Event: Readings from The Island – January to February 2025
“What is a stream enterer? Can a stream enterer go back? Are there lay people who attain stream entry and remain in lay life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stream entry] [Lay life] // [Stages of awakening] [Nibbāna] [Sutta] [Great disciples] [Purpose/meaning]
Written question in Thai: ขอโอกาสกร้าบพระเดชพระคุณหลวงพ่อ ถาม คําถาม Q: Stream enterer คืออะไร? การมุ่สู่โสดาปัตติผล? หรือการมุ่งสู่นิพพาน? Q: นอกจาก นางวิสาขา มหาอุบาสิตแล้ว มีฆราวาส/lay person คนใดบ้างที่เป็นเพียงคนธรรมดาไม่ได้ออกบวช แต่สามารถบรรลุโสดาปัตติผลได้? Q: ผู้ฏิบัติที่ยังมีสามี/ภรรยา สามารถจะมีวาสนาสั่งสมบุญบารมีเพือให้บรรลุสุ่โสดาปัตติผลได้ไหม? โดยที่ไม่ต้องเลิกร้าง/แยกเตียงกับคู่ครอง ขอแนวทางคิคด้วย [Question in Thai]
Reference: The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro
2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 4, Excerpt 6
“Please, a short talk on Nibbāna.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Nibbāna ] // [Cessation of Suffering] [Cessation] [Unwholesome Roots] [Relinquishment] [Jhāna]
Quote: “Nibbāna is not a thing.”
Sutta: Ud 3.10: Yena yena hi maññati, tato taṁ hoti aññathā. – “For however one conceives it, it is always other than that.”
Reference: The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro
Madison Insight Retreat 2023, Session 3, Excerpt 6
Readings by Ajahn Amaro:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Introduction by Ajahn Sumedho, pp. 16-18.
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 1, pp. 28-30:
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.6.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 2
Readings by Ajahn Amaro:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 6, pp. 123-124:
Sutta: MN 18.16-19.
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 7, pp. 125-126:
Sutta: AN 3.128.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 37
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
Ajahn Pasanno’s preface to The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, pp. 8-9.
Sutta: MN 26.1-21: Ariyapariyesanā Sutta.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 21
Reading: The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Introduction by Ajahn Sumedho, pp. 14-16. Read by Ajahn Amaro.
Note: The first session of the retreat (January 4, The Island, pp. 10-14) was not recorded.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 1
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 1, pp. 30-35. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Nyanatiloka Bhikkhu, “Nibbāna,” Buddhist Dictionary, p. 105.
The Mind Like Fire Unbound by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro, p. 2.
Suttas: MN 26.13; SN 38.1; AN 10.60; Ud 3.10; AN 3.55; AN 6.55; SN 43.1-44.
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.5 (also occurs at SN 6.1 and MN 26.19).
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 3
“When I was looking at The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro about a year ago, there are lots of Pāli quotes, and it’s not obvious that it is coming from Bhikkhu Bodhi or another translator. That particular passage you read out with the forsaking (The Island p. 32); did you translate it yourself? I think Bhikkhu Bodhi uses relinquishment of acquisitions.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Pāli] [Translation] [Bhikkhu Bodhi] [Ajahn Amaro] // [Ajahn Pasanno]
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 3, Excerpt 1
Readings by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo: [Nibbāna]
Reading: Introduction to Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha p. 31-32 (quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 40-41).
Reading: The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 224-226, 33-34.
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness [2015], Session 43
“Did you say, ‘Nibbāna is the source of all virtue?’” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Nibbāna] [Virtue] // [Ven. Nāgasena]
Quote: “Nibbāna, once realized, is the source of the beauty of the virtues of all living beings.” — Milindapañha 320, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 38..
Follow-up: “Can you reflect on this? It doesn’t quite fit with the Unconditioned, unformed, no footing....” [Unconditioned]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Arahant]
Sutta: AN 9.7-8: What an arahant can’t do.
Sutta: AN 3.7: Uposatha Sutta.
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Compassion]
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 11, Excerpt 8
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 1, pp. 39-42. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Bhikkhu Bodhi, “Introduction,” The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, pp. 31-2.
Note: The recording of the January 11 reading (The Island, pp. 35-39) was lost.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 4
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 2, pp. 43-48. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Richard Gombrich, ‘Metaphor, Allegory, Satire,’ in How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings, p. 65-68.
