Interview, Jul. 4, 2022
Online interview
11 excerpts, 49:02 total duration
Show featured excerpts (2)
Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho interview Ajahn Pasanno for the Clear Mountain Podcast.
Original recordings available on www.youtube.com
1. [3:13] “I have found your teachings and example of gratitude profound. Could you speak to people who don’t yet see the value of gratitude in a Buddhist practice but are inclined towards fault-finding?” [Gratitude ] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Perfectionism] // [Suffering] [Gain and loss] [Community] [Happiness] [Generosity]
Quote: “We’re not autonomous packages of meat.... Trying to prop up the sense of an autonomous individual and personality is really painful and tiring.” [Self-identity view]
2. [8:45] “I feel like people’s interaction with news and the news cycle is a continual drain on [their pool of gratitude]. How would you advise people to work with news and current events so that they can protect their practice and move from that place of gratitude?” [News] [Gratitude] // [Social media] [Abhayagiri] [Dhamma online]
3. [11:33] “You have founded multiple monasteries that balance the traditionalism of Theravāda Buddhism, but Abhayagiri is is connected to the internet and the world. Do you have any advice about how to balance the tradition and living simply with the modern context?” [Theravāda] [Abhayagiri] [Internet] [Simplicity] // [Technology] [Human] [Suffering] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Culture/Natural environment] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Almsfood]
Reflection on the timeless teachings of the Pāli Canon. [Tipiṭaka] [Four Noble Truths] [Dependent origination] [Kamma]
4. [17:00] “Can you talk about how to balance the Pāli Canon’s emphasis on seclusion (e.g. Snp 1.3: A Rhinoceros) and practicing for one’s own benefit with having a relationship with the world? You gave a talk called ‘It’s About More Than Just Us.’” [Seclusion] [Community] [Selfishness] // [Culture/West] [Culture/India]
Teaching from Ajahn Chah: It’s like people are walking along a road, When they go off to the left, I say, “Go right, go right!” When they go off to the right, I say, “Go left, go left!” [Ajahn Chah] [Middle Path] [Jack Kornfield]
Sutta: SN 45.2: Half of the Holy Life. [Spiritual friendship]
Quote: “How do we not suffer in any circumstance?” [Cessation of Suffering]
5. [22:14] “There’s talk in the Thai Forest Tradition about chit durm, the primal mind or the mind source, and you gave a talk titled ‘The Underlying Radiance of the Mind.’ Luang Por Sumedho talks about the need to trust in this underlying radiance of the mind. However, there have been times when I’ve asked you about this type of mind, and you’ve cautioned not to fool yourself about it.” [Thai Forest Tradition] [Ajahn Mun] [Knowing itself] [Unestablished consciousness] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Faith] [Delusion] // [Suffering] [Nature of mind] [Idealism] [Direct experience] [Culture/West] [Language] [Discernment] [Relinquishment]
Quote: “Ideas are not direct experience.”
Quote: “Analysis on its own is not going to take one to a place of relinquishment and letting go and surrender.”
6. [29:02] “You speak about this determination to align one’s life with these values and this vision of Dhamma… So many people have one foot in the monastery and one foot on a banana peel. They’ve had this insight and see the power of the Dhamma and yet they find themselves in worldly conditions which are difficult. What advice would you give such folk?” [Determination] [Purpose/meaning] [Insight meditation] [Lay life] // [Virtue] [Trust]
7. [32:31] “I’ve seen within the monastery the power of sīla and faith beautifully held to clean the heart in ways that a pure focus on technique doesn’t manage to.... What is your feeling on that aspect of the path and how it interlocks with Western Buddhism at the moment which is so focused on technique?” [Virtue] [Faith] [Meditation/Techniques] [History/Western Buddhism] // [Eightfold Path] [Humility]
Sutta: MN 8: Effacement.
8. [34:35] “If you had to give young abbot Ajahn Pasanno two pieces of advice or advise two new monks who aren’t actually abbots but are up here in Seattle, what would that advice be?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abbot] [Clear Mountain] // [Goodwill] [Patience] [Cause of Suffering]
Follow-up: “Can you speak about the dynamics of doing versus being, having projects versus meditating all the time?” [Monastic life] [Time management] [Self-identity view]
Sutta: MN 108.26: “Meditates, premeditates, out-meditates, and mis-meditates…”
9. [39:29] “The balance of helping [others] versus looking to one’s own practice get conceptualized as the bodhisattva and arahant paths. How do you interact with this common distinction?” [Compassion] [Bodhisattva] [Arahant] // [Suffering] [Ajahn Chah] [Theravāda] [History/Mahāyāna Buddhism] [Four Noble Truths]
Quote: “To me it’s a false dichotomy.”
Quote: “It’s hard to keep up with Ajahn Liem.” [Ajahn Liem] [Energy] [Upatakh]
10. [45:04] “What is your advice for people who have embarked on this path but have a spouse who does not have the same level of interest? If both partners are deeply passionate about the Dhamma, how can they morph the relationship into a helpful Dhammic partnership?” [Relationships] [Dhamma] // [Idealism] [Trust] [Virtue]
Sutta: AN 4.55: Nakulamātā and Nakulapitā.
11. [52:53] “What is the value of monasteries? What would you say to someone who didn’t yet see that value?” [Monasteries ] // [Culture/West] [Community]