Saturday, July 20, 2019

In the Thai Buddhist Forest (video)

True Little Monk (rare documentary); Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
(True Little Monk) A look at Ajahn Chah's Int'l Buddhist Meditation Center in Thailand, Wat Pah Nanachat from Western eyes that have come to meditate and ordain as temporary monks.

Ajahn Chah feeds deer in Thai forest.
In the beginning, simply concentrate [allowing] the mind [to be] calm and peaceful.

Whether sitting in a chair, riding in a car, taking a boat ride, or wherever you find yourself, become proficient enough in meditation to be able to enter a state of peace [absorption] at will.

When getting on a train and sitting down, quickly bring the mind to a state of peace. Wherever we find ourselves, we can always sit. This level of proficiency indicates that we’re becoming familiar with the Path.

Investigate it. Utilize the power of this peaceful mind to investigate experience. At times it is what we see, at times what we hear, smell, taste, feel with the body, or feel and know in the heart.

Whatever sensory experience presents itself -- whether it is liked or not -- take that up for investigation and contemplation.

Simply know what you are experiencing -- without projecting meanings and interpretations onto those objects of sense awareness.

If it’s good/pleasant, just know that it’s good. If it’s bad/unpleasant, just know that it’s bad. This is conventional (consensus) reality. Virtuous or harmful, it’s all impermanent, disappointing (unfulfilling, dissatisfying), and impersonal/not-self.

It’s all undependable, none of it worthy of grasping or clunging.

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