13 excerpts, 50:12 total duration
1. Meditation instruction: Be present with the physical experience of the breath. Bring a sense of ease into the body. Ground awareness in the body. Offered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of breathing] [Mindfulness of body]
Simile from Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo: Keeping the breath in mind is like getting the spoon into the mouth and the mouth onto the spoon. [Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo] [Similes]
Story: “The body understands!” [Direct experience] [Zen] [Koan] [Ajahn Pasanno]
Body and mind are not separate things. [Body/form] [Heart/mind] [Aggregates ] [Dependent origination] [Consciousness]
19. Comment: What is the sound of one turkey clapping? … The point is to thank you all for keeping such good humor in the mix. Humor is essential to the path. [Koan] [Humor] [Gratitude]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
11. “The mind can be a trickster. Can the body be a trickster too?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Heart/mind] [Delusion] [Body/form] // [Unattractiveness] [Elements] [Proliferation] [Mindfulness of body]
Story: “Body understands!” [Zen] [Koan]
17. “From reading about or hearing talks and stories of some of the great Thai Forest masters, its seems that many of them were particularly fascinated pre-enlightenment with a single Dhamma principle. They then intensely investigated said principle almost like a Zen koan until they entered the stream. Was the Dhamma koan the cause of their stream entry or was triggering it just part of the greater process?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Thai Forest Tradition] [Koan] [Stream entry] [Conditionality] // [Desire] [Insight meditation]
3. “Can you recommend a book of koans for inspiration?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Zen] [Koan] [Dhamma books] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Hua tou] [Master Hsu Yun]
Story: Ajahn Chah encourages Ajahn Sumedho to develop the hua tou technique. [Ajahn Chah] [Mahasi Sayadaw] [Ven. Ñāṇatiloka]
Reference: Word of the Buddha by Venerable Ñāṇatiloka (pdf unavailable).
4. Story: Harata Rōshi’s response to a question about koans. Told by Ajahn Jotipālo. [Harata Rōshi] [Koan] // [Translation]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Knowing itself]
9. “During lunch I was contemplating the four elements as I ate, and a question arose in my mind: If all things are made of only four elements, why does an orange taste, smell, and feel only like an orange and not like an apple? How can there be so much variety in food?” Answered by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Food] [Elements] [Sense bases]
Story: A Zen master confronts Kalu Rinpoche with an orange. [Zen] [Vajrayāna] [Koan]
7. “Is Mahā Kassapa the same one from the Gateless Gate (Koan #6) who smiles when the Buddha holds up a flower?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Great disciples] [Koan] // [Mahāyāna]
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]
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] [Koan] [Ajahn Chah]
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]
1. Story: Ajahn Amaro explained my koan. Told by Sakula. [Ajahn Amaro] [Koan] // [Zen] [Emptiness]