Part of key topic Teaching and Teachers
650 excerpts, 43:33:47 total duration
3. “Is there a time and place for intentionally breathing or using the breath as a means of calming the mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Volition] [Calming meditation] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Tranquility] [Energy]
Sutta: MN 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta.
Recollection: To deal with the restless mind, Ajahn Chah taught to breath in deeply and not breathe out. [Restlessness and worry] [Ajahn Chah]
1. “How do Hsu Yun’s reflection ‘Who’s the guest and who’s the host?’ and Ajahn Chah’s metaphor of the one seat of awareness fit with [meditation practice]?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Master Hsu Yun] [Ajahn Chah] [Similes] // [Knowing itself] [Discernment] [Equanimity]
1. “After the mind has settled and I’m with the breath, the boundaries of the body disappear and the breath starts to be barely perceptible. When anxiety arises in this situation, is it a feeling or a sensation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tranquility] [Restlessness and worry] [Feeling] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Pāli] [Emotion] [Volitional formations]
Quote: “You’re falling out of a tree. You don’t have to count all the branches as you go down. You just have to know it’s going to hurt when you hit the bottom.” Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Dependent origination] [Similes] [Suffering]
Follow-up: “So I can just feel the feeling tone as unpleasant, pleasant, or neutral...?” [Noting]
2. “Tibetan Buddhism seems to have a stronger emphasis on compassion and emptiness as a practice. Can you talk about this from the perspective of the Ajahn Chah lineage, including steps as to how it is done?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Vajrayāna] [Compassion] [Emptiness] [Ajahn Chah lineage] // [Ajahn Chah] [Eightfold Path]
Quote: “What is the mind of an Arahant like?” – “Only compassion” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Arahant]
4. “Please speak about sense consciouness and how the release of attachment is acheived.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sense bases] [Consciousness] [Clinging] [Relinquishment] // [Delusion] [Insight meditation] [Knowledge and vision] [Feeling] [Contact] [Drawbacks] [Compassion]
Quote: “Dhamma practice is not difficult. There are only two things you need to do: know and let go.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma]
5. “How does one know the difference between appropriate grieving and honoring the memory of a beloved versus clinging and attachment?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Grief ] [Clinging] // [Cause of Suffering] [Self-identity view] [Spiritual urgency]
Recollection: Grieving for Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Recollection/Saṅgha]
Quote: “It’s that personalization of experience that gets us into trouble over and over again in different ways.” [Suffering]
8. “Can you offer practical advice for working with hindrances and cultivating sīla without taking it personally, that is, trying to perfect the personality?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Hindrances] [Virtue] [Self-identity view] // [Dhamma] [Relinquishment]
Quote: “Kae nun lae (Thai) – It’s just this much.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Suchness]
17. “Fifty vassas! Highs, lows? What are you contemplating these days?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] // [Dhamma] [Abbot] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Chah]
21. “My husband died 10 years ago. There was sadness but also relief that his journey was over and sadness and relief for myself. I can still hear his advice regarding my medications. Is this clinging? He lives in my heart. What do you do with memories and teachings yourself?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Family] [Death] [Grief] [Memory] [Clinging]
Recollection: I still hear Ajahn Chah’s voice. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah] [Dreams] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa]
4. “Would you be willing to share memories of Ajahn Chah?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Pasanno ] [Temporary ordination] [Personality] [Not-self] [Equanimity]
When asked about the core essence of the Buddha’s teachings, Ajahn Chah replies, “Is this a big stick or a little stick?” [Ajahn Chah] [Teaching Dhamma] [Conventions] [Cause of Suffering]
Story: Ajahn Chah pretends to forget simple questions in order to embarass his translator. [Ajahn Chah] [Forest versus city monks] [Media] [Aversion] [Questions] [Translation] [Similes]
Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno writes to his family that he’s staying in Thailand because Ajahn Chah is peaceful, solid, clear, and unshakeable in the midst of all that’s going on around him. [Family] [Ajahn Chah] [Tranquility] [Clear comprehension]
1. “I know that everything changes, and the only thing we can do is accept or be fine with that. But then you have a lot of resistance to acceptance. What can we do with that resistance?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Impermanence] [Clinging] // [Naturalness] [Suffering] [Truth] [Patience] [Continuity of mindfulness]
Quote: So often Ajahn Chah would respond with the advice, “Just be patient.” [Ajahn Chah]
2. “When that flower is new, if we’re aware of its impermanence and we accept that and we know that it’s coming, is there any reason not to love the flower, appreciate its beauty, and accept it as a blessing?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Impermanence ] [Beauty]
Quote: A group of experienced Western Buddists ask Ajahn Chah about Right View. He replies, “Right View is knowing that this cup is broken.” [Ajahn Chah] [Right View]
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!” [Leadership ]
