55 events, 242 sessions, 1833 excerpts, 106:12:07 total duration
Most common topics:
Monastic life
(118)
Ajahn Chah
(111)
Ajahn Pasanno
(105)
Mindfulness of breathing
(85)
Suffering
(62)
Death
(60)
Jhāna
(58)
Goodwill
(55)
Happiness
(55)
Directed thought and evaluation
(54)
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1. “How can we have a renunciant life outside the monastery?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Renunciant practice] [Everyday life] // [Simplicity] [Learning]
2. Comment: When I hear “renunciation,” I have the feeling that I’m losing something. [Renunciation ]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Simplicity] [Self-identity view]
Quote: “What renunciation gives is inexhaustible strength of simplicity.” — Martin Heidegger.
1. “What is the translation of sabbaṃ dukkhaṃ? The way you translate it seems psychological. In Sanskrit, dukkhaṃ means out of the cosmic flow of Dhamma. But perhaps dukkhaṃ is best left untranslated. If untranslated, does dukkhaṃ mean the same thing in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering] [Pāli] [Equanimity] [Dhamma] [Translation] [Advaita Vedanta] // [Thai] [Human] [Aggregates] [Clinging ] [Knowing itself] [Relinquishment]
Ancient etymology of dukkha: du = bad, unwanted, unpleasant, uncomfotable, not easy; kha = where the axle fits into the wheel. [Language] [History/Indian Buddhism]
Sutta: SN 22.22: Dhammacakkappavattanasutta (Chanting Book translation)
Teaching: The four forms of clinging. [Clinging ] [Sensual desire] [Impermanence] [Naturalness] [Happiness] [Neutral feeling] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Views] [Doctrine-of-self clinging] [Not-self]
Quote: “Nibbāna is the reality of non-grasping.” — Ajahn Chah. [Nibbāna] [Cessation of Suffering]
2. “Is the desire to become fearless a cause of suffering? Is wearing a different kind of clothes also I-making?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Desire] [Fear] [Cause of Suffering] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Self-identity view] // [Craving] [Unwholesome Roots] [Naturalness] [Discernment] [Suffering] [Liberation]
1. “What should one consider when looking for a teacher or guru to guide one’s personal journey?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Teachers ] [Mentoring] [Discernment] // [Ajahn Chah] [Determination] [Truth] [Perfectionism] [Personality]
Quote: “I saw many people show up [at Wat Pah Pong] with their list of what they thought a perfect teacher should be....and they would leave.”
Quote: “It is only when we are willing to give ourselves to truth or reality that the teacher makes sense.”
1. “How do you deal with a friend who has commited suicide and the despair and grief that comes with that? How do you support a friend who has feelings of seeking annihilation and wanting to kill themselves?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suicide] [Depression] [Grief] [Craving not to become] // [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Compassion] [Suffering] [Language] [Cessation of Suffering] [Fear]
Quote: “Compassion is a skillful or beautiful response to the suffering of the world.” [Skillful qualities]
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]
3. “Could you say more about recollection of death and the healthy desire to have something fall away?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Craving not to become] [Recollection/Death] [Relinquishment] // [Cessation] [Middle Path] [Right View]
Sutta: MN 26.19: The Buddha doubts whether anyone will understand. [Buddha/Biography]
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]
5. “How is suicide reconciled with the First Precept, the precept against taking life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Suicide] [Killing] // [Vinaya]
Sutta: MN 144: Channovāda Sutta.
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]
3. “Why don’t we concentrate not so much on personal liberation, but think more about our practice? What are your thoughts about the Bodhisattva ideal, thinking of others all the time rather than achievement or personal liberation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Liberation] [Bodhisattva] [Compassion] [Nibbāna]
Quote: “Thinking of yourself is isolating. Thinking of others is proliferating....Suffering is an experience rather than a conceptualization.” [Self-identity view] [Proliferation] [Suffering]
Quote: “Don’t be an arhant. Don’t be a Bodhisattva. Don’t be anything at all. As long as you’re anything or anybody, you are going to suffer. And as long as you’re suffering, you’re going to be sharing that out with everyone else as well.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Arahant]
4. “Is the practice of jhāna necessary for attaining Nibbāna?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Jhāna ] [Nibbāna] // [Self-identity view] [Greed] [Relinquishment]
5. “How to contemplate the state of emptiness, stillness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Insight meditation] [Emptiness] [Tranquility] // [Relinquishment] [Gladdening the mind]
6. “Maybe for most practitioners it is possible to understand a little bit about Nibbāna in a momentary sense. But to become permanently free from defilements is more difficult to understand. Please explain.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Liberation] [Nibbāna] // [Buddha/Biography] [Teaching Dhamma]
Sutta: MN 26.19: The Buddha’s initial inclination not to teach.
7. “People associate Nibbāna with a neutral state. Experiencing pīti and sukha is a pleasant state, so why should I meditate to attain this ultimate goal when it’s a state of non-feeling?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Neutral feeling] [Rapture] [Happiness] [Nibbāna] // [Middle Path]
8. “Are there examples in real life that we can witness someone who has attained Nibbāna?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Nibbāna] // [Doubt] [Four Noble Truths] [Buddha/Biography]
Sutta: MN 26.25: The Buddha’s encounter with Upaka.
1. “Please tell us where the nuns [attending this event] are from?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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]
2. “Any advice for an upāsikā who is able to spend long periods on retreat but finds herself tossed around when at home?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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]
3. “What to do with negative thoughts?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Proliferation] [Unskillful qualities] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] // [Skillful qualities]
4. “How did Ajahn Chah speak about non-self and consciousness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Not-self] [Consciousness] // [Impermanence] [Doctrine-of-self clinging] [Language] [Thai ] [Pāli] [Sense bases] [Unestablished consciousness] [Knowing itself] [Cessation of Suffering]
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].
