All questions
73 events, 410 sessions, 2912 excerpts, 164:32:51 total duration
Most common topics:
Ajahn Chah
(175)
Ajahn Pasanno
(165)
Monastic life
(141)
Mindfulness of breathing
(134)
Suffering
(96)
Proliferation
(94)
Happiness
(88)
Not-self
(85)
Self-identity view
(74)
Death
(73)
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1. “What does the word volition mean?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Volition]
2. “Are [the links of Dependent Origination] from the perspective of the mind or is it also from the perspective of the jhānas where you have the cessation of appearances altogether? Or is it strictly on the level of volition?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Dependent origination] [Jhāna] [Cessation] [Volition] // [Nature of mind] [Appropriate attention] [Conditionality]
4. “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 56.11.2: 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 …
5. “Is conceptual proliferation an aspect of Dependent Origination?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Proliferation] [Dependent origination] // [Sense bases]
6. “You mentioned [existentialism/eternalism] and nihilism as familiar Western philosophical ideas. I understand that Buddhism’s approach is not one or the other. How do other Western philosophical ideas like solipsism or materialism sit?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Philosophy ] [Middle Path] // [God] [Humor] [Views] [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Teaching Dhamma]
Sutta: SN 22.86: “I teach suffering and the end of suffering.”
Comment: Philosophy usually tries to create a philosophy from which you pull down how to live your life, but the Buddha is the other way around.
Sutta: DN 1: Sixty-two wrong views.
2. “Could you clarify what you said about the mind and objects of awareness and how freedom from attachments is possible?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Nature of mind] [Knowing itself] [Liberation] // [Non-identification] [Insight meditation] [Ajahn Mun]
Simile: Oil and water. — Ajahn Chah. [Similes] [Ajahn Chah]
Follow-up: “I like flowers, but I need to stop buying flowers. How can this help?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Clinging] [Feeling] [Volitional formations]
4. Question about associating with and clinging to wholesome and conducive environments. Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities] [Clinging] [Spiritual friendship] // [Suffering] [Knowing itself] [Discernment] [Amaravati] [Ajahn Chah]
Quote: “If you seek for security in what is insecure, you are bound to suffer.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Impermanence]
Quote: “Wanting what’s good without stop. That’s a disease of the mind.” — Ajahn Mun, Ballad of Liberation from the Khandhas. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Mun] [Craving]
Quote: “Live simply; be natural.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Simplicity]
Story: A sincere practitioner’s family complains about his way of being mindful. Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Mindfulness] [Everyday life] [Pace of life]
5. Comment: I have high energy naturally, but people interpret my fast speaking and walking as anxiety. [Pace of life] [Restlessness and worry] // [Recreation/leisure/sport]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Wat Pah Ban Tat] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa]
6. “If worldly experiences are based on previous conditions, how is it possible to reach the world beyond our experience?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Conditionality] [Liberation ] // [Insight meditation] [Cessation] [Knowing itself]
Sutta: DN 11.85: “Where long and short, coarse and fine, pure and impure find no footing …”
Sutta: SN 2.26: The end of the world.
1. Comment: The separation between the mind and the sense/mind objects can be helpfully contemplated at multiple levels of acuity. Contributed by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Nature of mind] [Knowing itself] [Sense bases] // [Nibbāna] [Ajahn Chah]
Sutta: AN 11.9.
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, pp. 90-91.
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Perception] [Etymology]
Quote: “The Five Khandhas exist, but they aren’t real. The Dhamma is real, but it doesn’t exist.” — Ajahn Paññāvaḍḍho. [Ajahn Paññāvaḍḍho] [Aggregates] [Dhamma]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
Quote: “Bright, loud, and mobile is the false; subtle and indistinct is the true.” — Master Hsuan Hua to Ajahn Amaro in a dream. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Master Hsuan Hua] [Ajahn Amaro] [Dreams] [Truth]
2. Comment: When I decide not to watch news about what is going on in the world, it ceases to stand out, to be a reality for me, and then there’s peace. [News] [Sense restraint] [Tranquility]
Response by Ajahn Amaro.
4. “Is what you’re describing (meditation states like AN 10.6) something that somebody might arrive at in their ordinary waking …?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Meditation/Results] // [Insight meditation] [Non-identification] [Perception] [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] [Sense bases] [Abhayagiri]
Vinaya: Khandhaka 21.1.5: Ānanda’s awakening. [Great disciples] [Arahant] [Postures]
Reference: The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sachs.
