Wisdom of the Thai Forest Tradition

[clw_uk]

Greetings


Wanted to share some of the wisdom of the Ajahn's of the Thai Forest Tradition

Some quotes and extracts:


Ajahn Chah

"Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You’ll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free. "


All bodies are composed of the four elements of earth, water, wind and fire. When they come together and form a body we say it’s a male, a female, giving it names, and so on, so that we can identify each other more easily. But actually there isn’t anyone there - only earth, water, wind and fire. Don’t get excited over it or infatuated by it. If you really look into it, you will not find anyone there


The real foundation of the teaching is to see the self as being empty. But people come to study the Dhamma to increase their self-view, so they don’t want to experience suffering or difficulty. They want everything to be cozy. They may want to transcend suffering, but if there is still a self, how can they ever do so?


People don’t study that which is beyond good and evil. This is what they should study. "I’m going to be like this; I’m going to be like that," they say. But they never say, "I’m not going to be anything because there really isn’t any ‘I’." This they don’t study.


Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it.


Actually, in truth, there isn’t anything to human beings. Whatever we may be, it’s only in the realm of appearances. However, if we go beyond appearances and see the truth, we will see that there isn’t anything there but the universal characteristics - birth in the beginning, change in the middle, and cessation in the end. This is all there is. If we see that all things are like this, then no problems arise. If we understand this, we will have contentment and peace.


The forest is peaceful, why aren’t you? You hold on to things causing your confusion. Let nature teach you. Hear the bird’s song then let go. If you know nature, you’ll know Dhamma. If you know Dhamma, you’ll know nature.


When suffering arises, understand that there is no one to accept it. If you think suffering is yours, happiness is yours, you will not be able to find peace.


In truth, happiness is suffering in disguise but in such a subtle form that you don’t see it. If you cling to happiness, it’s the same as clinging to suffering, but you don’t realize it. When you hold on to happiness, it is impossible to throw away the inherent suffering. They’re inseparable like that. Thus the Buddha taught us to know suffering, see it as the inherent harm in happiness, to see them as equal. So be careful! When happiness arises, don’t be overjoyed, and don’t get carried away. When suffering comes, don’t despair, don’t lose yourself in it. See that they have the same equal value.


A madman and an arahant both smile, but the arahant knows why while the madman doesn’t.


Death is as close as our breath.



Why are we born? We are born so that we will not have to be born again.


What is Dhamma? Nothing isn’t.

http://www.what-buddha-taught.net/Books ... n_Chah.htm



Ajahn Buddhadasa

To call something a foundation of the Buddhist Teachings is only correct if firstly, it is a principle which aims at the extinction of Dukkha and, secondly, it has a logic that one can see for oneself without having to believe others. These are the important constituents of a foundation.

If anyone realizes, that is to say if anyone's mind realizes this thing (Voidness), then it will be the medicine that cures the disease and the immediate recovery from disease, a state time­lessly empty. It is true health.

http://www.what-buddha-taught.net/Books ... #EMPTINESS

If right here, right now, there is no soul, person, self, or attā, how could there be some "who" or "someone" that goes and gets reborn? So there is no way one can ask "who will be reborn?"Therefore, the rebirth of the same person does not occur. But the birth of different things is happening all the time. It happens often and continuously, but there is no rebirth. There is no such thing, in reality, as rebirth or reincarnation.

http://www.what-buddha-taught.net/Books ... ebirth.pdf


Ajahn Sumedho

We are not here to become anything, or to get rid of anything, or to change anything, or to make anything for ourselves, or to demand anything, but to awaken more and more, to reflect, observe and know the Dhamma. Don't worry that it might change for the worse. Whatever way it changes we have the wisdom to adapt to it. And that I can see is the real fearlessness of the alms mendicant life. We can adapt, we can wisely learn from all conditions, because this life-span is not our real home


What happened to Napoleon? What happened to the Queen of Sheba? And Confucius and Lao Tzu and Marie Antoinette, Beethoven and Bach? They're memories in our minds; they're just perceptions in people's minds now. But that's all they ever were anyway, even when their bodies were alive!


http://www.amaravati.org/abm/english/do ... /cont.html

As Buddhists, we take refuge in the Ultimate Truth, and in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha as conventional forms. This means that we have confidence in the Ultimate Truth, in the Uncreated and the Unconditioned – not in conceiving, but in recognising conditions as conditions, and allowing kammic formations to cease. We just keep recognising conditions, instead of being fascinated and creating more kamma around those conditions through fear, envy, greed and hatred. This is a gentle recognition that kammic formations are what we are not. There's nothing we can say about what we are, because in Ultimate Truth there are no beings: nobody is ever born or dies.


When we're mindful, there's no attachment to ideas and memories of self, and creativity is spontaneous. There's no one who loves or is loved; there's no personal being that is created. In this way, we find the real expression of kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity that is always fresh, always kind, patient and ever-forgiving of oneself and others.

http://www.amaravati.org/abm/english/do ... kamma.html



Metta

[mikenz66]

Thanks for the nice quotes.

However, I sometimes cringe when presented with Ajahn Chah soundbites because he was so context-sensitive. For example, as I recall, one of the common quotes attributed to him, something like "the only book you need to read is your heart" was part of a conversation with an Abhidhamma expert, and so was clearly not meant as a general statement of policy regarding study.

