Tudong Thai (ascetic wandering)
Tudong Thai (ascetic wandering)
11. Story: Ajahn Chah begins wandering in search of teachers [Tudong] [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Mun] [Wat Khao Wongkot]
13. Reading from the draft biography: Ajahn Chah visits Ajahn Mun. [Ajahn Mun] [Tudong] [Ajahn Chah] // [Relics] [Cleanliness] [Perception of a samaṇa] [Personal presence] [Vinaya] [Conscience and prudence] [Teaching Dhamma] [Knowing itself] [Nature of mind] [Conventions] [Unconditioned] [Faith]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 54
1. “You talked about having lost a gread deal of institutional knowledge in the Forest Tradition through not having monasteries. Do you think Ajahn Chah wanted to have the knowledge from Ajahn Mun passed down? Is that why he had lots of monasteries?” [Thai Forest Tradition] [Tudong] [Ajahn Mun] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Ajahn Chah] [Learning] // [Culture/Thailand] [Commerce/economics] [Environment] [History/Thai Buddhism] [Politics and society]
Quote: “Nowadays there aren't any tudong monks left. There's only taludong (through the forest) monks.” — Ajahn Chah [Tudong]
5. Reading from the draft biography: Ajahn Chah's mentors: Ajahn Tongrat and Ajahn Kinaree [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]
6. Reading from the draft biography: Ajahn Chah leaves his companions and stays alone. [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]
1. Story: Ajahn Pasanno attempts tudong in California. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abhayagiri] [Tudong] // [Ageing] [Health]
2. Story: Ajahn Chah lets a restless junior monk go tudong in the hot season. [Ajahn Chah] [Restlessness and worry] [Sequence of training] [Culture/Natural environment] [Tudong]
3. Story: Ajahn Jotipālo's tudong north along the Mississippi. [Ajahn Jotipālo] [Tudong] // [Robes] [Sickness] [Culture/West] [Almsfood]
4. Story: Ajahn Chah asks Ajahn Sumedho if he might go back to America as a monk. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Culture/West] [Monastic life] [Tudong] // [Almsfood] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism]
Quote: “You mean to say there are no kind people in America?” — Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Sumedho [Compassion]
5. Story: Ajahn Mun doesn't spend consecutive rains retreats in the same place until his mid-70s. [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] [Tudong]
Story: One million people attend the funeral of Ajahn Mahā Boowa. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Funerals]
6. Story: Ajahn Kinaree walks to India over the course of 15 years in the 1920s and 30s. [Ajahn Kinaree] [Visiting holy sites] [Tudong]
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. [Tudong] [Animal] [Determination]
8. Quote: “In the old days, tudong monks would show up at the monastery and ask about almsfood routes, toilets, and meetings. Now the first thing tudong monks ask is, 'Is there a cell phone signal?'” — anonymous [Protocols] [Technology] [Culture/Thailand] [Tudong]
9. Quote: “Instead of going tudong, monks go taludong (through the forest).” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Culture/Thailand] [Tudong] // [Environment] [Commerce/economics]
1. “Did you walk from Mendocino?” [Tudong]
2. “What is the function of a layperson who accompanies a monk on tudong?” [Lay life] [Tudong] // [Sequence of training] [Abhayagiri] [Eight Precepts] [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Chah]
Quote: “People who ordain quickly disrobe quickly.” — Ajahn Chah [Ordination] [Disrobing]
Story: Founding of Pacific Hermitage. [Pacific Hermitage] [Almsround] [Almsfood]
3. Comment: Living on faith increases your potential anxiety level. I came to Buddhism thinking this would settle my life, but I realize that being open, aware, and sensitive to the world keeps bringing me new challenges. [Faith] [Restlessness and worry] [Everyday life] [Conscience and prudence] [Tudong]
Sutta: Dhp 244-245: Life is easy for for one without shame. [Conceit] [Virtue]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: "You get more than what you bargained for." [Happiness] [Culture/West] [Communal harmony] [Trust] [Concentration] [Ardency] [Energy] [Discernment] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Right Effort]
Sutta: AN 11.1: Virtue leads to non-remorse and samādhi.
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. [Tudong] [Dtao Dum] [Culture/Natural environment] [Posture/Walking] [Fear] [Death] [Impermanence] [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension]
Sutta: MN 4: Fear and Dread
12. “If I saw you and the monks walking down the streets of Fairfax, I'm not sure I would know what to do. How should I approach you?” [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Almsround] [Tudong] // [Almsbowl] [Almsfood] [Not handling money]
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] [Tudong]
14. “I travelled for six weeks in Thailand and India and found that time really shifted. Having been home about two months, even with a daily meditation practice, time speeds up. How is life at the monastery versus tudong, and what do you have to say to laypeople about the speeding up of time?” [Pace of life] [Culture/Thailand] [Culture/India] [Culture/West] [Tudong] [Everyday life] [Monastic life] // [Craving] [Devotional practice]
1. Story: Ajahn Chah's first tudong. [Ajahn Chah] [Renunciation] [Spiritual search] [Simplicity] [Tudong]
2. Story: Ajahn Chah obsesses about getting robes. [Ajahn Chah] [Poverty] [Robes] [Greed] [Tudong] // [History/Thai Buddhism] [Determination] [Simplicity] [Craving] [Ajahn Kinaree]
3. Quote: “You fall down, you get up, you crawl along. ” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Patience] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Tudong]
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]
5. Quote: “You're inspired, and you put forth effort. You're depressed and fed up, and you put forth effort. You're rested, and you put forth effort. You're tired, and you put forth effort. ” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Right Effort] [Ardency] [Faith] [Tudong] [Depression] [Sloth and torpor] // [Gladdening the mind]
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]
10. Quote: “It all comes back to that simple quality of mindfulness. From the mindfulness, then the different qualities of practice that we need to rely on are cultivated.” [Mindfulness] [Faculties] [Tudong] // [Concentration] [Thai] [Translation] [Discernment] [Perfections]
Quote: “The base and foundation is the mindfulness. Being the knowing is always the foundation, and then the mind is able to become still, become settled, become steady.” [Knowing itself]
Recollection: "It's rare that Ajahn Chah would use [the Pāli term] pañña on its own. More often than not, he would use satipañña, which is mindfulness and wisdom together." [Ajahn Chah] [Pāli]
6. “Why did older men ordain as pakows and follow Ajahn Chah on tudong?” [Older monks] [Postulants] [Ajahn Chah] [Tudong] // [Culture/Thailand] [Food] [Almsfood]
5. “How much time did Ajahn Chah spend with Ajahn Tongrat?” [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Tongrat] // [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Tudong]
2. The current popularity of the Thai Forest Tradition can be attributed to Ajahn Mun. [Ajahn Mun] [Teaching Dhamma] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Tudong] [Ajahn Chah] [Spiritual search] [Culture/Thailand]
3. “What are the connotations of "dhutaṅga monk?" Is it a slur?” [Forest versus city monks] [Ascetic practices] // [Tudong] [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Pasanno]
4. Story: Ajahn Ñāṇiko's tudong up the California coast. [Ajahn Ñāṇiko] [Tudong] [Abhayagiri]
Reference: "Circles of Blessing: Our Redwood Tudong"
5. “Did they (Ajahn Ñāṇiko and Tan Pamutto) have backpacking gear?” [Ajahn Ñāṇiko] [Tudong] [Abhayagiri] [Shelter]
6. Story: The two-month tudong to Pacific Hermitage [Tudong] [Abhayagiri] [Pacific Hermitage] // [Ajahn Ñāṇiko] [Almsround]
7. “So it's pretty rare to get food every day when you're on a walk?” [Tudong] [Almsround] // [Impermanence]
8. “Do you have to educate the local people about almsround when you go on tudong?” [Tudong] [Almsround] // [Robes] [Culture/West] [Not handling money]
9. “How does tudong help you on the spiritual path?” [Tudong] // [Simplicity] [Craving] [Teaching Dhamma] [Faith]
10. “Is there a requirement for monks in the Forest Tradition to walk tudong?” [Thai Forest Tradition] [Tudong] // [Ascetic practices] [Ajahn Chah] [Restlessness and worry]
Story: Ajahn Chah tells a monk to pack his gear and walk tudong within Wat Pah Pong. [Tudong]
Story: Ajahn Chah lets a restless three-Vassa Western monk go tudong. [Tudong] [Teaching Dhamma]
