2. “Thank you for all of your thoughtful and pragmatic meditation tips. Do you have advice regarding the future-oriented mind? Speculation, planning, considering, obsessing really, about scenarios. Normal ideas are not working.” [Restlessness and worry] [Proliferation ] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Mindfulness of body] [Goodwill]
5. “The guidance through seeing the non-self in relationship to the elements was very helpful. Can you explain what to look for in order to see the non self in relationship to strong emotions like grief. When do you look for the emptiness in emotions and when do you experience or express them. How does one balance the two?” [Not-self] [Elements] [Emotion ] [Grief ]
Ajahn Pasanno reflects on his feelings after Ajahn Chah died. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah] [Death] [Sickness] [Gratitude] [Respect]
Ajahn Pasanno’s response to his father’s death. [Parents] [Spaciousness]
6. “How is compassion (karuṇā) is different from loving-kindness (mettā)? Is compassion similar to empathy? I am also wondering if it means you feel the pain of the person you feel compassion for.” [Compassion ] [Goodwill ] [Suffering] // [Pāli]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 124: Requesting a Dhamma talk.
9. “Can one contemplate pain using the four elements or is here a more direct way to penetrate physical pain? Many thanks for your teachings.” [Pain ] [Elements ] // [Investigation of states] [Mindfulness of body] [Middle Path] [Discernment] [Sickness]
Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno spent many of his early years as a monk contemplating pain. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life]
4. “Could you clarify ‘the body in the body?’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Mindfulness of body ] [Right Mindfulness ] // [Translation] [Pāli] [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] [Direct experience] [Self-identity view] [Elements] [Proliferation] [Perception]
References: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 91; Right Mindfulness by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro.
5. “How can you strive without becoming tense and grim?” [Right Effort ] [Humor] // [Mindfulness of body] [Ajahn Chah]
3. “What are antidotes to the strained, tired mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Sloth and torpor ] // [Directed thought and evaluation] [Skillful qualities] [Mindfulness of body] [Mindfulness of breathing]
Sutta: MN 19: Dvedhavitakka Sutta, Two Kinds of Thought.
5. “Can jhana occur in walking meditation?” [Jhāna] [Posture/Walking ] // [Concentration] [Ajahn Viradhammo]
Sutta: AN 5.29: Walking Meditation.
1. “What is your experience of directed thought and evaluation?” [Directed thought and evaluation ]
Quote: “Directed thought [vitakka] is like lifting up the object in the mind. Evaluation is then looking at it from different angles.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Similes]
2. “Does the consistency of vicara correlate with samadhi?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Directed thought and evaluation ] [Concentration] // [Rapture] [Happiness] [Unification]
Sutta: MN 119: Simile of the bathman. [Similes]
1. “Does AN 4.94 undercut the whole debate about whether to practice insight meditation or samādhi first?” [Insight meditation ] [Calming meditation ] // [Views] [Buddha] [Suffering] [Human]
Quote: “Just work with what you’ve got and try to free the mind. It’s pretty straightforward.” [Liberation]
2. Reflections on the value of samaṇas in Indian culture. [Culture/India ] [Perception of a samaṇa ] // [Commentaries] [Buddha] [Virtue] [Truth] [Hospitality]
Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno was really cared for during his tudong in Northern India. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Tudong] [Not handling money]
2. “Are people experiencing jhāna in different ways?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Jhāna ] // [Views] [Ajahn Chah] [Tranquility] [Self-identity view] [Suffering] [Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo]
2. “How should householders deal with sensual pleasure?” [Lay life] [Sensual desire ] // [Virtue] [Happiness] [Generosity] [Skillful qualities]
Comments by Ajahn Kaccāna, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno about similes for sensual pleasures found in MN 54 and MN 75. [Similes]
5. “Are psychic powers and wisdom always clearly separated?” [Psychic powers ] [Discernment] // [Buddha/Biography] [Great disciples] [Vinaya] [Admonishment/feedback]
Vinaya: Khandhaka 15.8: Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja uses psychic powers.
