All questions
73 events, 411 sessions, 2917 excerpts, 164:50:43 total duration
Most common topics:
Ajahn Chah
(175)
Ajahn Pasanno
(165)
Monastic life
(141)
Mindfulness of breathing
(134)
Suffering
(96)
Proliferation
(94)
Happiness
(88)
Not-self
(85)
Death
(74)
Self-identity view
(74)
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1. “Ānanda’s answer (in SN 35.116) defines the world, but what did the Buddha mean by the end of the world?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sense bases] // [Cessation of Suffering]
2. “How should we approach the concept of Māra?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Sundarā. [Māra ] [Ignorance] [Unskillful qualities] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Doubt] [Humor]
3. “Is conceiving a function of saṅkhāra? Is viññāṇa involved at all?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Conceit] [Volitional formations] [Consciousness] // [Nature of mind]
Follow-up: “So the ceasing of conceiving is the cessation of manas; is saṅkhāra related or involved in that?” [Cessation] [Discernment]
4. “The Pāli word for conceit is very similar to the Pāli word for conceiving. In the Pāli Canon, does conceiving always have an element of ‘I’ in there?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Conceit] [Tipiṭaka] [Pāli] [Language]
5. “What is the meaning of palpitation in the context of SN 35.248?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Language] [Conceit]
6. “Could you explain the subtle differences between perceiving and conceiving? Since our sense of attention is so involved in conceiving ‘I’, how do we practice in order to extricate this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception] [Conceit] // [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Memory] [Translation] [Thai]
7. “The dissolving of ‘I am’ ends up as not-self. Do we end up with a dissolving of ‘I am’ at an essential level and we still have a worldly convenient ‘I am?’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Conceit] [Relinquishment] [Not-self] [Conventions]
8. “What does volitional formations mean?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Volitional formations] // [Pāli] [Volition]
9. “In MN 138.3, what does ‘positioned’ mean?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Clinging] [Fear]
10. “The phrase, ‘the knot of grasping’ (in Snp 794); is that upādāna?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Clinging] // [Translation]
2. “Is it correct that if the conceit ‘I am’ is penetrated that essentially eliminates the other four fetters?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Fetters] [Conceit]
Sutta: AN 9.3 / Ud 4.1: Meghiya Sutta.
3. “If sakkāyadiṭṭhi is seen or penetrated, then do doubt and the other two follow?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Self-identity view] [Doubt] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Fetters] // [Impermanence] [Great disciples] [Characteristics of existence]
Sutta: SN 56.11.21: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Kondañño’s knowing (Chanting Book translation).
4. “How does atammayatā relate to Ajahn Chah’s simile about oil and water, the mind and the mind objects being separate?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Non-identification] [Ajahn Chah] [Similes ] [Nature of mind]
Quote: “Inside is Dhamma, outside is Dhamma, everything is Dhamma.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Dhamma]
Quote: “All symbols and similes are partially relevant. All analogies are partial.” — Ajahn Amaro. [Symbolism/metaphor]
6. “I’m super perplexed and baffled with defining or understanding the term suchness or thusness. Are you able to communicate what it actually means?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Suchness ] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Language] [Knowing itself] [Aggregates] [Unconditioned] [Dhamma] [Recollection/Dhamma]
Quotes: “It’s like this.” “Reality is unimaginable.” — Ajahn Sumedho. [Direct experience]
Sutta: MN 72.20, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 172.
7. “Can you say, ‘Why do you go out and bother the thoughts?’” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Proliferation] [Sense bases]
1. “I’ve heard saññā interpreted as perception/memory. Is memory included in saññā?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Perception] [Memory] // [Mindfulness]
Reference: Uncommon Wisdom: The Life and Teachings of Ajahn Paññāvaḍḍho by Ajahn Dick Sīlaratano, p. 199.