The Wings to Awakening by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro p. 6.
The Mind Like Fire Unbound by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro p. 41.
Roberto Calasso, Ka, pp. 369-70.
Gita Mehta, A River Sutra, p. 290.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 5
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 2, pp. 48-52. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Suttas: SN 35.28 (also at Mahāvagga 1.21); Iti 93; SN 44.9.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 6
“When it comes to what is being reborn [in the metaphor from SN 44.9, The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 52]. What sustains [the flame] is the air of oxygen, but this is still quite vague. Can you elaborate on this> Often when we talk about reincarnation but there is no self this question comes up again and again. So I’d love to hear what is actually reborn?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Rebirth] [Similes] [Not-self] // [Hinduism] [Etymology] [Conditionality] [Habits] [Self-identity view] [Insight meditation] [Knowing itself] [Liberation]
Sutta: DN 9.49: The Buddha asks an inquirer if they existed in the past and future.
Simile: Waves coming into the shore.
Sutta: SN 1.25: The Buddha uses personal pronouns.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 5, Excerpt 1
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 2, pp. 52-56. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Suttas: Thig 504-6; SN 14.12; Thag 1223-4; Thig 512; Snp 1086-7; Thig 112-16; SN 6.15.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 7
Comment: The story of Patācārā realizing the end of suffering [in Thig 112-116, The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, pp. 54-55] illustrates the possibility of samādhi while going about daily activities. [Great disciples] [Liberation] [Concentration] [Monastic life]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Jhāna] [Buddha/Biography] [Similes] [Mahāyāna]
Vinaya: Khandhaka 21.1.5: Ānanda realizes arahantship the dawn before the First Council while just beginning to lie down. [Arahant] [Postures] [Psychic powers]
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 7, Excerpt 5
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 3, pp. 58-61. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, unpublished Dhamma talk, 1988.
A 10.92; The Wings to Awakening by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro, pp. 35-37.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 8
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 3, pp. 61-63. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Sutta: SN 12.20; SN 12.41; AN 10.92.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 9
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 3, pp. 64-67. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Suttas: MN 43.11; Ud 1.10; Iti 94.
Master Hsüan Hua, Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sūtra, with Commentary, p. 149.
Śhūrangama Sūtra 1.169.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 10
Readings by Ajahn Amaro:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 9, pp. 158-165:
Suttas: Ud 8.1; Ud 8.3, Iti 43; Ud 8.4; Milindapañha 323; Milindapañha 326-328; SN 1.1.
The Magic of the Mind by Bhikkhu Ñāṇananda, pp. 58-60.
Ācariya Nāgārjuna, Mūlamadyamaka-kārika, Ch 25.
Ajahn Chah, personal letter to Ajahn Sumedho.
“What is Contemplation?”, Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 475-479.
Sutta: Ud 1.10: Bāhiya, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 65.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 46
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 4, pp. 68-70. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Sutta: Ud 3.10.
Ven. P.A. Payutto, Dependent Origination, pp. 14-5.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 11
Reflection by Ajahn Amaro: Addiction to becoming is the core source of suffering. [Addiction ] [Becoming] [Cause of Suffering]
Reference: The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, pp. 68-69.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 11, Excerpt 1
“Do I understand correctly from P. A. Payutto (quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 69-71) that the impermanence aspect precedes the interdependence aspect of selflessness?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [P. A. Payutto] [Impermanence] [Not-self] // [Characteristics of existence]
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 12, Excerpt 1
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 4, pp. 70-76. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Ven. P.A. Payutto, Dependent Origination, pp. 14-5.
H.H. the Dalai Lama, The Four Noble Truths, pp. 53-57.
Suttas: MN 52.4-14, AN 11.16; SN 22.81; MN 140.20-22.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 12
Reading from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 4, pp. 80-82. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Ajahn Chah, ‘Toward the Unconditioned,’ in Food for the Heart, pp. 385-9 and Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 383-400.
Note: The recording of the January 25 reading (The Island, pp. 77-80) was lost.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 13
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 4, pp. 82-86. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Ajahn Chah, ‘Toward the Unconditioned,’ in Food for the Heart, pp. 385-91 and Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 383-400.
