1. Comment: I was thinking about our obsession to create things. We create our world out of the things that we create. So Nibbāna being no thing-ness seems just right. [Proliferation] [Nibbāna] [Non-identification]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Volitional formations] [Conventions] [Impermanence] [Philosophy] [Aggregates] [Insight meditation] [Suffering]
Quote: “The things of this world are merely conventions of our own making ...” — Ajahn Chah in Convention and Liberation. [Ajahn Chah]
5. “When Sariputta and Moggallāna died, [the Buddha] expressed almost a sense of grief in the context of the absence from the assembly. I wonder how that fits with the idea of Nibbāna.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Great disciples] [Death] [Buddha/Biography] [Grief] [Nibbāna] // [Pain] [Suffering] [Emotion] [Tranquility] [Theravāda]
Sutta: SN 47.14: Ukkacelā Sutta: “This assembly appears to me empty now ...”
Sutta: SN 36.6: The Arrow.
Story: Ajahn Sumedho’s experience of his mother’s death. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Parents]
3. “How do you tell the difference between genuine insight and conceptual fabrication?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Insight meditation] [Proliferation] // [Cessation of Suffering] [Spiritual friendship] [Suffering] [Lawfulness] [Doubt] [Stream entry] [Self-reliance]
Follow-up: “The fact that it can’t be verified intuitively makes me uncomfortable. I can see how that would lead to delusion of falsity.” [Delusion]
Story: Ajahn Sumedho asks Ajahn Chah whether he [Ajahn Sumedho] is a stream enterer. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Ajahn Chah]
4. “My perception of Theravāda is that it’s a lot about striving but then Advaita Vedanta and Luang Por Sumedho talk about acceptance of what is right now. It doesn’t have the same morality. How do you reconcile these two things?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Theravāda] [Right Effort] [Advaita Vedanta] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Virtue] // [Self-identity view] [Suffering] [Eightfold Path]
3. “What is the earliest source that mentions the three kinds of dukkha?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering] // [Tipiṭaka]
Sutta: SN 45.165.
4. “When you talked about the little girl crying, was she really crying because she was miserable?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Suffering] [Happiness]
Story: A little girl cries because she got what she wanted. [Suffering] [Desire]
2. “If the Unconditioned is above distinctions of right and wrong, how do you reconcile this with the fact that we live in a moralistic society? If you are not enlightened, how do you live with the truth of the Unconditioned?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Unconditioned] [Virtue] // [Conventions] [Dhamma] [Vinaya] [Buddha] [Ven. Ananda Maitreya] [Clinging] [Suffering] [Recollection/Buddha]
Reference: “Still, Flowing Water” in Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 373.
Reference: Time & Timelessness by the Amaravati Saṅgha.
Reference: T. S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages.
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1: The story of the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 4: Recollection of the Buddha: vijjācaraṇa-sampanno.
2. “I didn’t understand what was meant by inferences [in “No-self or Not-self” by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro].” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Teaching Dhamma] [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Suffering]
2. “I’ve been noticing during meditation that my mind goes a lot into planning. Can you consider this bhavataṇha?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Becoming] [Proliferation] // [Volition] [Discernment] [Ajahn Amaro] [Habits] [Amaravati] [Building projects] [Suffering]
2. “I’m wondering if there is an evolutionary explanation for Nibbāna?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Science] [Nibbāna] // [Suffering] [Human] [Environment] [Killing]
3. “I have never come to the bottom of this self or not self, and I come to the point where I just give up. Should I worry?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Self-identity view ] [Not-self] // [Present moment awareness] [Proliferation] [Insight meditation] [Knowing itself] [Relinquishment]
Reflection by Ajahn Amaro: This which knows the person is not a person. [Personality]
Follow-up: “This goes strongly against what we experience outside of Amaravati; in work life there is very strong identity. To find a balance is very challenging.” [Work]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: “Identification is the glue that holds suffering together.” [Suffering] [Non-identification]
Quote: “When were you ever made any the less by dying?” — Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī] [Death] [Right View]
4. “What is the meaning of dukkha?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Suffering ] // [Etymology]