Reference: Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master by Amy Schmidt (commercial). [Dipa Ma]
1. “What are the commentaries? How do they know stuff that isn’t in the suttas?” [Commentaries ] [Sutta] [History/Early Buddhism] // [History/Sri Lankan Buddhism] [Culture/Thailand] [Direct experience]
3. “The Buddha didn’t answer the question, ‘Is there a self?’ But this question seems more important than other questions he didn’t answer. How should we relate to not-self?” [Buddha/Biography] [Questions] [Not-self ] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Feeling] [Relinquishment] [Self-identity view] [Four Noble Truths] [Views]
12. “The Buddha asks us to look at the things we identify with as self and notice they are not who we are. But if there’s nothing else but those things, there is no self, right?” [Buddha] [Middle Path] [Not-self ] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Learning] [Liberation] [Suffering]
Follow-up: “Isn’t there then an implication that there is something else that could be self?” [Views]
10. Quote: “One of the things I often attend to is the juxtaposition of stillness and movement. It’s not that one is right and the other wrong. We can be still and really dull or the mind can move with clarity and acuity. But stillness and movement, what’s generating it, what’s pushing it? That bhavadiṭṭhi/vibhavadiṭṭhi is the engine behind it and the force behind the arising of a sense of self, a sense of me.” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Insight meditation] [Calming meditation] [Right Concentration] [Not-self] [Clear comprehension] [Nature of mind] [Conditionality] [Becoming ] [Craving not to become] [Views] [Self-identity view ]
1. “Was the Buddha so miserable that he kept thinking about all these ideas? Where did his motivation come from?” [Buddha/Biography ] [Suffering] [Desire] [Monastic life/Motivation] // [Western psychology] [Rebirth] [Spiritual search]
2. “If the Buddha had been born elsewhere, would he have turned out the same way?” [Buddha/Biography] [Cultural context] // [Commentaries] [Culture/India ] [Spiritual search] [Renunciation] [Mahāyāna] [Saṃsāra]
10. “Any advice for cures for burnout? I’m in a helping profession and feel depleted and exhausted. I need help getting the balance between giving and receiving.” [Depression] [Work] [Health] [Generosity] [Compassion ] // [Culture/West] [Idealism] [Commentaries] [Selfishness]
Quote: “Compassion in the English language means ‘to suffer with.’ If you end up suffering with too much, you end up burnt out.” [Language] [Suffering]
Quote: “Don’t think you’re a ten-wheeled dump truck when all you are is a wheelbarrow.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 291: Classical cultivation of goodwill and compassion, first to yourself. [Goodwill]
Quote: “Our ability to be with others and to help and to give is dependent on our being kind and compassionate to ourselves.” [Spiritual friendship] [Self-reliance]
2. “A film came out recently called Monk with a Camera. How does one balance between pursuing one’s artistic interests and sincerely following a path of relinquishment.” [Monastic life] [Renunciation] [Artistic expression ] // [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] [Entertainment and adornment] [Generosity] [Energy] [Devotional practice]
Story: Rev. Heng Sure uses music to teach Dhamma. [Rev. Heng Sure] [Teaching Dhamma]
Story: Two Abhayagiri monks learn icon painting from the abbot of the Ukrainian Uniate monastery next door. [Abhayagiri] [Ajahn Jotipālo] [Father Damien] [Holy Transfiguration Monastery]
2. “What did the Buddha think following his teachings should mean or entail?” [Three Refuges] [Precepts] [Buddhist identity ] // [Virtue] [Lay life] [Five Precepts] [Faith] [Generosity] [Association with people of integrity] [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Learning] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Conceit]
Sutta: AN 8.26 Jīvaka Sutta
13. “Should someone who follows the five precepts and meditates but has their own faith and belief call themselves a Buddhist?” [Five Precepts] [Meditation] [Faith] [Spiritual traditions] [Buddhist identity ] // [Dhamma] [Truth] [Eightfold Path] [Happiness]
1. “Could you clarify the difference between mindfulness and concentration?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Mindfulness] [Concentration ] // [Nature of mind] [Pāli] [Translation]
Follow-up: “You said earlier that mindfulness always comes before concentration, but based on what you just defined, I would think it would be the opposite.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno.