2. “Are unworldly feelings to be treated the same? (referring to MN 18.8, ‘nothing is found there to delight in.’) Some of them appear in the cessation cycle, for example joy. They’re pleasant spiritual feelings.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Feeling] [Happiness] [Skillful qualities] // [Jhāna] [Formless attainments] [Conditionality] [Ajahn Chah]
3. “When the mind rests in awareness and it’s not going out, it feels very natural. It knows that this is the place to be, but still over and over again, no matter how clearly it sees this pure quality and peaceful quality, it still goes out to thoughts. The mind keeps going out. It keeps grabbing, it keeps identifying, even though it knows this is dukkha.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Knowing itself] [Clinging] [Suffering] [Long-term practice] // [Noting] [Mindfulness of mind] [Idealism] [Discernment] [Food] [Feeling] [Birth]
Quote: “It’s just that much.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
4. “The naming of proliferation—I’m getting to this idea that, okay now that I named it, it will stop now. I have this hope that I’ve found the key that’s gonna stop it all and then I get frustrated with myself because it’s still going on. Do I have to name it again? What do I do now?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Noting] [Proliferation] // [Relinquishment] [Non-identification] [Mindfulness of body]
5. “It seems there are so many things to comment on it is kind of overwhelming. How to deal with that?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Noting] // [Mindfulness of body] [Present moment awareness]
Story: “The body understands!” Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Zen] [Koan]
6. “According to what you read in the book (The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 123-124; MN 18.16-19), first there is contact and then phassa and vedanā. So first when we have contact there is no self yet. For example, if I contact something painful, at that time I feel I have no self, and then when I feel painful there is still no self, but then I feel like, ‘Oh, I don’t like this painfulness,’ the desire not to have it. Is feeling more self related with desire? It always comes together or not always?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Contact] [Feeling] [Pain] [Self-identity view] [Craving] // [Clinging] [Mindfulness of feeling] [Ascetic practices] [Heedfulness]
Sutta: Ud 1.10: Bāhiya.
Sutta: AN 10.58: “Rooted in interest are all things. …”
Reference: Catastrophe/Apostrophe by Ajahn Amaro, p. 139.
Quote: “Just a few more things for you to let go of.” — Ajahn Chah’s response to Jack Kornfield’s description of his travels and meditation experiences. [Ajahn Chah] [Jack Kornfield] [Relinquishment] [Conceit] [Restlessness and worry]
7. Comment by Tan Cittasaṃvaro: A stock phrase associated with stream entry is ‘independent of the teaching.’ It seems that although they are independent, [stream enterers] can still benefit from guidance. [Stream entry] [Self-reliance] [Hearing the true Dhamma]
Sutta: AN 3.128.
Response by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Faith] [Doubt] [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Sumedho]
Sutta: MN 74.14: Sāriputta’s awakening. [Great disciples]
2. “Do you have any suggestions on how to strengthen our ability for non conceptual investigation?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Insight meditation] // [Present moment awareness] [Artistic expression] [Mindfulness of mind]
3. “Would you say that way of reflecting using non conceptual thought is more effective or more penetrative than using verbalisation?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Insight meditation] [Directed thought and evaluation] // [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Jāgaro] [Culture/West]
Reference: “What is Contemplation?”, Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 475.
4. “So in contemplation there is still mental movement, but not the translation of that movement into words?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Insight meditation] [Directed thought and evaluation] // [Clear comprehension] [Perception] [Chanting] [Lawfulness]
Sutta: SN 1.1.
5. Comment: You mentioned the example of sport, dancing, and music [in the previous question]. I thought of upatakhing as non-verbal attention that is not over involved and not dissociated. It came to mind when I saw Venerable Cittadhammo come in at the end of pūjā to help Luang Por Pasanno get up. It was very lovely; it was like he was watching to see just the right moment, and it was wordless. Contributed by Anagārikā Deepa. [Artistic expression] [Upatakh ] [Clear comprehension]
Response by Ajahn Amaro.
6. “The space where everything arises and ceases, where it is not arising and ceasing—it is just knowing. That is how I experience the still point. … When I turn the mind towards that, I sometimes feel like something is wrong because there is a sense of trying to keep it there. There is a sense of wanting to fixate on it. … So I wonder whether Ajahn or Luang Por have any helpful way of how we should hold turning towards it in a way that is the middle way.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Spaciousness] [Knowing itself] [Clinging] [Middle Path] // [Non-identification] [Similes] [Becoming]
Reference: Silence by John Cage. [Artistic expression]
1. “MN 49.26 says that the Buddha made himself invisible. Are the suttas always to be taken literally?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Buddha/Biography] [Psychic powers] [Tipiṭaka ] // [Brahma gods] [Culture/India] [Ven. Ananda Maitreya]
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.7.8: The Buddha conceals Yasa.
