] [Relinquishment]
Quote: “With some things, letting go means you're willing to commit to hard work, and other times you're willing to put down what is burdensome.” [Ardency]
3. “I got a little confused about the part [of MN 19] where it says, 'these thoughts are not to be feared.'” [Fear] // [Right Intention] [Calming meditation] [Happiness]
Quote: “In trying to stop thinking, there's an incredible tension that is created in the mind.” [Suffering]
Follow-up: “[MN 19] mentioned that these thoughts might make you tired.” [Sloth and torpor]
6. Comment: I've been reflecting on freedom from as opposed to freedom within. Sometimes there's a secret hope that those thoughts will go away, vibhava-taṇha, as opposed to freedom within, meaning releasing the identification with painful thoughts. [Craving not to become] [Self-identity view] [Release] // [Hindrances]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering]
Quote: “Just that much.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Disenchantment]
1. Quote: “That person is making me suffer....If they would just smarten up and do what I like, then I would be happy. My life would be smooth and peaceful again, just like it always was before.” [Cause of Suffering] [Humor]
Quote: “Don't believe your mind. It's a liar and a cheat.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Heart/mind] [False speech] [Delusion]
5. “Can you say more about how disenchantment can be uplifting?” [Disenchantment] [Gladdening the mind] // [Translation] [Bhikkhu Bodhi] [Suffering] [Skillful qualities] [Progress of insight]
Quote: “There's no known defense against cheesecake.” — Ajahn Sucitto [Ajahn Sucitto] [Food] [Sensual desire]
9. “Some of my suffering in the current situation comes from feeling compassion with regard to specific suffering that I'm aware of and not acting in response to it. What are helpful stories to frame a patient, long-term effort to effect change?” [Suffering] [Compassion] [Patience] [Long-term practice] [Kamma] [Activism] [Views] // [Association with people of integrity] [Right Effort]
Quote: “And just because one doesn't see results doesn't mean one shouldn't do something....To put the causes into something–that's the only way that change is going to happen.” [Conditionality]
12. “Is this along the concept of Right Effort in a global sense? Not getting attached to the outcome, but yet finding something that's important enough to put some energy into?” [Right Effort] [Activism] // [Kamma] [Energy]
Quote: “There's no such thing as doing nothing.”
16. “I spread lovingkindness from home and don't have the good fortune of meeting with like minds who practice to perfect sīla. Any suggestions?” [Lay life] [Goodwill] [Spiritual friendship] [Virtue]
Quote: Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Sumedho: “Do you mean to say there's no good people in America?” [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Culture/West]
1. “Why are the precepts worded as things not to do rather than as aspirations?” [Precepts] [Vinaya] // [Dhamma]
Quote: “You can't mandate goodness.”
3. “Two questions: 1) What strengths do you see in other Buddhist traditions and Western culture that our tradition could benefit from? 2) How have you decided which aspects of korwat (protocols) from Thailand to adjust and which to maintain?” [Mahāyāna] [Vajrayāna] [Culture/West] [Culture/Thailand] [Vinaya] [Protocols] // [Abhayagiri] [Women in Buddhism] [Robes] [Cultural context] [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas] [Dōgen] [Zen] [Ajahn Sumedho] [History/Western Buddhism] [Simplicity] [Christianity] [Renunciation] [Eight Precepts] [Not handling money] [Cittavivieka] [Ajahn Amaro] [Communal harmony]
Quote: “There are so many good things to do that you could be running around the country doing good things. I'd rather focus my attention here.” [Pace of life]
Quote: “There's no reason to fit into American culture.”
