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1. “What does “sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā“ mean in relation to the first Noble Truth?” [Suffering] [Volitional formations] [Noble Truth of Suffering ] // [Self-pity]
Quote: “Sumedho loves to suffer.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Fierce/direct teaching] [Compassion]
1. “Could you talk about how to integrate interaction and physical seclusion to develop citta viveka - mental seclusion?” [Seclusion ] [Community] // [Concentration] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Relinquishment] [Happiness] [Contact] [Proliferation]
Quote: “Cittaviveka is essentially sāmadhi.”
2. “What is the difference between upadhi viveka and citta viveka?” [Seclusion ] [Concentration] [Discernment] // [Relinquishment] [Aggregates] [Characteristics of existence]
Quote: “Upadi viveka is more transportable. You can carry it with you.”
Sutta: SN 22.22: The Burden (Chanting Book translation).
3. “How is Dzogchen similar to the Thai Forest Tradition?” [Ajahn Amaro] [Vajrayāna] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Emptiness]
Ajahn Pasanno describes the context of the Small Boat, Great Mountain retreat. [Spirit Rock] [Tsoknyi Rinpoche] [Theravāda]
Reference: Small Boat, Great Mountain by Ajahn Amaro.
4. “What is the value of assigning a monk to do chores rather than sitting practice?” [Ajahn Chah] [Work] [Meditation] [Sutta] // [Concentration]
Reference: Small Boat, Great Mountain by Ajahn Amaro.
5. Discussion about keeping the continuity of practice within engagement and daily life. [Everyday life] [Continuity of mindfulness] // [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Kinaree]
Story: Ajahn Chah sews a robe obsessively. [Robes] [Craving]
Follow-up: “Were Ajahn Mahā Boowa’s teachings less focused on daily life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Pesalo. [Ajahn Mun] [Cleanliness] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Determination] [Ardency] [Personality]
Story: Ajahn Mun teases Ajahn Mahā Boowa for being like an old boxer.
Comment: You can read the suttas, but you don’t really get a feel for what the Buddha’s teachings are until you study and practice the Vinaya. [Sutta] [Vinaya] [Protocols] [Communal harmony] [Requisites]
6. “What is right effort? What is the right level, kind of effort so that mindfulness comes more easily?” [Right Effort ] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Ardency] [Long-term practice] // [Aids to Awakening]
Quote: “You look at the definition of Right Effort, and it’s not about what you do, but it’s about the quality of the mind.” [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities]
7. “How important is contentment and joy in the object you pick up [in meditation].” [Right Effort] [Contentment] [Happiness] // [Discernment] [Meditation/Techniques]
8. “What factor leads into Right Effort? How does inspiration relate to Right Effort?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Right Effort] [Faith] // [Factors of Awakening] [Investigation of states] [Energy] [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Disenchantment]
Reference: MN 95.16 Caṅkī Sutta.
Comment about maintaining continuity of mindfulness of breathing. Contributed by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Continuity of mindfulness] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Tranquility]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Desire] [Contentment] [Happiness]
1. Question about views on whether the cause of suffering is desire or clinging to desire. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Craving] [Clinging] [Cause of Suffering] // [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] [Idealism] [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering]
Reference: Salutation to the Triple Gem: “Rūpūpādānakkhandho ...”
Follow-up: “Is the greater suffering the reaction to pain?” [Pain] [Feeling] [Aversion]
Quote: “All these different teachings and expressions of teachings. ... We don’t have to make them mesh, but try to figure out what they are pointing to.” [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Recollection/Dhamma]
1. Discussion about the translation, meaning, and interpretation of the “Reflection on the Off-Putting Qualities of the Requisites” chant. [Chanting] [Requisites] [Unattractiveness] [Translation] // [Emptiness] [Culture/West] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Elements] [Thai] [Self-identity view]
2. “Do others who have been to India share Ajahn Sumedho’s feeling that everything belongs?” [Culture/India] [Ajahn Sumedho] // [Devotional practice] [Commentaries] [Spiritual search]
Comment by Jeed Chaiboonruang: A French director makes a 7-hour film trying to figure out what India is and then gives up. [Media]
Other reflections about India by Ajahn Pesalo and Ajahn Ñāṇiko.