2. “In the passage you read out [DN 11.85], on the one hand it’s referring to consciousness that is infinite and radiant and non-manifestative, but then it went on to say that consciousness ceases. Do you have any thoughts about this?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Consciousness] [Unestablished consciousness] [Cessation]
3. “What about different definitions of the mind? Sometimes the Pāli is citta …” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Heart/mind] [Pāli] // [Nature of mind] [Sense bases] [Liberation] [Translation]
Sutta: SN 22.59.9 Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta: Their hearts (citta) were liberated … (Chanting book translation).
4. “We often speak of the mind, and we associate it with the mental mind, and we often feel that it’s in the area of the head. Then, when we feel the heart, we often feel like it’s in the area of the heart chakra. I see that in meditation, we can actually expand our field of awareness, maybe to the whole body or even more. Are there different approaches or degrees to this? How does it relate to consciousness?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Heart/mind] [Nature of mind] [Spaciousness] [Consciousness] // [Translation] [Language] [Hinduism] [Emotion] [Mindfulness of mind] [Body/form]
5. Comment: In the first Dhammapada verse, mano seems to be used not as a sense gate but sort of a leading part of consciousness. [Heart/mind] [Sense bases] [Consciousness]
Response by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Thai Forest Tradition] [Recollection] [Language] [Conventions]
Sutta: SN 1.25: The Buddha’s use of ‘I’ as conventional language.
6. “Did the Buddha use viññāṇa to describe the mind as the sixth sense gate sometimes?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Consciousness] [Heart/mind] [Sense bases]
7. Comment: The quality that the Dhammapada describes (Dhp 1) seems like it has the quality of the beginning of the formations, like saṅkhāra, with its quality of intention. To me this seems like a mano kind of quality as opposed to the broader citta quality. So that kind of mind, mano, is the forerunner of stuff that gets produced. Contributed by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Heart/mind] [Volitional formations] [Volition]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Kamma]
8. Comments about the everyday use of the words corresponding to mano and dukkha in Indian languages. Contributed by Anagārikā Deepa. [Language] [Pāli] [Culture/India] [Heart/mind] [Suffering]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Proliferation] [Ven. Ananda Maitreya] [Tipiṭaka] [Humor] [Translation] [Bhikkhu Bodhi]
1. “What does the word volition mean?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Volition]
2. “Are [the links of Dependent Origination] from the perspective of the mind or is it also from the perspective of the jhānas where you have the cessation of appearances altogether? Or is it strictly on the level of volition?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Dependent origination] [Jhāna] [Cessation] [Volition] // [Nature of mind] [Appropriate attention] [Conditionality]
4. “Is [SN 12.15] specifically what the middle way refers to?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Middle Path] // [Dependent origination] [Eightfold Path] [Sense bases] [Philosophy]
Sutta: SN 56.11.2: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (Chanting book translation).
Reference: Concept and Reality by Bhikkhu Ñāṇananda p. 63, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 140.
Sutta: SN 2.26: Rohitassa.
Sutta: DN 11.85: Where earth, water, fire, and air no footing find …
5. “Is conceptual proliferation an aspect of Dependent Origination?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Proliferation] [Dependent origination] // [Sense bases]
6. “You mentioned [existentialism/eternalism] and nihilism as familiar Western philosophical ideas. I understand that Buddhism’s approach is not one or the other. How do other Western philosophical ideas like solipsism or materialism sit?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Philosophy ] [Middle Path] // [God] [Humor] [Views] [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Teaching Dhamma]
Sutta: SN 22.86: “I teach suffering and the end of suffering.”
Comment: Philosophy usually tries to create a philosophy from which you pull down how to live your life, but the Buddha is the other way around.
Sutta: DN 1: Sixty-two wrong views.