Story: The monastic jacket is vindicated in England. [Culture/Natural environment] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism]
Quote: “As Buddhist monastics and Buddhist practitioners, we're trying to set conditions that give us the opportunity for learning.” [Lay life] [Learning]
1. “What can we learn when we pay respects to mentors?” [Respect for elders] // [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
6. “Can you talk about the dangers of misplaced or wrongly directed faith in a teacher?” [Faith] [Teaching Dhamma] [Respect for elders] // [Recollection/Dhamma] [Middle Path]
Quote: “A good teacher encourages people to practice and figure this out rather than telling them exactly what to do.” [Discernment]
4. “At the beginning of this retreat, Tan Ajahn Anan advised us, "Don't forget Nibbāna." How do we orient ourselves towards Nibbāna?” [Nibbāna] [Ajahn Anan] // [Dispassion] [Cessation of Suffering] [Etymology] [Stream entry]
Sutta: AN 10.60: Girimānanda Sutta [Cessation]
Sutta: SN 56.11: "Whatever is of the nature to arise, that is of the nature to cease." [Conditionality]
Quote: “[The goal] is incredibly worthy, and it is not beyound our capability and means to experience.” [Direct experience]
1. Quote: “One of the main characteristics of Luang Por Chah was his loving kindness and compassion.” — Ajahn Liem [Ajahn Liem] [Ajahn Chah] [Goodwill] [Compassion] // [Personal presence] [Equanimity]
5. “Are there criteria you need to fulfill before the Saṅga will let you form your own monastery?” [Saṅgha decision making] [Sequence of training] [Monasteries] // [History/Thai Buddhism] [Teaching Dhamma]
Quote: “You don't have to worry about that, Dad. Thai Buddhism isn't organized.” — Ajahn Siripañño [Culture/Thailand]
8. “Kataññu-katavedi refers to receiving kindness and the recognition of the gift of kindness. How are w to understand cultivating the intention to offer kindness to others?” [Gratitude] [Compassion] [Generosity] // [Happiness] [Mindfulness of feeling] [Aversion] [Contact] [Spaciousness] [Direct experience]
Story: Villagers ask Ajahn Chah how he can teach Westerners when they don't speak Thai. [Culture/West] [Language]
Quote: “Dhamma is the language of experience.” — Ajahn Chah [Dhamma]
1. Quote: “Ajahn Chah tried to make practice into everything we were doing, whether we were monastics or laypeople.” [Ajahn Chah] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Monastic life] [Lay life] // [Work]
7. Reading: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 647-648 "Por Am" [Ajahn Chah] // [Right Livelihood] [Views] [Intoxicants]
Story: Ajahn Chah teaches Por Am herbal medicine so he can avoid killing animals. [Culture/Thailand] [Food] [Precepts] [Medicinal requisites] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Health care] [Lunar observance days]
Quote: “It's not possible to defeat the Dhamma, you know, and that's why you fainted.” — Ajahn Chah to Por Am [Dhamma]
15. “When you have completed the practice, does everything become 'down time?'” [Stages of awakening] [Recreation/leisure/sport] // [Clinging] [Almsfood] [Culture/Natural environment]
Quote: “It's because we reflect on these 'serious things' that we can hold things lightly.” [Recollection]
Suttas: MN 2.13: Reflection on the requisites; AN 5.208: Benefits of chewing toothwood
19. Comment: I have one of these thinking minds, and over the years I'm learning more and more to just watch where my thoughts go. I'm getting more comfortable with that. At the same time, I've heard teachings that as you improve your concentration on the primary object, your mindfulness increases as well. [Directed thought and evaluation] [Mindfulness] [Concentration]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Language] [Generosity] [Conditionality] [Desire] [Craving]
Quote: “The same word that is translated as concentration in English, when it's translated in Thai, is 'the firm establishing of the mind.' That has a different feel to it.” [Translation] [Thai]
1. “In Canada, medical assistance in death is legal. As an old person who will be sick and dying not too far off, it raises the question: If I got to the point where I felt even with good palliative and hospice care, I couldn't withstand the pain any longer, it's an option. But what about the first precept of not taking life?” [Sickness] [Pain] [Health care] [Euthanasia] [Killing] // [Relinquishment] [Self-identity view] [Idealism]
Quote: “Being present for the falling apart of the body opens doorways to release that don't really happen with, 'I just want to be done with this. This totally sucks.'” [Present moment awareness] [Death] [Mindfulness of body] [Release] [Aversion] [Fear] [Clinging] [Saṃsāra]
5. “Years ago I considered the Buddha someone wbo practiced harm reduction. But having worked in the field, I've started to have a lot of conflict around when people request paraphanelia to help them use [drugs]. The idea is to keep them alive, but now it's become very complicated because people are still dying. Is this a violation of right livelihood? Could you speak about wisdom and compassion?” [Intoxicants] [Health care] [Death] [Right Livelihood] [Discernment] [Compassion] [Gratitude] // [Right Intention] [Crime] [Politics and society]
Quote: “As a person who is trying to help, you have to learn harm reduction to yourself.” [Depression]
11. Comment: I'm improving my skill at seeing the greed or aversion when there are pleasant or unpleasant feelings, but I often don't see the neutral feeling state so clearly. [Mindfulness of feeling] [Feeling] [Unwholesome Roots] [Neutral feeling] [Delusion] // [Mindfulness of body] [Restlessness and worry] [Fear] [Present moment awareness]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
Quote: “That whereby one is a conceiver of the world, a perceiver of the world, that is the world.” — SN 35.116 [Nature of the cosmos] [Proliferation] [Perception]
13. “I live with my 96-year old mother. Her mind is quite good, but her body is ageing and there is pain in both legs. She has a stubborn will to carry on. We have our fights, but get through them quickly. I'm wanting to go to another level to develop patience. Can you comment?” [Ageing] [Family] [Pain] [Patience] // [Empathetic joy] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Relinquishment] [Gratitude] [Idealism]
Quote: “Even monks have mothers.”
