Ajahn Pasanno
Teachings by Ajahn Pasanno
Ajahn Pasanno
Teachings by Ajahn Pasanno
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5. “How would you describe the jhana states and do you teach this kind of meditation?” [Jhāna] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Concentration] [Energy] [Clear comprehension] [Knowledge and vision] [Ajahn Chah] [Relinquishment] [Craving] [Conceit]
6. “When there is a lot of pain in the body, it is difficult to maintain “right effort,” yet sometimes through patient endurance the pain lessens or dissipates. Could you speak about right effort and the connection between right effort and samadhi?” [Pain] [Right Effort] [Patience] [Concentration] // [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities] [Fear] [Aversion] [Discernment] [Naturalness]
Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno learned from pain and illness in his early monastic life. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sickness] [Monastic life]
8. Quote: “I appreciate people's questions. I enjoy the questions, and I never quite know what's going to come out when people present a question. It's interesting to me as well.” [Questions] [Ajahn Pasanno]
2. “What happens when someone carefully builds the fire, but it turns into a forest fire–uncontrollable–and the person experiences mania, delusions, and paranoia? What is the spiritual treatment?” [Mental illness] [Delusion] // [Precepts] [Association with people of integrity] [Generosity] [Becoming] [Medicinal requisites] [Thai] [Work]
Quote: “One of the first spiritual treatments is to get them to stop meditating.” [Meditation]
Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno learned by experience that meditation is not a panacea. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
1. “Realized beings abound these days. Care to comment? When the conditions are conducive and the inquiry is in earnest, is it possible to wake up quickly?” [Stages of awakening] [Saṅgha] [Progress of insight] [Ardency] [Conditionality] // [Patience] [Ajahn Pasanno]
Quote: “Buddhism hasn't come to America yet.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Culture/West] [Insight Meditation Society]
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?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Monastic life] // [Culture/West] [Travel] [Culture/Thailand]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno begins meditation with a month-long Mahasi Sayadaw retreat. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Meditation retreats] [Mahasi Sayadaw] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno's first visit to Wat Pah Pong. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ordination] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong]
Quote: “If you want to stay here, you have to stay at least five years.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sequence of training]
Reflection: "Five years is five years. I'll go back and give myself to Ajahn Chah." — Ajahn Pasanno [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]
11. “It's been so helpful to hear stories from your own experience. Could you talk about some of the more challenging moments in your practice and how you worked with them?” [Gratitude] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Long-term practice] // [Doubt] [Patience]
Quote: “It's not me resolving doubt, but it's allowing the practice or the Dhamma to work.” [Self-identity view] [Dhamma] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Faith] [Three Refuges]
Simile: "Getting in the vehicle and allowing it to carry you." [Similes]
12. “What is the Pali word for letting go or relinquishment? Is this the opposite of upādāna?” [Pāli] [Relinquishment] [Clinging] // [Release] [Progress of insight] [Ajahn Pasanno]
Sutta: MN 37: Sabbe dhammā nālaṁ abhinivesāya–All dhammas are not to be clung to. [Conditionality]
Sutta: SN 46.1: ...based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release.