7. “The story that we hear frequently about the Buddha as a child in the cattle pasture with his father. He talks about going into a pleasant, rapturous state. Would you consider that jhāna?” [Buddha/Biography ] [Happiness] [Rapture] [Jhāna] // [Skillful qualities]
Sutta: MN 36.31 Mahāsaccaka Sutta
6. “The jhānas seem foundational to the practice, yet Ajahn Chah was reluctant to talk about them. Is this a view that was pervasive among the other Krooba Ajahns?” [Ajahn Chah] [Teaching Dhamma] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Jhāna ] // [Desire]
Follow-up: “If the jhānas aren’t accessible to everyone, can you still go far along the path without them?” [Eightfold Path] [Right Effort] [Right Concentration] [Self-identity view]
12. “Ajahn Chah talks about the one who knows. Is this a purely mental exercise or is it embodied?” [Ajahn Chah] [Knowing itself ] [Mindfulness of body] [Jhāna] // [Culture/West] [Nature of mind]
Quote: “The Thai Krooba Ajahns translate ‘Buddho’ as ‘being the one who knows.’” [Thai Forest Tradition] [Buddho mantra] [Translation]
1. “Equanimity...your thoughts?” [Equanimity ] // [Divine Abidings] [Impermanence] [Kamma] [Conditionality] [Factors of Awakening]
Sutta: AN 5.57: Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection (Chanting Book translation)
4. “What should we do during eating? How to eat with meditation?” [Food ] // [Pace of life] [Present moment awareness]
Quote: “Learn how to slow down and chew your food well.” — The Supreme Patriarch’s advice to new monks. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Health]
6. “What is the difference between piti and sukha? Also equanimity and emptiness as a felt sense?” [Rapture ] [Happiness ] [Equanimity] [Emptiness ] // [Self-identity view] [Theravāda] [Relinquishment]
Teaching: The difference between pīti and sukha. [Rapture ] [Happiness ] [Emotion]
Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 139: Similes for pīti and sukha. [Similes] [Rapture ] [Happiness ]
9. “What is the best approach to deal with guilt?” [Guilt/shame/inadequacy ] // [Culture/West] [Conscience and prudence] [Learning] [Faith] [Discernment] [Self-identity view] [Not-self] [Aggregates]
Sutta: MN 22.58: “Whatever is not yours, abandon it.”
10. “For those of us who need to routinely rest more due to aging, illness, or disability, could you share some suggestions and advice for how to optimize this time as mediation in a lying down posture?” [Ageing] [Sickness] [Posture/Lying down ] // [Determination] [Body scanning] [Clear comprehension] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Pain] [Buddha images] [Tranquility] [Perception]
Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno develops lying down meditation after breaking his pelvis. [Ajahn Pasanno]
3. “Can you say something about forgiveness practice?” [Forgiveness ] // [Goodwill] [Clinging] [Asking forgiveness ceremony]
Reference: Bhikkhu Manual, p. 254: Asking for forgiveness ceremony
Vinaya: Bhikkhu Saṅghādisesā 12: The community grows through mutual support and mutual admonition.
6. “Can you address dependent origination and causation?” [Dependent origination] [Conditionality ] // [Impermanence] [God] [Cessation]
Sutta: Ud 1.3: “When this is, that is...”