It is interesting to listen to some of the Dhamma talks by students of Ajahn Chah. Ajahn Tiradhammo, in particular, observes that he spent a lot of time trying to figure out what Ajahn Chah's opinions were, since the advice that he gave at different times seemed completely contradictory. In the end he concluded that Ajahn Chah had no opinions - only wisdom, which he applied to the particular situation.

That observation (which other students, and Ajahn Chah himself, confirm) is, to me, more important than any of the soundbites.

Metta
Mike

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

One way to get around the soundbite issue is to read the Dhamma talks in their entirety... and here's the entire collection of them (in their most up-to-date and accurate translations...)

The Teachings Of Ajahn Chah
http://www.ajahnchah.org/pdf/the_teachi ... ah_web.pdf

I find Ajahn Chah's teachings very useful. So much so that I've actually had a copy of the above compendium printed and bound.



Metta,
Retro.

[nathan]

The Teachings Of Ajahn Chah
http://www.ajahnchah.org/pdf/the_teachi ... ah_web.pdf

Metta,
Retro.

Thanks Retro, but my Mac couldn't open the file. My machine says the PDF is corrupted or in a format unreadable on the mac. This seems to be the case more often than not with PDFs based on Windows type files of one kind or another. Sadly this is frequently so with abhidhamma related documents. hmmm, it looks like the download crashed after about a minute. I'll try again...nope, no joy. C'est la vie.

metta & upekkha.

[salmon]

The Teachings Of Ajahn Chah
http://www.ajahnchah.org/pdf/the_teachi ... ah_web.pdf

Metta,
Retro.

Thanks Retro, but my Mac couldn't open the file. My machine says the PDF is corrupted or in a format unreadable on the mac. This seems to be the case more often than not with PDFs based on Windows type files of one kind or another. Sadly this is frequently so with abhidhamma related documents. hmmm, it looks like the download crashed after about a minute. I'll try again...nope, no joy. C'est la vie.

metta & upekkha.

hi nathan,

it opens fine on my mac. maybe you can try opening it in your browser (apple + click) then saving it as a pdf?

[gavesako]

Thanks for the nice quotes.

However, I sometimes cringe when presented with Ajahn Chah soundbites because he was so context-sensitive. For example, as I recall, one of the common quotes attributed to him, something like "the only book you need to read is your heart" was part of a conversation with an Abhidhamma expert, and so was clearly not meant as a general statement of policy regarding study.

It is interesting to listen to some of the Dhamma talks by students of Ajahn Chah. Ajahn Tiradhammo, in particular, observes that he spent a lot of time trying to figure out what Ajahn Chah's opinions were, since the advice that he gave at different times seemed completely contradictory. In the end he concluded that Ajahn Chah had no opinions - only wisdom, which he applied to the particular situation.

That observation (which other students, and Ajahn Chah himself, confirm) is, to me, more important than any of the soundbites.

Metta
Mike

Hello Mike,

I was just reflecting (aloud) on this same subject in the last few days:
"Can an arahant read newspapers?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi56slcJ ... annel_page

With the Thai Ajahns one really has to take into account the audience and situation that the talk was addressed to. This is unlike many of the Suttas spoken by the Buddha which are (at least in the form recorded in the Pali texts) meant to have a universal application to all listeners or readers. That makes them sometimes appear a bit "dry" and not so lively, but there is a purpose behind it.

[nathan]

hi nathan,

it opens fine on my mac. maybe you can try opening it in your browser (apple + click) then saving it as a pdf?

Hi Salmon;
Btw, I have been living on Mt. Kusam! (native word- aka/Salmon Mountain - overlooking a major salmon bearing river here on Vancouver Island,BC, Canada)
That's what it was attempting to do, albeit with Firefox. I'll give it another shot with Safari.
Thanks for letting me know.
metta & upekkha


edit- nope, just comes up as a blank .pdf browser page with Safari. I don't know what is going on with it, very atypical problem. OSX 10.5 has been a bit buggy though, this is 10.5.6 and these iterations of the code have all been less stable than most of 10.4 was.

[christopher:::]

edit- nope, just comes up as a blank .pdf browser page with Safari. I don't know what is going on with it, very atypical problem. OSX 10.5 has been a bit buggy though, this is 10.5.6 and these iterations of the code have all been less stable than most of 10.4 was.

You might find this page more user friendly. It has links to each chapter. I've been reading and printing the dhamma talks out slowly this way, one at a time...

http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/index.php

[nathan]

You might find this page more user friendly. It has links to each chapter. I've been reading and printing the dhamma talks out slowly this way, one at a time...

http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/index.php

Thanks Christopher, one of our Venerable members kindly sent me a copy. I really like Ajahn Chah even if it is only 'sound bytes' it is Dhamma sound bytes after all. One of my favorite bytes is from Ajahn Sona, also of the forest tradition, "It starts with a man alone in a room, breathing. It ends with a man alone in a room, breathing."

[clw_uk]

"It starts with a man alone in a room, breathing. It ends with a man alone in a room, breathing."

I really like that

Metta

[christopher:::]

Indeed. And i like your sig as well, clw...

Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You’ll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free. Luang Por Ajahn Chah