In the forest of meditation (video)

True Little Monk (short video documentary, July 21 2018); TEXT by Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ven. Sujato and Ellie Askew, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Here is a rare documentary about Ajahn Chah's Thai meditation center for Westerners, the "International Forest Monastery" (Wat Pah Nanachat) in Ubon Ratchathani, Northeast Thailand from True Little Monk: The Wisdom Training Program for Novices.

There are two kinds of suffering....become free.

Westerners are generally in a hurry. So they experience greater extremes of happiness and suffering. The fact that they have much defilement (kilesā) can be a source of wisdom later on.

To live the lay life and practice Dharma (Pali Dhamma), one must be in the world but must rise and remain above it. Virtue (sīla), which begins with the basic Five Precepts, is the all-important parent of all good things.

It is for removing all wrong from the mind/heart, removing that which causes agitation and distress. When these basic things are gone, the heart/mind will always be in a state of serene mental coherence (samādhi).

At first, the basic thing is to make virtue really firm. Practice formal meditation when there is the opportunity. Sometimes it will be good, sometimes not. Don’t worry about it, just continue.

If doubts arise, just realize that they, like everything else in the mind, are impermanent.

From this base, mental coherence (samādhi) will come, but not yet wisdom. One must watch the mind at work -- see like and dislike arising from sense contact [with the pleasant and unpleasant things], and not attach to or reject them.

Let’s not be anxious for results or sudden progress. An infant first crawls then learns to walk then to run.

When one is fully grown and able to run, one can travel half way around the world to Thailand [to practice in forest meditation centers like Wat Pah Nanachat].