6. Comment: I find noises that I have no control over easy to leave alone. But if it’s something like, “If I have a word with that person, I can get him to stop making that noise,” it’s harder. [Equanimity] [Aversion] [Admonishment/feedback]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Sumedho]
7. “What approach do you take when someone is snoring in the Dhamma Hall?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Sloth and torpor] [Meditation]
8. Comment about how the sense of self shows up in relation to others. [Self-identity view] [Community]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Contact] [Meditation retreats]
9. Comment: Practicing the Four Brahmavihāras is a relation practice that is very powerful in letting go of the self. [Divine Abidings] [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment]
Response by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Emotion] [Ajahn Vajiro]
Reference: Abundant, Exalted, Immeasurable by Ajahn Pasanno.
10. “If you are constantly around someone who engages you with prolonged and agitated discussion, how do you handle that?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Idle chatter] // [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension] [Admonishment/feedback]
Sutta: MN 2: Sabbāsava Sutta.
Quote: “Never give feedback to your fellow samaṇas before the meal.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Monastic life]
Quote: “We can be completely mindful of taking initiative. Our capacity to act is part of the way things are.” — Ajahn Amaro. [Right Action ] [Discernment] [Right Mindfulness] [Buddha/Biography]
2. “You said that when a negative, unpleasant thought comes up, the noble being doesn’t want it but doesn’t act upon it. Is this taṇhā? Is it a mild form of craving, not wanting the thought?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Proliferation] [Arahant] [Craving] // [Knowledge and vision] [Non-identification] [Ajahn Dune] [Spaciousness]
Suttas: AN 9.7-8: What an arahant can’t do.
3. “When you are talking about Dependent Origination and craving, I thought that all of that had ceased for an arahant.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Dependent origination] [Craving] [Arahant] [Cessation] // [Feeling] [Unskillful qualities] [Ignorance] [Māra]
Suttas: SN 4.6; SN 4.20: The Buddha’s encounters with Māra. [Buddha/Biography]
Sutta: MN 50: Mahā Moggallāna rebukes Māra. [Great disciples]
Sutta: SN 10.3: Sūciloma. [Non-human beings]
4. “In the mind of an arahant, are unwholesome states immediately seen through the filter of the Four Noble Truths so they are immediately let go?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Arahant] [Unskillful qualities] [Four Noble Truths] [Relinquishment] // [Māra]
Sutta: MN 49.29 [Brahma gods]
7. “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
8. Comment describing conceptual versus co-emergent ignorance. [Ignorance]
Response by Ajahn Amaro.
1. “What is the Pāli term that [the Buddha] uses for volitional formations [in SN 12.64]?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Pāli] [Volitional formations] // [Volition] [Nutriment]
2. “To dissociate—isn’t it like to withdraw? It feels like something violent or painful.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Language] [Relinquishment] // [Proliferation] [Similes] [Seclusion]
Sutta: MN 20: The Removal of Distracting Thoughts.
Sutta: SN 10.3: Sūciloma.
4. “In [MN 62], the Buddha goes through the elements. Here (MN 62.17) it says that space is not established anywhere. Do you remember what he said for earth and water?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Elements] // [Equanimity]
5. “In the satipaṭṭhāna, would it be encouraged to observe skin as my skin, his skin, her skin—the same … So we look that they are not different in me and other people … If you contemplate and sit with feelings and emotions, anybody where it manifests it’s the same. So it becomes not my opinion and your opinion, but a field of opinions and you don’t have preference for the one you expressed … Would this be a suitable object of meditation?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Unattractiveness] [Not-self] [Feeling] [Emotion] [Views] // [Mindfulness of mind] [Mindfulness of dhammas] [Impermanence]
Sutta: MN 10.34: Mindfulness of citta; MN 10.36: Mindfulness of dhammas.
Sutta: MN 118.21: Using the breath to cultivate wisdom. [Mindfulness of breathing] [Discernment] [Insight meditation]
7. “How does pīti relate to the fulfillment of desire?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Rapture ] [Benefit/gratification] [Happiness] // [Unification] [Jhāna] [Craving] [Relinquishment] [Addiction]
3. “Is there a difference between citta and poo roo?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Heart/mind ] [Knowing itself] [Nature of mind] // [Thai] [Language] [Proliferation] [Dhamma] [Buddha] [Ajahn Amaro] [Dhamma books]
Quote: “If there’s anything left, just throw it to the dogs.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Chah] [Relinquishment]
4. Story: Huineng evades his pursuers with a koan. Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Koan] [Huineng]
Follow-up: “Do you know why Huineng returned after sixteen years?”
Recollection: Ajahn Buddhadāsa translated a few Chinese Buddhist texts into Thai. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Translation] [Ajahn Chah]
7. “One of the descriptions of Dhamma is ‘here and now.’ Have you had an equivalent insight into now-ness? (Refers to the previous story about here-ness.)” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Dhamma] [Ajahn Amaro] [Insight meditation] [Time] // [Impermanence] [Not-self] [Conventions]
Reference: The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra.
