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3. “Was there a time in Thai history when meditation was a routine part of childhood education?” [History/Thai Buddhism] [Children] [Learning] [Meditation] // [Three Refuges] [Chanting] [Right View]
Reflection: Ajahn Liem’s mother and sister were nuns with similar demeanor. [Ajahn Liem] [Family] [Mae Chee] [Wat Pah Pong] [Personality]
5. Recollection: Ajahn Liem leads by example. Recounted by Ajahn Pasanno.
6. “Is Ajahn Liem continuing to take care of his health?” [Ajahn Liem] [Health] // [Medicinal requisites] [Food] [Health care]
7. “Does Ajahn Liem attend morning and evening pūjā?” [Ajahn Liem] [Pūjā] // [Culture/Thailand] [Wat Pah Pong]
Story: Ajahn Liem silently walks around and looks at the monks during morning pūjā. Told by Ajahn Ñāṇiko.
Follow-up: “Did Ajahn Chah go to morning and evening pūjā?” [Ajahn Chah]
Follow-up: “In the early years of Wat Ban Tad, was it always practice on your own?” [Wat Pah Ban Tat] [Thai sects] [Ajahn Tongrat] [Ajahn Baen]
Story: Too many monks skip pūjā to massage Ajahn Liem. Told by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Upatakh]
Recollections: Bhante Gunaratana comes to morning pūjā early. Recounted by Ajahn Jotipālo and Beth Steff. [Bhante Gunaratana]
1. Ajahn Pasanno introduces Ajahn Koon and Twigs and Branches of the Bodhinyana. [Dhamma books] [Ajahn Koon]
2. Reading: Interview with Ajahn Koon in Twigs and Branches of the Bodhinyana.
3. Story: Ajahn Tongrat walks past a pregnant woman and says, “Oh, there’s a really good monk in your stomach there.” [Ajahn Tongrat] [Ajahn Koon] [Almsround]
4. Recollection: Ajahn Chah didn’t let Western monks stay with Ajahn Koon since it was close to the Laos border. [Ajahn Chah] [Military] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism] // [Ajahn Koon] [Ajahn Anando]
5. Story: Ajahn Chah prevents supporters from bringing Ajahn Sumedho special food. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Food] [Ajahn Chah]
6. “Were there short periods of time when you lived with Luang Por Koon?” [Ajahn Koon] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Wat Keuan] [Ajahn Puriso]
1. Introduction to The Natural Character of Awakening and Chao Khun Upāli. Teaching by Ajahn Jotipālo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Chao Khun Upāli] [Ajahn Mun] [Forest versus city monks]
Story: Ajahn Mun takes on the role of abbot at a city temple out of respect for Chao Khun Upāli’s request. [Abbot]
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]
4. “What is the distinction Chao Khun Upāli makes between lokuttara discernment and higher discernment?” [Chao Khun Upāli] [Discernment] [Impermanence] [Aggregates] [Suffering] [Cause of Suffering] // [Commentaries] [Ajahn Chah] [Study monks]
5. “What is the difference between abandoning craving and realizing the abandoning of craving?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Impermanence] [Aggregates] [Cause of Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Commentaries] [Doubt] [Relinquishment] [Concentration] [Gladdening the mind] [Desire] [Becoming] [Non-return] [Right View]
Sutta: SN 56.11 Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: MN 121 Cūḷa Suññata Sutta: The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness [Emptiness]
Quote: “The characteristic of cessation is not just ending something and annihilating [it], but it’s being willing and able to stop. The nature of the mind is that it doesn’t like to stop. And it’s [through] that not stopping that we keep creating that sense of me.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Cessation] [Nature of mind] [Self-identity view]
6. “How many Somdets and Chao Khuns are there at any given time?” [History/Thai Buddhism] [Monastic titles] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Liem]
7. “What’s the Thai for ‘Supreme Patriarch’?” [Thai] [Monastic titles]
2. Recollection: Background of Wat Keuan. [Wat Keuan] // [Ajahn Chah] [Monastic titles] [Environment] [Ajahn Puriso] [Military] [Animal]
Story: Ajahn Chah ordains a group of university students and takes them to Wat Keuan. [Temporary ordination]
4. “How do you balance Ajahn Chah’s instruction to put away the books with the desire to study and understand the teachings?” [Ajahn Chah] [Learning] [Sutta] [Study monks] // [Culture/West] [Faith] [Doubt]
5. “Did Ajahn Chah ever tell a student to study?” [Ajahn Chah] [Learning ] // [Eightfold Path] [Study monks] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma]