2. “Could you clarify what you said about the mind and objects of awareness and how freedom from attachments is possible?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Nature of mind] [Knowing itself] [Liberation] // [Non-identification] [Insight meditation] [Ajahn Mun]
Simile: Oil and water. — Ajahn Chah. [Similes] [Ajahn Chah]
Follow-up: “I like flowers, but I need to stop buying flowers. How can this help?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Clinging] [Feeling] [Volitional formations]
4. Question about associating with and clinging to wholesome and conducive environments. Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities] [Clinging] [Spiritual friendship] // [Suffering] [Knowing itself] [Discernment] [Amaravati] [Ajahn Chah]
Quote: “If you seek for security in what is insecure, you are bound to suffer.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Impermanence]
Quote: “Wanting what’s good without stop. That’s a disease of the mind.” — Ajahn Mun, Ballad of Liberation from the Khandhas. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Mun] [Craving]
Quote: “Live simply; be natural.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Simplicity]
Story: A sincere practitioner’s family complains about his way of being mindful. Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Mindfulness] [Everyday life] [Pace of life]
5. Comment: I have high energy naturally, but people interpret my fast speaking and walking as anxiety. [Pace of life] [Restlessness and worry] // [Recreation/leisure/sport]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Wat Pah Ban Tat] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa]
6. “If worldly experiences are based on previous conditions, how is it possible to reach the world beyond our experience?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Conditionality] [Liberation ] // [Insight meditation] [Cessation] [Knowing itself]
Sutta: DN 11.85: “Where long and short, coarse and fine, pure and impure find no footing …”
Sutta: SN 2.26: The end of the world.
1. Comment: The separation between the mind and the sense/mind objects can be helpfully contemplated at multiple levels of acuity. Contributed by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Nature of mind] [Knowing itself] [Sense bases] // [Nibbāna] [Ajahn Chah]
Sutta: AN 11.9.
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, pp. 90-91.
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Perception] [Etymology]
Quote: “The Five Khandhas exist, but they aren’t real. The Dhamma is real, but it doesn’t exist.” — Ajahn Paññāvaḍḍho. [Ajahn Paññāvaḍḍho] [Aggregates] [Dhamma]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
Quote: “Bright, loud, and mobile is the false; subtle and indistinct is the true.” — Master Hsuan Hua to Ajahn Amaro in a dream. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Master Hsuan Hua] [Ajahn Amaro] [Dreams] [Truth]
2. Comment: When I decide not to watch news about what is going on in the world, it ceases to stand out, to be a reality for me, and then there’s peace. [News] [Sense restraint] [Tranquility]
Response by Ajahn Amaro.
4. “Is what you’re describing (meditation states like AN 10.6) something that somebody might arrive at in their ordinary waking …?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Meditation/Results] // [Insight meditation] [Non-identification] [Perception] [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] [Sense bases] [Abhayagiri]
Vinaya: Khandhaka 21.1.5: Ānanda’s awakening. [Great disciples] [Arahant] [Postures]
Reference: The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sachs.
6. Comment: I find noises that I have no control over easy to leave alone. But if it’s something like, “If I have a word with that person, I can get him to stop making that noise,” it’s harder. [Equanimity] [Aversion] [Admonishment/feedback]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Sumedho]
7. “What approach do you take when someone is snoring in the Dhamma Hall?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Sloth and torpor] [Meditation]
8. Comment about how the sense of self shows up in relation to others. [Self-identity view] [Community]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Contact] [Meditation retreats]
9. Comment: Practicing the Four Brahmavihāras is a relation practice that is very powerful in letting go of the self. [Divine Abidings] [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment]
Response by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Emotion] [Ajahn Vajiro]
Reference: Abundant, Exalted, Immeasurable by Ajahn Pasanno.
10. “If you are constantly around someone who engages you with prolonged and agitated discussion, how do you handle that?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Idle chatter] // [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension] [Admonishment/feedback]
Sutta: MN 2: Sabbāsava Sutta.
Quote: “Never give feedback to your fellow samaṇas before the meal.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Monastic life]
Quote: “We can be completely mindful of taking initiative. Our capacity to act is part of the way things are.” — Ajahn Amaro. [Right Action ] [Discernment] [Right Mindfulness] [Buddha/Biography]
2. “You said that when a negative, unpleasant thought comes up, the noble being doesn’t want it but doesn’t act upon it. Is this taṇhā? Is it a mild form of craving, not wanting the thought?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Proliferation] [Arahant] [Craving] // [Knowledge and vision] [Non-identification] [Ajahn Dune] [Spaciousness]
Suttas: AN 9.7-8: What an arahant can’t do.