Ajahn Chah, ‘Convention and Liberation,’ in Food for the Heart, p. 307 and Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 21-27.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 14
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 5, pp. 87-92. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Nyaṇatiloka Bhikkhu, Buddhist Dictionary, p. 106.
Suttas: MN 140.31; Dhp 21; AN 6.49; SN 22.49; SN 1.20; Nid 80.226; MN 144.9; SN 22.59 (also at Mahāvagga 1.6).
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 15
Readings by Ajahn Amaro:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 5, pp. 92-96 and 108-109:
Suttas: MN 102.23-4; AN 3.32; Ud 6.6; MN 2.7-8; SN 44.10; SN 22.15.
Sutta: Snp 5.14: Udaya’s Questions.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 16
Comments by Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Kaccāna and Ajahn Pasanno about the designations for the Five Hindrances and insight in Snp 5.14. [Hindrances] [Insight meditation] // [Doubt] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Proliferation] [Not-self] [Great disciples]
Sutta: AN 3.33, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 93.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 16, Excerpt 1
Readings by Ajahn Amaro:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 5, pp. 96-101:
“No-self or Not-self” in Noble Strategy by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro.
Suttas: MN 1.3-194 (abridged); Ud 4.1 (also at AN 9.3); Ud 2.1.
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, Section 6.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 17
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 5, pp. 101-105. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Suttas: Ud 3.10; Iti 58; MN 22.37; MN 22.20; AN 6.101.
Ajahn Sucitto, The Dawn of the Dhamma, p. 97.
Ajahn Chah, ‘No Abiding,’ in Food for the Heart, p. 316 and Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 33.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 18
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 5, pp. 105-109. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Suttas: MN 75.12; MN 74.2-5; MN 102.12; Iti 49; SN 12.15, SN 22.90.
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.6 (also at SN 22.59).
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 19
Comment: This reading about the bliss of Nibbāna (The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 105; MN 75.12) reminds me of the monk who had previously been a king who went about saying ‘Oh, what bliss!’ [Nibbāna] [Happiness] [Great disciples] [Royalty]
Sutta: Ud 2.10.
Response by Ajahn Amaro.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 19, Excerpt 1
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 5, pp. 109-112. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Ācariya Nāgārjuna, Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā, Ch.15.
Spiritual Autobiography, Ajahn Chah.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 20
Comment: When you were reading from the passage from Ācariya Nāgārguna’s Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā (quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 109), it struck me that the use of the word essence is equivalent to the way the Buddha uses the word self. [Acariya Nāgārguna] [Language] [Self-identity view] // [Mahāyāna] [Philosophy]
Sutta: SN 5.10: The Bhikkhunī Vajirā.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 20, Excerpt 1
Reading: “Attammayata,” The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, pp. 113-124. Read by Ajahn Khantiko. [Non-identification]
Western Disciples of the Thai Forest Tradition [2016], Session 24
“Can you provide guidance on the contemplation of conceiving, and name and form?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Conceit] [Aggregates] [Proliferation] // [Suffering] [Nature of mind] [Advertizing] [Impermanence] [Relinquishment] [Non-identification] [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: Ud 3.10: “For however one conceives it, it is always other than that.”
Quote: “The mind is a liar and a cheat.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [False speech]
Reference: Ajahn Buddhadāsa’s Nine Eyes, The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 116. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Characteristics of existence]
Sutta: Ud 1.10 Bāhiya Sutta: “In the seen there is only the seen...” [Sense bases] [Perception]
Quote: “You can hurt yourself even with really good tools.” [Meditation/Techniques] [Right Effort]
Western Disciples of the Thai Forest Tradition [2016], Session 24, Excerpt 1
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 6, pp. 117-123. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Suttas: MN 113.21; MN 137.19-20; AN 4.24.
Richard Gombrich, ‘Metaphor, Allegory, Satire,’ in How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings, pp. 86-7.
Hsin Hsin Ming, the verses of the Third Ch’an Patriarch.
Atulo, collected teachings of Ajahn Dune compiled by Ajahn Bodhinandamuni (no full English translation).