Quote: “All you really need to know is that it’s going to hurt when you hit the bottom.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
2. “Inclining mind toward happiness, joy, lightness, exhilaration, the good, sometimes feels a bit Pollyanna-ish. What about all the wars, refugees, my job, illness, pain, etc. Aren’t these also the way things are – unpleasant, dark, and negative?” [Happiness ] [Gladdening the mind] [Suffering] // [Buddha/Biography] [Aspects of Understanding]
4. “I am doing well when sitting or walking – my container of mindfulness is filling. However, it seems to be leaking during every other activity. Walking to the meal, in my room, going to the bathroom, eating. Help! I seem to be defeating my own efforts.” [Continuity of mindfulness ] [Meditation retreats] // [Mindfulness of body] [Benefit] [Investigation of states] [Self-identity view]
5. “How can we apply the law of cause and effect in daily life? How can we apply this law to such a simple thing to remove suffering?” [Conditionality ] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Happiness]
7. “Could you offer a bit of advice on how to deal with the apparent dichotomy between seeing people (including myself) as real & solid (for example when sending them metta), and the doctrine of no-self whereby there is no such imagined solidity at all – just an ever-changing combination of the khandas?” [Not-self ] [Aggregates] // [Middle Path] [Pāli] [Impermanence] [Proliferation] [Relinquishment] [Liberation]
9. “How does one avoid controlling the breath when observing it?” [Mindfulness of breathing ] // [Mindfulness of body] [Tranquility]
1. “What are the consequences of breaking a precept?” [Precepts ] // [Pāli] [Learning] [Volition] [Ajahn Chah]
The root of hiri and otappa. [Conscience and prudence ] [Translation] [Truth] [Kamma] [Respect]
6. “Do any of you who reside at the monastery vote in local or national elections? I also wonder if you get involved in public discussions on local policies as they pertain to or potentially affect the monastery?” [Monastic life] [Politics and society ] // [Culture/Thailand] [Culture/Sri Lanka]
Story: Abhayagiri engages with local people and the Forestry Department to block a timber harvest. [Abhayagiri] [Environment]
7. “Persistent physical pain. Not chronic, just from sitting. How do I work skillfully with it? Right now the meditations feel swamped with it?” [Pain] [Meditation/General advice ] // [Posture/Walking] [Exercise] [Chi Gong] [Mindfulness of breathing]
8. “Could you talk about how to manage doubt when it arises?” [Doubt ] // [Mindfulness of body] [Continuity of mindfulness]
Quote: “It’s the continuity of mindfulness and clarity that we build up that’s going to alleviate the doubt as opposed to any particular clever answer.” [Clear comprehension]
10. “Can you repeat the aspect of sankharas other than mental volitional energy?” [Volitional formations ] // [Nibbāna] [Aggregates] [Volition]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 13
12. “If the list of the five khandas is intended to be linear, why is sense-consciousness the final one?” [Aggregates ] [Consciousness] [Feeling] [Perception]
Sutta: MN 43.9: “Conjoined not disjoined”
13. “What is the difference between a fetter and a hindrance?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Fetters ] [Hindrances ] // [Pāli] [Stream entry] [Tranquility] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Stages of awakening] [Saṃsāra]
14. “One of the books I have read suggests to practice the last moment of life every night. What would you suggest for practicing marananussati?” [Recollection/Death ] // [Purpose/meaning]
Sutta: AN 10.48 Ten Reflections (Chanting book translation)
17. “Please say more about what a monastic retreat offers compared to an ‘ordinary’ retreat. What are the differences?” [Meditation retreats ] [Monastic life] // [Respect] [Teaching Dhamma]
Sutta: MN 26.20: The Brahmā Sahampati requests that the Buddha teach the Dhamma.
18. “If mind and consciousness are impermanent, what/who is aware? Also, who/what is it that experiences the results of karma, especially after the body dies and perhaps is reborn?” [Heart/mind] [Consciousness] [Impermanence] [Nature of mind ] [Kamma] [Rebirth] // [Conditionality] [Clinging] [Doctrine-of-self clinging]
19. “Can you please explain mindfulness or awareness of consciousness? I can understand consciousness arising as a result of stimuli entering the sense doors, but how does one become aware of consciousness itself? Or is this the right question about consciousness?” [Mindfulness of mind] [Consciousness ] [Sense bases ] [Nature of mind] // [Language] [Pāli]
20. “Last night you spoke about balancing tranquility of mind with investigation or a theme for contemplation. Can you clarify how this can be accomplished without getting into the usual mind states of planning, associating, etc.?” [Tranquility] [Investigation of states ] [Recollection ] [Proliferation] // [Impermanence] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Discernment] [Recollection/Death] [Visualization] [Divine Abidings]
Mistaken assumption: “I think, therefore I suffer. If I didn’t think, then I wouldn’t suffer.” [Suffering]
Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 104: Forty subjects of meditation.
