Mindful Way: Theravada w/Ajahn Chah

The Mindful Way | documentary on Theravada Buddhism | Ajahn Chah

(Dhamma Source) This BBC documentary, made in 1977, shows the daily life in Ajahn Chah's monastery, Wat Pah Pong, in Ubon Rachathani, Isan (Northeast Thailand).

Ven. Chah Subhaddo (Thai ชา สุภัทโท, known in English as "Ajahn Chah," occasionally with the honorific titles Luang Por and/or Phra) is also known by his honorific name "Phra Bodhiñāṇathera" (Thai พระโพธิญาณเถร, Chao Khun Bodhinyana Thera) lived from June 17, 1918–January 16, 1992.

He was a famous Thai Theravada Buddhist monk, an influential teacher of the Buddha-Dhamma, and a founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition, Wat Pah Pong and an international meditation center specially for Westerners called Wat Pah Nanachat.

• Ajahn Chah is the revered teacher of the great British monk Ajahn Brahm (formerly Peter Betts), now abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Australia, and the great American monk Ajahn Sumedho (Robert Karr Jackman), instrumental in the founding of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England, and many other successful Western meditators.

Respected and loved in his own country as a monastic of great wisdom, he was instrumental in establishing Theravada Buddhism in the West.

Beginning in 1979 with the founding of Cittaviveka (England's Chithurst Buddhist Monastery) in the United Kingdom, the Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah has spread throughout the United States, Europe, and the British Commonwealth.

The Dhamma talks of Ajahn Chah have been recorded, transcribed, and translated into several languages. Read more about Theravada Buddhism on Dhammasource.com. Rights owned or controlled by The Open University.

• BBC via Dhamma Source, July 26, 2021; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly