Conventions
Conventions
3. Story: Ajahn Sundarā stays with a nun who lived at Wat Pah Pong with Ajahn Chah. Told by Ajahn Sundarā. [Ajahn Sundarā] [Mae Chee] [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Chah]
Story: The first nun at Wat Pah Pong. [Artistic expression] [Determination] [Sequence of training] [Eight Precepts]
Story: The Wat Pah Pong nuns go pindapat. [Almsround]
Quote: “Does anyone find having nuns around difficult?” – “Yes.” – “Well, you can go then.” — Ajahn Chah [Pāṭimokkha] [Women in Buddhism]
Story: A woman brings only enough food for the monks, so Ajahn Chah asks the nuns to chant the blessing. [Generosity] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Chanting] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Ajahn Chah’s inner freedom. [Liberation] [Courage] [Conventions] [Unconditioned] [Teaching Dhamma] [Dhamma books] [Personal presence]
The confidence to be totally yourself. [Faith] [Self-reliance] [Gratitude] [Ajahn Chah lineage] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Aversion]
1. “How did Ajahn Chah relate to the lay community around him and tailor the Dharma to their own circumstances?” Answered by Ajahn Sumedho and Ṭhānissarā. [Lay life] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Ajahn Chah] [Teaching Dhamma]
Story: Thai villagers tell Ajahn Sumedho that they never understood Buddhism until they met Luang Por Chah. Told by Ajahn Sumedho. [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Monastic life] [Generosity] [Meditation] [Community] [Family] [Mindfulness]
Quote: “He didn’t respond to the external cues but went to the heart and grabbed you in that way.” — Ṭhānissarā [Conventions] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Not-self]
8. Quote: “Luang Por Chah always allowed margins for differences and for practice.” — Ajahn Sumedho [Conventions] [Monastic life] [Ajahn Chah] // [Western Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Attachment to rites and rituals]
10. Story: Ṭhānissarā visits Ajahn Chah’s hut outside of Oxford. Told by Ṭhānissarā. [Ṭhānissarā] [Conventions] [Shelter] [Ajahn Chah] // [Kamma] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Humor] [Goodwill] [Not-self] [Teaching Dhamma]
1. Reflection by Ajahn Sumedho: The effect of one human being. [Human] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Kamma] [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/Thailand] [Liberation] [Conventions] [Vinaya] [Compassion] [Happiness] [Emptiness] [Not-self]
2. Reflection by Ajahn Sumedho: The unexpected value of traditional Buddhist forms. [Conventions] [Culture/West] [Theravāda] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Chah] // [Zen] [History/Thai Buddhism] [History/Other Theravāda traditions]
3. Reflection by Ajahn Sumedho: The convention is like a skeleton, but the life comes through the individuals. [Conventions] [Vinaya] [Theravāda] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Judgementalism] [Compassion] [Goodwill] [Teachers] [Liberation] [Personality] [Ardency] [Continuity of mindfulness]
5. “If everything about me is impermanent, and even ‘myself’ is illusory, just the rising and falling of kamma, then who or what am I addressing when I wish myself well-being?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Aggregates] [Impermanence] [Not-self] [Kamma] [Goodwill] // [Conventions] [Craving not to become] [Right View] [Conditionality]
13. Reading from the draft biography: Ajahn Chah visits Ajahn Mun. [Ajahn Mun] [Tudong] [Ajahn Chah] // [Relics] [Cleanliness] [Perception of a samaṇa] [Personal presence] [Vinaya] [Conscience and prudence] [Teaching Dhamma] [Knowing itself] [Nature of mind] [Conventions] [Unconditioned] [Faith]
Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 54
4. “What does “the longing for the good is the cause of the trouble” mean?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mun] [Craving] [Skillful qualities] [Right Effort] // [Eightfold Path] [Aggregates] [Liberation] [Self-identity view] [Virtue] [Relinquishment] [Jhāna] [Ignorance] [Cause of Suffering]
Story: Sixth Patriarch Sutra: “No mirror, no dust.”
Recollection: Ajahn Chah taught you could grasp at either samut (the conventional) or vimut (the transcendant). [Ajahn Chah] [Conventions] [Unconditioned] [Clinging] [Discernment]
5. “In another Ajahn Geoff translation, I have seen him use “supposings” or “fashionings.’ Is that the same word?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] [Translation] [Thai] // [Conventions] [Ajahn Chah] [Liberation]
8. “Is one of the benefits of being a monastic having to live up to people’s expectations?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Monastic life] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Robes] [Buddhist identity] // [Conventions] [Christianity] [Idealism] [Culture/West] [Culture/Thailand]
17. “What is the right point to drop or ignore the desire to identify with the Buddhist identity?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Relinquishment] [Desire] [Self-identity view] [Buddhist identity] // [Suffering] [Perfectionism] [Clear comprehension] [Conventions] [Ajahn Chah] [Right Effort]
4. “I’m left with a deep sadness about the state of the world. I suppose that’s no different than struggling with sadness about the human condition?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Grief] [Suffering] [Human] [Politics and society] // [Compassion] [Depression] [Desire] [Right Effort] [Disenchantment] [Conventions]
10. “Did you mention what the trancendent truth of the Saṅgha was?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Saṅgha] [Truth] [Three Refuges] // [Eightfold Path] [Stages of awakening] [Conventions] [Chanting] [Recollection/Saṅgha]
10. Comment by Ajahn Pasanno: Throughout the whole teaching (DN 16) there is the sense of the ordinary and the transcendant together all the time. [Conventions] [Unconditioned] [Sutta] [Buddha/Biography] // [Nature of mind] [Ceremony/ritual] [Precepts] [Meditation] [Devotional practice] [Middle Path] [Release]
Sutta: Aniccā vata saṅkhārā... (SN 6.15) [Cessation] [Happiness] [Recollection/Peace]