Also a subtag of Right Concentration
38 excerpts, 2:25:00 total duration
2. Story: How I met Ajahn Chah. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah] // [Types of monks] [Wat Pah Pong] [Seclusion]
Quote: “If you want to stay here, you have to be here for five years.” — Ajahn Chah [Sequence of training]
4. There was a strong independent streak in Ajahn Chah’s practice. Recollection by Paul Breiter. [Self-reliance] [Ajahn Chah] // [Teachers] [Seclusion] [Ardency] [Teaching Dhamma] [Patience]
2. Story: Ajahn Sumedho meets Jack Kornfield. Told by Ajahn Sumedho. [Jack Kornfield] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Chah] // [Wat Pah Pong] [Insight Meditation Society] [Judgementalism]
Story: Ajahn Sumedho stays on Pupek Mountain. [Seclusion] [Suffering] [Aversion] [Sickness] [Self-pity] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Robes] [Humor] [Gratitude]
18. Story: Jack Kornfield ask Ajahn Chah for permission to leave Wat Pah Pong. Told by Jack Kornfield. [Jack Kornfield] [Monastic life] [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/Other Theravāda traditions] [Seclusion] [Meditation] [Work] [Teachers] [Liberation]
Quote: “If I look like the Buddha to you, then you’ll still thing the Buddha is out here somewhere.” Ajahn Chah [Buddha] [Conventions]
20. He encouraged people to let go in so many different ways. Recollection by Jack Kornfield. [Relinquishment ] [Teachers] [Views] [Eightfold Path] [Ajahn Chah] // [Idle chatter] [Seclusion] [Aversion] [Ghost] [Fear] [Restlessness and worry] [Sense bases] [Direct experience] [Liberation]
Story: Sit in the middle of your anger. [Jack Kornfield] [Robes] [Lodging]
Story: Walk backwards in the forest in the middle of the night. [Sloth and torpor] [Posture/Walking] [Culture/Natural environment]
2. “Why did Ajahn Chah found Wat Pah Pong?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Wat Pah Pong ] [History/Thai Buddhism] [Ajahn Chah] // [Tudong] [Teaching Dhamma] [Personal presence] [Seclusion] [Compassion] [Family] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support]
Story: The first Rains Retreat with Ajahn Chah. [Rains retreat] [Devotion to wakefulness]
2. Story: Venerable Pabakkaro (Joseph Kappel) spends time in solitude. Told by Joseph Kappel. [Joseph Kappel] [Seclusion] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Sumedho]
3. Story: Ajahn Chah’s failing heath and Rains Retreat at Tam Saeng Pet. Told by Joseph Kappel. [Sickness] [Health care] [Rains retreat] [Wat Tam Saeng Pet] [Ajahn Chah] // [Wat Pah Pong] [Lodging] [Seclusion] [Generosity] [Joseph Kappel]
Story: “Pabakkaro, make me a Communist.” [Culture/Natural environment] [Medicinal requisites] [Contentment] [Sensual desire]
Story: Venerable Pabakkaro attends to Ajahn Chah. [Upatakh] [Humility]
Story: Ajahn Chah visits the branch monasteries for the last time. [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Vinaya] [Saṅgha]
4. Recollection: The June 2000 Saṅgha Meeting discusses allowable sweets and protecting Ajahn Chah’s name. Recounted by Ajahn Sumedho. [Wat Pah Pong] [Saṅgha] [Saṅgha decision making] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Seclusion] [Personality] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Medicinal requisites] [Technology]
12. Reading from the draft biography: Ajahn Mun’s character and legacy. Read by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mun ] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/Thailand] [Perception of a samaṇa] [Great disciples] [Ascetic practices] [Rains retreat] [Almsround] [Psychic powers] [Discernment] [Liberation] [History/Thai Buddhism]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 52
Story: Ajahn Mun disappears after being appointed abbot. [Abbot] [Seclusion]
6. Reading from the draft biography: Ajahn Chah leaves his companions and stays alone. Read by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tudong] [Seclusion] [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Chah] // [Spiritual friendship]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 89
Quote: “Where is the good person? He lies within us. If we’re good, then wherever we go, the goodness stays with us.” — Ajahn Chah [Virtue] [Blame and praise]
5. Story: Ajahn Mun doesn’t spend consecutive rains retreats in the same place until his mid-70s. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mun] [Rains retreat] [Ageing] [Tudong] // [Stages of awakening] [Seclusion] [Teaching Dhamma]
Story: Saṅgha authorities appoint Ajahn Mun abbot of a monastery in Chiang Mai. He leaves before dawn the next day. [Abbot] [History/Thai Buddhism] [Saṅgha decision making]
Story: One million people attend the funeral of Ajahn Mahā Boowa. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Funerals]
7. Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s tudong practice. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Seclusion] [Tudong] // [Meditation] [Sickness] [Ajahn Amaro] [Abhayagiri] [Patience]
9. Story: Ajahn Pasanno loses his vision on tudong. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sickness] [Health care] [Tudong] // [Patience] [Seclusion] [Dtao Dum]
3. “Could you give the Pāli words for dispassion, cessation, and maturing? Also the word you used with otappa?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pāli] [Dispassion] [Cessation] [Release] [Conscience and prudence] // [Seclusion]
14. “Could you please expand on compassionate seclusion in interactive daily life (both on and off retreat)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Seclusion] [Compassion]
4. “What are the three kinds of seclusion? What is upadhiviveka?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Seclusion] // [Clinging] [Self-identity view] [Aggregates] [Becoming]
3. “In the reading there was a lot of emphasis on solitude. Here we have a lot of time for that especially right now with our Winter Retreat, but we also have a lot of responsibilities and engagement in community. How would you recommend us balancing the two or using them to help each other?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Seclusion] [Abhayagiri] [Community] [Work] [Personality] // [Culture/Thailand] [Culture/India] [Ajahn Chah] [Unwholesome Roots] [Discernment] [Generosity] [Culture/West] [Self-identity view]
2. Recollection: Brief biography of Upasika Kee Nanayon. Recounted by Debbie Stamp. [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Lay life] [History/Thai Buddhism] // [Seclusion] [Community]
6. “His monastery is quite loud, isn’t it?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Dune] [Wat Burapha] [Seclusion]
5. “Did you think of relocating Wat Pah Nanachat to Wat Keuan?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Wat Keuan] // [Seclusion] [Ajahn Puriso] [Deva]
Story: Ajahn Chah asks Ajahn Pasanno to take over as abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat. [Ajahn Chah] [Abbot]
Story: Supporters offer Ajahn Pasanno several properties to start monasteries, but he passes them to others. [Generosity] [Culture/Natural environment] [Ajahn Gavesako] [Ajahn Liem] [Environment]
7. “Do foreigners still go to Wat Keuan?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Keuan] [Ajahn Boon Choo] // [Personality] [Ajahn Liem] [Seclusion]
10. “Did Luang Por Liem ask Luang Por Boon Choo to stay back when Luang Por Chah became ill?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Liem] [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Chah] [Sickness] // [Wat Pahk Kut Wai] [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Geography/Thailand]
Story: Karaoke bars spring up around Wat Pahk Kut Wai. [Seclusion]
2. “Would you be willing to talk about the difference between mindfulness, bare knowing, and the one who knows?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness ] [Direct experience] [Knowing itself] // [Buddha] [Clear comprehension] [Thai] [Discernment] [Ardency] [Seclusion] [Cessation of Suffering]
Sutta: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta
4. “Did any Wat Pah Pong monks spend time with Luang Por Gi?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Gi] // [Seclusion] [Ajahn Piak] [Ajahn Anek]
2. “Did I understand correctly, that this talk was originally given in Lao?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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]
12. “Was Ajahn Mun well respected by the Buddhist establishment or was he more of a renegade?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mun] [History/Thai Buddhism] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Thai sects] [Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo]
Story: Ajahn Mun leaves the day after he is appointed abbot. [Abbot] [Seclusion]
18. “How do we take refuge in awareness (Buddho) in daily life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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.”
3. “In the jhāna formula, in what sense is the word ‘seclusion’ used?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Seclusion] [Jhāna] // [Hindrances]
9. “Would you please speak a little bit more about “mindfulness” and the “sati” factor, since it seems to me that most, if not all, things register in consciousness. For example, “discursive” thoughts are registered in consciousness just as thoughts and we are aware of the thoughts themselves. What distinguishes “mindfulness” from lack of mindfulness during this process?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness ] [Consciousness] [Proliferation] // [Right Mindfulness ] [Ardency] [Thai] [Hinduism] [Clear comprehension] [Seclusion]
Sutta: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta
Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 431: The relationship between sampajañña and pañña. [Discernment]
Definition of mindfulness from P. A. Payutto: “That quality of mind which draws the objects of the senses into the heart.” [P. A. Payutto] [Sense bases] [Heart/mind]
Quote: “It’s like this.” — Ajahn Sumedho [Ajahn Sumedho]
2. “How closely do you and the other monks live together?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Monastic life] [Saṅgha] [Abhayagiri] // [Ajahn Chah] [Communal harmony ] [Vinaya] [Seclusion] [Culture/West] [Culture/Thailand] [Monastic routine]
Quote: “Human beings. Those are beings with issues.” — Ajahn Chah [Human] [Conflict]
4. “Will we get to see your kuti today?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Abhayagiri] [Lodging]
Story: Early history of Abhayagiri Monastery. [History/Western Buddhist monasticism] [Master Hsuan Hua] [Seclusion] [Culture/Natural environment]
3. “Will practice as a group help us in solitude?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Seclusion] [Meditation/General advice] [Community] [Monastic life] [Saṅgha]
4. “How do we balance solitude and communal aspects of practice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Seclusion] [Community] [Meditation/General advice] [Monastic life] [Saṅgha] // [Ajahn Pasanno]
17. “Abhayagiri’s daily and yearly schedule provide a good balance of individual and communal practice. How did this happen?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Abhayagiri] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Amaro] [Seclusion] [Monastic life] [Saṅgha] // [History/Western Buddhist monasticism]
5. “Is there a sutta about preferring the [forest] to the village, and then the bare earth, becoming more and more simple?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sutta] [Seclusion] [Simplicity] // [Emptiness] [Elements] [Relinquishment] [Generosity] [Goodwill]
Sutta: MN 121: The Lesser Discourse on Emptiness
10. “If you lose the firm center of lovingkindness, how do you reestablish it?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Goodwill ] [Concentration] [Right Effort] [Recollection] // [Visualization] [Mantra] [Seclusion] [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo]
6. “Why do the monks keep their eyes closed during meditation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Meditation/General advice] [Postures] // [Sense bases] [Seclusion] [Sloth and torpor] [Restlessness and worry]