Part of key topic Skillful Qualities
54 excerpts, 4:07:16 total duration
8. Ajahn Chah made me look at myself. Teaching by Ajahn Sumedho. [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho ] // [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Posture/Sitting] [Pain] [Aversion] [Admonishment/feedback] [Humor] [Patience] [Goodwill] [Discernment] [Contentment] [Cessation] [Happiness] [Saṅgha] [Views] [Relinquishment]
Quote: “Your practice now is patience.” — Ajahn Chah [Patience]
Story: Ajahn Chah chats for hours after Pāṭimokkha. [Idle chatter] [Patience] [Judgementalism]
11. Quote: “He taught different people differently....He gave us what we needed.” — Paul Breiter [Teaching Dhamma] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Chah] // [Paul Breiter] [Patience] [Monastic life] [Generosity] [Upatakh] [Devotional practice]
2. “This is a common scenario: I’m caught in a story of praise and blame. I notice. A voice says, ‘That was very quick. You’re getting good at this.’ I wake up again. ‘Ah, I know you Mara….’ Mara seems to co-opt every moment of awakening to feed the ego. Is there something you can suggest?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Blame and praise] [Māra] [Liberation] [Self-identity view] [Patience] // [Impermanence] [Mindfulness of dhammas] [Not-self] [Aggregates] [Dependent origination] [Knowing itself]
Quote: “It’s really hard to underestimate how important patient endurance is to the practice.” [Patience]
10. “Would you share some of your personal journey, including the time before you became a monk, and why you became a monk, and how the holy life can help people grow and change?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Monastic life] [Long-term practice ] // [Culture/West] [Travel] [Culture/Thailand]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno begins meditation with a month-long Mahasi Sayadaw retreat. [Meditation retreats] [Mahasi Sayadaw] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s first visit to Wat Pah Pong. [Ordination] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong]
Quote: “If you want to stay here, you have to stay at least five years.” — Ajahn Chah [Sequence of training]
Reflection: “Five years is five years. I’ll go back and give myself to Ajahn Chah.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Relinquishment] [Mentoring]
Quote: “There’s no such thing as the ideal monastic or the ideal practitioner.” [Idealism] [Lay life] [Faith] [Disrobing] [Suffering] [Energy] [Patience]
11. “It’s been so helpful to hear stories from your own experience. Could you talk about some of the more challenging moments in your practice and how you worked with them?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Gratitude] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Long-term practice] // [Doubt ] [Patience]
Quote: “It’s not me resolving doubt, but it’s allowing the practice or the Dhamma to work.” [Self-identity view] [Dhamma] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Faith] [Three Refuges] [Patience]
Simile: “Getting in the vehicle and allowing it to carry you.” [Similes]
3. “Reflecting on your 35 years in robes, do you have any strong lessons that stand out?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] [Long-term practice] [Discernment] // [Patience ] [Ajahn Chah] [Virtue] [Meditation retreats]
Quote: “Oftentimes we don’t really recognize the goodness that we’re doing.” [Perfectionism] [Judgementalism] [Patience ]
Quote: “Patience isn’t just enduring. It’s being able to be present with experience.” [Patience ] [Direct experience] [Present moment awareness]
10. Reading from the draft biography: Ajahn Chah accepts his dying father’s request to stay as a monk for life. Read by Ajahn Pasanno. [Parents] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Sickness] [Death] [Ajahn Chah ] [Determination] // [Mindfulness of body] [Spiritual urgency] [Saṃsāra]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 40
Quote: “I dedicate my body and mind, my whole life, to the practice of the Lord Buddha’s teachings in their entirety. I will realize the truth in this lifetime … I will let go of everything and follow the teachings. No matter how much suffering and difficulty I have to endure I will persevere, otherwise there will be no end to my doubts. I will make this life as even and continuous as a single day and night. I will abandon attachments to mind and body and follow the Buddha’s teachings until I know their truth for myself.” — Ajahn Chah [Ardency] [Patience] [Doubt] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Relinquishment] [Knowledge and vision]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 42
The singular quality of Ajahn Chah’s resolution. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno.
7. Reading from the draft biography: Building the road to Tam Sang Pet. Read by Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Tam Saeng Pet] [Work] [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/Natural environment] [Ajahn Anek] [Patience] [Perception of a samaṇa] [Ardency]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 428
Quote: “Patient endurance is the general of practice.” — Ajahn Chah [Patience]
3. Quote: “You fall down, you get up, you crawl along. ” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Patience] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Tudong]
4. “Can you say more about the practice of awareness of arising and ceasing in relation to discernment and right view?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Becoming] [Cessation] [Mindfulness] [Discernment] [Right View] // [Impermanence] [Ajahn Chah] [Conditionality] [Self-identity view] [Happiness] [Mindfulness of mind] [Patience]
Reading from an unnamed recent Ajahn Chah book. [Relinquishment] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma]
Quote: “I don’t teach you guys much. Just be patient.” — Ajahn Chah [Patience]
1. “I’ve been struggling with sleepiness while trying to meditate, having the intention to be present and aware, but finding myself dozing off.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sloth and torpor] [Clear comprehension] [Meditation retreats] // [Conditionality] [Lay life] [Craving not to become] [Directed thought and evaluation]
Story: Ajahn Boon Choo meditates through tiredness after staying up for days. [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Kaṭhina] [Wat Pah Pong] [Energy] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Ardency]
Quote: “The boundaries we set for ourselves are oftentime much smaller than what we can actually deal with, work with, or be with.” [Self-identity view] [Clinging] [Patience]
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] [Patience ]