Politics and society
Includes tags: Politics and society, Education, Service, Activism, Non-profit organizations, Corruption, Crime, Discrimination, Military
11. Ajahn Ñāṇiko responds to a long question about the situation in Burma/Myanmar. [Politics and society] // [News] [Buddha/Biography] [Māra] [Suffering] [Teaching Dhamma]
4. “You spoke about the teachings and the training. What is the training for a lay practitioner other than the Five Precepts?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Dhamma] [Vinaya] [Lay life] [Five Precepts] // [Meditation] [Communal harmony] [Right Livelihood] [Family] [Work] [Politics and society] [Spiritual friendship]
7. “How to turn grief of the planet and humankind into creative action?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Grief] [Environment] [Human ] [Activism] // [Generosity] [Gratitude] [Purpose/meaning] [Community] [Aversion]
Quote: “If you think you’ve got to solve the problem completely yourself, that stirs one into inaction.”
Recollection: The nonprofit organization founded by Ajahn Pasanno to protect forests in Thailand is still operating. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Non-profit organizations] [Culture/Thailand]
2. “Would you speak about your response to the events in Israel and Gaza?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Conflict] [Politics and society] // [Grief] [Human] [Suffering] [Idealism]
Quote: “The world has been a sad place for a long time.” [Nature of the cosmos]
14. “The world looms large. This is the source of most of my turmoil. How does one see all this strife as neutral when we know that the damage to the world is so great? How do we maintain acceptance when our children and grandchildren will suffer?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Conflict] [Politics and society] [Environment] [Equanimity] // [Right Effort] [Community]
2. “Could you say a few words about how to cope emotionally with everything that’s happened since October 7? Everyone in Israel is still traumatized. This is an ongoing event, and everybody is so emotionally unstable. It’s like being on an active volcano …” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Abuse/violence] [Suffering] [Politics and society] // [Spiritual friendship] [Goodwill] [Human] [Delusion]
7. “According to the Buddha, is the maximum spiritual potential found in the human realm?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Human ] // [Stages of awakening]
Follow-up: “How do you integrate this with daily life?” [Everyday life] [Monastic life] [Saṅgha] [Buddha/Biography] [Liberation] [Recollection/Saṅgha] [Culture/West]
Comment: I work with human potential in children and their families. … It’s so segregated … in the educational system there is no spiritual element. [Children] [Education ]
Response by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Western psychology] [Learning] [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas]
Reference: Beyond, p. 441 in Happily Ever After by Ajahn Amaro.
2. “Does Ajahn Chah’s phrase, ‘Right in fact but wrong in Dhamma,’ imply that there is an objective world of facts and then a world above that which is Dhamma?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Truth] [Dhamma] // [Etymology] [Conventions] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Harsh speech]
Note: This phrase was discussed during the previous session.
Stories about the Buddha’s disciples who had killed people. [Great disciples] [Killing]
Suttas: MN 86: Aṅgulimāla Sutta; the story of Kuṇḍalakesī (Commentary to Dhp 102-103, Dhamma Verses Commentary translated by E. W. Burlingame and Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, p. 500).
Recollection: The lay disciple Pansak would sometimes show up drunk after work and spend the night under Ajahn Chah’s kuti. Recounted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Lay supporters] [Intoxicants]
Story: The monk Por Suey had been a hit man hired to kill Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah lineage] [Crime] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
4. “Is there a 2025 version of wrong livelihood?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right Livelihood ] // [Military] [Food] [Industry] [Intoxicants] [Commerce/economics]
Follow-up: “Would you classify drug dealing as wrong livelihood?”
7. Story: Ajahn Amaro is invited to give a two-minute Dhamma talk at 10 Downing Street on Visākha Pūjā. Told by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Amaro] [Teaching Dhamma] [Politics and society] [Festival days] // [Christianity]
Sutta: MN 123: Wonderful and Marvelous.
3. “Is it possible to repeat the preparatory stages [before the Buddha teaches the Four Noble Truths] (Mahāvagga 1.7.5)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Gradual Teaching ] [Four Noble Truths] // [Generosity] [Virtue] [Deva] [Kamma] [Drawbacks] [Sensual desire] [Renunciation] [Happiness] [Teaching Dhamma]
Story: A gangster visits Ajahn Chah and begins to keep the precepts. [Crime] [Ajahn Chah] [Killing] [Five Precepts] [Stealing]
5. “Could you repeat the five types of stinginess (AN 5.260)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Greed ] // [Family] [Corruption] [Lodging] [Gain and loss] [Fame and disrepute] [Teaching Dhamma]
Story: Ajahn Mahā Prasert gets sent to Nebraska. [Ajahn Mahā Prasert] [Jealousy]
Suttas: SN 17: Connected Discourses on Gain, Honor, and Fame.
Reading: SN 17.5: The Dung Beetle. [Humor] [Similes]
Reflections on the kammic effects of King Ajātasattu killing his father (DN 2.101). [Kamma] [Killing] [Parents] [Stream entry]
Vinaya: Khandhaka 21.1.3: The First Council occurred at Rājagha, King Ajātasattu’s capital city.
16. “Can you tell us more about Ajahn Chah’s background?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] // [Wat Pah Pong] [Geography/Thailand] [Education] [Novices] [Ordination] [Ajahn Sao] [Forest versus city monks] [Death] [Ajahn Mun] [Thai sects]
Story: Six-year-old Chah plays at being a monk. [Monastic life]
2. “How to find a good balance between personal individual practice and helping the community? How have you practiced with this yourself, having had the role of abbot for such a long time?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Meditation] [Service] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Abbot] // [Seclusion ] [Restlessness and worry] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Idealism] [Becoming] [Craving not to become] [Monastic routine]
Quote: “You really have to learn how to step back from your own mind and give attention to that sense of solid connection with the Dhamma practice.” [Dhamma]
Quote: “If we don’t really develop a sense of giving and sharing and lovingkindness and compassion, any amount of meditation that you do never really comes to much fruition.” [Generosity] [Goodwill]