Sutta: MN 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta [Mindfulness of breathing]
14. “Do you think being introduced to Buddhism guided you to the contemplative life or would you have become a monk in any tradition?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] [Spiritual traditions] // [Meditation]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno's aunt remembers that he said he wanted to be a priest when he was young. [Ajahn Pasanno]
16. “I had an experience yeserday in which I may have seen a group of beings above us, particularly above you....I don't think I'm crazy, but I'm very interested in what the Dhamma says about otherworldly/non-material beings.” [Deva] [Goodwill] [Compassion] [Mental illness] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Culture/Thailand] [Realms of existence] [Culture/Natural environment]
Recollection: Spirits at Wat Pah Nanachat would request Ajahn Pasanno to dedicate merit. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Funerals] [Ghost] [Merit]
Quote: “They always had to use an intermediary because I was thick, thick, thick.” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Psychic powers]
Story: Ajahn Plien declares Casa Serena free of ghosts. [Ajahn Plien] [Abhayagiri] [Rebirth]
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....” [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] [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] [Personal presence] [Teaching Dhamma]
3. “Reflecting on your 35 years in robes, do you have any strong lessons that stand out?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Christianity] [Monastic life] [Long-term practice] [Discernment] // [Patience] [Ajahn Chah] [Virtue] [Meditation retreats]
Quote: “Oftentimes we don't really recognize the goodness that we're doing.” [Perfectionism] [Judgementalism]
Quote: “Patience isn't just enduring. It's being able to be present with experience.” [Direct experience] [Present moment awareness]
10. “What does Pasanno mean?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Translation] // [Faith]
Story: Why Ajahn Pasanno's name is mispronounced. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
11. “Can I give a metta hug to the cute little Ajahn?” [Goodwill] [Ajahn Pasanno]
16. “What could American culture learn from Thai culture?” [Culture/West] [Culture/Thailand] // [P. A. Payutto] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Cultural context]
Quote: “Mai bpen rai.”
Quote: “'If there was a culture that was steeped in Buddhism, that would really solve all the problems of the world.' No it wouldn't. There are still human beings there. They'll create suffering wherever they go.” [Politics and society] [Human] [Suffering]
1. Recollection: My connection with Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah] // [Wat Pah Pong]
Quote: “If you want to stay here, you have to stay at least five years.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sequence of training]
Jack Kornfield arrives with a large picture of Ajahn Chah.
Story: The needlepoint Ajahn Chah portrait at Abhayagiri. [Abhayagiri] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Devotional practice]
2. “Did you as a Westerner have any difficulties meeting Ajahn Chah either with Buddhism or with Thailand? How did it get resolved or did it get resolved?” [Culture/West] [Theravāda] [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Chah]
Story: Ajahn Chah replies evasively when asked three straightforward questions to teach his translator (Ajahn Pasanno) a lesson. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Aversion] [Questions] [Simplicity] [Teaching Dhamma] [Food] [Suffering]
3. “As an abbot taking care of a community, how do you handle it when a kerfluffle comes up?” [Abbot] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Community] [Conflict] // [Patience] [Views] [Skillful qualities] [Four Noble Truths]
Follow-up: “What are the antidotes to the next two Noble Truths?”
1. Story: Ajahn Pasanno attempts tudong in California. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abhayagiri] [Tudong] // [Ageing] [Health]
7. Story: Ajahn Supah chooses tudong over further studies. [Ajahn Supah] [Culture/Thailand] [Study monks] [Learning] [Tudong] // [Liberation] [Goodwill] [Simplicity] [Virtue] [Recollection/Virtue]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno's mother cries when she meets Ajahn Supah. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Faith] [Rapture]
Story: A python begins to eat Ajahn Supah. [Animal] [Determination]
4. “Can the practice be used in a punitative or punishing way?” [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] // [Culture/West] [Habits] [Clear comprehension] [Craving not to become]
Quote: “Having a human mind...it's amazing how perverse it can be sometimes.” [Human] [Unwholesome Roots]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno can't translate guilt into Thai. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Translation] [Culture/Thailand] [Suffering]
Quote: “All you need to do is create a cage of mindfulness around [unskillful habits].” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Sense restraint] [Mindfulness] [Unskillful qualities] [Similes]
Follow-up: “What about letting the tiger go instead of keeping it in a cage?”
