Monastic life (brahmacariyā)
Parent topic: Renunciant practice
Subtopics: Monastic life/Motivation, Ordination, Mentoring, Vinaya, Mutual lay/Saṅgha support, Saṅgha, Perception of a samaṇa, Respect, Ascetic practices, Monastic crafts, Types of monks, Women's monastic forms, Disrobing
162 excerpts, 12:28:51 total duration

Events (1) All excerpts (162) Questions about (107) Answers involving (16) Stories (21) Quotes (22) Readings (2)

Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 4 – Apr. 28, 2001

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3. Quote: “He made sense out of monasticism.” — Ajahn Sumedho [Monastic life] [Saṅgha] [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] // [Vinaya] [Dhamma] [Trust]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 5 – Apr. 28, 2001

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3. Quote: “Ajahn Chah was a wonderful teacher, but more important, he was a trainer. He trained people how to live.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Teaching Dhamma] [Monastic life] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Ajahn Chah]

Story: Māghā Pūjā at Wat Pah Pong. [Festival days] [Lunar observance days] [Wat Pah Pong] [Meditation] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Lay life] [Saṅgha]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 10 – Apr. 28, 2001

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2. Quote: “Living with Ajahn Chah wasn’t easy.” — Paul Breiter [Suffering] [Ajahn Chah] // [Aversion] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Monastic life]


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11. Quote: “He taught different people differently....He gave us what we needed.” — Paul Breiter [Teaching Dhamma] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Chah] // [Paul Breiter] [Patience] [Monastic life] [Generosity] [Upatakh] [Devotional practice]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 12 – Apr. 28, 2001

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3. You weren’t there to prepare for something else. Reflection by Paul Breiter. [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah] // [Sequence of training] [Everyday life] [Disrobing] [Kamma] [Monastic life] [Ascetic practices] [Suffering] [Happiness] [Saṃsāra]

Quote: “Talk about the benefits of lay life....on paper you can make a good case for it. In practice it’s a constant challenge just to keep your head above water and remember how you’re supposed to deal with things. I urge people in robes to stay there.” [Lay life] [Right Action] [Monastic life]

Quote: “Ajahn Pasanno doesn’t want me sending everyone to ordain with him, but I think you do better following his way than my way.” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] [Paul Breiter]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 26 – Apr. 29, 2001

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6. Quote: “I hope you’re not afraid of suffering.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Jack Kornfield. [Ajahn Chah] [Jack Kornfield] [Suffering] [Fear] // [Wat Pah Pong] [Ghost] [Monastic life] [Liberation]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 28 – Apr. 29, 2001

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3. Story: Kittisaro’s parents visit Wat Pah Pong. Told by Kittisaro. [Kittisaro] [Parents] [Wat Pah Pong] [Ajahn Chah] // [Culture/West] [Learning] [Monastic life] [Renunciation] [Fear] [Cults] [Children] [Ordination] [Compassion]

Quote: “Wanting your parents to understand is suffering.” — Ajahn Sumedho [Ajahn Sumedho] [Family] [Monastic life] [Suffering]

Quote: “The Communists you really need to be concerned about, the ones who can really hurt you, are the ones who hide inside your own heart.” [Politics and society] [Unwholesome Roots]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 30 – Apr. 29, 2001

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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]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 33 – Apr. 29, 2001

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7. “When we enter this life, everything is so funny.” Reflection by Ajahn Sundarā. [Monastic life] [Humor] // [Ṭhānissarā] [Ajahn Amaro] [Ajahn Sundarā] [Vinaya]

Quote: “It was a hell of a life in the beginning.” [Monastic life]


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 34 – Apr. 29, 2001

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8. Ajahn Chah’s time of illness was a gift to the Saṅgha. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sickness] [Generosity] [Saṅgha] [Ajahn Chah] // [Bodhisattva] [Renunciation] [Communal harmony]

Ajahn Chah’s emphasis on Saṅgha was unique. [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Teachers] [Conflict] [Personal presence] [Three Refuges]

Quote: “People in the world are attached to status. People in the religion are attached to their views.” — Thai saying [Monastic life] [Views] [Saṅgha decision making]


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12. Quote: “You’re living of the karma of the Buddha.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Jack Kornfield. [Ajahn Chah] [Almsround] [Kamma] [Buddha] [Jack Kornfield] // [Liberation] [Compassion] [Culture/Thailand] [Gratitude] [Monastic life] [Ajahn Chah lineage]


Metta Retreat, Session 3 – Sep. 11, 2008

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1. “One of my lay insight mediation teachers said, ‘The Western lay practitioner is an experiment in Buddhism.’ What do you think? To me it seems our lay teachers are also an experiment.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Culture/West] [Lay life] [Lay teachers] // [Monastic life] [Abhayagiri] [Sīladharā] [Culture/Thailand]

Quote: “Because the monastic presence is so strong in Asia, oftentimes people overlook the strength of the tradition of lay practice and lay teachers.” [Monastic life] [Cultural context]

Story: The Buddha tells Māra he will found the fourfold assembly (UD 6.1). [Buddha/Biography] [Māra] [Fourfold Assembly] [Stages of awakening] [Learning] [Monastic life]


