34 excerpts, 2:19:38 total duration
{90} Story: Ajahn Buddhadāsa gives up formal studies and returns to the forest and the suttas. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa ] [Learning] [Commentaries] [Sutta] // [Spiritual traditions] [Geography/Thailand]
Readings from The Island [2025], Session 50, Excerpt 1
{120} Comment: I heard that often when Ajahn Buddhadāsa would be receiving guests he might have a chicken under his arm. And if a mosquito landed on him, he would gently move the chicken towards the mosquito, and that way he wasn’t breaking the Vinaya. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa ] [Animal] [Killing]
Response by Ajahn Amaro: His presence was like sitting in front of a living mountain. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa ] [Personal presence]
Story: Ajahn Amaro’s visit to Suan Mokh in 1998. [Wat Suan Mokkh] [Ajahn Amaro] [Ajahn Paññānanda] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa ] [Non-identification] [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Santikaro]
4. Story: Ajahn Chah visits Massachusetts. Told by Jack Kornfield. [Culture/West] [Ajahn Chah] // [Joseph Kappel] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Culture/Natural environment]
3. Ajahn Buddhadāsa translates nirodha as quenching. Teaching by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Cessation] [Translation]
5. Ajahn Buddhadāsa translates paṭinissagga as “giving back”. Teaching by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Translation] [Relinquishment] // [Naturalness] [Mindfulness of breathing]
29. “Can you give us a short bio on each of you please?” [Western Ajahn Chah lineage] // [Birth] [Monastic life/Motivation]
Ajahn Yatiko is on his way to Tibet, but two Thai men in a restaurant persuade him to visit Wat Pah Pong. [Ajahn Yatiko] [Travel] [Vajrayāna] [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ordination] [Gratitude]
Bhante Suddhāso finds his way to Abhayagiri through Zen. [Zen] [Ajahn Chah] [Vinaya] [Theravāda] [Abhayagiri]
Ajahn Karuṇadhammo ordains at Abhayagiri after many years of lay practice. [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] [Lay life]
Anagārika Jordan (now Ajahn Sudhīro) learns about Buddhism in college and has just taken up anagārika training at Abhayagiri. [Postulants]
Debbie Stamp travels in Asia, hears a talk by Ajahn Buddhadāsa, spends ten months at Amaravati and Chithurst, then volunteers to help start Abhayagiri. [Debbie Stamp] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Amaravati] [Chithurst]
Quote: “She’s the mother of our monastery.” — Ajahn Yatiko.
1. “I can control the mind’s attitude about physical pain. Is it possible to control the pain?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pain] // [Rapture]
Story: Ajahn Buddhadāsa deals with the pain of an operation using samādhi. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Health care] [Concentration]
Story: Ajahn Chah reflects on pain after an operation. [Ajahn Chah]
3. Comment: You spent time with Ajahn Buddhadāsa. Some people call his teachings secular because he didn’t really focus on the supernatural, pretty much similar to Ajahn Chah. This way of thinking [phrase in Thai]. Some people consider that secular. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Secular Buddhism] [Supernatural] [Ajahn Chah]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: “I doubt that Ajahn Buddhadāsa did.” [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
1. “Do you recall when Ajahn Buddhadāsa died?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] // [Translation]
2. Ajahn Ñāṇiko speaks about the time Luang Por Liem spent at Suan Mokh. [Wat Suan Mokkh] [Ajahn Liem]
Recollection: The Thai translations in the Wat Pah Pong chanting book come from Ajahn Buddhadāsa. [Chanting] [Wat Pah Pong] [Thai] [Translation] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
Recollection: Ajahn Liem reads and comments on the monthly poem in the Ajahn Buddhadāsa calendar. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Artistic expression]
3. “Could you reflect on how Ajahn Buddhadāsa portrays mindfulness and ignorance as opposites?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Mindfulness] [Ignorance] // [Dependent origination]
3. Reflection by Ajahn Ñāṇiko on Ajahn Buddhadāsa’s use of analogies. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Similes] [Suffering]
2. Discussion about kamma and the results of kamma. Led by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Kamma] [Conditionality] [Feeling] // [Abuse/violence] [Abhidhamma] [Ajahn Chah] [Vajrayāna] [Sickness] [Compassion] [Culture/India] [Equanimity] [Disasters] [Christianity]
Quote: “Too much Dhamma.” — Ajahn Buddhadāsa. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
Sutta: AN 4.77 Acinteyya: “Vexation or madness.”