1. “What is a good question to pose to yourself to investigate perception?” [Perception] [Questions] // [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro]
2. Discussion about perception and name and form. [Perception] [Aggregates] // [Thai] [Language] [Memory]
Reference: “Working with Perception,” by Ajahn Sucitto in The Insight Journal, Winter 2009, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
3. “Is there a way to stabilize the perception of impermanence?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Perception] [Impermanence] // [Cessation] [Relinquishment] [Suffering]
Sutta: SN 12.15: Kaccānagotta.
4. Discussion of sañña and paññā. [Perception] [Discernment] [Pāli] [Volitional formations] // [Abhidhamma] [Consciousness] [Recollection/Buddha] [Unwholesome Roots] [Aggregates] [Habits]
Reference: AN 10.60: Girimānanda.
1. Quote: “This is what heat is like.” [Weather] [Abhayagiri]
2. Story: Ajahn Pasanno attends Dharma Master Heng Lyu’s ordination. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Bhikshu Heng Lyu] [Ordination] // [Ajahn Amaro] [Weather]
3. Background of the 20th Anniversary celebration. [Abhayagiri]
4. Quote: “A monastery isn’t the buildings or the land, but it’s the people.” [Monasteries] [Community] // [Theravāda] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Ajahn Chah]
5. Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s first impressions of Wat Pah Pong. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Pong] // [Temporary ordination] [Ajahn Chah] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Lunar observance days]
6. Recollections: Ajahn Pasanno’s motivations for moving to Abhayagiri; twenty years went by quick. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abhayagiri] // [Western Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Ajahn Amaro] [Community]
7. Chanting: Explanation of paritta chanting. [Chanting] [Protective chants] // [Three Refuges] [Goodwill]
1. Story: Abhayagiri’s neighbors and origins of the Abhayagiri property. [Abhayagiri] [Ajahn Mahā Prasert] [Father Damien] // [Master Hsuan Hua] [Lodging] [Christianity]
2. Ajahn Pasanno expresses gratitude to the Saṅghapāla board members. [Abhayagiri] [Saṅghapāla] [Gratitude]
3. Reading: Reflections from Reverend Heng Sure. [Abhayagiri] // [Rev. Heng Sure] [Pacific Hermitage] [Communal harmony] [Master Hsuan Hua] [Almsround]
1. Ajahn Pasanno introduces Ajahn Mahā Prasert. [Ajahn Mahā Prasert]
3. Laying the foundations for inner happiness. Teaching by Ajahn Mahā Prasert. [Happiness] // [Chao Khun] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Amaro] [Similes] [Generosity] [Lodging]
6. Chanting: The monks of Holy Transfiguration Monastery sing a blessing; Ajahn Pasanno expresses appreciation. Offered by Father Damien and Ajahn Pasanno. [Chanting] [Holy Transfiguration Monastery]
1. Ajahn Pasanno introduces Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] // [Abhayagiri] [Ordination]
1. Chanting: The Sharing of Blessings (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 33). [Merit]
2. Chanting: Closing Homage (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 16). [Three Refuges]
1. “You mentioned suttas about meditation and practical life issues. Are there any other general categories of suttas?” [Sutta] [Human]
2. “How do these particular teachings (AN 5.48: Situations) fit with kamma?” [Kamma] [Sickness] [Sutta] [Human] // [Lawfulness] [Characteristics of existence]
3. Comment: I appreciate that AN 5.48 includes devas and Māra. Contributed by Rik Center. [Deva] [Māra] [Realms of existence] [Sutta] [Human]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
4. “In the West, we personalize every bit of suffering. Is it different in Thailand?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Culture/West ] [Suffering] [Self-identity view] [Culture/Thailand] // [Language] [Liberation]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno can’t translate guilt into Thai. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Thai] [Translation]
Quote: “That’s really suffering. Tell them not to do that.” — Ajahn Paññānanda. [Ajahn Paññānanda]
Reference: Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast (commercial). [Ageing] [Sickness] [Parents] [Health care]