3. “When you are talking about Dependent Origination and craving, I thought that all of that had ceased for an arahant.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Dependent origination] [Craving] [Arahant] [Cessation] // [Feeling] [Unskillful qualities] [Ignorance] [Māra]
Suttas: SN 4.6; SN 4.20: The Buddha’s encounters with Māra. [Buddha/Biography]
Sutta: MN 50: Mahā Moggallāna rebukes Māra. [Great disciples]
Sutta: SN 10.3: Sūciloma. [Non-human beings]
4. “In the mind of an arahant, are unwholesome states immediately seen through the filter of the Four Noble Truths so they are immediately let go?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Arahant] [Unskillful qualities] [Four Noble Truths] [Relinquishment] // [Māra]
Sutta: MN 49.29 [Brahma gods]
7. “What is the difference between unsupported and unsupportive [consciousness]?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Unestablished consciousness] // [Direct experience] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Self-identity view] [Appropriate attention]
Reference: The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 133.
Quote: “We say the mind is empty, but it’s actually full of wisdom.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Chah] [Emptiness] [Discernment]
Reference: Wisdom Develops Samādhi by Ajahn Mahā Boowa
8. Comment describing conceptual versus co-emergent ignorance. [Ignorance]
Response by Ajahn Amaro.
1. “What is the Pāli term that [the Buddha] uses for volitional formations [in SN 12.64]?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Pāli] [Volitional formations] // [Volition] [Nutriment]
2. “To dissociate—isn’t it like to withdraw? It feels like something violent or painful.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Language] [Relinquishment] // [Proliferation] [Similes] [Seclusion]
Sutta: MN 20: The Removal of Distracting Thoughts.
Sutta: SN 10.3: Sūciloma.
4. “In [MN 62], the Buddha goes through the elements. Here (MN 62.17) it says that space is not established anywhere. Do you remember what he said for earth and water?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Elements] // [Equanimity]
5. “In the satipaṭṭhāna, would it be encouraged to observe skin as my skin, his skin, her skin—the same … So we look that they are not different in me and other people … If you contemplate and sit with feelings and emotions, anybody where it manifests it’s the same. So it becomes not my opinion and your opinion, but a field of opinions and you don’t have preference for the one you expressed … Would this be a suitable object of meditation?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Unattractiveness] [Not-self] [Feeling] [Emotion] [Views] // [Mindfulness of mind] [Mindfulness of dhammas] [Impermanence]
Sutta: MN 10.34: Mindfulness of citta; MN 10.36: Mindfulness of dhammas.
Sutta: MN 118.21: Using the breath to cultivate wisdom. [Mindfulness of breathing] [Discernment] [Insight meditation]
7. “How does pīti relate to the fulfillment of desire?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Rapture ] [Benefit/gratification] [Happiness] // [Unification] [Jhāna] [Craving] [Relinquishment] [Addiction]
3. “Is there a difference between citta and poo roo?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Heart/mind ] [Knowing itself] [Nature of mind] // [Thai] [Language] [Proliferation] [Dhamma] [Buddha] [Ajahn Amaro] [Dhamma books]
Quote: “If there’s anything left, just throw it to the dogs.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Chah] [Relinquishment]
4. Story: Huineng evades his pursuers with a koan. Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Koan] [Huineng]
Follow-up: “Do you know why Huineng returned after sixteen years?”
Recollection: Ajahn Buddhadāsa translated a few Chinese Buddhist texts into Thai. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Translation] [Ajahn Chah]
7. “One of the descriptions of Dhamma is ‘here and now.’ Have you had an equivalent insight into now-ness? (Refers to the previous story about here-ness.)” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Dhamma] [Ajahn Amaro] [Insight meditation] [Time] // [Impermanence] [Not-self] [Conventions]
Reference: The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra.
3. “For good or right contemplation, do you need some amount of samādhi so that it won’t proliferate in thinking?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Discernment] [Concentration] [Proliferation] // [Thai Forest Tradition]
4. “Are mindfulness of mind and contemplating a subject such as impermanence two different approaches?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of mind] [Recollection] // [Ajahn Chah] [Language] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Appropriate attention] [Lawfulness]
Reference: “What is Contemplation?”, Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 475-479.
Quote: “Your best contemplation is quite thoughtless.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Tranquility]
Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: Yoniso manasikāra is a way of paying attention to the process of experience. [Pāli] [Characteristics of existence]
5. Comment: Yoga texts speak of samyama, holding an object in the light of awareness that unpacks whatever you are contemplating. [Hinduism] [Insight meditation]
Response by Ajahn Amaro.
