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22 Chapter VII: Polishing the Shell - Parts of a Whole
Jan 15, 2021
1h 00m 57s
23 Chapter VII: Polishing the Shell - The Marvel of Instruction
Jan 15, 2021
1h 37m 44s
24 Chapter VII: Polishing the Shell - A Well-Rounded Training
Jan 15, 2021
1h 17m 51s
25 Chapter VIII: From Distant Lands - Introduction
Jan 15, 2021
15m 42s
26 Chapter VIII: From Distant Lands - The First Disciple
Jan 15, 2021
33m 54s
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| Date | Episode | Description | Length | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/15/21 | 22 Chapter VII: Polishing the Shell - Parts of a Whole | Monk’s Training: Part 2 PARTS OF A WHOLE The community at Wat Pah Pong consisted of monks, novices, postulants and maechees (white-robed nuns). The majority of the novices were teenage boys, ineligible from taking full monks’ Ordination until the age of twenty. As for the monks, they could be divided into three groups: monks of regular standing, visiting monks and temporary monks. … | 1h 00m 57s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 23 Chapter VII: Polishing the Shell - The Marvel of Instruction | Monk’s Training: Part 3 THE MARVEL OF INSTRUCTION The body of Luang Por Chah’s teachings is generally considered to consist of the material recorded on reel-to-reel tapes and audio cassettes and then transcribed and printed in books, originally in Thai and subsequently translated into many other languages. But for his monastic disciples, the formal discourses captured by those audio recordings and reproduced in books were only one part, and perhaps not the most important part, of what they received from him. … | 1h 37m 44s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 24 Chapter VII: Polishing the Shell - A Well-Rounded Training | Monk’s Training: Part 4 A WELL-ROUNDED TRAINING One of the foundations of Buddhist practice is the conviction that purposeful effort has meaning. The Buddha rejected the beliefs that human life is determined by a divine will or fate or randomness. He proclaimed that human beings created their own life and environment by the quality of their actions of body, speech and mind. Luang Por’s teachings expressed this ‘Right View’ again and again. Monks were to take responsibility for their lives through their own consistent efforts. They all had the potential for liberation within them. The question was whether they had the determination and the patient endurance to realize that potential. … | 1h 17m 51s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 25 Chapter VIII: From Distant Lands - Introduction | Luang Por and the Western Sangha: Part 1 INTRODUCTION From the mid-fourteenth century until its sack by the Burmese in 1767, Ayutthaya was the capital of the Thai nation. Established on an island in the Chao Phraya River, it was ideally situated to act as an entrepôt port at a time when land routes were safer than sea, and merchants in the Orient sought to avoid sending their goods through the Straits of Malacca. Within two hundred years, Ayutthaya had become one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Asia. Its population of approximately a million people exceeded that of London. Some five hundred temples, many with pagodas covered in gold leaf, lent the city a magical, heaven-like aura that dazzled visitors from other lands. By the mid-seventeenth century, with communities of traders from France, Holland, Portugal and England housed outside the city wall, the inhabitants of Ayutthaya had become accustomed to Westerners or ‘farangs’. The kings of Ayutthaya often employed foreign mercenaries as bodyguards. To the Thais, these strange white beings seemed to resemble a species of ogre: hairy, ill-smelling, quarrelsome and coarse, lovers of meat and strong spirits, but possessors of admirable technical skills, particularly in the arts of war. … | 15m 42s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 26 Chapter VIII: From Distant Lands - The First Disciple | Luang Por and the Western Sangha: Part 2 THE FIRST DISCIPLE In 1967, a Wat Pah Pong monk named Ven. Sommai returned from a tudong trip to northern Isan with a monk who literally stood head and shoulders above him. Even the most restrained monks in Wat Pah Pong were unable to resist at least a surreptitious glance. The new monk was six foot two inches tall, had a fair complexion, an angular nose and bright blue eyes. His name was Sumedho. … | 33m 54s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 27 Chapter VIII: From Distant Lands - Through Western Eyes | Luang Por and the Western Sangha: Part 3 THROUGH WESTERN EYES The question which every Western monk would get asked sooner or later (and usually sooner), was why he chose to become a monk. It was often a more difficult question to answer than might be expected. It wasn’t so easy to distinguish causes from triggers, or to be sure that an uplifting narrative was not being patched together with hindsight. Monks usually settled on recounting the events leading up to their decision and their departure to Thailand. There was, for instance, Pabhakaro, an American helicopter pilot, who first came to the country on ‘R&R’ during the Vietnam War. There were the Peace Corps volunteers, and the young travellers backpacking through Asia like the Canadians, Tiradhammo and Viradhammo. There were also those like the British Brahmavamso and the Australian Nyanadhammo who came with the express intention of becoming