5. “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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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.
6. “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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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]
7. “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.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Relinquishment] [Lay life] [Compassion] // [Right Effort] [Idealism] [Eight Precepts] [Contentment]
Story: A monk practices letting go by not fixing his roof. [Lodging]
8. “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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Eightfold Path ] [Virtue] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Generosity] [Conscience and prudence] [Respect] [Language] [Pāli]
9. “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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Equanimity] [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] // [Knowing itself] [Human] [Ajahn Chah] [Three Refuges]
1. “What do you do at Abhayagiri? What is the value of being a monk? What’s the value of having a global saṅgha?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Abhayagiri] [Monastic life] [Saṅgha] // [Monasteries] [Fear] [Culture/Natural environment] [Community]
2. “Could you say a few words about how to cope emotionally with everything that’s happened since October 7? Everyone in Israel is still traumatized. This is an ongoing event, and everybody is so emotionally unstable. It’s like being on an active volcano....” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Abuse/violence] [Suffering] [Politics and society] // [Spiritual friendship] [Goodwill] [Human] [Delusion]
3. “Could you talk about the practicalites of reflective meditation for someone who hasn’t done much of this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Recollection] // [Mindfulness] [Translation] [Concentration] [Impermanence] [Knowing itself]
Quote: “The point that includes” — Ajahn Sumedho. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Unification] [Spaciousness]
1. “What was your experience of Ajahn Chah’s personality and character? What was most inspiring about how he conducted himself?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah ] [Personality] [Personal presence] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Admonishment/feedback] [Not-self] [Equanimity] [Humor]
Quote: “If you tried to create a CV for what a Bodhisattva should be, Luang Por Chah would fit that bill.” [Bodhisattva]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno chose to stay with Ajahn Chah for five years because he aspired to Ajahn Chah’s unshakeability. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
Story: Ajahn Chah gave the farang monks playful Thai names. [Thai] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Amaro]
2. “So Luang Por Sumedho had a bit of a temper in the beginning?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Aversion] // [Ajahn Chah] [Humor]
3. “What was the nickname of Ajahn Amaro?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Amaro] [Thai] // [Ajahn Chah]
4. “In your long monastic life, have there been times that called for particular qualities to be developed?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] [Long-term practice] // [Perfections] [Not-self] [Personality] [Energy ] [Posture/Walking] [Sitter's practice]
5. “What is often the most neglected quality in individual monks? What are the most important qualities to develop for the benefit of the group?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Monastic life] [Saṅgha] // [Idealism ] [Drawbacks] [Aspects of Understanding] [Four Noble Truths] [Patience]
Sutta: AN 22.26: Assādasutta
Quote: “Other than me, everyone is irritating!” [Aversion] [Humor]
6. “What personal obstacles, either internal or external have you used as dhammas, stepping stones to lift yourself up and go beyond it?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Long-term practice] // [Fear ] [Ajahn Chah] [Impermanence] [Mindfulness of body] [Knowing itself]
Quote: “The anxious and fearful mind is always trying to find some certainty somewhere. And of course it isn’t anywhere at all except in this present moment and in the quality of awareness that we have. But the personality doesn’t believe that for a long time.” [Present moment awareness]
Quote: “Be careful of believing your mind because it’s a liar and a cheat.” — Ajahn Chah. [Nature of mind]
7. “How do you respond to claims that religion and Buddhism specifically is escapist?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Theravāda] [Saṃsāra] [Escape] // [Discernment] [Questions] [Liberation] [Compassion]
Quote: “What is the mind of an enlightened being like?” – “Only compassion.” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Arahant]
8. “When practicing to get out of the world, how does one avoid slipping into unhappiness with the world?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Escape] [Suffering] [Happiness] // [Saṃsāra] [Not-self] [Divine Abidings] [Unattractiveness] [Equanimity] [Gladdening the mind] [Concentration] [Knowledge and vision]
Sutta: MN 10.10: Contemplating the body as if it were a sack of grains.
Suttas: MN 6.10, AN 10.2: Causal chains yielding gladness (pāmojja) with different starting points.
9. “How do we cultivate faith?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Faith ] // [Culture/West] [Sutta] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Buddha images] [Devotional practice] [Recollection/Saṅgha]
Recollection: Ajahn Liem estimates he has built at least 20 monasteries. [Ajahn Liem] [Building projects] [Master Hsu Yun]
10. “We can control unwholesome acts of body and speech through precepts, but whatever pops up in the mind we mostly can’t control. But how is kamma formed in the mind? Should we control that thing or should it be let go?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Precepts] [Nature of mind] [Kamma] // [Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Ajahn Chah] [Volition]
Sutta: MN 19: Two Kind of Thought
11. “Whatever you do, if you do it with care and attention, it takes longer. If I rush, the task would not be done so well. How do we give care and attention in a quick manner?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension] [Time management] // [Right Mindfulness] [Ardency]
Story: A man moves so slowly paying care and attention that he annoys his family. [Family]
Quote: “A good thief is really mindful.” Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah]
12. “When I meditate in a cold, open area, my mind goes to sleep. What do you suggest?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sloth and torpor] // [Posture/Sitting] [Hindrances]
13. “When you started teaching and taking on the role of leader of a community, did that affect the way you related to your own practice because you were being seen by others, having to be more careful about conduct?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abbot] [Leadership] // [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Ajahn Chah] [Fear] [Faith] [Culture/Thailand]
Ajahn Chah always emphasized, “Whatever you’re doing, you have to learn from it.” [Learning]