22. “Is there a distinction between observing the mind and observing what arises?” [Mindfulness of mind] [Impermanence] // [Knowing itself ] [Liberation ] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Buddha] [Relinquishment] [Cessation of Suffering]
23. “It seems that nimittas can appear before the mind is fully settled in concentration. Is it useful to understand what that is happening? Should one ignore the nimitta until concentration is firmly established? Or is there some other response or skillful way to work with the nimitta while establishing samadhi?” [Nimitta ] [Concentration] // [Proliferation] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Ajahn Pasanno]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno has a nimitta of bowing to the Buddha but then realizes that he is nodding. [Bowing] [Sloth and torpor]
1. “Please explain more how did the Buddha cross the flood, by neither going forward nor standing still. What does this mean?” [Becoming] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Middle Path ] [Saṃsāra]
Sutta: SN 1.1
2. “How could you accomplish studying Buddhism in Thailand with Luang Por Chah? How did Luang Por Chah teach you as a you were a foreigner new monk? How did you cope with the language issue?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah ] [Teaching Dhamma] [Monastic life] [Language] // [Culture/Thailand] [Patience] [Wat Pah Pong] [Novices]
Quote: “It’s just like teaching buffaloes.” — Ajahn Chah. [Western Ajahn Chah lineage] [Similes]
Quote: “Dhamma is not about the words, about the concepts, about the ideas. It’s about the experience.” — Ajahn Chah. [Dhamma ] [Direct experience ]
3. “You often talk about gladdening and lightening the mind. How do I do that?” [Gladdening the mind ] // [Recollection] [Divine Abidings] [Empathetic joy] [Competitiveness] [Three Refuges] [Perception of light]
4. “Could you speak a little about the structure of the Pāli Canon? How much was written down in the Buddha’s time?” [Tipiṭaka ] [History/Early Buddhism ] [Dhamma books] // [Culture/India] [Memory] [Chanting] [Vinaya] [Sutta] [Abhidhamma]
6. “Could you talk about the role memory plays in perception?” [Memory] [Perception ] // [Thai]
7. “I’m concerned about Alzheimer’s disease and getting stuck between life and death, losing all I’ve learned about mindfulness practice and all my dignity. Where is the silver lining in this life’s challenge?” [Death] [Sickness] [Ageing ] // [Mindfulness] [Memory]
Story: The bright presence of a monk with Alzheimer’s disease. [Preah Mahāghosānanda] [Personal presence]
11. “Please demonstrate how to bow. Are there any cultural differences?” [Bowing ] [Cultural context] // [Ajahn Chah] [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Tranquility] [Continuity of mindfulness]
Story: Ajahn Chah corrects a candidate’s bowing posture at his ordination ceremony. [Ordination]
15. “Can you clarify the difference between desire and intention? It seems that either could lead to suffering due to attachments to the results. Yet we are encouraged to have intentions for well-being, health, happiness, etc. Isn’t our intention also a desire?” [Desire ] [Volition ] [Clinging] [Cause of Suffering] // [Pāli] [Kamma] [Craving ] [Bases of Success] [Sensual desire] [Energy]
Sutta: SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (Chanting Book translation)
2. “To abandon the cause, does it mean in that moment or completely?” [Cause of Suffering ] // [Memory]
4. “Could you talk more about the two levels of understanding the true nature of karma: mundane and transcendent?” [Kamma] [Conventions] [Unconditioned] // [Right View ] [Four Noble Truths] [Impermanence] [Conditionality]
Quote: “Outside of cause, beyond effect; outside of suffering, beyond happiness.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
5. “Competitiveness feels so pervasive here in America. What are your thoughts for working with it or healing it?” [Competitiveness ] [Culture/West] // [Suffering] [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] [History/America] [Proliferation]
Reflection: The nine bases of conceit. [Conceit]
6. “Could you describe the progression of anagārika and sāmaṇera training?” [Sequence of training ] [Postulants] [Novices] [Abhayagiri] // [Eight Precepts] [Not handling money] [Ordination ] [Saṅgha decision making] [Dependence] [Ajahn Chah monasteries]