3. “For good or right contemplation, do you need some amount of samādhi so that it won’t proliferate in thinking?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Discernment] [Concentration] [Proliferation] // [Thai Forest Tradition]
4. “Are mindfulness of mind and contemplating a subject such as impermanence two different approaches?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of mind] [Recollection] // [Ajahn Chah] [Language] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Appropriate attention] [Lawfulness]
Reference: “What is Contemplation?”, Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 475-479.
Quote: “Your best contemplation is quite thoughtless.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Tranquility]
Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: Yoniso manasikāra is a way of paying attention to the process of experience. [Pāli] [Characteristics of existence]
5. Comment: Yoga texts speak of samyama, holding an object in the light of awareness that unpacks whatever you are contemplating. [Hinduism] [Insight meditation]
Response by Ajahn Amaro.
6. “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]
7. 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.
9. “Where did you (Ajahn Amaro) say, ‘Vanish; the truth sustains itself,’ in relation to Ajahn Chah’s conundrum, ‘If you can’t go forward, if you can’t go backwards, if you can’t stand still, where do you go?’” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Amaro] [Truth] [Koan]
10. “In the Bāhiya Sutta (Ud 1.10), is the concept of bare attention before mental fabrications and include feeling?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Knowing itself] [Volitional formations] [Feeling] // [Sense bases]
Sutta: SN 10.3: Sūciloma.
3. “When you contemplate some situation, as long as there is still some tension or some feeling, does that mean that you did not come to the right understanding of it, but once you understand the situation, there would be no unpleasant, painful feelings about it?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Pain] [Recollection] [Discernment] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Defilements of insight] [Clinging] [Suffering] [Grief]
Sutta: SN 36.6: Simile of the two arrows. [Similes]
Suttas: MN 53.5; AN 10.67: The Buddha stretches his back. [Buddha/Biography]
Sutta: SN 47.14: “The assembly appears empty to me now.” [Great disciples] [Death] [Characteristics of existence]
5. “Is it correct that if something happened before and I remember it, it means there is some clinging?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Memory] [Clinging] // [Mindfulness] [Learning]
Sutta: SN 48.9.3: Mindfulness means remembering things that happened long ago.
6. “The abandonment of all path factors and saṅkhāras—how much autonomy is there and how much is a ripening and falling away and paying attention?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Relinquishment] [Volition] // [Patience] [Truth] [Kamma] [Conditionality]
7. “When the mind feels quiet and peaceful, but there’s still something niggling away that doesn’t feel quite right, how do you work with that?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tranquility] [Suffering] // [Patience] [Truth] [Self-reliance] [Conditionality] [Faith] [Perfections]
Recollection: It was frustrating being a disciple of Ajahn Chah and going to him with all your problems. He would just tell us to be patient. [Ajahn Chah]
8. Quote: “Patience isn’t a strategy; it’s an abiding place.” — Ajahn Sucitto. [Ajahn Sucitto] [Patience]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
Sutta: Dhp 184.
2. Comment by Ajahn Kaccāna: It’s wonderful to hear Ajahn Chah’s brutal honesty about what it’s like being a teacher. [Ajahn Chah] [Teaching Dhamma]
Reference: Food for the Heart (Wisdom Publications) by Ajahn Chah (commercial) p. 333.
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
3. “When I heard that Ajahn Amaro spent two years [not lying down], I was very impressed. But thinking about how Luang Por Sumedho watched Ajahn Amaro do this for two years and then saying, ‘Ah, finally you’re stopping!’ Why do you let people make their own experience?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Amaro] [Sitter's practice] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Teaching Dhamma]
5. Comment: [This discussion of ‘Nibbāna is the cessation of becoming’ (AN 10.7)] reminds me of the last testament of a well-known teacher: ‘Rest in purity and evenness and do something for the benefit of others.’ Read by Ajahn Pasanno. [Nibbāna] [Equanimity] [Compassion]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Simplicity]
Reading: “The Safest Way to Dwell,” Gifts He Left Behind by Ajahn Dune, p. 102. [Ajahn Dune]
Quote: “As for me, I dwell with knowing. … Knowing is the normality of mind that’s empty, bright, pure, that has stopped fabricating, stopped searching, stopped all mental motions—having nothing, not attached to anything at all.” [Knowing itself] [Cessation]
2. “When Ajahn Chah reached full liberation, did he wait two years just to be sure?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Chah] [Liberation] // [Delusion] [Doubt]
Simile from Ajahn Chah: “To me that’s just the chattering of the birds.” Related by Ajahn Amaro. [Similes]
Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: People get infatuated and enthralled by attainment. [Craving] [Meditation/Results] [Relinquishment]
Quote: “[Ajahn Chah’s] duty was to try to teach people Dhamma, as opposed to being something for anybody.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Teaching Dhamma] [Becoming]
3. “You talked about the end of striving, the end of straining, the end of forcing just now. Yesterday you were talking about standing on one side and neither straining nor moving back. It seems to be a bit of a paradox. Do we strain now and stop when we get there?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Right Effort] [Energy] // [Middle Path] [Learning] [Aspects of Understanding]
Sutta: MN 39: Don’t be content with wholesome states.
