[Session] Readings by Ajahn Pasanno:
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 15, pp. 274-277:
Suttas: AN 8.30; SN 2.5; AN 3.83; SN 52.9; MN 123.22; MN 122.4, .6 & .7.
Sutta: MN 123: Wonderful and Marvelous.
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]
7. “Ajahn Amaro is invited to give a two-mintue Dhamma talk at 10 Downing Streen on Visākha Pūjā.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Amaro] [Teaching Dhamma] [Politics and society] [Festival days] // [Christianity]
Sutta: MN 123: Wonderful and Marvelous.
8. Recollection: Ajahn Sumedho’s copy of the Majjhima Nikāya has MN 123.22 highlighted in purple and yellow. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Sutta]
9. Comment: The Buddha is always inclined towards drawing conversations to a close (MN 122.6). [Buddha/Biography] [Teaching Dhamma] [Idle chatter] // [Loneliness] [Media]
Sutta: SN 10.3: Sūciloma.
[Session] Readings from The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 12, pp. 198-203. Read by Ajahn Pasanno:
Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, Heartwood from the Bodhi Tree, pp. 51-2.
Suttas: SN 35.85; SN 41.7; DN 16.2.25.
Commentary: Visuddhimagga 21.70 (Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 686).
2. “The other characteristics like impermanence, dukkha, anattā—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 Buddhadasā, 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.
5. Reflections on “Passion is a maker of measurement; aversion is a maker of measurement ...” (SN 41.7). [Perception] [Judgementalism ] [Sensual desire] [Aversion] // [Unwholesome Roots] [Conventions]
Quote: “Is this long or short?” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
6. Story: Ajahn Pasanno comes across handwritten notes about Ajahn Chah’s teachings in the library at Wat Pleng. Told by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Phleng Vipassanā]
Quote: “What is the essence of the Buddha’s teachings?”—“Is this a big piece of wood or a small piece of wood?” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception] [Conventions] [Desire]
Sutta: SN 41.7: “Passion is a maker of measurement.”
7. Reflections by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno on the Buddha’s experience of chronic pain in DN 16.2.25. [Buddha/Biography] [Pain] // [Suffering] [Equanimity]
Suttas: DN 33; MN 53; AN 10.67-68: The Buddha stretches his back.
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]
11. “I’m curious about the timeline when the Buddha established the Five Precepts for householders.” [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]