1. Quote: “The kindest thing you can do for your parents is to not create them.” — Ajahn Sumedho [Ajahn Sumedho] [Family] [Goodwill] [Cessation] [Not-self] // [Amaravati] [Sīladharā] [Proliferation]
2. Quote: “Learning how to be comfortable with dukkha...is a willingness to open the heart to the whole realm of experience. That's an act of love.” [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Direct experience] [Goodwill] // [Generosity] [Fear] [Listening] [Clear comprehension]
3. “My natural tendency is to push the world away and to have the attitude that enjoyment is wrong. I'm working on trying to enjoy life. Do you have any ideas about this?” [Craving not to become] [Christianity] [Hinduism] [Ascetic practices] [Happiness] [Skillful qualities] // [Monastic life] [Ajahn Sucitto] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Culture/West]
The Rule of St. Benedict and Ajahn Sucitto's talk "Fellow Worms." [Humility]
Story: A BBC interviewer asks King Rama IX about original sin. [Media] [Culture/Thailand] [Nature of mind]
Causal processes leading to sāmadhi and dispassion have different starting points, but they all go through delight and happiness. [Conditionality] [Concentration] [Dispassion]
Quote: “Monks, do not be afraid of puñña.” — Iti 22 [Merit] [Fear] [Liberation]
Quote: “The happy mind is easily concentrated.”
1. “What did you mean by 'lifting up?' Is it an object of attention?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Directed thought and evaluation] // [Restlessness and worry] [Sloth and torpor] [Postures] [Energy]
Quote: “Namo viññaṇa dhatu (Homage to the element of consciousness).” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Consciousness] [Elements] [Knowing itself]
2. “Can one bring up a theme to gain deeper understanding?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Insight meditation] // [Relinquishment] [Cause of Suffering] [Dependent origination] [Conditionality] [Not-self] [Long-term practice]
Quote: “Whatever is of the nature to arise is of the nature to cease.” — SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta [Impermanence]
1. Quote: “If you want to succeed in your practice, you have to think a lot.... You have to think all the time about Dhamma.” — Ajahn Baen. Quoted by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Ajahn Baen] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Investigation of states] [Recollection/Dhamma] // [Chanting]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 6.
6. Quote: “We have to get out of the habit of being theives.” — Ajahn Buddhadāsa. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Relinquishment] [Stealing] // [Aggregates] [Clinging] [Naturalness]
Quote: “The peace of Nibbāna is note something that you gain, that you get, that you claim ownership over; it's by relinquishing and releasing these bases of identity.” [Nibbāna] [Recollection/Peace] [Release] [Self-identity view]
1. “What is your favorite thing you've gotten from monastic life?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] // [Virtue] [Teachers] [Contentment]
Quote: “You really get to see the best of the human condition as a monastic. That's a real treat.” [Human] [Monastic life]
8. “You mentioned that ruminating on how one would like to change the world or the conditions around oneself can be a source of needless suffering. But there are times when one does want to work to change the world or the way society is organized for the sake of lovingkindness and alleviating suffering. How do we engage with those desire for change in a skillful way?” [Politics and society] [Suffering] [Desire] [Goodwill] [Compassion] [Skillful qualities] [Activism] // [Conditionality] [Self-identity view] [Conflict] [Poverty] [Judgementalism] [Aversion] [Culture/Thailand] [Environment] [Idealism]
Quote: “If one is going to commit oneself to change, one has to get used to looking at things from a big perspective, a perspective of 'How do we include rather than exclude?'” [Community]
Quote: “You want to approach a particular problem with an open a mind as possible and then see who might be willing and able to help.”