6. “Can you explain what Ajahn Mahā Boowa means by ‘the essence of a level of being’ in Straight from the Heart by Ajahn Mahā Boowa, p. 228, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 158?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Becoming] // [Clinging] [Birth] [Fetters] [Restlessness and worry] [Conceit] [Knowing itself]
7. Comment: The translation of the Nibbāna Sutta (Ud 8.3) in The Island renders paññāyati as ‘discerned;’ the Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 49 translates it as ‘possible.’ Contributed by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Discernment] [Translation] [Chanting]
Response by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno.
Quote: “If you can’t go forward, if you can’t go backwards, if you can’t stand still, where do you go?” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Koan]
Sutta: Ud 8.1.
9. “Where did you (Ajahn Amaro) say, ‘Vanish; the truth sustains itself,’ in relation to Ajahn Chah’s conundrum, ‘If you can’t go forward, if you can’t go backwards, if you can’t stand still, where do you go?’” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Amaro] [Truth] [Koan]
10. “In the Bāhiya Sutta (Ud 1.10), is the concept of bare attention before mental fabrications and include feeling?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Knowing itself] [Volitional formations] [Feeling] // [Sense bases]
Sutta: SN 10.3: Sūciloma.
3. “When you contemplate some situation, as long as there is still some tension or some feeling, does that mean that you did not come to the right understanding of it, but once you understand the situation, there would be no unpleasant, painful feelings about it?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Pain] [Recollection] [Discernment] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Defilements of insight] [Clinging] [Suffering] [Grief]
Sutta: SN 36.6: Simile of the two arrows. [Similes]
Suttas: MN 53.5; AN 10.67: The Buddha stretches his back. [Buddha/Biography]
Sutta: SN 47.14: “The assembly appears empty to me now.” [Great disciples] [Death] [Characteristics of existence]
5. “Is it correct that if something happened before and I remember it, it means there is some clinging?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Memory] [Clinging] // [Mindfulness] [Learning]
Sutta: SN 48.9.3: Mindfulness means remembering things that happened long ago.
6. “The abandonment of all path factors and saṅkhāras—how much autonomy is there and how much is a ripening and falling away and paying attention?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Relinquishment] [Volition] // [Patience] [Truth] [Kamma] [Conditionality]
7. “When the mind feels quiet and peaceful, but there’s still something niggling away that doesn’t feel quite right, how do you work with that?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tranquility] [Suffering] // [Patience] [Truth] [Self-reliance] [Conditionality] [Faith] [Perfections]
Recollection: It was frustrating being a disciple of Ajahn Chah and going to him with all your problems. He would just tell us to be patient. [Ajahn Chah]
8. Quote: “Patience isn’t a strategy; it’s an abiding place.” — Ajahn Sucitto. [Ajahn Sucitto] [Patience]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
Sutta: Dhp 184.
2. Comment by Ajahn Kaccāna: It’s wonderful to hear Ajahn Chah’s brutal honesty about what it’s like being a teacher. [Ajahn Chah] [Teaching Dhamma]
Reference: Food for the Heart (Wisdom Publications) by Ajahn Chah (commercial) p. 333.
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
3. “When I heard that Ajahn Amaro spent two years [not lying down], I was very impressed. But thinking about how Luang Por Sumedho watched Ajahn Amaro do this for two years and then saying, ‘Ah, finally you’re stopping!’ Why do you let people make their own experience?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Amaro] [Sitter's practice] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Teaching Dhamma]
5. Comment: [This discussion of ‘Nibbāna is the cessation of becoming’ (AN 10.7)] reminds me of the last testament of a well-known teacher: ‘Rest in purity and evenness and do something for the benefit of others.’ Read by Ajahn Pasanno. [Nibbāna] [Equanimity] [Compassion]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Simplicity]
Reading: “The Safest Way to Dwell,” Gifts He Left Behind by Ajahn Dune, p. 102. [Ajahn Dune]
Quote: “As for me, I dwell with knowing. … Knowing is the normality of mind that’s empty, bright, pure, that has stopped fabricating, stopped searching, stopped all mental motions—having nothing, not attached to anything at all.” [Knowing itself] [Cessation]
2. “When Ajahn Chah reached full liberation, did he wait two years just to be sure?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Chah] [Liberation] // [Delusion] [Doubt]
Simile from Ajahn Chah: “To me that’s just the chattering of the birds.” Related by Ajahn Amaro. [Similes]
Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: People get infatuated and enthralled by attainment. [Craving] [Meditation/Results] [Relinquishment]
Quote: “[Ajahn Chah’s] duty was to try to teach people Dhamma, as opposed to being something for anybody.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Teaching Dhamma] [Becoming]
3. “You talked about the end of striving, the end of straining, the end of forcing just now. Yesterday you were talking about standing on one side and neither straining nor moving back. It seems to be a bit of a paradox. Do we strain now and stop when we get there?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Right Effort] [Energy] // [Middle Path] [Learning] [Aspects of Understanding]
Sutta: MN 39: Don’t be content with wholesome states.