Sutta: AN 2.5: The qualities that allowed the Buddha to realize full Awakening.
4. “How did the Buddha deal with this issue of people becoming enlightened contemporaneous with him and getting a little bit crazy? His contemporaries also had siddhis [psychic powers] and practices? How did he distinguish between Buddhist and non-Buddhist attainments?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Buddha/Biography] [Liberation] [Delusion] [Psychic powers] // [Cessation of Suffering] [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] [Becoming]
Sutta: AN 6.48: A proper declaration of full knowledge does not include a sense of me and mine.
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.38: Rules for wanderers of other sects wanting to become bhikkhus.
5. “I was trying to imagine what it would be like to look into the world through the eyes of an arahant. Something like looking through The Matrix or looking at people as children …” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Arahant]
Quote: “What is the mind of an arahant like?”—“Only compassion.” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Compassion]
Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: Ajahn Chah’s form of compassion could be pretty demanding sometimes. [Ajahn Chah] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Patience] [Humor]
Reflection by Ajahn Kaccāna: From the perspective of an arahant, what drives the entire world is feeble (MN 112.6). [Aggregates] [Dispassion]
11. Comment: I’m struck that very often in the sutras, the Buddha himself does not speak. A question arises, someone else answers it, and at the end he just says, ‘Yes, that’s how it is.’ [Sutta] [Buddha/Biography] [Questions] [Seclusion]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Personality] [Concentration]
2. “The other characteristics like impermanence, dukkha, anatta—are these considered to be the third quenching elements?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Characteristics of existence] [Cessation] // [Not-self] [Emptiness] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
Reference: Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree by Ajahn Buddhadāsa, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, pp. 198-199.
Sutta: SN 35.85: “The world is empty.” Quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 200.
3. “The connection between tathatā and suññatā—would you like to expound a bit more?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suchness] [Emptiness ] // [Proliferation] [Relinquishment] [Pāli] [Conventions] [Aggregates] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Characteristics of existence] [Self-identity view]
Quote: “It’s just that much.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
Sutta: MN 72.20: “… unfathomable like the great ocean.” [Buddha]
Sutta: Ud 8.3: “There is the unborn, the unoriginated, the uncreated, the unformed.” (Chanting Book Translation).
Reference: The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard.
4. Comment: When I’ve heard the phrase ‘abiding in emptiness’ used, it hasn’t been a reification; it has been exactly what the sutta (SN 35.85) says, abiding in a place that’s empty of self. [Emptiness] [Not-self]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Theravāda]
8. “Could you explain again how anicca is related to signlessness? (Visuddhimagga 21.70; Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 686; The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 203)” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Impermanence ] [Nimitta] // [Proliferation] [Conventions]
9. “It’s interesting that the Buddha usually speaks of wholesome qualities in the negative, like non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion. Even the precepts are phrased in the negative. Could you say that’s pointing towards emptiness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Skillful qualities] [Precepts] [Emptiness] // [Western psychology] [Language] [Teaching Dhamma]
10. “Of these three pairs (impermanence and signlessness; unsatisfactoriness and desirelessness; selflessness and emptiness; Visuddhimagga 21.70, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 686), is it skillful to direct the mind towards one or will one appear naturally?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Characteristics of existence] [Insight meditation] [Directed thought and evaluation]
Quote: “An insight into one will be an insight into all three.”