Follow-up: “What about the case when one feels one is the tiger trapped in a metaphorical cage. How to escape?” [Liberation] [Perception] [Self-identity view] [Spiritual friendship]
6. “Could you tell of your personal experience with a tiger?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Animal] [Tudong]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno hears and smells a tiger while doing walking meditation. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Dtao Dum] [Culture/Natural environment] [Posture/Walking] [Fear] [Death] [Impermanence] [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension]
Sutta: MN 4: Fear and Dread
11. “I'm curious about your pre-monastic life and specifically what led you to the monastic life.” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] // [Temporary ordination] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong]
Quote: “If you want to stay here, you have to stay at least five years.” — Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Pasanno [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sequence of training]
13. “To what extend is spreading the teachings part of the tudong tradition?” [Teaching Dhamma] [Tudong] // [Culture/Thailand]
Vinaya: Kd 1.23: Venerable Assaji's demeanor inspires Sariputta. [Great disciples] [Perception of a samaṇa]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno goes tudong and is asked for lottery numbers. [Ajahn Pasanno]
4. Story: Ajahn Chah struggles through lust with patience. [Ajahn Chah] [Sensual desire] [Patience] [Tudong] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Human] [Meditation/Techniques] [Impermanence]
Quote: Ajahn Chah to biographer: “If you don't put that in the book, don't bother printing it.” [Dhamma books]
Quote: “If you ordain as a monk, your defilements ordain with you.” [Monastic life] [Unwholesome Roots]
6. Story: How Ajahn Pasanno became abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Abbot] [Tudong] // [Ajahn Chah] [Saṅgha decision making]
7. Story: Ajahn Pasanno's tudong practice. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Seclusion] [Tudong] // [Meditation] [Sickness] [Ajahn Amaro] [Abhayagiri] [Patience]
8. Story: Ajahn Pasanno gets a foot infection on tudong. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sickness] [Culture/Thailand] [Health care] [Tudong] // [Killing] [Goodwill]
9. Story: Ajahn Pasanno loses his vision on tudong. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sickness] [Health care] [Tudong] // [Patience] [Seclusion] [Dtao Dum]
7. “In the West, there are so many religious practices from the East. How do we relate to them all.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Spiritual traditions] [Hinduism] [Gradual Teaching] // [Buddha/Biography] [Teaching Dhamma]
Sutta: MN 95: Caṅkī Sutta [Conditionality] [Faith]
Quote: “I've been an abbot for thirty years, and I'm quite happy. One of the reasons I'm happy is I don't feel I have to go and convince anybody of anything.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] [Happiness] [Contentment]
1. “Could you tell us how you became a monk?” [Ordination] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] // [Culture/Thailand] [Meditation]
Quote: “I stumbled into it.” [Monastic life]
2. Comment: It's not so easy to let go of people who have been in my life forever to cultivate new friendships. [Relinquishment] [Spiritual friendship]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Judgementalism] [Virtue] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Views]
8. “I appreciate your emphasis on clarity, stability, and spaciousness. How does concentration relate to these?” [Clear comprehension] [One pointedness] [Spaciousness] [Concentration] // [Pāli] [Thai] [Etymology] [Tranquility] [Happiness] [Rapture] [Conditionality]
Suttas: AN 10.3: Virtuous Behaivor; AN 6.10 Mahānāma [Virtue]
Quote: “The way my mind worked before was, 'Boy, when I get my concentration together, I'm going to be happy...'” [Ajahn Pasanno]
Quote: “The happy mind is easily concentrated.” [Hindrances] [Relinquishment] [Knowledge and vision]
2. Comment: I have found your saying 'Just don't make a problem of it.' very helpful. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Cessation of Suffering] [Tranquility] [Proliferation]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
4. “I saw one of your new publications 'Don't Hold Back.' Why did you choose this title? The chapter on chanting answered many questions I had.” [Dhamma books] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Chanting]
2. “If this question is okay, could you please tell us any more about how Ajahn Chah challenged you in those first five years – and/or later?” [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Pasanno]
18. “After your 17 talks on Anapanasati, were you out of breath?” [Mindfulness of breathing] [Ajahn Pasanno]
1. “Would you mind sharing some of the difficulties you have had in your practice and how you resolved them?” [Ajahn Pasanno]
23. “Would you be willing to tell as a little about the first steps that led you out of Northern Manitoba towards becoming an abbot in Thailand?” [Ajahn Pasanno]
2. “At what point did your practice change from serving yourself (to end your own suffering) to self-less service?” [Long-term practice] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Cessation of Suffering] [Generosity]
16. “Do you miss Ajahn Amaro?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Amaro]
6. “I find I do need some pleasures even thought they don't last, things like fine arts and being in nature. I'm curious, how did you manage as a monk in your early years at Ajahn Chah's monastery where there's almost no pleasure....How did you manage to keep going over the years until the present?” [Sensual desire] [Artistic expression] [Culture/Natural environment] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] [Ajahn Chah] [Food] [Entertainment and adornment] [Monastic life/Motivation] // [Cessation of Suffering] [Happiness] [Simplicity] [Association with people of integrity] [Empathetic joy] [Human] [Hindrances] [Jhāna] [Virtue] [Discernment]
Quote: “One of the extraordinary perks of being a monk is that everyone tries to be good around you.”