Quote: “These are not absolute statements. When Ajahn Chah says something, he’s pointing. He just doesn’t work that way. And we take it as an absolute.” [Teaching Dhamma] [Proliferation]
Story: Ajahn Chah monks who became study monks. [Ajahn Bunjong] [Ajahn Mahā In]
6. “Ajahn Chah and other Thai Ajahns emphasize this quality of steady practice. Ajahn Chah showed this was the way to solve the dillema of desire being both the root of all suffering and a necessary ingredient to being able to practice at all....It seems the main obstacle to achieving steady practice is the variability of that part of my awareness that is supervising what is going on....How does one cultivate self-supervision?” [Ajahn Chah] [Desire] [Self-reliance] [Postures] [Continuity of mindfulness ] // [Mindfulness of body ] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Mindfulness of breathing]
Quote: “The body is like a mirror for the different moods and state of the mind as we’re experiencing things.” [Similes] [Mindfulness of mind]
Follow-up: “I try to practice body awareness when my mind is being supervised...” [Long-term practice] [Ajahn Sucitto]
Sutta: MN 10 Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta [Right Mindfulness]
1. Ajahn Pasanno describes the atmosphere of Cold War fear. [Fear] [Politics and society] [Military] // [Culture/West] [Amaravati] [Ajahn Sumedho]
2. Comment about the purpose and function of the path. Contributed by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Eightfold Path] [Cessation of Suffering] [Concentration] [Discernment]
Responses by Ajahn Ñāṇiko and Ajahn Pasanno. [Right View] [Relinquishment] [Self-identity view]
4. Quote: “The take-away bit of the forest teachers or ethos is that we have everything within us....They are coming at it from all different angles, but the underlying thread is that theme of relying on and refining capabilities that we actually have. Sīla, samādhi, and pañña are not external to us.” [Thai Forest Tradition ] [Self-reliance] [Eightfold Path]
5. “How does one work with dullness and drowsiness in sitting meditation?” [Sloth and torpor] [Posture/Sitting] // [Hindrances] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Ajahn Chah] [Posture/Walking] [Culture/Natural environment] [Posture/Standing] [Continuity of mindfulness]
Sutta: AN 7.58 Capala Sutta: “Are you nodding, Moggallana?” [Great disciples]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno walks in the forest without a flashlight to dispel drowsiness. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Dtao Dum] [Devotion to wakefulness]
1. Background informatin about Ajahn Suwat. [Ajahn Suwat] // [Ajahn Fun] [Ajahn Mun] [Ajahn Dune]
3. Ajahn Pasanno asks Ajahn Pesalo for more information about Ajahn Suwat. [Ajahn Suwat] // [Death] [Wat Buridat] [Sickness]
4. “Where is Wat Buridat?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Pesalo. [Wat Buridat] // [Ajahn Suwat] [Wat Metta] [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] [Insight Meditation Society]
5. “Did Ajahn Mahā Boowa always praise the dtuaṅga practices?” [Ascetic practices] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Mun] // [Qualities for non-decline]
Story: Ajahn Mun tells Ajahn Mahā Boowa to stop sweeping when he is sick with malaria. [Sickness] [Ardency] [Attachment to precepts and practices]
Story: Ajahn Mahā Boowa takes on the dtok bhat practice, but Ajahn Mun puts food in his bowl. Told by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Almsfood] [Conceit]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno meets a monk who didn’t need to sleep. [Devotion to wakefulness] [Sense restraint] [Concentration]
Story: Pa Auk Sayadaw didn’t sleep during a Rains Retreat. [Pa Auk Sayadaw]
1. Story: Ajahn Chah asks Ajahn Mun whether he should reordain as a Dhammayut monk. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Mun] [Thai sects]
2. Ajahn Pasanno gives more information about the cremation ground story. [Ajahn Chah] [Personality] [Postulants]
3. “Did the pakow who accompanied Ajahn Chah to the cremation ground ever ordain?” [Ajahn Chah] [Postulants]
5. “Are the boundaries between Dhammayut and Mahanikai breaking down?” [Thai sects] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Vinaya]
1. “Is samwat a Thai word for saṁvega?” [Thai] [Spiritual urgency]
2. “How common is burial as opposed to cremation in Thailand?” [Culture/Thailand] [Funerals] // [Death] [Suicide] [Ghost] [Rebirth]
Story: A person killed by a gunshot wound doesn’t realize that he is dead.