1. “You said that letting go, relinquishing identification, is actually the real security. Could you expand on that?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Relinquishment] [Non-identification] // [Suffering] [Impermanence] [Self-identity view]
2. “Even before the Bodhisattva leaves home, he has a strong sense that Nibbāna is possible. Where does he get this confidence?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha/Biography] [Nibbāna] [Faith] // [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Liberation] [Western psychology]
4. “When developing disenchantment and dispassion by seeing the way things are, how do we not go to the extreme of aversion or the craving of unbecoming?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Disenchantment] [Dispassion] [Aversion] [Craving not to become] // [Suffering] [Four Noble Truths]
Story: Ajahn Chah prods Ajahn Pasanno to reflect on suffering. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Suffering]
5. “How do we distinguish the nuances of happiness and suffering?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Happiness] [Suffering] // [Language]
Reflection: Any language is always a problem. [Suffering]
Quote: “The language of Dhamma is the language of feeling.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma] [Feeling]
8. “Is ‘dark night of the soul’ a similar term to disenchantment?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Disenchantment ] // [Pāli] [Skillful qualities] [Translation] [Suffering] [Western psychology]
1. “Would you say that with the ending of greed, hatred, and delusion that these are eradicated and don’t arise anymore?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Unwholesome Roots] [Cessation] // [Knowledge and vision] [Cause of Suffering] [Buddha] [Arahant]
Follow-up: “We hear sometimes that it arises, but the person isn’t grasping it.”
Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo: This is similar to Ajahn Chah’s declaration, “Yes, I have a lot of anger, but I don’t pick it up.” [Ajahn Chah] [Aversion] [Relinquishment]
Story: Ajahn Chah explains that the many lines in his palm mean that he had lots of suffering. [Suffering] [Ajahn Viradhammo] [Teaching Dhamma] [Discernment]
3. “What is meant by supramundane?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Kamma] [Saṃsāra] [Suffering]
4. “Does that mean that sadness and misery is by nature a state of delusion?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering] [Delusion]
4. “In my experience, sometimes when I rest in the awareness for a long time, it feels very peaceful, nice, calm, and pure. But there’s a sense of ‘So what?’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Knowing itself] // [Doubt] [Conditionality] [Ignorance] [Hindrances] [Investigation of states] [Suffering]
Sutta: AN 10.61: The Five Hindrances are the nutriment for ignorance.
2. “Can you give a practical antidote in terms of how we can relinquish the attachment to view?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Clinging] [Views] [Relinquishment] // [Suffering] [Ajahn Chah]
1. Comments and examples regarding the simile of the leper cauterizing his wounds in MN 75. [Similes] [Sensual desire] // [Suffering] [Self-identity view]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Delusion] [Community]
6. “Could you explain the subtle differences between perceiving and conceiving? Since our sense of attention is so involved in conceiving ‘I’, how do we practice in order to extricate this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception] [Conceit] // [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Memory] [Translation] [Thai]
3. “When the mind rests in awareness and it’s not going out, it feels very natural. It knows that this is the place to be, but still over and over again, no matter how clearly it sees this pure quality and peaceful quality, it still goes out to thoughts. The mind keeps going out. It keeps grabbing, it keeps identifying, even though it knows this is dukkha.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Knowing itself] [Clinging] [Suffering] [Long-term practice] // [Noting] [Mindfulness of mind] [Idealism] [Discernment] [Food] [Feeling] [Birth]
Quote: “It’s just that much.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
8. Comments about the everyday use of the words corresponding to mano and dukkha in Indian languages. Contributed by Anagārikā Deepa. [Language] [Pāli] [Culture/India] [Heart/mind] [Suffering]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Proliferation] [Ven. Ananda Maitreya] [Tipiṭaka] [Humor] [Translation] [Bhikkhu Bodhi]
6. “You mentioned [existentialism/eternalism] and nihilism as familiar Western philosophical ideas. I understand that Buddhism’s approach is not one or the other. How do other Western philosophical ideas like solipsism or materialism sit?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Philosophy ] [Middle Path] // [God] [Humor] [Views] [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Teaching Dhamma]
Sutta: SN 22.86: “I teach suffering and the end of suffering.” [Suffering]
Comment: Philosophy usually tries to create a philosophy from which you pull down how to live your life, but the Buddha is the other way around.
