Ajahn Piak to visit Abhayagiri in April

Watch Luang Por Piak at Abhayagiri

Monday’s Question & Answer Session

Luang Por Piak Visiting Abhayagiri

Ajahn Piak, a Thai disciple of Ajahn Chah and close friend of Ajahn Dtun and Ajahn Anan, will be visiting Abhayagiri for a week in April. We expect him to arrive the evening of April 19 and depart early in the morning on April 26.

We plan to invite Ajahn Piak to give the Saturday talk on April 22 and the Wan Phra talk on April 25. We will be live streaming both talks and you will be able to watch them by going to Abhayagiri’s Youtube channel.

Ajahn Piak will be traveling with a group of five monks including his long-time student Ajahn Issara and has invited Ajahn Siripañño to translate for him. Tan Kovilo, who ordained at Abhayagiri in 2010, has spent much of the last two years living at Ajahn Piak’s monastery and will likely join Ajahn Piak’s group. We expect he will be willing to speak informally with people and answer our questions at tea time.

Because of the large number of visiting monks, there are no accommodations available for male lay guests at Abhayagiri during Ajahn Piak’s visit. We still may be able to accommodate a few female guests at this time.

About Luang Por Piak

Luang Por (Venerable Father) Piak is one of Thailand’s most respected teachers of Dhamma and meditation. Born in 1948, Luang Por Piak’s given name was Prasobchai but he was nicknamed ‘Piak’. As a child and young man Luang Por Piak did not have much interest in religion or meditation. It was when he was studying for his Masters in New York that Luang Por Piak began to develop an interest in cultivation of the mind.

On the subway, for example, while heading to work, he would find his mind naturally observing and converging on his breath. There he found both pleasure and peace. He also noticed that he was able to wake up in the morning at whatever time he wished simply by mentally determining the time the night before. Even if he’d spent most of the night at a party, he’d still wake up exactly at the predetermined time. These experiences made him curious about how the mind worked and led on to an interest in meditation.

After returning to Thailand, Venerable Piak then received full bhikkhu ordination from Luang Por Chah of Wat Nong Pah Pong Monastery on July 3rd 1976. In 1981, when Venerable Piak had been ordained for five years, a piece of property was offered outside of Bangkok for the establishment of a branch monastery. Luang Por Chah asked Venerable Piak to live there as the abbot. It was unusual for a monk to be asked to take on so much responsibility at such a young age, but Venerable Piak had had quick progress in his Dhamma practice and was also native to that region. Initially surrounded by rice fields as far as one could see, within ten years his small monastery had been completely engulfed by Bangkok’s urban sprawl. Noise, heat and pollution notwithstanding, Luang Por Piak has remained a refuge of peace and soothing coolness within the heart of Thailand’s largest city.

Ajahn Issara Uttamacitto is a long-time student of Luang Por Piak and monk of 35 years standing. He is the abbot of a forest monastery outside of Bangkok and has traveled internationally as assistant teacher with Lunag Por Piak on many occasions.