Middle Path (majjhimā paṭipadā)
Middle Path (majjhimā paṭipadā)
5. “What is your take on satisfaction, being in tune, and stagnation?” [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 [Middle Path]
6. “Regarding the lute simile (AN 6.55), I notice that even properly tuned instruments gradually creep out of tune. Is finding the balance a lifelong effort?” [Middle Path] [Right Effort] [Similes] [Long-term practice]
Comment about the need to put work into perspective. [Work] [Culture/West]
5. “It's interesting that he equates the extreme of self mortification to aversion, ill-will, and pushing away.” [Middle Path] [Aversion] [Ill-will] // [Ajahn Chah] [Desire] [Ajahn Liem] [Relinquishment] [Arahant] [Idealism]
3. “Do you have any advice for monks taking on additional practices (āditthanas)?” [Ajahn Chah] [Determination] // [Ascetic practices] [Appropriate attention] [Virtue] [Sense restraint] [Unwholesome Roots] [Middle Path]
6. Comment: I appreciate Ajahn Liem saying, 'I didn't make much of it.' It's a contradiction between being very active and not being active at the same time. [Ajahn Liem] [Middle Path] [Thai Forest Tradition]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Relinquishment] [Meditation] [Concentration] [Proliferation] [Nature of mind] [Faith]
8. “How can we balance happiness and ease with the desire to accomplish something using meditation techniques?” [Meditation/General advice] [Happiness] [Desire] [Middle Path] // [Recollection/Dhamma] [Hearing the true Dhamma]
16. “May I ask for your secret? [Why is Abhayagiri monastic training so often successful?]” [Sequence of training] [Abhayagiri] [Monastic life] // [Theravāda] [Simplicity] [Vinaya] [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Chah] [Middle Path] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism] [Right Effort] [Compassion]
7. “Why go through all the trouble to teach us how to not have a self and then refuse to tell us there is no self?” [Teaching Dhamma] [Middle Path] [Not-self] // [Relinquishment] [Suffering] [Questions] [Aggregates] [Sense bases]
10. “In regard to self and emotions, you acknowledge and embrace it but don't hold tightly?” [Emotion] [Clinging] [Relinquishment] [Middle Path] [Not-self] // [Discernment]
12. “The Buddha asks us to look at the things we identify with as self and notice they are not who we are. But if there's nothing else but those things, there is no self, right?” [Buddha] [Middle Path] [Not-self] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Learning] [Liberation] [Suffering]
Follow-up: “Isn't there then an implication that there is something else that could be self?” [Views] [Middle Path]
4. “Before the Buddha practiced the ascetic way, he already learned the seventh and eighth levels of jhāna. Why didn't that lead to his awakening?” [Buddha/Biography] [Formless attainments] [Liberation] [Jhāna] // [Right Concentration] [Right View] [Suffering] [Middle Path] [Characteristics of existence]
7. “The Middle Way – It is not 50% becoming and 50% annihilation, right? What is it the middle of?” [Middle Path]
4. “Where is the middle way taught in the suttas ? and how might that help some of us who consider extensive sitting practice an ascetic practice?” [Middle Path] [Sutta]
1. “The Buddha described his teaching as Dhamma-vinaya. Can you explain why it wasn't just Dhamma? What does this term mean?” [Middle Path] [Monastic life] [Dhamma] [Vinaya] // [Recollection/Buddha]
5. “Do you have any reflections on the "Do or die" attitude?” [Monastic life/Motivation] [Ardency] [Middle Path] [Monastic life]
6. “Can you talk about the dangers of misplaced or wrongly directed faith in a teacher?” [Faith] [Teaching Dhamma] [Respect for elders] [Monastic life] // [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]
2. “How do we discern the benefit of dhutaṅga practices and how much is too much?” [Discernment] [Middle Path] [Monastic life] [Ascetic practices] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Almsround] [History/Early Buddhism] [Gladdening the mind] [Ajahn Chah] [Master Hsuan Hua]
Story: Ajahn Jayasaro determines sitter's practice until Ajahn Chah dies. [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Respect for elders] [Determination]
3. Comment: I'm trying to move away from the concept of formal and informal practice. It's just how I'm practicing in practice this moment. [Continuity of mindfulness] [Meditation] [Present moment awareness] [Everyday life]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ardency] [Tranquility] [Middle Path] [Eightfold Path]
12. “What is the difference between emptiness, nothingness, and space? How can I use colors to develop the mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Emptiness] [Kasiṇa] // [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] [Conceit] [Middle Path] [Etymology] [Not-self] [Elements] [Tranquility] [History/Early Buddhism] [Culture/West]
10. Comment by Ajahn Pasanno: Throughout the whole teaching (DN 16) there is the sense of the ordinary and the transcendant together all the time. [Conventions] [Unconditioned] [Sutta] [Buddha/Biography] // [Nature of mind] [Ceremony/ritual] [Precepts] [Meditation] [Devotional practice] [Middle Path] [Release]
Sutta: Aniccā vata saṅkhārā... (SN 6.15) [Cessation] [Happiness] [Recollection/Peace]
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