3. “Why are dead children buried?” [Death] [Children] [Culture/Thailand]
4. “When and why did Ajahn Chah talk about his past?” [Ajahn Chah] [Teaching Dhamma] // [Stories]
5. “Did Ajahn Chah say, “I’m such a good teacher because I had so many defilements?”” [Ajahn Chah] [Teaching Dhamma] [Unwholesome Roots]
Story: Ajahn Chah explains that he had a lot of defilements to work with. [Ajahn Viradhammo]
6. “Did Ajahn Chah use asubha practice during his battle with lust?” [Ajahn Chah] [Sensual desire] [Unattractiveness] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Impermanence] [Patience] [Conditionality]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 81.
3. Ajahn Anan’s deference to Luang Por Chah. Recollection by Ajahn Jotipālo. [Ajahn Anan] [Ajahn Chah] [Respect for elders]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
4. The trio of Ajahn Piak, Ajahn Anan, and Ajahn Dtun. [Ajahn Piak ] [Ajahn Anan ] [Ajahn Dtun ] [Wat Pah Pong] [Spiritual friendship] [Ajahn Chah]
Quote: “Ajahn Dtun’s path is the path of wisdom...Ajahn Piak is gifted in samādhi. And I have very strong faith.” — Ajahn Anan [Discernment] [Concentration] [Faith]
5. “It seems unusual for a monk to talk about his meditative attainments. Is this unusual or frowned upon?” [Monastic life] [Stages of awakening]
6. “Did Ajahn Piak and Ajahn Anan leave Wat Pah Pong together to found Wat Fah Krahm?” [Ajahn Piak] [Ajahn Anan] [Wat Pah Pong] [Wat Fah Krahm] // [Ajahn Dtun] [History/Thai Buddhism] [Sequence of training]
7. “Is this the monastery near the airport?” [Wat Fah Krahm]
8. “When Ajahn Anan left for Rayong, had Ajahn Dtun already left?” [Ajahn Anan] [Ajahn Dtun]
9. “How long was Ajahn Anan at Wat Fah Krahm?” [Ajahn Anan] [Wat Fah Krahm]
10. “How can we interest the mind in the recollection of death?” [Recollection/Death] [Desire] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Sickness] [Death] [Poo Jum Gom] [Mindfulness of body] [Spiritual urgency]
11. “Is recollection of death useful for laypeople?” [Recollection/Death] [Lay life] // [Human]
12. Comment by Ajahn Ñāṇiko: There is a belief that contemplating death can call death to you. [Recollection/Death] [Death] // [Fear]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
13. “How do I keep the mind from proliferating about what happens after death?” [Recollection/Death] [Rebirth] [Proliferation] // [Progress of insight]
14. “If you don’t think you will reach Nibbāna in this life, did Ajahn Chah advise a place to aspire for rebirth in?” [Ajahn Anan] [Pure Land] [Ajahn Dtun] [Death] [Nibbāna] [Rebirth] [Buddha] [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/Thailand] [Merit] [Fierce/direct teaching]
15. Discussion about faith followers and Dhamma followers. [Stream entry] [Stages of awakening] [Death] [Sutta]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Not-self] [Concentration] [Recollection/Death]
Reference: Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 441-445: Ajahn Chah comes down Pu Pek Mountain and nothing is the same. [Ajahn Chah]
Response by Ajahn Cunda. [Ajahn Amaro]
16. Comment: Comments about bringing death contemplation into the present moment. [Recollection/Death] [Present moment awareness] [Rebirth]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Vajrayāna]