Metta Retreat, Session 4 – Sep. 12, 2008

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10. “Would you share some of your personal journey, including the time before you became a monk, and why you became a monk, and how the holy life can help people grow and change?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Monastic life] // [Culture/West] [Travel] [Culture/Thailand]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno begins meditation with a month-long Mahasi Sayadaw retreat. [Meditation retreats] [Mahasi Sayadaw] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Fierce/direct teaching]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s first visit to Wat Pah Pong. [Ordination] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong]

Quote: “If you want to stay here, you have to stay at least five years.” — Ajahn Chah [Sequence of training]

Reflection: “Five years is five years. I’ll go back and give myself to Ajahn Chah.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Relinquishment] [Mentoring]

Quote: “There’s no such thing as the ideal monastic or the ideal practitioner.” [Idealism] [Monastic life] [Lay life] [Faith] [Disrobing] [Suffering] [Energy] [Patience] [Long-term practice]


Tudong Stories at Spirit Rock, Session 3 – Jun. 2, 2011

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4. Story: Ajahn Chah struggles through lust with patience. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Sensual desire] [Patience] [Tudong] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Human] [Meditation/Techniques] [Impermanence]

Quote: Ajahn Chah to biographer: “If you don’t put that in the book, don’t bother printing it.” [Dhamma books]

Quote: “If you ordain as a monk, your defilements ordain with you.” [Monastic life] [Unwholesome Roots]


The Gradual Training, Session 1 – Oct. 20, 2012

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7. “In the West, there are so many religious practices from the East. How do we relate to them all.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Spiritual traditions] [Hinduism] [Gradual Teaching] // [Buddha/Biography] [Teaching Dhamma]

Sutta: MN 95: Caṅkī Sutta [Conditionality] [Faith]

Quote: “I’ve been an abbot for thirty years, and I’m quite happy. One of the reasons I’m happy is I don’t feel I have to go and convince anybody of anything.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life] [Happiness] [Contentment]


The Whole of the Path: The Fruits of Spiritual Friendship, Session 1 – Jun. 22, 2013

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1. “Could you tell us how you became a monk?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ordination] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] // [Culture/Thailand] [Meditation]

Quote: “I stumbled into it.” [Monastic life]


Suttas You've Never Heard Of, Session 2 – Jun. 25, 2016

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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]


The Teaching and the Training, Session 4 – Mar. 20, 2018

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3. “Two questions: 1) What strengths do you see in other Buddhist traditions and Western culture that our tradition could benefit from? 2) How have you decided which aspects of korwat (protocols) from Thailand to adjust and which to maintain?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mahāyāna] [Vajrayāna] [Culture/West] [Culture/Thailand] [Monastic life] [Vinaya] [Protocols] // [Abhayagiri] [Women in Buddhism] [Robes] [Cultural context] [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas] [Dōgen] [Zen] [Ajahn Sumedho] [History/Western Buddhism] [Simplicity] [Christianity] [Renunciation] [Eight Precepts] [Not handling money] [Chithurst] [Ajahn Amaro] [Communal harmony]

Quote: “There are so many good things to do that you could be running around the country doing good things. I’d rather focus my attention here.” [Pace of life]

Quote: “There’s no reason to fit into American culture.”

Story: The monastic jacket is vindicated in England. [Culture/Natural environment] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism]

Quote: “As Buddhist monastics and Buddhist practitioners, we’re trying to set conditions that give us the opportunity for learning.” [Monastic life] [Lay life] [Learning]


The New Ajahn Chah Biography, Session 3 – Apr. 21, 2018

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1. Quote: “Ajahn Chah tried to make practice into everything we were doing, whether we were monastics or laypeople.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Ajahn Chah] [Continuity of mindfulness] [Monastic life] [Lay life] // [Work]


Love, Attachment, and Friendship, Session 3 – Oct. 12, 2019

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3. “My natural tendency is to push the world away and to have the attitude that enjoyment is wrong. I’m working on trying to enjoy life. Do you have any ideas about this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Craving not to become] [Christianity] [Hinduism] [Ascetic practices] [Happiness] [Skillful qualities] // [Monastic life] [Ajahn Sucitto] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Culture/West]

The Rule of St. Benedict and Ajahn Sucitto’s talk “Fellow Worms.” [Monastic life] [Humility]

Story: A BBC interviewer asks King Rama IX about original sin. [Media] [Culture/Thailand] [Nature of mind]

Causal processes leading to sāmadhi and dispassion have different starting points, but they all go through delight and happiness. [Conditionality] [Concentration] [Dispassion]

Quote: “Monks, do not be afraid of puñña.” — Iti 22 [Monastic life] [Merit] [Fear] [Liberation]

Quote: “The happy mind is easily concentrated.”


Stanford Community Dhamma Discussion – Apr. 25, 2020

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1. “What is your favorite thing you’ve gotten from monastic life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] // [Virtue] [Teachers] [Contentment]

Quote: “You really get to see the best of the human condition as a monastic. That’s a real treat.” [Human] [Monastic life]


Tea Time Q&A with Ajahn Pasanno – May. 16, 2021

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5. “How to reach the state of peace and serenity when we’re just human beings and we strive to be good people?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tranquility] [Equanimity] [Human] [Virtue] // [Happiness] [Generosity] [Association with people of integrity] [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Hindrances]

Sutta: DN 2: Sāmaññaphala Sutta - Fruits of the Holy Life

Quote: When asked about his attainments as a monk, “I’m just really happy about all the things I didn’t do.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Ajahn Pasanno] [Stages of awakening] [Monastic life] [Sense restraint]