11. “Can bhikkhshunis walk tudong?” [Bhikkhunī] [Tudong] // [Vinaya] [Sīladharā] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism] [Christianity]
1. Discussion of the reading and Tan Chao Khun Upāli as a scholar, administrator, and practitioner. Led by Ajahn Ñāṇiko, Ajahn Kaccāna and Ajahn Pasanno. [Chao Khun Upāli] [Study monks] [Types of monks] // [Ajahn Mun] [Tudong] [Geography/Thailand]
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. “When did Luang Por Liem come to Wat Pah Pong?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Ajahn Liem] [Wat Pah Pong] // [Ajahn Chah]
Reference: No Worries by Ajahn Liem. [Tudong]
2. “Was there a time when monks could wander the entire year in Thailand unhindered?” [History/Thai Buddhism] [Tudong] [Culture/Natural environment]
Story: Ajahn Kinaree wanders from Thailand to India. [Ajahn Kinaree] [Tudong]
1. Story: Ajahn Chah tells a restless junior monk to go tudong around the monastery. [Ajahn Chah] [Restlessness and worry] [Sequence of training] [Tudong]
2. Story: Ajahn Chah lets a restless junior Western monk go tudong in the hot season with strict conditions. [Ajahn Chah] [Restlessness and worry] [Sequence of training] [Tudong]
3. Quote: “Tudong should be something you're learning from.” [Learning] [Tudong]
4. Story: Ajahn Mun didn't stay consecutive Rains Retreats in the same place until he was close to 70. [Ajahn Mun] [Rains retreat] [Tudong]
5. Story: Lay disciples ask Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo to take them on tudong but bring too much baggage. [Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo] [Lay life] [Simplicity] [Tudong] // [Ajahn Mun] [History/Thai Buddhism]
6. Story: Ajahn Chah packs too much gear on his first tudong. [Ajahn Chah] [Simplicity] [Contentment] [Tudong]
7. Recollection: Ajahn Chah laments that the forests in Thailand are being destroyed so quickly that there's not much place for monks to wander any more. [Ajahn Chah] [History/Thai Buddhism] [Environment] [Culture/Natural environment] [Tudong] // [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Dtun]
Quote: “Nowadays it's hard to tudong because you taludong (go through the forest).” — Ajahn Chah [Tudong] [Thai]
8. “In one of Ajahn Amaro's first tudongs in England, the laypeople often knew where he was going to be. Is that accepted in Thailand?” [Ajahn Amaro] [History/Western Buddhism] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Culture/Thailand] [Tudong] // [Culture/Natural environment]
9. Comment by Ajahn Jotipālo: When Jay and I did our tudong in preparation for the Mississippi tudong, we planned every single night. We learned from that: Don't plan. [Ajahn Jotipālo] [Learning] [Impermanence] [Tudong]
10. “What happens if you lose your spoon?” [Almsfood] [Tudong] // [Requisites]
11. “Can tudong be understood as a metaphor for practice? When we carry a lot of heavyweight stuff for a long time, we get tired and need to drop something.” [Symbolism] [Clinging] [Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Tudong]
12. “As laypeople, how do we know if it is a good or bad time to go on tudong?” [Lay life] [Tudong] // [Fear] [Doubt] [Learning]
13. “After the initial impulse and intention to go tudong, once it's going to happen, is there an upwelling of uncertainty?” [Doubt] [Tudong] // [Renunciation] [Impermanence] [Clinging] [Learning] [Ajahn Chah]
Story: Chao Khun Nor stayed in his kuti and ate the same thing every day. [Chao Khun Nor] [History/Thai Buddhism]
14. Comment: This speaks to a Boddhisattva/Zen approach to karma. It's more your attitude towards your karma. [Bodhisattva] [Zen] [Kamma] [Merit] [Tudong] [Harsh speech]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tudong] [Impermanence]
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. [Tudong] [Vinaya] [Buddha/Biography]
Story: Ajahn Jayasaro tries to explain cricket to Ajahn Pasanno. [Tudong] [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. [Tudong] [Visiting holy sites] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Buddha/Biography] [Great disciples]
16. “Are there monastics who wander around the world without any home base or destination?” [Monastic life] [Tudong] // [Rains retreat] [Abhayagiri] [Requisites] [Almsround] [Culture/West] [Almsfood] [Not handling money] [Generosity]
8. “What encouragement or adjustments in their lives have you given struggling monks that have helped them remain in robes?” [Monastic life] [Disrobing] // [Tudong] [Teaching Dhamma]