1. “You have so much community-building experience. Can you talk about what you have found challenging or effective in this? How did Ajahn Chah build community?” [Community] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah] // [Saṅgha] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Virtue] [Trust] [Communal harmony] [Compassion] [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Chah lineage] [Recollection/Saṅgha] [Sequence of training] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Abhayagiri] [Eightfold Path] [Learning]
Sutta: MN 48: Kosambiya Sutta [Goodwill] [Generosity] [Right View]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno pays respects to Ajahn Chah: "If you want to stay here, you have to stay at least five years."
Quote: “The whole path of the Buddha is a path of learning, of education.”
2. “How to balance the tension between the warrior energy (taking action), the awareness of the perfection of all that is, and the weariness and humility that leads through this?” [Right Effort] [Present moment awareness] [Disenchantment] // [Suffering] [Discernment] [Fear] [Human] [Gladdening the mind] [Aversion] [Recollection] [Nature of mind] [Tranquility]
Sutta: AN 1.296-305: The Ten Recollections
Quote: “The happy mind is easily settled.” [Happiness] [Concentration]
5. “How to reach the state of peace and serenity when we're just human beings and we strive to be good people?” [Tranquility] [Equanimity] [Human] [Virtue] // [Happiness] [Generosity] [Association with people of integrity] [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Hindrances]
Sutta: DN 2: Sāmaññaphala Sutta - Fruits of the Holy Life
Quote: When asked about his attainments as a monk, “I'm just really happy about all the things I didn't do.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Ajahn Pasanno] [Stages of awakening] [Monastic life] [Sense restraint]
7. “Your advice to leaders in the conflicts of 2021 in terms of the leaders themselves and how they can inspire their teams and communities?” [Leadership] [Conflict] [Community] // [Trust] [Generosity] [Compassion] [Listening] [Ajahn Chah]
Quote: “Leadership always comes by example.”
Quote: “[Ajahn Chah] never asked us to do something that he himself wasn't doing.”
3. “How do I know what is the Middle Path?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Middle Path] // [Four Noble Truths] [Direct experience]
Quote: “It's not a concept. It's like are you on your bike or are you on the ground?” — Ajahn Amaro
1. Comment: I listen to the talks and read the books, and everything is so logical and rational, but I'm still stuck in habitual patterns of living. [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Dhamma books] [Everyday life] [Habits]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Association with people of integrity] [Community] [Monasteries] [Lunar observance days] [Online community] [Chanting] [Spiritual friendship] [Impermanence] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Generosity]
Quote: “When you're living with a group of people, not everybody is depressed and lazy and fed up at the same time.” [Unwholesome Roots]
Sutta: SN 55.5 Sāriputta [Factors for stream entry]
2. “Early on in practice, I learned that practicing sīla (virtue) leads to the bliss of the blamelessness life and creates the conditions for samādhi. What is the Pāli word that translates to 'the bliss of the blameless life?'” [Virtue] [Happiness] [Concentration] [Pāli] // [Right Livelihood] [Generosity] [Right Intention]
Quote: “Sīla is the opportunity to rise up to a life of integrity.”
3. Comment: Sīla (virtue) is like a compass. You know if you're off. [Virtue]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering] [Feeling]
Quote: “The language of Dhamma is the language of feeling.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma]
9. “It's understandable that we crave happiness through the senses. Attaching to a certain type of happiness through the senses is not helpful for cultivation. But there's also the emphasis on joy in the Buddha's teachings. So there should be a balance, and where to find that?” [Sense bases] [Sensual desire] [Happiness] [Gladdening the mind] // [Four Noble Truths]
Quote: “All the elements of the path are a source of happiness and well-being.” [Eightfold Path]
Follow-up: “What about the joy that comes from enjoying sensual things like music, painting, scents, and water?” [Artistic expression] [Beauty] [Clinging] [Spaciousness]