5. “In this sutta (AN 5.48), there’s the assumption that everyone has enemies. It’s making me a little paranoid.” [Fear] [Sutta] [Human] // [Judgementalism]
6. “With development (bhavana), is one able to shape the course of sickness or heal oneself to a degree?” [Meditation] [Sickness] [Healing] // [Happiness] [Medicinal requisites]
7. Comment: I’ve been reflecting on how AN 5.48 applies to environmental and collective well-being–engaging without the expectation that actions will have a certain result. [Environment] [Politics and society] [Sutta] [Human]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [History/Thai Buddhism]
8. Comment: I find it difficult to find the line between what you can change and what you can’t. [Politics and society] [Everyday life] [Equanimity]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Clear comprehension] [Delusion]
9. Comment: Michael Olds translates sutta as ‘magical spell.’ The format, repetition, and structure of the suttas has a certain potency. When I read the suttas after meditating, it’s completely different. [Sutta] [Psychic powers] [Meditation]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha] [Teaching Dhamma]
[Session] Readings: AN 7.6: Treasures. Translated by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro. [Treasures]
1. Story: A man in an airport asks Ajahn Chah, “If everyone is Buddhist, why are there so many thieves in Thailand?” [Ajahn Chah] [Culture/Thailand] [Stealing] [Virtue] [Precepts]
2. Comment: When I practice and share Dhamma as a lay person, others complain when I make mistakes. [Lay life] [Virtue] [Buddhist identity]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
4. Comment: When I hear the word “shame,” it’s.a cousin of guilt. But in this context (AN 7.6), it seems more acceptable. [Treasures] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Conscience and prudence]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Language] [Christianity]
5. “This year my whole family got lice. How do we respond to this skillfully?” [Lay life] [Family] [Killing] [Animal] // [Human] [Patience]
6. Story: Ajahn Pasanno visits the elderly Cambodian monk Mahāgossānanda who has Alzheimer’s disease. [Preah Mahāghosānanda] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sickness] // [Dalai Lama] [Divine Abidings] [Ajahn Chah] [Heart/mind]
Quote: “That thing you learn in meditation—that you don’t lose.” — Ajahn Fuang. [Ajahn Fuang] [Meditation] [Liberation]
Story: A monk known for psychic powers visits Ajahn Chah’s sick room and reports: “You don’t have to worry about Ajahn Chah. His heart is so bright.” [Psychic powers] [Dependent origination] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Lunar observance days]
7. A diligent early support of Wat Pah Nanachat reflects, “I don’t have money, but I’m not poor.” [Treasures] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Wat Pah Pong] [Lay life] [Poverty] // [Lunar observance days] [Thai]
8. “Is the list of Seven Treasures sequential?” [Treasures] // [Stream entry] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Conditionality] [Eightfold Path]
9. “I like the translations ‘conscience’ and ‘concern’ for hiri and otappa. Having done unskillful actions in the past that create suffering, and being aware of the tendency to personalize, how can it be over and done?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Treasures] [Conscience and prudence ] [Unskillful qualities] [Suffering] [Kamma] [Self-identity view] // [Four Noble Truths] [Divine Abidings]
Quote: “As a human being, I have the opportunity to learn from the past and move on to skillful action in the future. I don’t have to be like a dog that barfs stuff up and goes back and eats it again.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Human] [Learning] [Skillful qualities] [Similes]
Quote: “The not-self refrain, ‘This is not me, this is not mine, this is not what or who I am,’ is not an abdication of responsibility but an understanding, ‘This is the way I can put things down and move on, move past the things that are still creating suffering.’” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Not-self] [Relinquishment]
Suttas: SN 42.8 The Conch Blower; AN 3.100: A Lump of Salt.