Sutta: AN 2.5: The qualities that allowed the Buddha to realize full Awakening.
4. “How did the Buddha deal with this issue of people becoming enlightened contemporaneous with him and getting a little bit crazy? His contemporaries also had siddhis [psychic powers] and practices? How did he distinguish between Buddhist and non-Buddhist attainments?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Buddha/Biography] [Liberation] [Delusion] [Psychic powers] // [Cessation of Suffering] [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] [Becoming]
Sutta: AN 6.48: A proper declaration of full knowledge does not include a sense of me and mine.
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.38: Rules for wanderers of other sects wanting to become bhikkhus.
5. “I was trying to imagine what it would be like to look into the world through the eyes of an arahant. Something like looking through The Matrix or looking at people as children …” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Arahant]
Quote: “What is the mind of an arahant like?”—“Only compassion.” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Compassion]
Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: Ajahn Chah’s form of compassion could be pretty demanding sometimes. [Ajahn Chah] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Patience] [Humor]
Reflection by Ajahn Kaccāna: From the perspective of an arahant, what drives the entire world is feeble (MN 112.6). [Aggregates] [Dispassion]
11. Comment: I’m struck that very often in the sutras, the Buddha himself does not speak. A question arises, someone else answers it, and at the end he just says, ‘Yes, that’s how it is.’ [Sutta] [Buddha/Biography] [Questions] [Seclusion]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Personality] [Concentration]
2. “The other characteristics like impermanence, dukkha, anatta—are these considered to be the third quenching elements?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Characteristics of existence] [Cessation] // [Not-self] [Emptiness] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
Reference: Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree by Ajahn Buddhadāsa, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, pp. 198-199.
Sutta: SN 35.85: “The world is empty.” Quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 200.
3. “The connection between tathatā and suññatā—would you like to expound a bit more?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suchness] [Emptiness ] // [Proliferation] [Relinquishment] [Pāli] [Conventions] [Aggregates] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Characteristics of existence] [Self-identity view]
Quote: “It’s just that much.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
Sutta: MN 72.20: “… unfathomable like the great ocean.” [Buddha]
Sutta: Ud 8.3: “There is the unborn, the unoriginated, the uncreated, the unformed.” (Chanting Book Translation).
Reference: The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard.
4. Comment: When I’ve heard the phrase ‘abiding in emptiness’ used, it hasn’t been a reification; it has been exactly what the sutta (SN 35.85) says, abiding in a place that’s empty of self. [Emptiness] [Not-self]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Theravāda]
8. “Could you explain again how anicca is related to signlessness? (Visuddhimagga 21.70; Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 686; The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 203)” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Impermanence ] [Nimitta] // [Proliferation] [Conventions]
9. “It’s interesting that the Buddha usually speaks of wholesome qualities in the negative, like non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion. Even the precepts are phrased in the negative. Could you say that’s pointing towards emptiness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Skillful qualities] [Precepts] [Emptiness] // [Western psychology] [Language] [Teaching Dhamma]
10. “Of these three pairs (impermanence and signlessness; unsatisfactoriness and desirelessness; selflessness and emptiness; Visuddhimagga 21.70, quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 686), is it skillful to direct the mind towards one or will one appear naturally?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Characteristics of existence] [Insight meditation] [Directed thought and evaluation]
Quote: “An insight into one will be an insight into all three.”