11. “I’m curious about the timeline when the Buddha established the Five Precepts for householders.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Buddha/Biography] [Five Precepts] [Lay life] // [Vinaya]
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 2.1: The Buddha establishes the Uposatha observance for the Saṅgha. [Lunar observance days] [Saṅgha]
Sutta: AN 8.41: Observing the Eight Precepts on Uposatha days. [Eight Precepts]
Sutta: AN 8.39: The eight streams of merit. [Merit] [Three Refuges] [Generosity]
Follow-up: “Did the ritual of requesting the Five Precepts originate in the time of the Buddha?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ceremony/ritual] [Culture/Thailand] [Tipiṭaka]
12. “The eight training precepts that some monastic traditions ask you to take as a lay person when you are reading suttas or attending Dhamma classes—do different Theravāda forms include this?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Lay life] [Precepts] [Bhante Gunaratana] // [Culture/Sri Lanka] [Culture/Thailand] [Right Speech]
1. “When the Buddha had a backache and the only time he gets relief is in the signless concentration of mind (DN 16.2.25), there still seems to be that non-emptiness connected with the six sense bases (MN 121.11-13) …” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha/Biography] [Pain] [Concentration] [Emptiness] [Sense bases] // [Body/form]
2. “Have you found the instructions for contemplating the formless realms helpful in your own practice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Formless attainments] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Characteristics of existence] [Aggregates]
3. “Is my understanding correct that everything is empty, nothing is there from the horses to the … (MN 121.4)? When the body dies, and with it the senses, do [the body and the senses] disappear in the same way the horses disappear [in MN 121.4]?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Emptiness] [Death] [Body/form] [Sense bases] // [Outflows] [Rebirth] [Buddha] [Aggregates]
Sutta: MN 72.16: Aggivaccagotta Sutta.
Sutta: Snp 5.7: Upasīva’s Question.
Sutta: AN 2.25: Statements whose meaning should and should not be drawn out.
5. Comment: “The principle of letting go is that nothing is destroyed … we are not buying into the future.” [Relinquishment] [Clinging] [Buddha] [Death]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Stream entry] [Aggregates]
Quote: “A samaṇa is one with no future.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Perception of a samaṇa] [Time]
6. “In animitta samādhi, is the mind one-pointed or just sharp? Does it fall into the world of jhāna?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Concentration] [Nimitta] [Unification] [Jhāna]
Sutta: SN 48.9.4: Unification of mind with relinquishment as its object. [Relinquishment]
Quote: “The point that includes.” — Ajahn Sumedho. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Spaciousness]
Teaching from Ajahn Chah: “Being Dhamma.” Related by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma] [Knowing itself] [Not-self] [Self-identity view]
Sutta: MN 95.20: The sequence of hearing, understanding, practicing, and realizing Dhamma.
Reference: Being Dharma by Ajahn Chah (commercial).
3. “How does [disenchantment towards the aggregates] square with taking delight in the natural world?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Disenchantment] [Happiness] [Culture/Natural environment] // [Dispassion] [Beauty] [Culture/West] [Clinging] [Judgementalism]
Sutta: Thag 18.1.12: Mahākassapa’s verses about nature. [Great disciples]
Quote: “The more completely the heart lets go of the world, the more it can really enjoy it.” — Ajahn Amaro. [Relinquishment]
Recollection: Ajahn Chah had tremendous joy but no illusions about the world around him. [Ajahn Chah]
5. “Everything arises from emptiness, right?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Emptiness ] // [Conditionality]
Quote: “There is no discernable beginning to this world (SN 15.1); what we’re looking for is an ending to it.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Nature of the cosmos] [Cessation]
Sutta: AN 4.77: Imponderables.
6. “Wasn’t there a teaching that everything arises from interest and there is a sequence that ends in Nibbāna?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Desire] [Conditionality] [Nibbāna]
Sutta: AN 10.58: “Rooted in interest are all things. …”
7. “In what ways does engaging with the natural world which is always changing contribute to renunciation and realization? In the modern world, such conditions are becoming rarer. What is the answer?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Kaccāna and Ajahn Amaro. [Culture/Natural environment ] [Impermanence] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Culture/West] // [Characteristics of existence] [Spiritual friendship] [Seclusion] [Insight meditation] [Ascetic practices]
Suttas: SN 47.6-7: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness are one’s ancestral territory.
Recollection: The austerity of the early days of Wat Pah Pong highlighted the seeking of security. Recounted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Chah] [Food]
1. Comment: The gist of [AN 4.96 and AN 4.99] all seem to be about refraining from; the way to really benefit yourself and others is not to do. When you hear it, it feels quite negative. [Generosity] [Precepts] [Sense restraint]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Personal presence] [Compassion] [Buddha/Biography] [Teachers]
Sutta: Iti 22: “Do not look down on merit.” [Merit] [Happiness]
Sutta: MN 21.20: The Simile of the Saw.