AN 3.40 in The Magic of the Mind by Bhikkhu Ñāṇananda pp. 49 & 52.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 36
“I understand that the Dhamma is beyond duality. But does the distinction between conditioned and unconditioned support duality?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Dhamma] [Advaita Vedanta] [Unconditioned] // [Language] [Conventions] [Non-identification]
Reference: Richard Gombrich, ‘Metaphor, Allegory, Satire,’ in How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings, pp 86-87, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 118.
Sutta: SN 1.25: “Skilful, knowing the world’s parlance, he uses such terms as mere expressions.”
Follow-up: “The usage of symbols sometimes helps as well....” [Symbolism]
Quote: “All similes and analogies are partial.” [Knowing itself]
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 8, Excerpt 2
“According to what you read in the book (The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 123-124; MN 18.16-19), first there is contact and then phassa and vedana. So first when we have contact there is no self yet. For example, if I contact something painful, at that time I feel I have no self, and then when I feel painful there is still no self, but then I feel like, ‘Oh, I don’t like this painfulness,’ the desire not to have it. Is feeling more self related with desire? It always comes together or not always?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Contact] [Feeling] [Pain] [Self-identity view] [Craving] // [Clinging] [Mindfulness of feeling] [Ascetic practices] [Heedfulness]
Sutta: Ud 1.10: Bāhiya.
Sutta: AN 10.58: “Rooted in interest are all things...”
Reference: Catastrophe/Apostrophe by Ajahn Amaro, p. 139.
Quote: “Just a few more things for you to let go of.” — Ajahn Chah’s response to Jack Kornfield’s description of his travels and meditation experiences.. [Ajahn Chah] [Jack Kornfield] [Relinquishment] [Conceit] [Restlessness and worry]
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 37, Excerpt 6
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 7, pp. 126-132. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Stephen Collins, Selfless Persons, pp. 43-45.
Suttas: MN 64.9-16, AN 9.36; Iti 51; AN 9.37; SN 48.57; AN 10.58; AN 8.73; MN 49.23; MN 1.25.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 38
Readings by Ajahn Amaro:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 8, pp. 133-137:
Bhikkhu Bodhi, Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Note 513.
Sutta: DN 11.81-5.
Sutta: MN 49.26.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 39
“What is the difference between unsupported and unsupportive [consciousness]?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Unestablished consciousness] // [Direct experience] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Self-identity view] [Appropriate attention]
Reference: The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 133.
Quote: “We say the mind is empty, but it’s actually full of wisdom.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Chah] [Emptiness] [Discernment]
Reference: Wisdom Develops Samādhi by Ajahn Mahā Boowa
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 43, Excerpt 7
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 8, pp. 137-140. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Dependent Origination by P. A. Payutto, pp. 118-120.
Concept and Reality by Bhikkhu Ñāṇananda p. 63.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 40
“Is [SN 12.15] specifically what the middle way refers to?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Middle Path] // [Dependent origination] [Eightfold Path] [Sense bases] [Philosophy]
Sutta: SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (Chanting book translation).
Reference: Concept and Reality by Bhikkhu Ñāṇananda p. 63, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 140.
Sutta: SN 2.26: Rohitassa.
Sutta: DN 11.85: Where earth, water, fire, and air no footing find...
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 40, Excerpt 4
Readings by Ajahn Amaro:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 8, pp. 141-142:
Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, pp. 90-91.
Sutta: Snp 4.11 (Venerable H. Saddhatissa translation).
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 41
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 8, pp. 143-146. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Suttas: AN 11.9; AN 10.6; MN 10.34-35, DN 22.12.
Atulo, collected teachings of Ajahn Dune compiled by Ajahn Bodhinandamuni (no full English translation).
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 42
Readings by Ajahn Amaro:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 8, pp. 146-150:
Ajahn Chah, (anecdotal).
Atulo, collected teachings of Ajahn Dune compiled by Ajahn Bodhinandamuni (no full English translation).
Suttas: MN 49.25; SN 12.38; SN 22.53.
Suttas: MN 49.11-31; MN 140.21-22.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 43
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 8, pp. 151-154. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Suttas: MN 22.36; SN 12.64; Snp 752-3; MN 62.17; SN 4.19.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 44
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 8, pp. 154-156. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra, Ch 1.
Vajra Sūtra, Ch 10, “The Adornment of Pure Lands.”
