Glosses: Peace
11. The first two reviewing knowledges of one who has made progress on the path: Freedom from the hindrances and serenity of mind. Teaching by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Meditation/Results] [Hindrances] [Tranquility] [Communal harmony] // [Principles of Cordiality] [Right View] [Abhayagiri] [Conflict]
Sutta: MN 48: Kosambi Sutta.
7. “The concepts of non-self and rebirth seem contradictory to me. Can you expand on these topics? What is it that passes from one life to the next if there is no self?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Not-self ] [Rebirth] // [Views] [Tranquility] [Insight meditation] [Aggregates] [Self-identity view] [Disenchantment] [Dispassion] [Unwholesome Roots] [Consciousness] [Proliferation] [Conditionality]
Sutta: DN 15.21 refers to rebirth and consciousness.
2. “What is meant by skillful?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities ] // [Unskillful qualities] [Happiness] [Tranquility] [Kamma] [Discernment]
Quote: “The language of Dhamma is the language of feeling.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma] [Feeling]
2. “Can you speak more about the progression of mindfulness of breathing, how the Four Foundations of Mindfulness develop the Seven Factors of Awakening?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right Mindfulness] [Factors of Awakening] [Mindfulness of breathing ] // [Emotion] [Conditionality] [Tranquility] [Mindfulness of body] [Mindfulness of feeling]
Sutta: MN 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta. [Mindfulness] [Mindfulness of mind] [Bases of Success]
Quote: “We’re breathing in and out anyway, but taking an interest in it is a game-changer.” [Desire]
3. “Is there a time and place for intentionally breathing or using the breath as a means of calming the mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Volition] [Calming meditation] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Tranquility] [Energy]
Sutta: MN 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta.
Recollection: To deal with the restless mind, Ajahn Chah taught to breath in deeply and not breathe out. [Restlessness and worry] [Ajahn Chah]
2. Comment: If I’m able to settle into ease and spaciousness this time, the next time I sit, it doesn’t settle as easily, and I get frustrated and tense wanting to get to that ease again. [Tranquility] [Meditation/General advice] [Restlessness and worry] [Desire] [Judgementalism]
Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Mindfulness of body] [Present moment awareness]
1. “After the mind has settled and I’m with the breath, the boundaries of the body disappear and the breath starts to be barely perceptible. When anxiety arises in this situation, is it a feeling or a sensation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tranquility] [Restlessness and worry] [Feeling] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Pāli] [Emotion] [Volitional formations]
Quote: “You’re falling out of a tree. You don’t have to count all the branches as you go down. You just have to know it’s going to hurt when you hit the bottom.” Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Dependent origination] [Similes] [Suffering]
Follow-up: “So I can just feel the feeling tone as unpleasant, pleasant, or neutral...?” [Noting]
4. “If I want to see what I’m doing to keep generating certain thought patterns, does my mind need to be really calm?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Discernment] [Volitional formations] [Tranquility] [Mindfulness of breathing]
Quote: “If you start investigating and you get really interested, you’ll start to get calm.” [Investigation of states] [Desire] [Tranquility]
5. “Breathing is connected to body, mind, and emotion. Is the sound of silence part of the body?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sound of silence] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Mindfulness of mind] [Tranquility]
6. “When will I get wisdom? How can we not get exhausted when observing the monkey mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Discernment] [Mindfulness of mind] [Energy] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Knowing itself] [Mindfulness of body] [Tranquility]
4. “Would you be willing to share memories of Ajahn Chah?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Pasanno ] [Temporary ordination] [Personality] [Not-self] [Equanimity]
When asked about the core essence of the Buddha’s teachings, Ajahn Chah replies, “Is this a big stick or a little stick?” [Teaching Dhamma] [Conventions] [Cause of Suffering]
Story: Ajahn Chah pretends to forget simple questions in order to embarass his translator. [Forest versus city monks] [Media] [Aversion] [Questions] [Translation] [Similes]
Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno writes to his family that he’s staying in Thailand because Ajahn Chah is peaceful, solid, clear, and unshakeable in the midst of all that’s going on around him. [Family] [Tranquility] [Clear comprehension]
2. “I am concerned about the clarity of mind if I have prolonged pain. How does one face death skillfully if one is in constant serious pain?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Pain] [Ageing] [Tranquility] [Death] // [Long-term practice]
Sutta: SN 55.22: Mahānāma worries about death. [Similes]
5. “How to contemplate the state of emptiness, stillness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Insight meditation] [Emptiness] [Tranquility] // [Relinquishment] [Gladdening the mind]
10. Quote: “You can go back to your cave and learn to be peaceful there, or you can stay here and learn how to be peaceful anywhere.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Tranquility] [Seclusion] [Equanimity] // [Upatakh]
5. Story: A woman asked Ajahn Chah if she would have to give up listening to music to practice Buddhism. Ajahn Chah replied that learning to listen to the peaceful heart would be more pleasurable and satisfying. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Artistic expression] [Tranquility] [Happiness] // [Cessation] [Nature of mind]
Reference: Recollections of Ajahn Chah by various authors, p. 52.
Quote: “That quality of being without boundaries can be so peaceful. It’s much more compelling.” [Spaciousness] [Tranquility]
Sutta: AN 3.32: “This is peaceful, this is sublime...”
4. “When Sariputta and Moggallāna died, [the Buddha] expressed almost a sense of grief in the context of the absence from the assembly. I wonder how that fits with the idea of Nibbāna.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Great disciples] [Death] [Buddha/Biography] [Grief] // [Pain] [Suffering] [Emotion] [Tranquility] [Theravāda]
Sutta: SN 47.14: Ukkacelā Sutta: “This assembly appears to me empty now....”
Sutta: SN 36.6: The Arrow.
Story: Ajahn Sumedho’s experience of his mother’s death. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Parents]
1. “A question about physical pain. Sometimes it feels like I can deal with a certain level of pain, but every now and again there’s a level of pain that is too intense. Is there a technique for being okay with whatever level of pain?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Pain] // [Aversion] [Fear] [Goodwill] [Tranquility] [Buddha/Biography]
Sutta: SN 36.6: The Arrow.
Suttas: MN 53.5, AN 10.67, SN 35.243: Examples of the Buddha stretching his back.
Comment: In Viet Nam, native peasants needed less morphine than Americans paying for health care. [Health care]
Responses by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Attitude] [Sickness]
6. “How do you find it best to differentiate between true insights and insight defilements?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Cittapālā. [Insight meditation ] [Unwholesome Roots] // [Tranquility] [Relinquishment] [Simplicity]
Quote: “A really true insight—you don’t get anything from.” — Ajahn Pasanno.
10. “Do you think the knowing of the peace of samādhi is always something which will be remembered? It gives a kind of confidence.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Concentration] [Tranquility] [Faith] // [Purpose/meaning]