7. “The Middle Way – It is not 50% becoming and 50% annihilation, right? What is it the middle of?” [Middle Path ] // [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering]
10. “Did the Buddha perform any miracles?” [Psychic powers ] [Buddha]
Sutta: Sutta AN 3.60: The greatest miracle is teaching the Dhamma. [Dhamma] [Right View]
12. “Can you please explain the asavas?” [Outflows ] // [Rebirth] [Suffering] [Translation]
13. “Please speak a little about kataññu.” [Gratitude ] // [Human] [Pāli] [Merit]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 33: Verses of Sharing and Aspiration
Story: Ajahn Liem gives Abhayagiri a handwritten essay about gratitude. [Ajahn Liem] [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Chah] [Personality] [Generosity] [Abhayagiri] [Asking forgiveness ceremony] [Dhamma books]
Reference: English translation: Gratitude by Ajahn Chah Saṅgha, p. 9.
3. “Could you talk a bit about the kilesas? How to see them clearly and work with them skillfully without falling into discouragement and self-judgment?” [Unwholesome Roots ] [Right Effort] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] // [Mindfulness] [Discernment] [Recollection/Virtue] [Perception]
5. “Are there any suttas in the Majjhima Nikaya that you recommend that lay people study?” [Sutta] [Learning ] [Lay life]
6. “Can you give me some ideas for antidotes to restlessness? So far the best I have is to give myself a set time and not move one iota from sitting or standing. Another is not to fight it but use it for imaginative contemplation.” [Restlessness and worry ] [Determination] [Recollection] // [Perfections] [Patience] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Happiness] [Mindfulness of body] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Tranquility]
Quote: “It’s the continuity of wholesome mental states that allows the mind to become settled and steady.” [Skillful qualities]
7. “Why is the Buddha referred to in the present tense in the chants? Is it because we are referring to the present potential within us?” [Buddha ] [Chanting] // [Three Refuges] [Liberation] [Knowing itself] [Ajahn Chah]
9. “Can you say more about trusting the seeds of meditation practice after Alzheimer’s/dementia kick in? What do you mean by going beyond liberation or consciousness? What do you mean by ‘many deeper layers’ are affected by the practice and the fruits of it will express naturally?” [Sickness ] [Consciousness] [Long-term practice] // [Happiness] [Proliferation] [Relinquishment] [Self-identity view]
Story: A monk with psychic abilities investigates Ajahn Chah’s mind after Ajahn Chah loses his mental faculties. [Ajahn Chah] [Psychic powers]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno brings the Wat Pah Nanachat community to Ajahn Chah’s nursing kuti to chant verses including Dependent Origination. [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Chanting] [Dependent origination]
Quote: “The fruits of practice arise through the simple quality of being the one who knows, taking the Buddha as refuge.” [Knowing itself] [Buddha] [Three Refuges]
10. “After forty years of meditating, what do you still find that is interesting?” [Ajahn Pasanno ] [Long-term practice] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Gladdening the mind] [Learning]
Quote: “Practicing Dhamma...sometimes it’s difficult, but it’s always interesting.” [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Purpose/meaning]
11.1. Quote: “That farang Buddha is really like a farang. He’s really tense and stressed.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Buddha images] [Culture/West ] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Thai] [Restlessness and worry] [Humor]
13. “How important is chanting for one’s practice? Do you have any tips for how to recite/remember the Pali chants?” [Chanting ] [Memory] [Pāli] // [Monastic life] [Recollection] [Devotional practice] [Energy] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Long-term practice] [Dhamma recordings] [Posture/Walking] [Almsround] [Mindfulness]
Story: Ajahn Mun would chant for over an hour each evening before he started meditating. [Ajahn Mun] [Monastic routine]
Suttas: AN 10.60 Girimānanda Sutta; SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (Chanting Book translation).