1. “Did you live with Ajahn Mahā Som?” [Ajahn Pasanno]
2. Story: Ajahn Somboon spends a vassa at Wat Pah Pong. Told by Ajahn Ñāṇiko and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Somboon] [Wat Pah Pong] // [Abbot] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Ardency]
3. “Which monastery is Wat Keuan?” [Wat Keuan] [Environment] // [Almsround]
4. “What is the town across from Wat Keuan?” [Wat Keuan] // [Ajahn Puriso]
5. “Did you think of relocating Wat Pah Nanachat to Wat Keuan?” [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]
6. “You were offered a cornfield in Ohio? What year was that?” [Generosity] [Ajahn Pasanno]
7. “Do foreigners still go to Wat Keuan?” [Wat Keuan] [Ajahn Boon Choo] // [Personality] [Ajahn Liem] [Seclusion]
8. “Did Ajahn Boon Choo go to Europe?” [Ajahn Boon Choo] // [Thai sects] [Personality]
9. Story: After staying up two nights in a row, Ajahn Boon Choo nods in meditation then establishes samādhi and sits without moving. [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Sloth and torpor] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Concentration] // [Ajahn Kinaree] [Kaṭhina] [Wat Pah Pong]
10. “Did Luang Por Liem ask Luang Por Boon Choo to stay back when Luang Por Chah became ill?” [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]
11. Story: A Saṅgha meeting decides that Ajahn Boon Choo should look after Wat Keuan. [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Wat Keuan] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Saṅgha decision making] [Respect for elders] // [Ajahn Puriso] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Wat Pah Pong]
12. “If you had moved Wat Pah Nanachat to Wat Keuan, would you have left Thailand?” [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Wat Keuan] [Ajahn Pasanno]
Quote: “I had one plan and the devas had a different one.” [Deva]
Sutta: DN 16.6.15: Mahāparinibbāna Sutta [Buddha/Biography] [Great disciples]
13. “What happened to Ajahn Puriso?” [Ajahn Puriso] [Disrobing] // [Translation] [Dhamma books] [P. A. Payutto]
1. “Is it rare for someone to master samādhi before developing wisdom?” [Concentration] [Discernment] [Ajahn Piak]
2. “Would you be willing to talk about the difference between mindfulness, bare knowing, and the one who knows?” [Mindfulness ] [Direct experience] [Knowing itself] // [Buddha] [Clear comprehension] [Thai] [Discernment] [Ardency] [Seclusion] [Cessation of Suffering]
Sutta: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta
3. “Could constant movement like Luang Por Teean’s technique be useful for drowsiness?” [Sloth and torpor] [Ajahn Teean] [Movement meditation] // [Continuity of mindfulness]
4. Ajahn Pasanno describes the meditation method he used during his first year as a monk. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Meditation/Techniques] // [Contact] [Feeling] [Movement meditation] [Concentration]
5. Ajahn Jotipālo tells about Luang Por Teean’s technique at Wat Pah Nanachat. [Ajahn Teean] [Movement meditation] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: “It isn’t a method that’s going to work. It’s how you apply and use it and become skilled with it.”
