17 excerpts, 1:28:27 total duration
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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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]
1. “I was struck by the simile of the stone being heavy, but you won’t know it’s heavy unless you pick it up, and it’s just like suffering. You don’t have to pick it up. I’m battling a loss in my life, and I’m suffering. I didn’t pick up the stone. It was flung at me. I’m not sure how to deal....” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Similes] [Ajahn Chah] [Suffering] [Grief] [Christianity] // [Human] [Naturalness] [Equanimity] [Self-identity view] [Goodwill] [Discernment]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 55: Five Recollections [Characteristics of existence] [Recollection/Death] [Kamma]
Quote: “Whenever you get into a fight with nature, you always lose.” [Naturalness]
Quote: “What makes it heavy is the ‘me’ bit.”
2. “Luang Ta Mahā Boowa often says, “You kill the kilesas” whereas Ajahn Chah in this talk [”Unshakeable Peace”] speaks of the path doing battle with the kilesas. Is this just the translation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Chah] [Unwholesome Roots ] [Eightfold Path] [Teaching Dhamma]
Recollection: When Ajahn Chah would use personal pronouns, he often used we as opposed to you. [Language] [Naturalness]
15. “Although in reasonable condition, I am realizing that fear / anxiety of death / non-becoming is pervasive in the background of my daily life. Does the Buddha speak to that which continues after the body dies? Other than the five recollections and contemplating impermanence, does he offer guidance on how to best prepare to greet ones own death? Thank you so much.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Fear] [Death ] [Rebirth] [Recollection] [Impermanence] // [Naturalness] [Spiritual urgency] [Clear comprehension] [Mindfulness of body] [Dispassion] [Divine Abidings] [Recollection/Devas] [Protective Meditations] [Factors of Awakening]
Quote: “The Dhamma is neither tall nor short, black nor white; it’s just right (por dee)” — Ajahn Kinaree [Ajahn Kinaree] [Dhamma] [Middle Path]
16. “Part of the sense of loss and sorrow is the joys that have created attachment. How to approach this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Grief] [Happiness] [Clinging] // [Naturalness] [Human] [Spaciousness]
Sutta: Thag 1062: Mahākassapa delights in nature. [Great disciples] [Culture/Natural environment]
7. “How do discoveries about the gut microbiome fit in with the Buddha’s teachings?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Science] [Dhamma] // [Not-self] [Self-identity view] [Mindfulness of body] [Clear comprehension] [Naturalness]
Follow-up: “How does the relate to monks who subsist on almsfood and sometimes don’t get enough, considering that the gut is controlling the brain?” [Monastic life] [Almsfood] [Health] [Ajahn Soṇa] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support]
1. “I know that everything changes, and the only thing we can do is accept or be fine with that. But then you have a lot of resistance to acceptance. What can we do with that resistance?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Impermanence] [Clinging] // [Naturalness] [Suffering] [Truth] [Patience ] [Continuity of mindfulness]
Quote: So often Ajahn Chah would respond with the advice, “Just be patient.” [Ajahn Chah]
1. “What is the translation of sabbaṃ dukkhaṃ? The way you translate it seems psychological. In Sanskrit, dukkhaṃ means out of the cosmic flow of Dhamma. But perhaps dukkhaṃ is best left untranslated. If untranslated, does dukkhaṃ mean the same thing in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering] [Pāli] [Equanimity] [Dhamma] [Translation] [Advaita Vedanta] // [Thai] [Human] [Aggregates] [Clinging ] [Knowing itself] [Relinquishment]
Ancient etymology of dukkha: du = bad, unwanted, unpleasant, uncomfotable, not easy; kha = where the alex fits into the wheel. [Language] [History/Indian Buddhism]
Sutta: SN 22.22: Dhammacakkappavattanasutta (Chanting Book translation)
Teaching: The four forms of clinging. [Sensual desire] [Impermanence] [Naturalness] [Happiness] [Neutral feeling] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Views] [Doctrine-of-self clinging] [Not-self]
Quote: “Nibbāna is the reality of non-grasping.” — Ajahn Chah [Nibbāna] [Cessation of Suffering]
2. “Is the desire to become fearless a cause of suffering? Is wearing a different kind of clothes also I-making?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Desire] [Fear] [Cause of Suffering] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Self-identity view] // [Craving] [Unwholesome Roots] [Naturalness] [Discernment] [Suffering] [Liberation]