Sutta: MN 36.32: "Why am I afraid of that happiness?" [Buddha/Biography] [Ascetic practices] [Suffering] [Skillful qualities] [Eightfold Path]
Quote: “As a monk, I can look back on forty years of living in a way where I don't have to feel remorseful or regret anything.”
[Session] Ajahn Pasanno begins the retreat by encouraging us to return to the basics of the Noble Eight-fold Path. He mentions Iris Landsberg, a long-standing lay supporter dying of lung cancer, both to set the tone for the monk's final visit to her and to encourage us to practice while there is still time. Iris passed away February 1, 2014. [Eightfold Path] [Sickness] [Death] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Sense of urgency] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Meditation retreats] [Family] [Health care]
Sutta: DN 16.34: The world will not be devoid of awakened beings as long as people are practicing the Eightfold Path. [Stages of awakening]
Story: Ajahn Pāvaro decides to practice in Bodh Gaya after receiving worrying medical news. [Ajahn Pavaro] [Visiting holy sites] [Impermanence]
Sutta: MN 131: Bhaddekaratta Sutta (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 75)
4. “Did any of the Western monks go to Ajahn Chah to ask about their dreams?” [Ajahn Chah] [Dreams] // [Ajahn Pasanno]
2. “What were the interesting practices you used so that you would get up as soon as you woke up?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Devotion to wakefulness] // [Mindfulness of body] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Sitter's practice]
3. “What about Luang Por Dune, he looks so mellow; was he ever animated?” [Ajahn Dune] [Personality] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Culture/Thailand] [Humor]
Reference: Gifts He Left Behind by Ajahn Dune.
5. “I got more a sense of metta from Ajahn Dtun than warrior spirit?” [Ajahn Dtun] [Goodwill] [Fierce/direct teaching] // [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sense of urgency]
5. “Ajahn Pasanno, did I hear correctly the other day that you met Luang Por Dune?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Dune] // [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Wat Burapha] [Personality] [Teaching Dhamma]
8. “I was reading that Reverend Heng Sure found that his meditation object was particularly bright and clear when he was around his teacher Master Hua. I wondered if you experienced anything like that when you paid respects to various Ajahns?” [Rev. Heng Sure] [Master Hsuan Hua] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Meditation] // [Conscience and prudence] [Respect for elders]
1. Information about Twigs and Branches of the Bodhinaya and the sections that Ajahn Kovilo reads. [Ajahn Chah lineage] [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma books] // [Translation] [Ajahn Jundee] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Sumedho]
4. “Was Ajahn Jun around when you were training?” [Ajahn Jun] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Liem] [Ajahn Boon Choo]
Story: Ajahn Sumedho gets upset at Ajahn Chah for not admonishing lax monks. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Admonishment/feedback]
6. Ajahn Pasanno tells how he went to Wat Pah Nanachat to make a bowl stand but got sick with scrub typhus. An extended discussion ensues. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Monastic crafts] [Sickness] // [Rains retreat] [Joseph Kappel]
1. “Did you participate in massage sessions with senior monks besides Luang Por Chah?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Upatakh]
13. “Can you recommend any practices to develop honesty with ourselves?” [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]
6. “Were there short periods of time when you lived with Luang Por Koon?” [Ajahn Koon] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Wat Keun] [Ajahn Puriso]
6. “How does one cultivate self-supervision?” [Ajahn Chah] [Desire] [Self-reliance] [Postures] [Continuity of mindfulness] // [Mindfulness of body] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Mindfulness of breathing]
Quote: “The body is like a mirror for the different moods and state of the mind as we're experiencing things.” [Similes] [Mindfulness of mind]
Follow-up: “I try to practice body awareness when my mind is being supervised...” [Long-term practice] [Ajahn Sucitto]
Sutta: MN 10 Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta [Right Mindfulness]
5. “How does one work with dullness and drowsiness in sitting meditation?” [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]
6. “Did Ajahn Chah use asubha practice during his battle with lust?” [Ajahn Chah] [Sensual desire] [Unattractiveness] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Impermanence] [Patience] [Conditionality]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 81.