Story: Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Munindo: “If it wasn’t supposed to be this way, it wouldn’t have been this way.” Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Munindo] [Self-pity]
Thai saying: “That’s as far as their merit takes them.” [Culture/Thailand] [Death] [Merit] [Thai]
1. Story: Meeting Buddhism in Thailand and becoming a Saṅghapāla board member. Told by Fred Kral. [Culture/Thailand] [Saṅghapāla] // [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Wat Ram Poeng] [Ajahn Chah] [Meditation retreats] [Dhammapala] [Debbie Stamp] [Ajahn Amaro]
14. “What are the biggest misconceptions about being ordained?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Monastic life ] // [Selfishness ]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno visits Ajahn Buddhadāsa: “Don’t be selfish!” [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Ajahn Pasanno]
6. Quote: “We have to get out of the habit of being thieves.” — Ajahn Buddhadāsa. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Relinquishment] [Stealing] [Recollection] // [Aggregates] [Clinging] [Naturalness]
Quote: “The peace of Nibbāna is not something that you gain, that you get, that you claim ownership over; it’s by relinquishing and releasing these bases of identity.” [Nibbāna] [Recollection/Peace] [Release] [Self-identity view]
1. Comment: I heard that often when Ajahn Buddhadāsa would be receiving guests he might have a chicken under his arm. And if a mosquito landed on him, he would gently move the chicken towards the mosquito, and that way he wasn’t breaking the Vinaya. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa ] [Animal] [Killing]
Response by Ajahn Amaro: His presence was like sitting in front of a living mountain. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa ] [Personal presence]
Story: Ajahn Amaro’s visit to Suan Mokh in 1998. [Wat Suan Mokkh] [Ajahn Amaro] [Ajahn Paññānanda] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa ] [Non-identification] [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Santikaro]
1. “For those who accept only the three-lifetime interpretation of Dependent Origination, how do they interpret the arising of contact and feeling?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Dependent origination] [Rebirth] [Contact] [Feeling] // [P. A. Payutto] [Tipiṭaka] [Commentaries] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, pp. 533-608: Dependent Origination.
Sutta: MN 140.31: “The sage at peace is not born, does not age, and does not die.”
Quote: I don’t deny that the Buddha speaks about past life and present life and future life, but in most circumstances that’s irrelevant. “Ajahn Buddhadāsa” — answering a sincere inquiry about rebirth. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
4. “I’ve been pondering Ajahn Chah’s phrase, ‘Right but not true; true but not right.’ I’ve never been able to figure our ‘Right but not true.’ …” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Chah] [Truth] // [Clear comprehension]
Quote: “You are right in fact but wrong in Dhamma.” — Ajahn Chah. [Dhamma]
Story: Ajahn Sumedho reports Ajahn Buddhadāsa’s different approach to Vinaya to Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Vinaya]
Story: Ajahn Sumedho criticizes an outspoken monk’s loud speech at Pāṭimokkha. The monk leaves Wat Pah Pong soon after. [Harsh speech] [Admonishment/feedback]
3. Quote: “Oh, what joy to know that there is no happiness in the world!” — Caption beneath a painting of a dancing monk at Suan Mokh Monastery. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Happiness] [Artistic expression] [Wat Suan Mokkh] // [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
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]
1. Story: Ajahn Buddhadāsa gives up formal studies and returns to the forest and the suttas. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa ] [Learning] [Commentaries] [Sutta] // [Spiritual traditions] [Geography/Thailand]
3. “I remember being at Suan Mokh and seeing in the spiritual library the Dhamma eyes painted on the wall. I heard that Ajahn Buddhadāsa taught ānāpānasati and Dependent Origination because he wanted to open the Dhamma eyes of as many people as possible. Would those who resonated with these teachings continue learning through that path?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Suan Mokkh] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Dependent origination] [Stream entry] // [Meditation/Techniques] [Faith] [Ajahn Chah] [Zen]
Quote: “Everything is teaching us.” — Ajahn Chah.
Follow-up: “So it’s not like you practice asubha and that’s it for the rest of your life.” [Nature of mind]