Quote: “Everybody else is a mirror for oneself if one is willing to learn in teaching or leading others.” [Leadership ] [Learning]
7. “At the San Francisco Zen Center, they chant the Heart Sutra daily: ‘No path, no knowledge, no attainment.’ Could you help me understand the paths we’re talking about here and Zen no-path?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Zen] [Eightfold Path] [Liberation] // [Unconditioned] [Relinquishment] [Buddha] [Truth] [Worldly Conditions]
Reference: The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra
Reference: Vijjācaraṇa-sampanno in the Morning Chanting. [Recollection/Buddha]
Quote: “Right view is knowing that this is a broken glass.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Right View] [Impermanence]
3. “Does the concept of refuge in Buddhism contain an element of grace?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Three Refuges ] [Theravāda] [Hinduism] // [Relinquishment] [Knowing itself] [Truth]
Quote: “Did you come here to die?” — Ajahn Chah’s greeting to newcomers.. [Ajahn Chah] [Death] [Liberation] [Self-identity view]
Quote: “If you really understood refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha, there wouldn’t be a time when you bowed without bursting into tears of gratitude and devotion.” [Ajahn Chah] [Bowing ] [Gratitude] [Ajahn Jayasaro]
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.” [Ajahn Chah]
Quote: “It is only when we are willing to give ourselves to truth or reality that the teacher makes sense.”
2. Quote: “Nibbāna is realizing the reality of non-grasping.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Nibbāna]
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]
1. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: There is no such thing as the Ajahn Chah method of meditation. [Meditation/Techniques] [Ajahn Chah] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Self-reliance]
2. Quote: “Be very careful what you build, because you’ve got to look after it.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Building projects] [Lodging] // [Simplicity]
3. Ajahn Chah emphasized the importance of sīla during his second trip to the West. [Culture/West] [Virtue] [Ajahn Chah] // [Communal harmony]
Quote: “Teaching Buddhism without sīla is like sending someone out in the open sea in a leaky boat.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Similes]
Simile: A millipede’s many legs all work together in harmony.
5. Reading: Ajahn Mun answers Ajahn Chah’s questions about Vinaya. Read by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mun] [Vinaya] [Ajahn Chah] // [Commentaries] [Conscience and prudence] [Simplicity] [Mindfulness]
Reference: “Understanding Vinaya,” Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 533-534.
The meaning of hiri-otappa. [Translation] [Respect]
6. Recollection: Ajahn Chah taught that the precepts are a mirror for the mind to understand the intention behind actions of body, speech, and mind. Recounted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Precepts] [Virtue] [Volition] [Ajahn Chah]
8. Ajahn Chah greets Jack Kornfield: “I hope you’re not afraid to suffer.” [Ajahn Chah] [Jack Kornfield] [Suffering] [Fear] // [Isan] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Relinquishment] [Faith]
10. 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. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Tranquility] [Seclusion] [Equanimity] // [Upatakh]
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]
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. [Ajahn Chah] [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. [Ajahn Chah] [Restlessness and worry] [Postulants] [Sequence of training]
Story: After one year, the restless monk asks to go tudong. [Tudong] [Ajahn Chah]
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. [Ajahn Chah] [Lodging]
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. Quote: [Ponting to his heart] “It’s all here” — Ajahn Khao to Ajahn Sumedho. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Khao] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Knowing itself] // [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Mahā Amorn] [Isan]
4. Quote: “Mindfulness is the graveyard of all things.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness] [Cessation] // [Self-identity view] [Proliferation] [Compassion]
5. 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. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [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...”
6. 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]
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]
7. Story: When asked to teach about vipassanā, Ajahn Chah instructed practitioners to observe a wilting flower. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Insight meditation ] [Impermanence] // [Thai Forest Tradition] [Liberation] [Manjushri Institute]
8. Quote: “Samādhi is the one-pointed mind fixed on the point of balance.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Concentration ] [Unification] [Equanimity]
Quote: “Samādhi is a holiday for the heart.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Heart/mind] [Ajahn Sumedho]
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.” [Ajahn Chah ] [Bodhisattva]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno chose to stay with Ajahn Chah for five years because he aspired to Ajahn Chah’s unshakeability. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah ] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
Story: Ajahn Chah gave the farang monks playful Thai names. [Ajahn Chah ] [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]
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. [Ajahn Chah] [Nature of mind]
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]
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.” [Ajahn Chah] [Learning]