10. “What is a good balance between listening to Dhamma and practicing more deeply? How long should one keep one’s practices, and when to expand or shrink them?” [Hearing the true Dhamma ] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma ] [Determination ] [Dhamma online] // [Four Noble Truths] [Direct experience] [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma books] [Mindfulness of mind] [Learning]
11. Comment: I listen to the Abhayagiri Dhamma talks, focusing more on the timbre of the voice rather than trying to get an intellectual grasp of what was said. That projects me into a dimension of well-being. [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Abhayagiri] [Happiness] [Learning]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Tranquility]
12. Comments by Rik Center about ongoing Dhamma practice and coming back to the heart. [Long-term practice] [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Ill-will] [Forgiveness] [Mindfulness of mind]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Merit]
Quote: “We’re making choices all the time anyway; we may as well choose to be happy.” [Volitional formations] [Happiness]
13. “When you’re living on the precepts, how do I relate to (for example) a friend who tells me about an affair they are having?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Precepts] [Spiritual friendship] [Sexual misconduct] // [Skillful qualities] [Admonishment/feedback] [Discernment] [Right Speech] [Vinaya] [Abhayagiri]
Quote: “Don’t admonish your fellow monks before the meal.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Monastic life] [Food] [Eating after noon]
14. “Could you comment on the tendency to use one aspect of the teaching to bypass another?” [Spiritual bypass] // [Four Noble Truths] [Recollection/Dhamma] [Relinquishment]
Quote: “With some things, letting go means you’re willing to commit to hard work, and other times you’re willing to put down what is burdensome.” [Ardency]
15. “AN 5.38 says, ‘Not by sorrow can even the slightest good come.’ How does this work with the natural process of grieving?” [Grief] [Skillful qualities] // [Cultural context] [Family] [Ajahn Chah] [Death] [Characteristics of existence]
16. “Part of the sense of loss and sorrow is the joys that have created attachment. How to approach this?” [Grief] [Happiness] [Clinging] // [Naturalness] [Human] [Spaciousness]
Sutta: Thag 1062: Mahākassapa delights in nature. [Great disciples] [Culture/Natural environment]
1. Reading: Overview of the Girimāndana Sutta. [Buddha/Biography] [Great disciples] [Sickness] [Recollection] [Healing]
2. The meaning of perception (sañña) in the Girimānanda Sutta (AN 10.60). [Perception] [Recollection] // [Meditation] [Tranquility] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Discernment]
Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno gives instruction from the Girimānanda Sutta to the monks on the first four-week retreat at Dtao Dum. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Dtao Dum] [Teaching Dhamma]
Sutta: MN 43.8-9: Conjoined, not disjoined. [Feeling] [Consciousness]
Sutta: AN 10.57: Ten perceptions culminating in the Deathless. [Deathless]
3. Lifting up the perception of the aggregates as impermanent or uncertain. [Perception] [Impermanence] [Aggregates] // [Directed thought and evaluation] [Jhāna] [Ajahn Chah] [Habits]
Sutta: AN 10.60.5.
4. Reflection: The Buddha rarely divided meditation practice into samatha and vipassanā. [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation]
5. Reflection: Seeding the mind with perceptions that hold our attention in a skillful way allows wise attention (yoniso manasikāra) to function. [Perception] [Skillful qualities] [Appropriate attention]
6. “To sustain [these perceptions] you need energy, but habitual patterns seem to waste energy so that isn’t available. Any thoughts?” [Recollection] [Energy] [Habits] // [Skillful qualities] [Lunar observance days] [Devotion to wakefulness]
7. Question about the meaning of perception, feeling, and consciousness being conjoined (MN 43.8). [Perception] [Feeling] [Consciousness]
8. “Is one aspect of this toolkit trying to parse where turmoil is coming from, what you’re holding on to?” [Investigation of states] // [Perception] [Recollection]
Quote: “Usually once we start analyzing it, it’s a rabbit hole.”