6. “Could the Ajahn Teean technique work for restlessness?” [Ajahn Teean] [Movement meditation] [Restlessness and worry]
Quote: “There’s no such thing as the Ajahn Chah method of meditation.” [Ajahn Chah] [Meditation/Techniques] [Right Effort] [Mindfulness of mind]
7. “Did Ajahn Chah speak about paramī?” [Ajahn Chah] [Perfections] // [Culture/Thailand]
8. Comments by Ajahn Jotipālo and Ajahn Pasanno about movement meditations. [Movement meditation] // [Continuity of mindfulness] [Mindfulness of breathing]
9. “Did you use the method of balancing a needle between your thumbs?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Meditation/Techniques]
10. “What if your problem is restlessness?” [Restlessness and worry] // [Tranquility] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Energy]
11. “What is a reasonable amount of time to try out a new method?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Ajahn Chah] [Meditation/Techniques] // [Personality] [Patience]
1. “Did Ajahn Teean learn his method from someone else?” [Ajahn Teean] [Movement meditation]
2. “Did Ajahn Teean have contact with Ajahn Chah?” [Ajahn Teean] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Mun] [Geography/Thailand]
3. “Does Luang Por Teean have disciples who are still alive?” [Ajahn Teean]
4. “Questions about a translated book by a Luang Por Teean disciple.” [Ajahn Teean]
5. “Do you know Venerable Nirodha who translated this book?” [Ajahn Teean] [Dhamma books] [Translation] [Ajahn Pasanno]
6. “Why did older men ordain as pakows and follow Ajahn Chah on tudong?” [Older monks] [Postulants] [Ajahn Chah] [Tudong] // [Culture/Thailand] [Food] [Almsfood]
7. “Is it common for older men to ordain?” [Older monks] // [Postulants] [Association with people of integrity]
8. “How long would such pakows ordain?” [Older monks] [Postulants] // [Amaravati] [Dhammapala]
9. “Was Luang Por Teean a forest teacher? Dhammayut or Mahanikai?” [Ajahn Teean] [Forest versus city monks] [Thai sects]
3. “Who offered the second reading?” Answered by Ajahn Pesalo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Gi] [Ajahn Tongrat] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
4. “Did any Wat Pah Pong monks spend time with Luang Por Gi?” [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Gi] // [Seclusion] [Ajahn Piak] [Ajahn Anek]
5. “How much time did Ajahn Chah spend with Ajahn Tongrat?” [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Tongrat] // [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Tudong]
6. Quote: “In the future, the forest monks will be like village monks, and the village monks will be like lay people.” — Ajahn Tongrat [Ajahn Tongrat] [Forest versus city monks] // [Ajahn Liem] [Wat Pah Pong]
7. “Was there a time in Thailand when no one had any noble attainments?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Jotipālo and Ajahn Cunda. [History/Thai Buddhism] [Stages of awakening] // [Chao Khun Upāli] [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Media]
Story: Prince Mongkut ordains seven times. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Vajirayan] [Ordination] [Doubt]
8. “Are there any of Luang Por Tongrat’s teachings available?” [Ajahn Tongrat] [Dhamma books] // [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Jayasaro]
9. “Has the Ajahn Utane biography been translated into English?” [Ajahn Tongrat] [Translation] [Ajahn Utane] [Dhamma books]
Note: Ajahn Mudito translated Ajahn Utane’s biography of Ajahn Tongrat into Portuguese in 2019. A machine translation from Portuguese to English is available on the internet.
10. “Is Ajahn Utane’s monastery the same as Ajahn Tongrat’s?” [Ajahn Tongrat] [Ajahn Utane] // [Ajahn Liem] [Stupas/monuments]
1. “Sometimes I will see a bit of greed come up, I apply an antidote, for example, if its craving, apply some asuba; but it seems to exacerbate it–do you have any encouragement or similes from Ajahn Chah?” [Unwholesome Roots] [Right Effort] [Meditation/Results] [Ajahn Chah] // [Investigation of states] [Patience]
Simile: Putting a tiger in a cage. [Similes] [Mindfulness] [Discernment]
2. “The citta is sometimes defined as pure awareness, and it being in the fourth khanda, but it sounds like here he’s talking about the activity of awareness?” [Heart/mind] [Knowing itself] [Volitional formations] // [Rebirth]
Quote: “There is that which is beyond birth and death. And then you start asking, ‘Well, what is it and how is it? How should it be?’ It’s just the same as in the Sabbāsava Sutta (MN 2.7)...As soon as you get into conceiving, you’ve already started the process of dukkha.” [Unconditioned ] [Proliferation] [Conceit] [Suffering]
Follow-up: “So is it better to hear what he said and let it go when I notice awareness that’s good, but I don’t have to make anything out of it?”
