Perspectives on Buddhist Practice from Ajahn Chah – Virtue, Relinquishment, Awareness, and Liberation
Ajahn Pasanno
Spirit Rock Daylong, Aug. 25, 2024
Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California and online
3 sessions, 27 excerpts, 1:39:19 total duration
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Ajahn Pasanno reflects on how Ajahn Chah’s teachings have guided his practice through stories, reflections, periods of meditation, and the opportunity for questions.

External website

Session 1: Virtue and Relinquishment

Session 2: Questions and Answers

Session 3: Knowing and Liberation


Session 1: Virtue and Relinquishment – Ajahn Pasanno – Aug. 25, 2024
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1. [1:20] Reflection: There is no such thing as the Ajahn Chah method of meditation. [Meditation/Techniques] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Self-reliance]


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2. [4:35] Quote: “Be very careful what you build, because you’ve got to look after it.” — Ajahn Chah. [Building projects] [Lodging] // [Simplicity]


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3. [30:01.5] Ajahn Chah emphasized the importance of sīla during his second trip to the West. [Culture/West] [Virtue] // [Communal harmony]

Quote: “Teaching Buddhism without sīla is like sending someone out in the open sea in a leaky boat.” — Ajahn Chah. [Similes]

Simile: A millipede’s many legs all work together in harmony.


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4. [33:31] The precepts are foundations for training ourselves in body, speech, and mind. [Precepts] [Learning]


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5. [41:29] Reading: Ajahn Mun answers Ajahn Chah’s questions about Vinaya. [Ajahn Mun] [Vinaya] // [Commentaries] [Conscience and prudence] [Simplicity] [Mindfulness]

Reference: “Understanding Vinaya,” Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 533-534.

The meaning of hiri-otappa. [Translation] [Respect]


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6. [47:13] Recollection: Ajahn Chah taught that the precepts are a mirror for the mind to understand the intention behind actions of body, speech, and mind. [Precepts] [Virtue] [Volition]


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7. [50:12] Reflection for approaching difficulties: “What am I hanging on to here?” [Clinging] [Relinquishment]


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8. [50:55] Ajahn Chah greets Jack Kornfield: “I hope you’re not afraid to suffer.” [Jack Kornfield] [Suffering] [Fear] // [Isan] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Relinquishment] [Faith]


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9. [58:41] Reflection: Relinquishment is the doorway to unshakeability. [Equanimity] [Relinquishment] // [Fear]


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10. [1:03:05] Quote: “You can go back to your cave and learn to be peaceful there, or you can stay here and learn how to be peaceful anywhere.” — Ajahn Chah. [Tranquility] [Seclusion] [Equanimity] // [Upatakh]


Session 2: Questions and Answers – Ajahn Pasanno – Aug. 25, 2024
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1. [0:48] “Please tell us where the nuns [attending this event] are from?” [Bhikkhunī] // [Aranya Bodhi Hermitage] [Dhammadharini Monastery] [Ayya Tathālokā] [Lodging]

Story: Ajahn Chah tells the early Wat Pah Nanachat monks to clear the underbrush. [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Nanachat]


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2. [7:53] “Any advice for an upāsikā who is able to spend long periods on retreat but finds herself tossed around when at home?” [Lay life] [Everyday life] [Meditation retreats] // [Three Refuges] [Spiritual friendship] [Online community]

Story: Ajahn Amaro advises a layman having difficulty with his Theravāda group to practice with Thubten Chodron. [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] [Ajahn Amaro] [Thubten Chodron] [Vajrayāna]


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3. [15:01] “What to do with negative thoughts?” [Proliferation] [Unskillful qualities] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] // [Skillful qualities]


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4. [18:11] “How did Ajahn Chah speak about non-self and consciousness?” [Ajahn Chah] [Not-self] [Consciousness] // [Impermanence] [Doctrine-of-self clinging] [Language] [Thai ] [Pāli] [Sense bases] [Unestablished consciousness] [Knowing itself] [Cessation of Suffering]

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Quote: “One of the beauties of the Thai language is that it is wonderfully imprecise....it’s a feeling language.” [Thai ] [Proliferation]

Story: George Sharp asks Ajahn Chah why he teaches “Buddho” all the time. Ajahn Chah responds, “Namo viññāṇa dhātu” [Homage to the element of consciousness].


