Includes tags: Discernment, Appropriate attention, Investigation of states
3. Quote: “The language of wisdom is the language of the heart.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Jitindriyā. [Ajahn Chah] [Language] [Discernment] [Mindfulness] // [Liberation] [Spiritual search] [Monastic life/Motivation]
7. Quote: “I never lived with him, so I never got the chance to get disillusioned with him.” — Ajahn Jitindriyā [Discernment] [Teachers] [Ajahn Chah] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Clinging]
4. Story: When I met Ajahn Chah. Told by Ṭhānissarā. [Ṭhānissarā] [Ajahn Chah] // [Meditation retreats] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Personal presence] [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Liberation] [Happiness]
Story: Ajahn Chah bows to a small, neglected Buddha image in a secular meditation center and inspires Ṭhānissarā‘s faith. [Bowing] [Buddha images] [Perception of a samaṇa] [Human] [Faith]
Quote: “If you’ve been listening to this and you think this is good or you think this is bad, then you haven’t been listening properly.” — Ajahn Chah [Judgementalism] [Appropriate attention]
17. Quote: “Look at others 10% of the time and look at yourself 90%; that’s about the right measure.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Jack Kornfield. [Ajahn Chah] [Judgementalism ] [Admonishment/feedback] [Discernment] // [Idealism] [Conventions] [Heart/mind] [Vinaya]
Story: Ajahn Chah’s teacher eats sloppily. [Teachers] [Food] [Suffering]
5. Quote: “If I’ve developed any wisdom, it’s because I had such gigantic defilements.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Chah] [Discernment] [Unwholesome Roots] // [Hindrances ] [Restlessness and worry] [Aversion] [Doubt] [Sensual desire]
12. “The near enemy to equanimity is aloofness. Can you offer clues on how to differentiate between these in oneself?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Equanimity ] [Discernment] // [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities] [Aversion] [Present moment awareness]
Quote: “Tuning into kusala/akusala sorts things out really quickly.” [Discernment]
Sutta: AN 3.65: Kālāma Sutta
10. “For Lent, I practiced metta every day for six weeks for a person who I was very angry at. By the end of Lent, I was even more angry. Could you speak to this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Goodwill] [Aversion] [Christianity] // [Right Effort] [Discernment] [Unwholesome Roots] [Relinquishment] [Self-identity view] [Clinging]
Quote: “If the kilesa (defilements) come at you high, then you duck, and if they come at you low, then you jump over them.” — Ajahn Tongrat [Ajahn Tongrat] [Discernment]
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.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Mindfulness ] [Faculties] [Tudong] // [Concentration ] [Thai] [Translation] [Discernment] [Perfections]
Reflection: In Thai, samādhi is translated as “the firm establishing of the mind.”
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] [Discernment]
21. Quote: “The Buddha’s function was not to make grand pronouncements that apply universally, everywhere, all the time. He gave guidelines to relfect a variety of circumstances, personal effects, social effects, and then make a decision from there.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Buddha] [Idealism] [Discernment] [Conditionality] [Right Livelihood] [Kamma] [Community] [Politics and society]
1. “Thank you for your talk. Can you flesh out: ‘dispassionate about what?’ Also, trying to encourage dispassion along with arousing energy.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Dispassion ] [Energy] // [Craving] [Sense bases] [Form] [Emotion] [Contentment] [Tranquility]
Quote: “When there’s a coolness towards the world around one, that frees up a lot of energy for directing attention to what’s actually useful and beneficial.” [Discernment]
7. Reading: “Its Easy if You are not Attached,” Gifts He Left Behind by Ajahn Dune, p. 77. Read by Ajahn Ahiṃsako. [Ajahn Dune] [Wat Burapha] // [Rains retreat]
Quote: “It’s the nature of light to be bright; it’s the nature of noise to be loud.” [Contact ] [Sense restraint] [Discernment]
13. “Is that where when one isn’t meditating per se but where virtue would come in to inform whether we have slipped or not?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Virtue] // [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Ajahn Chah] [Conscience and prudence] [Similes] [Spiritual friendship]
Quote: “The defilements have their wisdom also.” — Ajahn Chah [Unwholesome Roots] [Discernment] [Delusion]