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 45, Excerpt 1
Reading from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 9, pp. 157-158. Read by Ajahn Amaro:
Straight from the Heart by Ajahn Mahā Boowa, p. 228
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 45, Excerpt 5
“Can you explain what Ajahn Mahā Boowa means by ‘the essence of a level of being’ in Straight from the Heart by Ajahn Mahā Boowa, p. 228, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 158?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Becoming] // [Clinging] [Birth] [Fetters] [Restlessness and worry] [Conceit] [Knowing itself]
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 46, Excerpt 6
Comment: The translation of the Nibbāna Sutta (Ud 8.3) in The Island renders paññāyati as ‘discerned;’ the Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 49 translates it as ‘possible.’ Contributed by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Discernment] [Translation] [Chanting]
Response by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno.
Quote: “If you can’t go forward, if you can’t go backwards, if you can’t stand still, where do you go?” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Koan]
Sutta: Ud 8.1.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 46, Excerpt 7
Ajahn Amaro recollects and reflects on the receipt of Ajahn Chah’s only letter to Ajahn Sumedho (quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 164). [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho]
Reference: Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 339.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 46, Excerpt 8
“I’m super perplexed and baffled with defining or understanding the term suchness or thusness. Are you able to communicate what it actually means?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Suchness ] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Language] [Knowing itself] [Aggregates] [Unconditioned] [Dhamma] [Recollection/Dhamma]
Quote: “It’s like this.” “Reality is unimaginable.” — Ajahn Sumedho. [Direct experience]
Sutta: MN 72.20, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 172.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 36, Excerpt 4
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 13, pp. 224-225:
Suttas: AN 4.179; AN 10.60; AN 1.494.
Sutta: MN 26.22-42: Ariyapariyesanā Sutta.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 22
“In this context (The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 225), what does disenchantment mean?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Disenchantment ] // [Relinquishment] [Recollection/Peace]
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 22, Excerpt 2
Recollecting the peace of Nibbāna. Teaching by Ajahn Pasanno. [Recollection/Peace] [Nibbāna] // [Cessation] [Dispassion] [Pāli] [Tranquility]
Reading: The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 225.
Suttas: AN 10.60.10; AN 1.494.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 22, Excerpt 7
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 13, pp. 226-230. Read by Ajahn Pasanno:
Suttas: Ud 5.5; AN 3.55; MN 26.19; Iti 54 & 55; MN 107.3-11; MN 73.14.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 23
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 13, pp. 230-233:
Suttas: MN 29.7; MN 24.10; AN 3.101; MN 70.13, .22 & .23.
Sutta: AN 3.102: Nimitta.
Sutta: MN 70: Kīṭāgiri Sutta.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 24
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 13, pp. 233-235:
Sutta: MN 70: Kīṭāgiri Sutta.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 25
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 13, pp. 235.
Sutta: MN 117.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 26
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 13, pp. 235-239:
Suttas: AN 10.2; MN 118.15; SN 56.11; SN 51.20.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 27
Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 13, pp. 239-246. Read by Ajahn Pasanno:
Suttas: Snp 1106-7 & 1111; Snp 1098; AN 1.182; SN 12.15; Iti 49; SN 12.48; SN 12.18; SN 12.67.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 28
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 14, pp. 247-248:
Suttas: MN 10.2; Snp 1086-7.
Sutta: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 29
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 14, pp. 248-251:
Suttas: SN 48.54; SN 48.45; AN 7.61; SN 35.80; MN 11.17.
Ajahn Chah, Food for the Heart, p. 241-2.
Sutta: AN 7.61: Nodding.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 30
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 14, pp. 251-252:
Sutta: MN 11: Cūḷasīhanāda Sutta
Sutta: MN 75: Māgandiya Sutta
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 31
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 14, pp. 256-258:
Suttas: Snp 800-3; MN 2.7-8; MN 109.15-18.
Sutta: MN 2: Sabbāsava Sutta.
Sutta: MN 109: Mahāpuṇṇama Sutta.
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 34
Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 14, pp. 258-265:
Suttas: SN 35.82; SN 35.116; MN 8.3; SN 4.16; SN 35.90; SN 35.248; Snp 954; MN 72.15; SN 12.51; MN 138.3; Snp 839; Snp 794-5; Snp 812-13; Snp 537; Dhp 421; Dhp 348.
A Still Forest Pool by Ajahn Chah (commercial) p. 73.
SN 35.248: Yavakalāpī.