Santikaro wrote: Self-censure as well as active censorship are other reasons for certain perspectives to not be recorded dear Santikaro, maybe one day if you feel it's a right time, you can explain if there is some relation of these comments with the missed Chit-wang teaching. In the Jackson book t...

Walking without a walker.
Breathing without a breather.
Living without a liver.

Being such an idiosyncratic guy, Tan Ajahn thought that cultivating sila, samadhi , and panya was a good way to go. The essence of sila is non-harming. The essence of samadhi is wholehearted focus on Nibbana, the quenching of dukkha. The essence of panya is seeing that all phenomena are impermanent,...

I understand that the Ajahn underscored the primacy of practice. If you have the time and inclination, I would appreciate it if you could relate some anecdotes or statements Venerable said on the importance of practice. However one interprets paticcasamuppada , this may be relevant: If foolish at c...

I have not used the word heretic, but idiosyncratic is an appropriate description of Ven Buddhadasa; by the virtue of his own statements he has put himself outside of the Theravada mainstream. Interestingly, he had a fairly strong influence on the educated, monastic mainstream. I realize, tho, that...

What I do care about is evangelism and the attitude that Venerable’s interpretation is the only way to interpret the Dhamma. Might I insert a couple words: "the attitude that one's interpretation of the Venerable’s interpretation is the only way to interpret the Dhamma." Btw, I find it fu...

Ajahn Chah took a similar line of thought, although he did still discuss rebirth in the conventional way on occasion. There is no reason to assume that other Venerables down the centuries havent seen the same as Buddhadasa, perhaps they were just to few in number? Tan Ajahn's views on some of these...

I actually think whether one person believes rebirth is literal (as I do) or whether someone doesn't - is irrelevant. Practice is the engine that generates wisdom. For what it's worth, Ajahn Buddhadasa was not all that into denying 'literal rebirth.' There were times he provocatively seemed to do s...

Hi, :smile: Actually, there is whole saṃyutta ( SN 15 ) which is dedicated to this topic and treats the issue from the practical point of view. Repeated reflections on unimaginable beginnings of saṃsāra are a means to gain release. I agree that there is practical value in such reflections but don't...

if there's one thing i'm am certain of though is that lp buddhadasa probably wouldnt dig all this fighting over him... and would probably say those who claim to understand him best are misrepresenting him most by doing so. He might not mind some Dhammic fighting if it leads to better understanding ...

appicchato wrote:

Santikaro wrote:Don't be stupid at contact.

Upasika Kee Nanayon said (basically) the same thing...

When she was starting her place, she & Tan Ajahn corresponded quite a bit.

if there's one thing i'm am certain of though is that lp buddhadasa probably wouldnt dig all this fighting over him... and would probably say those who claim to understand him best are misrepresenting him most by doing so. He might not mind some Dhammic fighting if it leads to better understanding ...

Dear Santikaro I understand that the Ajahn underscored the primacy of practice. If you have the time and inclination, I would appreciate it if you could relate some anecdotes or statements Venerable said on the importance of practice. Regardless of the differing opinions relating to Venerable's tea...

I don't think I have much more to say on the "rebirth" thing except for this: Tan Ajahn said, more than once, publicly & in private conversation, that rebirth in future lives is only a problem because of the birth of greed, hatred, & delusion, of egoism, of meing & mying. If th...

In the "three lifetimes interpretation" (found in the Visuddhimagga ) of the classic paticcasamuppada sequence, rebirth & dukkha occur in the future, which is taken to be a life after the physical death of the entity or whatever that was craving & clinging. Assuming that one entit...