Part of key topic Fruits of the Practice
6. Ajahn Chah teaches his disciples in everyday living situations. Recollection by Ajahn Jitindriyā. [Teaching Dhamma] [Everyday life] [Ajahn Chah]
Story: “Is the log heavy?” [Relinquishment] [Clinging] [Suffering]
Story: A monk drops a tape recorder after getting an electric shock. [Relinquishment]
7. One of Ajahn Chah’s main methods was the monastic training. Recollection by Ṭhānissarā. [Monastic life] [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah] // [Suffering] [Direct experience] [Idealism] [Relinquishment]
20. He encouraged people to let go in so many different ways. Recollection by Jack Kornfield. [Relinquishment ] [Teachers] [Views] [Eightfold Path] [Ajahn Chah] // [Idle chatter] [Seclusion] [Aversion] [Ghost] [Fear] [Restlessness and worry] [Sense bases] [Direct experience] [Liberation]
Story: Sit in the middle of your anger. [Jack Kornfield] [Robes] [Lodging]
Story: Walk backwards in the forest in the middle of the night. [Sloth and torpor] [Posture/Walking] [Culture/Natural environment]
1. Recollection: Total relinquishment was a characteristic of Ajahn Chah’s practice. Recounted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Relinquishment ] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Dhamma]
2. Story: Practicing the Dhamma is to renounce this life. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Dhamma] [Relinquishment] // [Vajrayāna]
25. Comment: Merit is faith driven, so there aren’t any limitations to where that can take you, and it has real value. [Merit] [Faith] [Realms of existence] [Death]
Story: Two Thai doctors take temporary ordination to make merit to rejoin their deceased brother in a future life. [Culture/Thailand] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Temporary ordination] [Family] [Rebirth]
Story: The mother of a woman killed in a bus crash dedicates merit so that the dead woman will be reborn in the family. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Ghost] [Relinquishment] [Ceremony/ritual] [Kamma] [Volition]
Quote: “We live in a fairly limited concept of the world; it’s very material in the West. There’s a lot more happening than what we can see.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Nature of the cosmos] [Culture/West]
12. “I am wondering if you could talk about spiritual bypass? What is it? How do you know if you’ve done it? And how do you disentangle from it?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Spiritual bypass ] // [Conflict] [Not-self] [Truth] [Views] [Spiritual friendship]
Story: Half the roof blows off a monk’s kuti, but he doesn’t repair it because he is letting go. [Ajahn Chah] [Lodging] [Relinquishment]
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] [Relinquishment]
10. “Were there any memories from the period of training with Ajahn Chah that really stand out in your mind? In what ways did you find it difficult?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] [Ajahn Chah]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno skips morning pūjā to meditate diligently at his kuti. Ajahn Chah calls him lazy. [Monastic routine]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno sits vigil at a cremation and makes a bathing cloth from the cloth used to wrap a corpse. [Funerals ] [Robes ] [Wat Pah Pong] [Recollection/Death]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno joins the Wat Pah Pong Saṅgha, exchanges his requisites, and excitedly attends his first Pāṭimokkha at Wat Pah Pong. Ajahn Chah keeps the monks sitting until 3 am. [Vinaya] [Requisites] [Not handling money] [Pāṭimokkha] [Compassion] [Relinquishment]