9. “In daily life, there may not be enough space to apply the perception of not-self. How can one skillfully solidify the sense of self, and when should one not do this?” [Everyday life] [Not-self] // [Suffering] [Protective Meditations] [Recollection] [Perception] [Recollection/Buddha] [Goodwill] [Recollection/Death] [Unattractiveness]
10. “What did the Buddha mean by lovingkindness?” [Goodwill] // [Thai]
11. “How does the aggregate of perception relate to the activity of perception?” [Aggregates] [Perception]
12. The Buddha taught monastics to develop the perception of being a religious seeker. [Perception of a samaṇa ] [Monastic life]
Sutta: MN 39: Mahā-Assapura Sutta.
13. “In working with perceptions like unattractiveness and dispassion (AN 10.60.7 and AN 10.60.10), if I don’t feel those things, do I have to conjure them up?” [Perception] [Recollection]
14. Contemplating the unattractive nature of the body (AN 10.60.7) soothes the mind and inclines it towards dispassion. [Unattractiveness ] [Tranquility] [Dispassion]
15. “What about the energetic perception [of people]?” [Perception] [Sense bases] // [Unattractiveness]
16. AN 10.60.8 describes the dangers inherent in the human body. [Drawbacks] [Sickness] // [Aspects of Understanding] [Benefit/gratification] [Escape]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno visits a hospital library. [Ajahn Pasanno]
17. The Buddha describes the perception of abandoning (AN 10.60.9) as putting down the three wrong thoughts/intentions. [Right Effort] [Right Intention] [Unskillful qualities]
18. The perception of dispassion (AN 10.60.10) is the opportunity to experience what is truly peaceful. [Dispassion] [Recollection/Peace] // [Etymology] [Nature of mind]
19. The perception of cessation (AN 10.60.11) can be experienced as the non-arising of becoming. [Cessation of Suffering] [Recollection/Peace] [Becoming] // [Translation] [Clinging]
20. “Can the perceptions of abandoning, dispassion, and cessation (AN 10.60.9-11) be understood as a progression?” [Right Effort] [Dispassion] [Cessation]
Follow-up: “Do the perceptions of dispassion and cessation arise naturally as a result of the earlier perceptions?” [Conditionality]
1. Guided meditation: Lifting up perceptions that culminate in the Deathless. [Perception] [Recollection] [Deathless] // [Right Effort] [Impermanence] [Not-self] [Unattractiveness] [Drawbacks] [Dispassion] [Cessation] [Recollection/Peace]
1. “Is the purpose of the perception of danger (AN 10.60.8) to change up our usual perception of, ‘Oh, it’s a human body, it’s wonderful, and it’s going to last forever?’” [Drawbacks] [Perception] [Body/form] // [Sickness]
2. “When meditating on perception (AN 10.60), is the perception a lens through which you view a meditation object?” [Perception] [Meditation]
3. “Could you speak some more about drowsiness?” [Sloth and torpor] // [Energy] [Recollection]
4. “Could you talk about the skillful use of perception of abandoning (AN 10.60.9) so that it doesn’t move into aversion?” [Right Effort] [Aversion] [Suffering] // [Relinquishment]
5. “What about the second part of the Girimānanda Sutta (AN 10.60) about healing?” [Healing] [Sickness] // [Dhamma] [Desire] [Body/form] [Gladdening the mind] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Concentration]
Story: ??? meditates through a malarial fever.
6. “How would you use any of the perceptions in AN 10.60 in a demanding and fast-paced workplace where performance is important?” [Perception] [Recollection] [Work] // [Tranquility] [Happiness]
7. “We often seem to be unconsciously looking for eternal existence. Have you seen that happening in Asia as well?” [Perception] [Volitional formations] [Culture/Asia]
8. “The mind goes into automatic perceptions based on survival instincts. How do you work with this?” [Perception] // [Habits] [Recollection] [Skillful qualities]
Follow-up: “Does this question refer to perception in terms of the aggregates (a noun) while AN 10.60 refers to perception as an activity?” [Aggregates] [Conditionality]
1. The perception of non-delight (AN 10.60.12) means stepping back from clinging and self-identity. [Perception] [Clinging] [Self-identity view] // [Relinquishment] [Dispassion] [Habits]
2. The ninth perception of the Girimānanda Sutta (AN 10.60.13) re-emphasizes the importance of the transient nature of all internal and external phenomena. [Perception] [Impermanence] // [Discernment] [Cessation of Suffering]
Sutta: Dhp 277-279 (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 72; A Dhammapada for Contemplation by Ajahn Munindo, p. 102).