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5. [27:47] “Can you give some context to the story of Ajahn Chah getting angry and yelling at a monk and then regretting it, practicing with it?” [Ajahn Chah] [Aversion] // [Unwholesome Roots] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Protocols]

Recollection: Ajahn Chah said that it wasn’t until he took on the responsibility of teaching others that he really gained wisdom. [Teaching Dhamma] [Discernment]

Reference: “Toilets on the Path,” Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 723.


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6. [34:25] “You mentioned that often Ajahn Chah pushed his students through their suffering in order to help them let go. Can you share specific examples of this happening?” [Ajahn Chah] [Suffering] [Teaching Dhamma] [Relinquishment]

Story: A restless ex-monk asks to reordain. Ajahn Chah says he will keep him as an anagārika for seven years. [Restlessness and worry] [Postulants] [Sequence of training]

Story: After one year, the restless monk asks to go tudong. [Tudong]


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7. [39:42] “You mentioned how much Ajahn Chah emphasized the importance of letting go. As a lay person, how do we do that? And how do we reconcile letting go with being kind to ourselves? For instance, it could be seen as a kindness to oneself to listen to one’s favorite music or eat one’s favorite foods.” [Ajahn Chah] [Relinquishment] [Lay life] [Compassion] // [Right Effort] [Idealism] [Eight Precepts] [Contentment]

Story: A monk practices letting go by not fixing his roof. [Lodging]


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8. [47:09] “Mindfulness and meditation practices of the Eightfold Path have gained tremendous popularity in modern times. Can you please elaborate on how the ethics-related practices (Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood) contribute towards the end of suffering?” [Eightfold Path ] [Virtue] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Generosity] [Conscience and prudence] [Respect] [Language] [Pāli]


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9. [54:21] “I’m struggling with the concept of unshakiness, as “I” am falling into the trap of envisioning an unshakeable self. How can letting go be allowed without an I that lets go?” [Equanimity] [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] // [Knowing itself] [Human] [Ajahn Chah] [Three Refuges]


Session 3: Knowing and Liberation – Ajahn Pasanno – Aug. 25, 2024
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1. [1:04:15] Quote: [Ponting to his heart] “It’s all here” — Ajahn Khao to Ajahn Sumedho. [Ajahn Khao] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Knowing itself] // [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Mahā Amorn] [Isan]


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2. [1:07:35] Simile from Ajahn Chah: The mind is like a bell struck by sense contact and moods. [Nature of mind] [Contact] [Moods of the mind] [Similes] // [Knowing itself]


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3. [1:10:15] Similes from Ajahn Chah: The natural state of the mind is like clear water or a still leaf. [Nature of mind] [Similes] // [Contact] [Feeling] [Moods of the mind] [Knowing itself]

Reference: “A Gift of Dhamma,” Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 226.


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4. [1:13:10] Quote: “Mindfulness is the graveyard of all things.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness] [Cessation] // [Self-identity view] [Proliferation] [Compassion]


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5. [1:15:51] Story: A woman asked Ajahn Chah if she would have to give up listening to music to practice Buddhism. Ajahn Chah replied that learning to listen to the peaceful heart would be more pleasurable and satisfying. [Ajahn Chah] [Artistic expression] [Tranquility] [Happiness] // [Cessation] [Nature of mind]

Reference: Recollections of Ajahn Chah by various authors, p. 52.

Quote: “That quality of being without boundaries can be so peaceful. It’s much more compelling.” [Spaciousness]

Sutta: AN 3.32: “This is peaceful, this is sublime...”


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6. [1:22:29] Ajahn Chah’s letter to Ajahn Sumedho: “Whenever you have feelings of love or hate for anything whatsoever, these will be your aides and partners in buliding pārami. The Buddha Dhamma is not to be found in moving forwards, nor in moving backwards, nor in standing still. This, Sumedho, is your place of non-abiding.” [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Feeling] [Perfections] [Dhamma] [Emptiness] // [Self-identity view ] [Knowing itself]

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Quote: “As long as we’re willing to be a somebody, we’ve got to be willing to suffer. We volunteered.” [Self-identity view ] [Suffering]


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7. [1:27:35] Story: When asked to teach about vipassanā, Ajahn Chah instructed practitioners to observe a wilting flower. [Ajahn Chah] [Insight meditation ] [Impermanence] // [Thai Forest Tradition] [Liberation] [Manjushri Institute]


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8. [1:29:34.5] Quote: “Samādhi is the one-pointed mind fixed on the point of balance.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Concentration ] [Unification] [Equanimity]

Quote: “Samādhi is a holiday for the heart.” — Ajahn Chah. [Heart/mind] [Ajahn Sumedho]