1. “Did you live with Ajahn Mahā Som?” [Ajahn Pasanno]
5. “Did you think of relocating Wat Pah Nanachat to Wat Keun?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Wat Keun] // [Seclusion] [Ajahn Puriso] [Deva]
Story: Ajahn Chah asks Ajahn Pasanno to take over as abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abbot]
Story: Supporters offer Ajahn Pasanno several properties to start monasteries, but he passes them to others. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Generosity] [Culture/Natural environment] [Ajahn Gavesako] [Ajahn Liem] [Environment]
6. “You were offered a cornfield in Ohio? What year was that?” [Generosity] [Ajahn Pasanno]
11. Story: A Saṅgha meeting decides that Ajahn Boon Choo should look after Wat Keun. [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Wat Keun] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Saṅgha decision making] [Respect for elders] // [Ajahn Puriso] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Wat Pah Pong]
12. “If you had moved Wat Pah Nanachat to Wat Keun, would you have left Thailand?” [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Wat Keun] [Ajahn Pasanno]
Quote: “I had one plan and the devas had a different one.” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Deva]
Sutta: DN 16.6.15: Mahāparinibbāna Sutta [Buddha/Biography] [Great disciples]
4. Ajahn Pasanno describes the meditation method he used during his first year as a monk. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Meditation/Techniques] // [Contact] [Feeling] [Movement meditation] [Concentration]
9. “Did you use the method of balancing a needle between your thumbs?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Meditation/Techniques]
5. “Do you know Venerable Nirodha who translated this book?” [Ajahn Teean] [Dhamma books] [Translation] [Ajahn Pasanno]
2. “Did I understand correctly, that this talk was originally given in Lao?” [Language] // [Ajahn Chah] [Thai] [Admonishment/feedback]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno translates the talk "Two Faces of Reality" for the book Bodhinyana. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Translation]
Story: Chao Khun Nor eats the same meal every day. [Chao Khun Nor] [Food] [Seclusion] [Pūjā]
4. “Was your eight years living with novices like how it was described in this reading ['Toilets on the Path']?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Novices] // [Thai]
Story: Ajahn Preecha comes to Wat Pah Pong at the age of 11 or 12. [Ajahn Preecha] [Postulants] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong]
1. “When you were living with Ajahn Chah, were many of his talks more related to the Korwat or practical matters, as opposed to the High Dhamma?” [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Teaching Dhamma] [Protocols] [Dhamma]
Quote: “There's not really a separation.” [Vinaya]
Comment: Ajahn Chah taught to the situation. Contributed by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Learning] [Sequence of training]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Cessation of Suffering] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma]
2. “There were a number of different alms routes out of Wat Pah Pong. How was it decided who went on each one and how was the food distributed for the meal?” [Wat Pah Pong] [Almsround] [Almsfood] [Saṅgha decision making] // [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Ajahn Liem]
Discussion of almsfood distribution at different monasteries. Led by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Pesalo. [Ajahn Tongrat] [Wat Pah Ban Tat]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno helped pass out food at Wat Pah Pong. [Ajahn Pasanno]
Story: Ajahn Tongrat exposes a monk concealing fish in his ball of sticky rice. [Food] [Admonishment/feedback]
Comments by Ajahn Pesalo and Ajahn Pasanno about food distribution at Wat Baan Tat. [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support]
Quote: “It's incredibly tiresome how organized we [Westerners] have to be....Organic spontaneity–that's how things work in Thailand.” [Culture/West] [Culture/Thailand]
[Session] Readings from Sotāpattimagga by Ajahn Anan: “The Peaceful Heart Discovers the Truth” (partial), pp. 21-23; “When Calm Arises, Investigate the Body,” pp. 41-45; “When the Practice Declines,” pp. 68-70; “Nibbana is the Highest Happiness,” pp. 89-91. Read by Anagārika J.R..