Story: The evening program at Wat Fah Krahm is three hours of chanting followed by a three-hour sit. [Wat Fah Krahm] [Meditation] [Ajahn Kovilo]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 138: Rhythm of the Pāli language.
Sutta: SN 48.9: Mindfulness related to memory.
1. “I’m having a hard time with alcohol (not here!). Not heavy or even daily use; a glass of wine with dinner a few nights a week or at social events. I would like to stop but have a hard time sustaining for more than a month or so. Any words of encouragement?” [Intoxicants ] // [Determination] [Sense restraint] [Benefit]
3. “Can you please speak about faith? How to develop it? How to maintain it through the ups and downs of practice? How have you maintained your faith over forty years of practice?” [Faith ] [Long-term practice] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Language] [Ajahn Chah] [Patience] [Mindfulness]
23. “Can you recommend a reflection or phrase to use immediately upon awakening in the morning or the last thing before sleep?” [Recollection] // [Buddho mantra ] [Recollection/Buddha] [Ajahn Chah]
27. “Do you think it’s possible to experience Nibbāna before becoming fully awakened - ‘moments of enlightenment?’ But if Nibbāna is beyond consciousness, would you remember that it happened?” [Nibbāna] [Stages of awakening] [Consciousness] // [Stream entry ]
3. Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno consults the group rather than dictating decisions. Recounted by Ajahn Jotipālo. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abbot ] [Abhayagiri] [Saṅgha decision making] [Leadership]
Quote: “Sometimes it’s better to be harmonious than to be right.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Communal harmony] [Views]
Quote: “I must hurry, for there they go, and I am their leader.” — Sign above a boss’s desk. Quoted by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Humor]
3. “Could you give some guidance on when to patiently endure and when to use discernment to deal with something?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Patience ] [Discernment] // [Right Effort] [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities]
Story: A fortune teller reads Ajahn Chah’s palm. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Aversion]
3. Comments by Ajahn Jotipālo, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko about self in creative endeavors. [Artistic expression ] [Self-identity view] // [Christianity] [Discernment] [Tranquility] [Buddha/Biography] [Ajahn Liem]
Reference: “Inner Vigilance” from The Anthology Vol. 2 by Ajahn Sumedho pp. 59-62. An older version is available online in Mindfulness: The Path to the Deathless.
3. “Could you talk about practicing with intention?” [Volition ] // [Pāli] [Ajahn Chah] [Precepts]
Follow-up: “Is volition the same as becoming or an aspect of becoming?” [Becoming]
5. “Do people confuse the definitions of ego and self?” [Western psychology ] [Self-identity view] // [Four Noble Truths]
Story: An applicant to Wat Pah Nanachat writes a letter avoiding all personal pronouns.
2. “What is the balance between sorting out feelings internally and expressing feelings externally, not repressing them?” [Emotion ] [Western psychology] [Community] // [Goodwill] [Compassion] [Discernment] [Learning]
5. “How are contact and viññāṇa nutriment?” [Contact] [Consciousness] [Nutriment ] // [Feeling] [Aggregates] [Becoming]
Sutta: SN 12.63: Son’s Flesh.
9. Story: Ajahn Pasanno founds Dtao Dum Monastery. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Dtao Dum ] // [Environment] [Ajahn Chah] [Joseph Kappel] [Rains retreat] [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Ajahn Gavesako]
1. “How does your relic puja work for you?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Relics] [Pūjā] [Prayer] [Devotional practice ] // [Respect] [Chanting]
Reference: “Great Chant of Universal Blessings,” Bhikkhu Manual, p. 135.
3. “Did you find any particular holy sites especially affecting?” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Visiting holy sites ] // [Tranquility]
Reference: SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (Chanting Book translation)
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).
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]
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]
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]