Wisdom of the Thai Forest Tradition

[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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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."

[Ceisiwr]

"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