Story: Ajahn Pasanno meets Ajahn Anan when Ajahn Anan was still a lay person. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Anan]
1. “Are there any stories you can share from the times when you were attendant to Luang Por Chah?” [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.” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Contentment]
Story: Ajahn Chah makes fun of Ajahn Pasanno's first Pāṭimokkha chanting. [Ajahn Pasanno] [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?” [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. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Culture/Natural environment] [Work] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Restlessness and worry] [Aversion]
Story: Ajahn Chah calls Ajahn Pasanno lazy. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Pūjā]
Quote: “Do you give up?” — Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Vinaya] [Relinquishment]
5. Reflection by Debbie Stamp: Caring for dying and grieving Abhayagiri supporters and family members. [Abhayagiri] [Sickness] [Family] [Grief] [Death] [Health care] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Christianity] [Forgiveness] [Fear] [Impermanence] [Merit] [Doubt]
Reference: Debbie transcribed Ajahn Pasanno's 2008 Metta Retreat, published it as Abundant, Exalted, Immeasurable, and dedicated the merit to her mother. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Meditation retreats] [Dhamma books]
Story: Ajahn Ñāṇiko hikes to the top of Mount Dana to dedicate merit to deceased relatives. [Ajahn Ñāṇiko]
13. “Ajahn Mun spent a lot of time teaching the devas. Can you share any thoughts on this relevant to Western culture?” [Ajahn Mun] [Teaching Dhamma] [Deva] [Doubt] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Culture/West] // [Faith] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Nature of the cosmos]
Reference: Venerable Ācariya Mun Bhūridatta Thera: A Spiritual Biography by Ajahn Mahā Boowa
18. Story: Ajahn Mahā Boowa bows to a newly-discovered photograph of Ajahn Mun. [Ajahn Mun] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Devotional practice] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Bowing]
4. “Does the current interest in meditation in Thailand extend to the villages around forest monasteries as well as urban areas?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Culture/Thailand] [Meditation] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Pong] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Lunar observance days] [Festival days]
7. “How often do you employ mindfulness of breathing in daily life? How much volition are you still using?” [Everyday life] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Volition] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Mindfulness of body]
9. “Sometimes I've been sitting a long time and am too tired to keep sitting, walk, or stand. Any suggestions?” [Postures] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Sloth and torpor] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Pain] [Posture/Standing]
3. “What are the connotations of "dhutaṅga monk?" Is it a slur?” [Forest versus city monks] [Ascetic practices] // [Tudong] [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Pasanno]
4. “I just wanted to share my gratitude for Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Ñāniko, and Debbie (you too Luang Por) for giving each day, very needed and timely encouragements—sometimes immediately answering a question I had just posed to myself. It's like you are all just reading my mind / heart. Questions go deeper and so do your reflections on Dhamma. (Bow, bow, bow, añjali.)” [Gratitude] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Ñāṇiko] [Teaching Dhamma]
1. Comments by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo contrasting the cannonical and commentarial approaches to breath meditation. [Sutta] [Commentaries] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] [Pa Auk Sayadaw] [Culture/Sri Lanka] [Culture/Thailand] [Pāli] [Ajahn Pasanno]
Sutta: MN 44 identifies in-and-out breathing as the bodily fabrication/conditioner (saṅkhāra).