2. Comment: I’ve often felt like I’ve made this deal (SN 56.35). [Suffering]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: It’s important to bring the suffering into the heart so that it is a catalyst for change. [Spiritual urgency]
3. “Is it possible to repeat the preparatory stages [before the Buddha teaches the Four Noble Truths] (Mahāvagga 1.7.5)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Gradual Teaching ] [Four Noble Truths] // [Generosity] [Virtue] [Deva] [Kamma] [Drawbacks] [Sensual desire] [Renunciation] [Happiness] [Teaching Dhamma]
Story: A gangster visits Ajahn Chah and begins to keep the precepts. [Crime] [Ajahn Chah] [Killing] [Five Precepts] [Stealing]
6. “When an arahant passes, is there a process for that passing? Is there some description of it in the suttas?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Arahant] [Death] [Sutta] // [Cessation] [Language] [Kamma]
Follow-up: “So there’s no advice to rest in meditation in the dying process?” [Meditation]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: “Each moment should be a rehearsal of dying.” [Present moment awareness] [Recollection/Death] [Mindfulness]
Sutta: AN 6.19: Mindfulness of Death.
7. “You hear about the teachings about the different stages of enlightenment—these fetters going at these stages. When I first heard about it, it was kind of helpful, but it sounded so complicated. Luang Por [Sumedho] would teach that it is here and now, it’s right now, and that was so liberating. … How can you use this talk of the fetters and different stages in a way that is helpful?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stages of awakening] [Fetters] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Liberation] // [Relinquishment] [Direct experience]
8. “Are the Pāli terms for anger and ill-will similar? With anger, you don’t necessarily wish harm on someone else, it just arises, and it’s involved with sakkāyadiṭṭhi …” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pāli] [Ill-will] [Aversion] [Self-identity view] // [Hindrances] [Stream entry] [Unwholesome Roots]
Follow-up: “Are there any suttas that say that a sotāpanna does not have anger and ill-will?” [Sutta] [Non-return]
Simile: SN 56.51: The amount of suffering that a sotāpanna relinquishes. [Suffering] [Similes]
9. “Because a sotāpanna is supposed to have finished sakkāyadiṭṭhi, does that mean that if they do any actions which involve [unskillful qualities], they don’t carry any kamma?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stream entry] [Self-identity view] [Unskillful qualities] [Kamma] [Volition] // [Habits] [Personality] [Virtue]
Sutta: SN 14.15: Caṅkama Sutta.
1. [Considering the large numbers of lay disciples who the Buddha declared to have realized stages of awakening in DN 18.1] “I guess they were culturally more open to the path?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Lay life] [Stages of awakening] [Culture/India] // [History/Indian Buddhism] [Cultural context] [Buddha]
Sutta: DN 1: The 62 wrong views. [Views]
Sutta: DN 14.1.4: A fortunate aeon. [Previous Buddhas]
2. “Are once-returners always reborn in the human realm? … So they have a long human life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Once return] [Human]
Texts: Seven-year old arahants: Dabba Mallaputta (Bhikkhu Saṅghādisesā 8), Sopāka (Thag 480), Sumana (Thag 429), Bhaddha (Thag 473).
Sutta: Ud 1.10: Bāhiya.
3. “Before arriving at [the noble] attainments, is it expected to exist and have a gradual progression of pāramīs and come closer to stream entry?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stages of awakening] [Perfections] [Stream entry] // [Factors for stream entry] [History/Early Buddhism]
4. “If one cultivates certain pāramīs during one’s lifetime, one can lose them in another lifetime?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Perfections] [Rebirth] [Impermanence] // [Aversion] [Clinging] [Fetters] [Stream entry] [Ajahn Chah]
Simile from Ajahn Chah: Tending a plant. [Naturalness] [Similes] [Stages of awakening]
10. “The first part of the Highest Blessings chant (Snp 2.4; Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 46), ‘associating with the wise,’ is not sappurisa. Is it a synonym?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Association with people of integrity] [Pāli] [Verses]
1. “The suttas ae the classic Dhamma texts, and there are a lot of books, etc. that expound the Dhamma as well. What sources to study to hear the true Dhamma?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Hearing the true Dhamma ] [Sutta] [Dhamma books] // [Thai Forest Tradition] [Discernment] [Four Noble Truths] [Views]
Quote: “Does he contemplate the Four Noble Truths when he’s climbing rocks?” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Paul Breiter] [Culture/West] [Recreation/leisure/sport]
Sutta: AN 8.53: Eight criteria to determine what is Dhamma. [Dhamma]
2. Comment: AN 8.53 mentions Dhamma-Vinaya, not just Dhamma. [Dhamma] [Vinaya]
Responses by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Great disciples] [Simplicity]
3. “Is the Abhidhamma a collection of suttas?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Abhidhamma] [Tipiṭaka]
References: Abhidhamma in Daily Life by Nina Van Gorkom (commercial); A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma by Bhikkhu Bodhi (commercial).
4. Questions about the heavens as other realms and/or states of mind. Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Deva] [Realms of existence] [Christianity] // [Happiness] [Stream entry] [Great disciples] [Gradual Teaching]
Sutta: SN 56.11.22: Dhammacakka Sutta: The deva realms.
