Part of tag cluster Teachers in key topic Teaching and Teachers
Also a subtag of Teaching Dhamma
27 excerpts, 2:11:25 total duration
“What is the role of mentors and teachers in learning to use the monastic form skillfully?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Teachers] [Mentoring ] [Vinaya ] [Monastic life] // [Saṅgha] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong] [Teaching Dhamma] [Long-term practice] [Ajahn Pasanno]
2. The inspiration of Ajahn Chah. Teaching by Ajahn Sumedho. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] // [Mahatma Gandhi] [Discernment] [Humility] [Goodwill] [Mentoring] [Faith] [Learning]
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]
6. Ajahn Chah expected his students to rely on themselves. Recollection by Paul Breiter. [Self-reliance] [Mentoring] [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah] // [Vinaya] [Ardency]
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]
4. Story: “Sleep is delicious.” Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Admonishment/feedback] [Goodwill] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Amaro ] [Joseph Kappel] [Upatakh] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Robes] [Mentoring] [Faith]
2. “My life has been hugely impacted by Ajahn Chah, his teachings, and the spiritual family he introduced me to.” Reflection by Kittisaro. [Gratitude] [Teaching Dhamma] [Saṅgha] [Ajahn Chah] // [Happiness] [Teachers] [Learning] [Respect for elders] [Meditation retreats] [Body scanning] [Conceit] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Goodwill] [Humility] [Mentoring]
Story: Ajahn Chah sniffs around like a dog. [Kittisaro] [Similes] [Humor] [Mindfulness of breathing]
Quote: “He gave me a practice path that goes on and on to this day.” [Eightfold Path]
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]
8. Reflection by Paul Breiter: Ajahn Chah was unique in his way of taking care of people. [Compassion] [Monastic life] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Chah]
2. I was the first Westerner, so he gave me an enormous amout of attention for the first two or three years. Reflection by Ajahn Sumedho. [History/Western Buddhist monasticism] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Mahā Amorn] [Other Thai Forest teachers] [Pāṭimokkha] [Conceit] [Paul Breiter] [Truth] [Compassion] [Humor]
Story: Venerable Varapañño chants the Pāṭimokkha better than Ajahn Sumedho. [Competitiveness] [Jealousy]
Note: The story that Ajahn Sumedho didn’t tell is probably told in Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 189.
4. “If one were to become a monastic at Abhayagiri, how would one go about it? What are the day-to-day activities of a monk? What do I need to know and consider before making such a commitment?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Monastic life] [Abhayagiri] [Monastic routine] // [Sequence of training] [Saṅgha decision making] [Mentoring] [Robes]
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] [Long-term practice ] // [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]
5. Reading from the draft biography: Ajahn Chah’s mentors: Ajahn Tongrat and Ajahn Kinaree Read by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mentoring] [Ajahn Tongrat] [Ajahn Kinaree] [Ajahn Chah] // [Personality] [Respect for elders] [Upatakh] [Tudong] [Visiting holy sites] [Robes] [Relinquishment] [Monastic crafts] [Pace of life] [Craving]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 73
Story: Ajahn Chah meets Ajahn Tongrat.
Story: Ajahn Mun teaches his teacher, Ajahn Sao. [Ajahn Sao] [Ajahn Mun] [Liberation]
2. “Is it possible for an arahant to have seemingly negative thoughts or speech while free from defilement? In the Udana, Venerable Pilindavaccha gets complained about for calling monks outcastes or lowlings.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Arahant] [Unskillful qualities] [Great disciples] [Harsh speech]
Sutta: Ud 3.6: Pilindavaccha.
Quote: “Purity or impurity—you have to know for yourself.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
Vinaya: Kd 18.11.14 and Kd 18.12.8.4: Students and teachers are mutually accountable. [Vinaya] [Mentoring]
5. “Was Ajahn Chah involved in training the abbots of those monasteries?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Abbot] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Chah] // [Wat Tam Saeng Pet] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
3. “Was there some consistency around how Ajahn Chah taught monks in a large community and how he taught monks in a small community? It sounds like when there were eleven monks he was very involved.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Monastic life] [Mentoring] // [Ageing]
5. Comment: In the Thai Forest tradition there are some fierce teachers. In other Buddhist traditions the “don’t question the guru” mentality seems to get way out of hand, but in Thailand that doesn’t seem to happen so often. [Thai Forest Tradition] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Jia]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: Well, they just leave. [Ajahn Chah] [Respect] [Culture/Thailand]
Comments by Ajahn Pesalo and Ajahn Pasanno about Ajahn Jia. [Faith] [Liberation] [Personality]
Comments by Ajahn Jotipālo and Ajahn Pasanno about avoiding both blind faith and badmouthing others. [Malicious speech] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Kamma] [Ajahn Wanchai]
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]
3. “Would Luang Por Chah teach or test monks and students in different ways?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Mentoring] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Recollection: Joseph Kappel shakes with fear when on the receiving end of Ajahn Chah’s admonishments. [Joseph Kappel] [Admonishment/feedback] [Fear]
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]
1. “What is the role of mentors and teachers in learning to use the monastic form skillfully?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Teachers] [Mentoring ] [Vinaya ] [Monastic life] // [Saṅgha] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong] [Teaching Dhamma] [Long-term practice] [Ajahn Pasanno]
2. “Who were imporant mentors for you?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Teachers] [Mentoring] [Monastic life] // [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Jun] [Ajahn Mahā Amorn] [Ajahn Liem] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Baen] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [P. A. Payutto] [Wat Pah Pong]
Story: Ajahn Mahā Amorn goes to study with Ajahn Chah. [Learning]
7. “What is the role of admonishement? How do we admonish skillfully?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Admonishment/feedback ] [Monastic life] [Saṅgha] // [Right Intention] [Goodwill] [Mentoring] [Respect for elders]
Vinaya: Kd 18.11.14, Kd 18.12.8: Mutual admonishment between teacher and student. [Mentoring]
Story: Ajahn Amaro waits a year before giving feedback. [Ajahn Amaro] [Patience]
Quote: “Don’t admonish somebody before the meal.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
17. “Fifty vassas! Highs, lows? What are you contemplating these days?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] // [Dhamma] [Abbot] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Chah]
3. “Have you ever regretted choosing the monastic life? Has your mother ever thought you made a wrong choice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Doubt] [Parents] // [Gratitude] [Retirement] [Energy] [Mentoring] [Christianity] [Abhayagiri]
Reflections on leadership. [Leadership ] [Ajahn Chah] [Abbot] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Discernment]
Quote: “You can’t lead just by telling people what to do and they are going to obey. Forget it!” [Leadership ]
Quote: “Everybody else is a mirror for oneself if one is willing to learn in teaching or leading others.” [Leadership ] [Learning]
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.”
Quote: “It is only when we are willing to give ourselves to truth or reality that the teacher makes sense.”
13. Reflection by Ajahn Cunda: Training under the co-abbots. [Abbot] [Ajahn Amaro] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] [Abhayagiri] [Mentoring] // [Craving] [Teaching Dhamma] [Communal harmony] [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo]
Quote: “Two tigers in one cave.” — Thai saying. [Leadership] [Culture/Thailand]