Stillness Flowing (audiobook)

Ajahn Jayasaro

Episodes

Mentioned books

undefined
Jan 15, 2021 • 5min

31 Chapter IX: Dying to the World - Introduction

Maechee Training: Part 1 INTRODUCTION Some five years after his enlightenment, the Buddha established an order of female monastics known as bhikkhunīs. The Theravada branch of this order flourished in India and Sri Lanka before falling into a period of decline and finally becoming extinct around 1000 CE, after an illustrious 1,500-year history. In light of the Buddha’s stipulation that Ordination required induction into a pre-existing community of bhikkhunīs, revival of the defunct order was deemed impossible. …
undefined
Jan 15, 2021 • 29min

32 Chapter IX: Dying to the World - Forest Nuns

Maechee Training: Part 2 FOREST NUNS Not long after the founding of Wat Pah Pong, Luang Por Chah gave permission for the establishment of a maechee community. By doing so, he sought to provide a training within existing norms for women with a monastic vocation which would provide them as much support as possible for their progress along the path to liberation. …
undefined
Jan 15, 2021 • 35min

33 Chapter IX: Dying to the World - Venerable Father

Maechee Training: Part 3 VENERABLE FATHER Maechee Boonyu recalled how Luang Por could be especially gruff when maechees asked permission to visit their family: “He would say, ‘What for? Are you homesick? How long have you been here now? The Buddha never visited his home the whole time he was searching for enlightenment; you’ve only just ordained and you want to go there already.’ If he gave permission, he’d say, 'Go empty-handed, come back empty-handed. Don’t carry a basket-full there and a basket-full back.’ On the nun’s return he would ask her, ‘How was it? The same way you left it? Did you bring a basket-full back with you?’ He was talking Dhamma language. He meant memories and attachments. If the nun didn’t understand, she’d say, ‘Just a few onions and some garlic, Luang Por.' …
undefined
Jan 15, 2021 • 10min

34 Chapter X: Out of Compassion - Introduction

Luang Por and the Lay Community: Part 1 INTRODUCTION Appreciating the kindness and assistance that one has received in one’s life and making efforts to express that appreciation in appropriate ways (Pali: kataññū-katavedi) are, together with generosity, probably the Buddhist virtues most deeply embedded in Thai society. They are clearly apparent in relationships between sons and daughters with their parents and guardians, and in the respect paid to teachers and benefactors of any description. In Thailand, ‘boonkhun’ – the ties and obligations perceived to have been created between people by beneficial actions – underlies most meaningful social intercourse, including that between members of the Sangha and the laity. …
undefined
Jan 15, 2021 • 25min

35 Chapter X: Out of Compassion - To the monastery

Luang Por and the Lay Community: Part 2 TO THE MONASTERY A monastery is to be found at the heart of almost every Thai village. Its entrance is usually through an open archway rather than a lockable gate. Lay Buddhists go in and out of the monastery every day: offering food in the morning, visiting the abbot, making merit, or perhaps just taking a short cut to the other side of the village. During Luang Por’s lifetime, the village headman, the head teacher at the local school and the abbot of the monastery were the acknowledged leaders of the community, with the abbot as the senior member of the triumvirate. …
undefined
Jan 15, 2021 • 2h 1min

36 Chapter X: Out of Compassion - Sammādiṭṭhi

Luang Por and the Lay Community: Part 3 SAMMĀDIṬṬHI ‘Sammādiṭṭhi’ is usually translated into English as ‘Right View’. The prefix ‘right’ means ‘in harmony with the way things are’; ‘view’ includes opinions, beliefs, values, theories and philosophies. A right view is thus one that corresponds to reality; the conviction, for example, that acts of generosity lead to happiness – would be considered a ‘right view’. Right View is the first constituent of the Noble Eightfold Path and is indispensable for the development of the other seven factors. At its most basic level, Right View consists of the adoption of a certain number of principles – most importantly, the law of kamma – as basic premises or working hypotheses to be relied upon in walking the Buddhist path. On this level, it is referred to as ‘Mundane Right View’. The culmination of the path – an understanding of the Four Noble Truths as a direct experience – is known as ‘Transcendental Right View’. …
undefined
Jan 15, 2021 • 23min

37 Chapter X: Out of Compassion - First Meetings

Luang Por and the Lay Community: Part 4 FIRST MEETINGS One way of understanding Buddhist practice is to conceive of it as a long series of awakenings: some mundane, easily overlooked and only appreciated in retrospect, others more dramatic and memorable. Meeting Luang Por for the first time was the occasion for many awakenings of both kinds. Some people found the experience electric; for others, it signalled the beginning of gradual but inexorable changes in their values and way of life. Listening to Luang Por teach for the first time, a common perception was that his words seemed to articulate truths – far better than they could themselves – that on one level their hearts already sensed, but which they had never been able to make conscious. …
undefined
Jan 15, 2021 • 49min

38 Chapter X: Out of Compassion - The Manyfolk

Luang Por and the Lay Community: Part 5 THE MANYFOLK The majority of Luang Por’s lay disciples and daily visitors were peasant farmers. Speaking to a group of local people, he turned to a favourite theme: ‘knowing what’s what’, not living blindly from day to day, but bearing in mind the guiding principles laid down by the Buddha: So many Buddhists are still deluded and superstitious. From my reflections, I’d say that it’s through not having grasped the main principles of Dhamma that they’ve gained no real ease in their lives. Just like people farming the soil without understanding about strains of rice or crop rotation, they don’t know how to pick out what’s of use to them and what’s not. …
undefined
Jan 15, 2021 • 26min

39 Chapter X: Out of Compassion - Family Life

Luang Por and the Lay Community: Part 6 FAMILY LIFE The first time householders listened to Luang Por give a Dhamma talk or went to ask him for advice, they were usually surprised at the accuracy and penetration of his insights into family life. It seemed common sense to most people that the causes and conditions underlying family conflicts were specific to householders, and impenetrable to a monk who had never married or had the experience of raising a family himself. But leading a large community over a period of many years allowed Luang Por to accumulate a great deal of understanding of the problems that can arise in human relationships. The kind of conflicts that arose in a monastery were not as far removed from those in a family as might be expected. Moreover, the wisdom that arises from cultivation of the Eightfold Path had given Luang Por a comprehensive knowledge of causality in its many modes, including an understanding of the relationships between mental states and behaviour – both destructive and constructive. On one occasion, a visitor was bemoaning her lot and told Luang Por how lucky he was not to have a family, with all of the tangled problems that it entailed. He replied: I do have a family here in the monastery, and it’s a big one. …
undefined
Jan 15, 2021 • 45min

40 Chapter X: Out of Compassion - Dhamma Practice

Luang Por and the Lay Community: Part 7 DHAMMA PRACTICE We’re like a chicken, that’s all. The chicken’s born, has chicks and spends its day scratching around in the dirt. And then in the evening, it goes to sleep. In the morning, it jumps down to the ground and starts scratching around again, ‘guk, guk, guk’. And then in the evening, it goes to sleep again. Is there any point to it? No. …

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
 Get the app