Sutta: SN 46.4: Praise for Sāriputta.
Sutta: AN 3.128: Sāriputta puts Anuruddha on the right track.
Reflection about the two results of dukkha (AN 6.63.42). [Suffering] [Conditionality] [Ignorance] [Faith]
5. “I’ve come across the word ‘celestial state.’ Does that help to clarify the Christian definition of heaven?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Deva] [Christianity] // [Realms of existence] [Rebirth]
Follow-up: “Is the Buddha’s teaching on heaven a way to prepare the mind to recognize the Four Noble Truths?” [Gradual Teaching] [Four Noble Truths] [Happiness] [Kamma]
Comment by Ajahn Kaccāna: Generosity, virtue, and the hope of heaven can be a potent force for goodness even without renunciation.
6. “How are yoniso manasikāra and sati-sampajañña related?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Appropriate attention ] [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension ] // [Conditionality] [Stream entry]
Sutta: MN 10.8: Clear comprension. [Mindfulness of body]
Sutta: AN 10.61: The support for sati-sampajañña is yoniso manasikāra.
Sutta: SN 55.5: Four factors for stream entry.
7. “What should we do when we are stuck in aversion and no able to see the anatta aspect of it?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Aversion] [Not-self] // [Characteristics of existence]
Follow-up: “Is it wise to use memory in these moments when we feel stuck?” [Memory] [Appropriate attention]
Follow-up: “Is it okay to use force when the defilements seem stronger than us?” [Unwholesome Roots] [Right Effort] [Sutta]
Sutta: MN 20: The Removal of Distracting Thoughts.
8. “When the suffering passes, but you notice fear of it happening again, how do you deal with this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Cessation of Suffering] [Fear] // [Recollection] [Appropriate attention]
Recollection: Ajahn Sumedho reminds the Chithurst monastics of the precepts they haven’t broken. Recounted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Chithurst] [Recollection/Virtue]
1. “In light of AN 6.98, is Nibbāna permanent? Is it possible to pay attention to what’s happening and notice what isn’t changing?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Nibbāna] [Impermanence] // [Time] [Dhamma]
Sutta: Ud 8.3: Nibbāna Sutta (Chanting Book translation).
Quote: “Permanence isn’t the same as timelessness.” — Ajahn Amaro.
2. “Does Nibbāna exist? Is there a sutta about this?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Nibbāna] [Sutta] // [Etymology] [Discernment]
Sutta: Milindapañha 323, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 162.
Quote: “Dhamma is real but does not exist. The five khandhas exist, but they’re not real.” — Ajahn Paññāvaḍḍho. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Paññāvaḍḍho] [Dhamma] [Aggregates]
Quote: “Dhamma is un-image-able.” — Ajahn Sumedho. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Sumedho]
3. “What are the differences between disenchantment and dispassion? What are their characteristics?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Disenchantment] [Dispassion] // [Translation] [Etymology ] [Sutta]
5. “Could you repeat the five types of stinginess (AN 5.260)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Greed ] // [Family] [Corruption] [Lodging] [Gain and loss] [Fame and disrepute] [Teaching Dhamma]
Story: Ajahn Mahā Prasert gets sent to Nebraska. [Ajahn Mahā Prasert] [Jealousy]
Suttas: SN 17: Connected Discourses on Gain, Honor, and Fame.
Reading: SN 17.5: The Dung Beetle. [Humor] [Similes]
Reflections on the kammic effects of King Ajātasattu killing his father (DN 2.101). [Kamma] [Killing] [Parents] [Stream entry]
Vinaya: Khandhaka 21.1.3: The First Council occurred at Rājagha, King Ajātasattu’s capital city.
6. “Out of curiosity, would accidentally killing [your parent] be equivalently bad kamma?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Killing] [Parents] [Kamma] [Volition]
7. Comment: I find it striking that Aṅgulimāla, who killed so many people, managed to achieve arahantship. [Killing] [Arahant] [Kamma]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Parents]
1. “What distinguished Ajahn Chah from other meditation teachers?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah] // [Meditation/Techniques] [Right View] [Monastic life]
Follow-up: “Did this inspire the way you teach?” [Ajahn Pasanno]
2. “How did Ajahn Chah react to students who had studied in other Buddhist traditions?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Teaching Dhamma] [Spiritual traditions] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Master Hsu Yun] [Hua tou] [Zen] [Right Effort]
3. “It is said that each monk who know Ajahn Chah well would describe him in a different way when asked. How would you describe him?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah] // [Personality] [Personal presence] [Compassion]
Quote: “You never quite knew which Ajahn Chah you were going to get, which always kept you on your toes. And if you weren’t on your toes, it wouldn’t take long before he would call you on it.” [Teaching Dhamma] [Clear comprehension]
4. “What advice would you give to future abbots and teachers of Wat Pah Pong branch monasteries so that the communities maintain the most important characteristics of Ajahn Chah’s style of leadership?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Abbot] [Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Saṅgha] [Leadership ] [Ajahn Chah] // [Dhamma] [Vinaya] [Chanting] [Translation]
Sutta: DN 16.6: Dhamma-Vinaya is your leader.