Sutta: DN 1: Sixty-two wrong views.
4. Question about associating with and clinging to wholesome and conducive environments. Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities] [Clinging] [Spiritual friendship] // [Suffering] [Knowing itself] [Discernment] [Amaravati] [Ajahn Chah]
Quote: “If you seek for security in what is insecure, you are bound to suffer.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Impermanence] [Suffering]
Quote: “Wanting what’s good without stop. That’s a disease of the mind.” — Ajahn Mun, Ballad of Liberation from the Khandhas. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Mun] [Craving]
Quote: “Live simply; be natural.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Simplicity]
Story: A sincere practitioner’s family complains about his way of being mindful. Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Mindfulness] [Everyday life] [Pace of life]
5. Story: Ajahn Chah explains the many lines on his palm: “Yeah, I’ve had a lot of suffering. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to teach you.” Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Suffering] [Teaching Dhamma] // [Ajahn Viradhammo]
6. Recollection: Ajahn Chah’s advice for establishing mindfulness in the midst of strong emotions. Recounted by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness] [Emotion] // [Ajahn Amaro] [Food] [Suffering] [Conditionality] [Equanimity] [Mindfulness of body] [Greed]
Story: Ajahn Chah eats 37 mangoes.
3. “When you contemplate some situation, as long as there is still some tension or some feeling, does that mean that you did not come to the right understanding of it, but once you understand the situation, there would be no unpleasant, painful feelings about it?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Pain] [Recollection] [Discernment] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Defilements of insight] [Clinging] [Suffering] [Grief]
Sutta: SN 36.6: Simile of the two arrows. [Suffering] [Similes]
Suttas: MN 53.5; AN 10.67: The Buddha stretches his back. [Buddha/Biography]
Sutta: SN 47.14: “The assembly appears empty to me now.” [Great disciples] [Death] [Characteristics of existence]
7. “When the mind feels quiet and peaceful, but there’s still something niggling away that doesn’t feel quite right, how do you work with that?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tranquility] [Suffering] // [Patience] [Truth] [Self-reliance] [Conditionality] [Faith] [Perfections]
Recollection: It was frustrating being a disciple of Ajahn Chah and going to him with all your problems. He would just tell us to be patient. [Ajahn Chah]
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.
2. Comment: I’ve often felt like I’ve made this deal (SN 56.35). [Suffering]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: It’s important to bring the suffering into the heart so that it is a catalyst for change. [Suffering] [Spiritual urgency]
8. “Are the Pāli terms for anger and ill-will similar? With anger, you don’t necessarily wish harm on someone else, it just arises, and it’s involved with sakkāyadiṭṭhi ...” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pāli] [Ill-will] [Aversion] [Self-identity view] // [Hindrances] [Stream entry] [Unwholesome Roots]
Follow-up: “Are there any suttas that say that a sotāpanna does not have anger and ill-will?” [Sutta] [Non-return]
Simile: SN 56.51: The amount of suffering that a sotāpanna relinquishes. [Suffering] [Similes]
8. “Many of Ajahn Chah’s direct disciples have become revered teachers themselves. Would you say the harsher conditions and more rigorous practices of the early days of Wat Pah Pong played a necessary role in their training and development or was it mostly due to Ajahn Chah being such a masterful teacher?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah lineage] [Ascetic practices] [Wat Pah Pong] [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah] // [Humility] [Ajahn Mun] [Mae Chee]
Quote: “There’s this nostalgia for the good old days. ... To me it’s a fallacy or a fantasy.” [Suffering] [Poverty]
Quote: “To be able to lay a foundation that was carried on is really exceptional.” [Saṅgha] [Leadership]
7. Recollection: He was always willing to push us beyond what we thought we could do. Recounted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Fierce/direct teaching] [Ajahn Chah] // [Intuition]
Quote: “I hope you’re not afraid of suffering. ... If you’re afraid of suffering, you’re not going to grow in wisdom here.” — Ajahn Chah to Jack Kornfield. [Jack Kornfield] [Fear] [Suffering] [Discernment]
Quote: “If you want to stay here, you have to stay at least five years.” — Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sequence of training] [Determination]
Story: Ajahn Chah asks the young Ajahn Pasanno to become abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat. [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Abbot] [Sickness]
9. Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno’s first lunar observance night at Wat Pah Pong. Recounted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Wat Pah Pong] [Lunar observance days] [Ajahn Chah] // [Monastic life] [Pace of life] [Patience]
Quote: “You learn as you go. You expand your ability to go beyond the limitations you set for yourself.” [Learning]
Quote: “The more you resist and complain in your mind, the more you suffer.” [Aversion] [Suffering] [Habits]
11. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno on Ajahn Chah’s ability to illustrate Dhamma. [Teaching Dhamma] [Similes] [Ajahn Chah]
Simile: Suffering is like continually tightening a bolt. [Suffering]
12. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: Ajahn Chah’s compassion and empathy. [Compassion] [Ajahn Chah]
Quote: “I’ve been like that.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Munindo] [Suffering]
18. “What gave you the inspiration and strength of spirit to want to dedicate yourself to follow the way?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Faith] [Determination] // [Suffering] [Spiritual search] [Culture/Thailand] [Travel] [Meditation/Results]
7. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: Absorbing the truth, “Even the Sāsana will pass away,” doesn’t lead to a sense of dismay; it leads to wonder and the motivation, “How can I help others?” [Truth] [Spiritual urgency] [Compassion] [Suffering] [Impermanence] [Characteristics of existence]
Recollection: Ajahn Chah saw so clearly and was incredibly compassionate. [Ajahn Chah] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Quote: “What is the mind of an arahant like?” – “Only compassion.” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Mun]
Quote: “Anicca, dukkha, and anattā are tools we rely on for transforming the heart.”
8. “I am’ and ego are very deeply embedded in our consciousness. You mentioned that observing impermanence could help. Are there any other practical steps we can take every day to dismantle ego and ‘I am?’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Self-identity view] [Impermanence] // [Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Not-self]
Sutta: Ud 3.10: “For however one conceives it, it is always other than that.”
8. “The Buddha had a quality of fearlessness. How can we understand fearlessness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha] [Fear ] // [Non-identification] [Not-self] [Self-identity view] [Suffering]
Quote: “The core of fearlessness is not having a self, an I, a me, a mine that it’s trying to protect.”
13. “How does the practice of patience fit into the Noble Eightfold Path? How is patience the incinerator of defilements?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Patience ] [Eightfold Path] [Unwholesome Roots] // [Perfections] [Suffering] [Self-identity view] [Worldly Conditions]
Reference: Ovāda Pātimokkha: Dhp 183-185 (Chanting book translation).
14. “Sometimes we hear that with practice, some qualities change, but other qualities don’t change very much over a long time of practice. When I read certain biographies [of Buddhist teachers], it seems like certain rough qualities can remain even though the mind is pure. How to know the difference in oneself and others?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Long-term practice] [Personality ] [Teachers] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Unskillful qualities] // [Suffering] [Unwholesome Roots] [Relinquishment] [Hindrances]
Ajahn Pasanno describes the personality of great teachers he has met. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Ajahn Tate] [Ajahn Dune] [Ajahn Chah]
Reflection: The arahant disciples of the Buddha were able to free their minds, but they all had different personalities. [Arahant] [Buddha] [Great disciples ]
Sutta: SN 14.15 Caṅkama Sutta: Monks with different personalities gather around the great disciples.
Note: Ajahn Pasanno mentions the similarly-themed Cūḷagosiṅga Sutta (MN 31) by name, but describes the content of the Caṅkama Sutta.
4. “How do you deal with the fear of renunciation and sacrifice that you do on the path of practice? Giving things up that are familiar and comfortable, or even that you know are uncomfortable, but there’s still that dukkha around it. Or after you’ve given up, the mind can proliferate on these subjects a lot. What has your experience been like?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Cunda. [Renunciation] [Fear] [Suffering] [Proliferation] // [Self-identity view] [Cessation of Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Discernment] [Happiness] [Monastic life]
Quote: “Everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks on it.” — David Foster Wallace. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Clinging]
Story: Just sweep the leaves in front of your broom. Told by Ajahn Cunda. [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Present moment awareness] [Similes]
Story: A young child struggles to give Ajahn Sumedho a candy on almsround. Told by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Generosity] [Almsround] [Ajahn Sumedho]