Quote: “The investigation is not a conceiving. The best investigation is when the mind is exceedingly still and not conceiving, not creating concepts.” [Discernment] [Concentration]
Follow-up: “So is it a realizing, not a conceiving?” [Knowledge and vision]
3. “If you keep chipping away at a theme of contemplation, you keep doing it, doing it, and nothing is changing in your experience, at some stage you feel this isn’t working, do you just have to move on and try something else? Is it the case that you just have to try them all? No-one can tell you which is going to work for you?” [Depression] [Recollection] // [Patience] [Spiritual friendship]
Story: Ajahn Wanchai has a spinal injury and is in chronic pain but doesn’t refer to himself. Told by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Ajahn Wanchai] [Suffering] [Sickness] [Pain] [Conceit]
4. Comment: The story you told where a monk was punched, I really didn’t see the point of that. [Ajahn Jia] [Admonishment/feedback] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Cunda: Enlightened people still have personalities. [Cleanliness] [Liberation] [Personality] [Ajahn Tate] [Spiritual friendship] [Vinaya]
Quote: “Gold wrapped in a dirty rag.” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa describing Ajahn Jia. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Similes]
Recollection: Ajahn Chah was always the center of attention. [Ajahn Chah] [Personal presence]
Story: Some monks go to spend Vassa with Ajahn Jia, but he leaves to take care of his teacher. Told by Ajahn Cunda. [Rains retreat] [Ajahn Khao]
5. Comment: In the Thai Forest tradition there are some fierce teachers. In other Buddhist traditions the “don’t question the guru” mentality seems to get way out of hand, but in Thailand that doesn’t seem to happen so often. [Thai Forest Tradition] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Jia]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: Well, they just leave. [Ajahn Chah] [Respect] [Culture/Thailand]
Comments by Ajahn Pesalo and Ajahn Pasanno about Ajahn Jia. [Faith] [Liberation] [Personality]
Comments by Ajahn Jotipālo and Ajahn Pasanno about avoiding both blind faith and badmouthing others. [Malicious speech] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Kamma] [Ajahn Wanchai]
1. Recollection: Saṅgha gatherings at Wat Pah Pong on Ajahn Chah’s birthday. [Wat Pah Pong] [Saṅgha] [Ajahn Chah] // [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Protocols] [Meditation]
Recollection: Inspecting almsbowls after the meal to see if there was any food left. [Almsbowl] [Food]
2. “Did I understand correctly, that this talk was originally given in Lao?” [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]
3. “In the reading, did it say that he [Chao Khun Nor] slept in a coffin?” [Chao Khun Nor] [Recollection/Death]
4. “Was your eight years living with novices like how it was described in this reading [‘Toilets on the Path’]?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Novices] // [Thai]
Story: Ajahn Preecha comes to Wat Pah Pong at the age of 11 or 12. [Ajahn Preecha] [Postulants] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong]
5. “Was there a cap, a certain number of novices allowed at the monastery at one time?” [Wat Pah Pong] [Novices] // [Ajahn Chah] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries]
6. Comment: I got the impression from that introduction that the monastery was over-run with novices. [Wat Pah Pong] [Novices]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Rains retreat]
7. “How did Ajahn Chah communicate with his branch monasteries and how often?” [Ajahn Chah] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Monastery organizational structure] // [Abbot] [Technology]
Story: Growth of Wat Pah Pong branch monasteries from 1975 to 1980. [Wat Pah Nanachat]
8. Comment: Ajahn Chah probably wasn’t a micro manager. [Ajahn Chah] [Abbot]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
Recollection: Ajahn Chah used the branch monasteries as part of the training of senior monks. [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Sequence of training]
10. “So they do temporary ordinations in Thailand?” [Culture/Thailand] [Temporary ordination] [Novices]
Follow-up: “What would be the duration, was there a range?” [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Chah]
Story: Ajahn Chah ordains 80 temporary monks for his mother’s funeral. [Parents] [Death] [Funerals]
Follow-up: “Did they come in as anāgārikas or sāmaṇeras?” [Sequence of training] [Postulants]
Story: Ajahn Chah takes on temporary ordinations for three years.
11. “Did they do temporary ordinations at Wat Pah Nanachat?” [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Temporary ordination] // [Novices] [Ajahn Kevali] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support]
Story: Ajahn Siripañño’s first ordination was as a temporary novice. [Ajahn Siripañño]
12. “Was there a temporary ordination in England for Maurice Walsh?” [Maurice Walsh] [Temporary ordination] [Amaravati] // [Learning] [Older monks] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Pūjā]
13. “How many other traditions in Thailand use the model of anagārika for one year and sāmaṇera for one year?” [Sequence of training] // [Ajahn Sanong] [Media]