Quote: “Ajahn Chah was conservative, but he wasn’t fundamentalist.” [Monastic life]
Story: The Dalai Lama asks the Abhayagiri monks to chant the Maṅgala Sutta (Snp 2.4, Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 46) in Pāli. [Dalai Lama] [Pāli]
Story: Ajahn Chah was one of the first forest monks to ban smoking in the monastery. [Smoking] [Lunar observance days]
Recollection: Ajahn Chah was unique in consulting with senior monks and laypeople when making decisions. [Saṅgha decision making]
5. “The word toramon is sometimes associated with Ajahn Chah’s style of training. Could he be ‘intentionally cruel?’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Fierce/direct teaching ] // [Ascetic practices] [Teaching Dhamma] [Trust] [Compassion] [Saṃsāra] [Habits]
Quote: “Ajahn Chah was always willing to put obstructions in front of your desires, views and opinions, and habits, which was incredibly compassionate as well as courageous.” [Craving] [Views] [Courage] [Culture/West]
Story: Ajahn Chah lets a restless junior monk go tudong with devious stipulations. [Sequence of training] [Restlessness and worry] [Tudong]
6. “There are a few stories about Ajahn Chah having psychic powers, particularly reading minds. Did you ever observe anything of that sort with Ajahn Chah? What was Ajahn Chah’s position on such things?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Psychic powers] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah] // [Nature of mind]
Story: Ajahn Chah describes the supernatural beings at Wat Pah Pong to a close lay follower, then refuses to talk about other realms with a group from Bangkok. [Wat Pah Pong] [Non-human beings] [Teaching Dhamma]
7. “Were there any particular themes in Ajahn Chah’s teachings that regularly came up?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah ] // [Virtue] [Right View] [Relinquishment] [Knowing itself]
8. “Many of Ajahn Chah’s direct disciples have become revered teachers themselves. Would you say the harsher conditions and more rigorous practices of the early days of Wat Pah Pong played a necessary role in their training and development or was it mostly due to Ajahn Chah being such a masterful teacher?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah lineage ] [Ascetic practices] [Wat Pah Pong] [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah] // [Humility] [Ajahn Mun]
Quote: “There’s this nostalgia for the good old days. … To me it’s a fallacy or a fantasy.” [Suffering] [Poverty]
Quote: “To be able to lay a foundation that was carried on is really exceptional.” [Saṅgha] [Leadership]
Recollection: There were an equal number of monks and nuns at Wat Pah Pong. [Mae Chee]
9. “Can you speak about the connection Ajahn Chah had with Luang Por Tongrat and Luang Por Tongrat in general?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Tongrat ] [Ajahn Chah] // [Thai sects] [Ajahn Mun] [Monastic routine] [Almsround]
Reference: Ajahn Utane’s biography of Ajahn Tongrat. Ajahn Mudito translated this into Portuguese in 2019, and there is a machine translation from the Portuguese.
Quote: “Oh, Chah, you’ve come.” — Ajahn Tongrat’s first words to Ajahn Chah.
Story: Ajahn Tongrat makes a racket under Ajahn Mun’s kuti in order to provoke a Dhamma talk. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Story: Ajahn Tongrat dies in the Dhamma seat. [Death]
10. “What would Ajahn Chah say if he visited our Western monasteries today in 2025? Would he recommend any changes?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Western Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Ajahn Chah] // [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [History]
Quote: “Be careful about getting too comfortable.” [Heedlessness]
Suttas: SN 17: Be cautious about gain, honor, and fame. [Worldly Conditions] [Fierce/direct teaching]
11. “Could you tell us your very first encounter with Luang Por Chah? How did it happen? What did he say to you? What impression did you have then?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah] // [Temporary ordination] [Wat Pah Pong] [Culture/Natural environment] [Ajahn Sumedho]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno is impressed by handwritten notes about Ajahn Chah’s teaching by a visitor to Wat Pah Pong. [Wat Phleng Vipassanā]
Quote: “If you want to stay here, you have to stay at least five years.” — Ajahn Chah.
Quote: “The place itself [Wat Pah Pong] was a reflection of Ajahn Chah.” [Lay life] [Lunar observance days]
Story: The branch monasteries and lay community gather for Māgha Pūjā. [Festival days] [Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Community]
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