3. The last perception of the Girimānanda Sutta (AN 10.60.14), ānāpānasati, neatly ties up the sutta and is equivalent to the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. [Perception] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Right Mindfulness] // [Calming meditation] [Discernment]
Simile: “The still, meditative mind like a tree stump.” [Similes] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Wrong concentration]
Sutta: MN 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 85).
4. The ten perceptions in the Girimānanda Sutta (AN 10.60) can be proactively tuned to our own practice to lead to peace, clarity, and understanding. [Perception] [Recollection] // [Healing]
5. “Why didn’t the Buddha visit Girimānanda himself (AN 10.60)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Buddha/Biography] // [Great disciples] [Personal presence] [Healing] [Recollection/Dhamma]
6. Comment by Jeanne Daskais: The Girimānanda Sutta (AN 10.60) is also a sutta about Saṅgha. [Saṅgha]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
7. Comment: In teaching [the Girimānanda Sutta (AN 10.60)], the Buddha is teaching us to change our views and opinions. [Views]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Outflows] [Proliferation] [Perception] [Recollection]
Sutta: MN 2.8: The thicket of views ...
8. “When I first read the perception about non-delight in the world, (AN 10.60.12), my first reaction was, ‘I don’t like that one.’ But when I return home after an extended time at Abhayagiri, everything looks fresh and more subtle. Would it be helpful to actively take on a perception like this in meditation?” [Dispassion] [Direct experience] [Perception] // [Proliferation] [Spaciousness] [Liberation]
1. Guided meditation based on the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118). [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Mindfulness of body]
1. “I am guessing that accountant had little chance of finding his way to Nibbana - unless he ordained? Do you know if he did?” [Sutta]
Sutta: MN 107: Gaṇakamoggallāna Sutta
2. “I have a cancer and finished my treatment and am afraid it will come back if I don’t take care of myself as doctor told. So it is my stress. How can I think about my stress to hold it in my mind?” [Sickness ] [Suffering] [Fear] // [Happiness] [Gratitude]
3. “What is the difference between yoniso manasikara and insight?” [Appropriate attention ] [Insight meditation] // [Conditionality]
4. “What do you do when there are ants at the monastery? Is there a way to get rid of them naturally without killing them? I had to get rid of some a week ago and witnessed 3 ants die somewhat painfully by what I used which caused both sadness and remorse in me and I don’t want to do it again. But what is “right action” (ie. the precepts) versus what is practical?” [Animal] [Killing ] [Monastic life] // [Lodging] [Culture/Thailand]
5. “Could you tell us your stories related to the King Rama 9 of Thailand?” [King Rama IX] [Culture/Thailand] // [Leadership] [Meditation] [Recreation/leisure/sport] [Commerce/economics]
Story: Thai lay supporters remember King Rama IX at Abhayagiri’s 2016 Kaṭhina. [Abhayagiri] [Kaṭhina]
Story: King Rama IX attends Ajahn Chah’s funeral. [Ajahn Chah] [Funerals] [Wat Pah Pong] [Tranquility]
Story: King Rama IX asks President Nixon for understanding. [Politics and society] [Communal harmony] [Listening]
6. “Does the Buddha say all beings are inherently good? How about generosity? Do all human beings have the capacity for generosity?” [Nature of mind ] [Generosity ]
Sutta: AN 1.51-52
Story: A Mafia boss stays under Ajahn Chah’s kuti and helps out at Wat Pah Pong. [Ajahn Chah] [Crime] [Wat Pah Pong] [Precepts]
Quote: “Generosity is an important doorway for many reasons.”
7. “At the Friday evening talk, you mentioned the three poisons/kleshas of greed, hatred and delusion. But you also added fear. Fear seems to me more like a result. Please explain.” [Unwholesome Roots ] [Fear] [Conditionality] // [Biases] [Sensual desire] [Abhayagiri]
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