4. The trio of Ajahn Piak, Ajahn Anan, and Ajahn Dtun. Recollection by Ajahn Pasanno. [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]
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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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]
7. Quote: “The art of the pause.” — Ajahn Sucitto. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Sucitto] [Pace of life ] // [Discernment] [Skillful qualities]
22. The values of the Thai Forest Tradition. Teaching by Ajahn Pasanno. [Thai Forest Tradition ] // [Knowing itself] [Mindfulness] [Recollection/Buddha] [Four Noble Truths] [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Tate] [Ajahn Mun] [Heart/mind] [Three Refuges]
Quote: “Pay attention to the difference between the mind and the objects of mind.” — Ajahn Mun [Nature of mind] [Moods of the mind] [Discernment]
29. “The Buddha teaches to end suffering, but from the ordinary person’s view, cultivating the practices of forest monks is also suffering. Who is right?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha] [Suffering] [Ascetic practices] // [Four Noble Truths] [Faith] [Investigation of states] [Happiness] [Feeling]
Quote: “The teaching of the Buddha isn’t about language....The teaching of the Buddha is the language of experience.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Language] [Dhamma] [Direct experience] [Investigation of states]
11. “Is sexuality and wanting an intimate connection with another considered a negative desire?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sensual desire] [Relationships] [Desire] [Unskillful qualities] // [Food] [Clear comprehension] [Compassion] [Selfishness] [Discernment] [Precepts] [Trust]
Quote: “It’s not so much a matter of thwarting desire, but understanding how desire works so we can build those bonds of trust and care.” [Discernment]
6. “Can you talk about the dangers of misplaced or wrongly directed faith in a teacher?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Faith] [Teachers ] [Respect for elders] [Monastic life] // [Recollection/Dhamma] [Middle Path]
Quote: “A good teacher encourages people to practice and figure this out rather than telling them exactly what to do.” [Teaching Dhamma] [Discernment]
5. “Years ago I considered the Buddha someone wbo practiced harm reduction. But having worked in the field, I’ve started to have a lot of conflict around when people request paraphanelia to help them use [drugs]. The idea is to keep them alive, but now it’s become very complicated because people are still dying. Is this a violation of right livelihood? Could you speak about wisdom and compassion?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Intoxicants] [Health care] [Death] [Right Livelihood] [Discernment] [Compassion] [Gratitude] // [Right Intention] [Crime] [Politics and society]
Quote: “As a person who is trying to help, you have to learn harm reduction to yourself.” [Depression] [Discernment]
1. Quote: “If you want to succeed in your practice, you have to think a lot.... You have to think all the time about Dhamma.” — Ajahn Baen. Quoted by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Ajahn Baen] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Investigation of states] [Recollection/Dhamma ] [Recollection] // [Chanting]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 6.
3. “Have you ever regretted choosing the monastic life? Has your mother ever thought you made a wrong choice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Doubt] [Parents] // [Gratitude] [Retirement] [Energy] [Mentoring] [Christianity] [Abhayagiri]
Reflections on leadership. [Leadership ] [Ajahn Chah] [Abbot] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Discernment]
Quote: “You can’t lead just by telling people what to do and they are going to obey. Forget it!”
Quote: “Everybody else is a mirror for oneself if one is willing to learn in teaching or leading others.” [Discernment] [Learning]
1. “From the Christian perspective, I understand we get knowledge or wisdom from God, but it is through our human effort that we get a taste of the wisdom. You mentioned [neither] moving backward, forward, or being still. In Zen meditation, they taught being present. Is this grace or effort?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Christianity] [Discernment] [God] [Human] [Right Effort] [Zen] // [Relinquishment] [Faith ] [Three Refuges]
Sutta: SN 1.1
Quote: “To me it’s much more faith that surrenders, that relinquishes, that’s willing to let go.” [Discernment]
Quote: “Suffering and being stuck in saṃsāra and in the world is just a bad habit.” [Suffering] [Saṃsāra] [Habits]