2. Reflections 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. “What was the context in which this reflection was given by Ajahn Chah?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] // [Leadership] [Culture/Thailand] [History/Thai Buddhism]
Recollection: When Ajahn Pasanno first became abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat, he gave monthly teachings at the World Fellowsip of Buddhists. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Abbot] [Teaching Dhamma]
6. “Do you plan to lead any trips on pilgrimage?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Visiting holy sites] // [Sickness]
15. Story: Ajahn Pasanno's tudong in India with Ajahn Jayasaro. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Culture/India] [Tudong] // [Impermanence] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Not handling money] [Hinduism] [Islam] [Shelter] [Trust] [Almsround] [Visiting holy sites] [Compassion] [Devotional practice]
Story: An Indian Kshetriya notices that Ajahn Pasanno's etiquitte matches his training. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Vinaya] [Buddha/Biography]
Story: Ajahn Jayasaro tries to explain cricket to Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Recreation/leisure/sport]
16. “Is it difficult for two monks to get along the whole time?” [Communal harmony] [Conflict] [Tudong] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Jayasaro]
17. “Do you split up your almsfood?” [Almsbowl] [Almsfood] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Tudong] [Generosity] // [Culture/India]
18. “You slept outdoors?” [Shelter] [Culture/India] [Tudong]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jayasaro stay the night at the Buddha's kuti. [Visiting holy sites] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Buddha/Biography] [Great disciples]
5. “I wanted to confirm that we're also not putting this self on other objects like the redness belonging to the rose.” [Proliferation] [Not-self]
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]
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] [Not-self] [Clear comprehension] [Nature of mind] [Conditionality] [Craving not to become] [Views] [Self-identity view]
6. “How did you get through the 106° heat? Did you have a different schedule?” [Abhayagiri] [Culture/Natural environment] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Work]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno attends a very hot ordination at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. [Ajahn Pasanno] [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas] [Ordination]
3. “A lot of my life has been based on guilt, punishment, achievement, feeling driven, and perfectionism. Recently I experienced the reverse of this. Perfectionism is mixed up with wholesome desire. Could you respond?” [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Judgementalism] [Idealism] [Desire] [Contentment] // [Discernment] [Self-identity view] [Human]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno can't translate the question 'How do I work with guilt?' into Thai. [Ajahn Paññānanda] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Language] [Culture/West] [Culture/Thailand] [Suffering]
3. “Is there a way to get involved in controversial political issues and still maintain a correct [audio unclear]?” [Politics and society] [Compassion] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Environment] [Buddhist identity] // [Learning] [Corruption] [Divine Abidings] [Depression] [Ill-will] [Equanimity]
Reference: The Heart of the Revolution by Noah Levine.
9. “The Dalai Lama is the iconic image of Buddhism in the West, but the Theravāda lineage is not much out there. How do you spread the word?” [Dalai Lama] [Culture/West] [Theravāda] [Buddhist identity] // [Perfections] [Rebirth] [Advertizing] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abhayagiri] [Dhamma books] [Generosity] [Virtue]
11. Comment: People outside will sometimes make fun of our efforts to keep the First Precept. [Killing] [Culture/West] [Buddhist identity]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno]
12. Comment: Excercise in the morning can be used to overcome sloth. [Excercise] [Sloth and torpor] [Energy]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno]
18. “As our practice develops, is it common or normal for the mind to bypass first and second jhāna and go straight to three or four?” [Long-term practice] [Jhāna] // [Ajahn Pasanno]
7. “Can you tell us your story of when you decided to become a monk?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation]
1. “As inspiration for the rest of us, would you please talk about some of your milestone insights over your years of practice and what kept you going over the years, especially when you hit roadblocks?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Long-term practice]