11. “I’m curious about the timeline when the Buddha established the Five Precepts for householders.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Buddha/Biography] [Five Precepts] [Lay life] // [Vinaya]
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 2.1: The Buddha establishes the Uposatha observance for the Saṅgha. [Lunar observance days] [Saṅgha]
Sutta: AN 8.41: Observing the Eight Precepts on Uposatha days. [Eight Precepts]
Sutta: AN 8.39: The eight streams of merit. [Merit] [Three Refuges] [Generosity]
Follow-up: “Did the ritual of requesting the Five Precepts originate in the time of the Buddha?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ceremony/ritual] [Culture/Thailand] [Tipiṭaka]
12. “The eight training precepts that some monastic traditions ask you to take as a lay person when you are reading suttas or attending Dhamma classes—do different Theravāda forms include this?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Lay life] [Precepts] [Bhante Gunaratana] // [Culture/Sri Lanka] [Culture/Thailand] [Right Speech]
1. “When the Buddha had a backache and the only time he gets relief is in the signless concentration of mind (DN 16.2.25), there still seems to be that non-emptiness connected with the six sense bases (MN 121.11-13) …” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha/Biography] [Pain] [Concentration] [Emptiness] [Sense bases] // [Body/form]
2. “Have you found the instructions for contemplating the formless realms helpful in your own practice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Formless attainments] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Characteristics of existence] [Aggregates]
3. “Is my understanding correct that everything is empty, nothing is there from the horses to the … (MN 121.4)? When the body dies, and with it the senses, do [the body and the senses] disappear in the same way the horses disappear [in MN 121.4]?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Emptiness] [Death] [Body/form] [Sense bases] // [Outflows] [Rebirth] [Buddha] [Aggregates]
Sutta: MN 72.16: Aggivaccagotta Sutta.
Sutta: Snp 5.7: Upasīva’s Question.
Sutta: AN 2.25: Statements whose meaning should and should not be drawn out.
5. Comment: “The principle of letting go is that nothing is destroyed … we are not buying into the future.” [Relinquishment] [Clinging] [Buddha] [Death]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Stream entry] [Aggregates]
Quote: “A samaṇa is one with no future.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Perception of a samaṇa] [Time]
6. “In animitta samādhi, is the mind one-pointed or just sharp? Does it fall into the world of jhāna?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Concentration] [Nimitta] [Unification] [Jhāna]
Sutta: SN 48.9.4: Unification of mind with relinquishment as its object. [Relinquishment]
Quote: “The point that includes.” — Ajahn Sumedho. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Spaciousness]
Teaching from Ajahn Chah: “Being Dhamma.” Related by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma] [Knowing itself] [Not-self] [Self-identity view]
Sutta: MN 95.20: The sequence of hearing, understanding, practicing, and realizing Dhamma.
Reference: Being Dharma by Ajahn Chah (commercial).
3. “How does [disenchantment towards the aggregates] square with taking delight in the natural world?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Disenchantment] [Happiness] [Culture/Natural environment] // [Dispassion] [Beauty] [Culture/West] [Clinging] [Judgementalism]
Sutta: Thag 18.1.12: Mahākassapa’s verses about nature. [Great disciples]
Quote: “The more completely the heart lets go of the world, the more it can really enjoy it.” — Ajahn Amaro. [Relinquishment]
Recollection: Ajahn Chah had tremendous joy but no illusions about the world around him. [Ajahn Chah]
5. “Everything arises from emptiness, right?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Emptiness ] // [Conditionality]
Quote: “There is no discernable beginning to this world (SN 15.1); what we’re looking for is an ending to it.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Nature of the cosmos] [Cessation]
Sutta: AN 4.77: Imponderables.
6. “Wasn’t there a teaching that everything arises from interest and there is a sequence that ends in Nibbāna?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Desire] [Conditionality] [Nibbāna]
Sutta: AN 10.58: “Rooted in interest are all things. …”
7. “In what ways does engaging with the natural world which is always changing contribute to renunciation and realization? In the modern world, such conditions are becoming rarer. What is the answer?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Kaccāna and Ajahn Amaro. [Culture/Natural environment ] [Impermanence] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Culture/West] // [Characteristics of existence] [Spiritual friendship] [Seclusion] [Insight meditation] [Ascetic practices]
Suttas: SN 47.6-7: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness are one’s ancestral territory.
Recollection: The austerity of the early days of Wat Pah Pong highlighted the seeking of security. Recounted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Chah] [Food]
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