1. “Could you talk about the time of the fires that came so close to the monastery?” [Disasters] [Abhayagiri] // [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas] [Lodging]
2. “Sometimes when I meditate, I have a pleasant sensation similar to goosebumps or light massage on the back of the head....I would be grateful for your advice in understanding it.” [Meditation/Unusual experiences ] [Rapture] // [Ajahn Chah] [Clinging] [Impermanence] [Relinquishment] [Characteristics of existence]
3. “What are the sufferings that you still struggle with? How do you deal with them and why do you think you still suffer with these sufferings despite following the precepts and the Eightfold Path?” [Suffering] [Eightfold Path] // [Unwholesome Roots] [Monastic life] [Views] [Saṃsāra] [Liberation] [Long-term practice] [Rebirth] [Faith]
4. “Why do you think we sometimes don’t know what to do with our lives? Did you experience this before becoming a monk and do you sometimes still experience it? What helped you when you felt that way?” [Purpose/meaning] [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] [Monastic life] // [Delusion] [Sensual desire] [Māra] [Impermanence] [Clinging] [Truth] [Determination]
5. “How does one practice wise restraint in lay life when one has to deal with family, friends, coworkers, and so on? Especially on the level of speech and emotions that one encounters.” [Sense restraint] [Lay life] [Right Speech] [Emotion] // [Discernment] [Unwholesome Roots] [Appropriate attention] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Mindfulness of body] [Clear comprehension]
Vinaya: Conditions for skillful admonishment in the Buddhist Monastic Code’s discussion of Bhikkhu Saṇghādisesa 8. [Admonishment/feedback]
6. “Is it possible that someone is following the Eightfold Path without being aware that it is the path laid out by the Buddha? It seems conceivable that someone could figure out [effort to increase wholesome states and decrease unwholesome states] but never realize what they are doing is Right Effort from the Eightfold Path. Could someone like this attain Nibbāna?” [Eightfold Path] [Buddhist identity] [Right Effort] [Nibbāna] // [Paccekabuddha] [Buddha]
7. “The concepts of non-self and rebirth seem contradictory to me. Can you expand on these topics? What is it that passes from one life to the next if there is no self?” [Not-self ] [Rebirth] // [Views] [Tranquility] [Insight meditation] [Aggregates] [Self-identity view] [Disenchantment] [Dispassion] [Unwholesome Roots] [Consciousness] [Proliferation] [Conditionality]
Sutta: DN 15.21 refers to rebirth and consciousness.
1. “How do Hsu Yun’s reflection ‘Who’s the guest and who’s the host?’ and Ajahn Chah’s metaphor of the one seat of awareness fit with [meditation practice]?” [Master Hsu Yun] [Ajahn Chah] [Similes] // [Knowing itself] [Discernment] [Equanimity]
2. Comment: If I’m able to settle into ease and spaciousness this time, the next time I sit, it doesn’t settle as easily, and I get frustrated and tense wanting to get to that ease again. [Tranquility] [Meditation/General advice] [Restlessness and worry] [Desire] [Judgementalism]
Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Mindfulness of body] [Present moment awareness]
2. “I am concerned about the clarity of mind if I have prolonged pain. How does one face death skillfully if one is in constant serious pain?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Pain] [Ageing] [Tranquility] [Death] // [Long-term practice]
Sutta: SN 55.22: Mahānāma worries about death. [Similes]
4. Comment: Sometimes when I contemplate maraṇassati, a strong sense of saṃvega will come over me and work seems pointless. But I’m currently in lay life, so if I get so much saṃvega that I don’t want to work, this is a problem. [Recollection/Death] [Spiritual urgency] [Work] [Lay life]
Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Right Effort] [Discernment] [Skillful qualities]
6. “What about a serious practitioner who refuses machines and procedures to extend life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Health care] [Suicide] [Aversion] // [Relinquishment]