monks. … | 48m 12s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 28 Chapter VIII: From Distant Lands - On the Nose | Luang Por and the Western Sangha: Part 4 ON THE NOSE Luang Por showed much compassion for the difficulties of his Western disciples, but he could also tease them when they became self-indulgent. On one occasion, he mimed wiping imaginary tears from his eyes and saying tragically, ‘He’s my father, I’m his son …’, before chuckling and shaking his head. The performance left a deep impression on Ven. Varapanyo, for whom it was ‘an example of the way Luang Por saw through the self-important attitude that Westerners are especially prone to, how it needlessly glorifies, and increases, suffering’. … | 16m 16s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 29 Chapter VIII: From Distant Lands - Knower of the Worlds | Luang Por and the Western Sangha: Part 5 KNOWER OF THE WORLDS Although the overwhelming majority of Westerners who entered the monastic life at Wat Pah Pong were male, there were also a small number of Western women who came to train as maechees. Chief amongst these, was an American known by her adopted name Khamfah, who arrived with her husband Paul, after fleeing their home in Laos ahead of the Communist takeover in late 1975. The couple decided to try to stay for five years, with the proviso that, if at any time, both of them wanted to leave, then they would do so; however, in the case that one wanted to go and the other wanted to stay, then they would both carry on and endure through their difficulties. It was challenging for both of them, but they survived the five years. … | 29m 51s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 30 Chapter VIII: From Distant Lands - The Twain Shall Meet | Luang Por and the Western Sangha: Part 6 THE TWAIN SHALL MEET By 1975, there were almost twenty Western monks at Wat Pah Pong – about a quarter of the resident Sangha. This rapid and significant influx brought with it inevitable tensions. Although the organization of the monastery and a common faith and confidence in Luang Por kept the situation workable, minor but niggling conflicts between the Thais and the ‘farangs’ became increasingly common. The first generation of Western monks was predominantly North American. These were young men used to an informal, unregimented life, to expressing their feelings about things freely, using their initiative. Many of them had robust personalities. In an era when travel to Southeast Asia was a lot more daunting than it is today, the path to a forest in Northeast Thailand was not an easy or straightforward one to take. Having to conform to the Vinaya, to many rules and regulations that they could not always see the reason for, could easily provoke the rebellious side of their nature. … | 27m 12s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 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. … | 4m 52s | ||||||
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| 1/15/21 | 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. … | 28m 51s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 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.' … | 34m 51s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 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. … | 10m 12s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 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. … | 25m 09s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 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’. … | 2h 01m 21s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 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. … | 23m 26s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 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. … | 49m 28s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 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. … | 25m 45s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 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. … | 44m 59s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 41 Chapter XI: Ice in the Sun - Body Sick, Mind Well | Luang Por’s Waning Years: Part 1 BODY SICK, MIND WELL One day, as the illnesses that would go on to render him bedridden for the last years of his life were starting to take their toll, Luang Por Chah spoke to some lay supporters: It’s like you’ve got a horse – a wild fiery horse that’s difficult to train. When it tries to run off, keep hold of the reins. Don’t lose your grip on them. But if the horse is really galloping away full pelt, let the reins go. If you don’t – then the next thing you know, your hand will be torn off. Let the horse and the reins go their way. Don’t let yourself be hurt by it. Let it go. But if the horse is just straining on the rope a bit, then try to restrain it, master it. This is the way to relate to everything. … | 54m 01s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 42 Chapter XI: Ice in the Sun - More to It | Luang Por’s Waning Years: Part 2 MORE TO IT In February 1941, the 82-year-old arahant Luang Pu Sao, teacher and companion of Luang Pu Mun, arrived by boat at a small riverside temple in Champasak, southwest Laos. He had fallen ill some time before leaving Thailand. Now on his way back to Thailand from an exhausting trip, he had spent the long journey upstream lying down with his eyes closed, apparently unconscious and clearly close to death. As the boat tied up at the jetty, he opened his eyes and asked, ‘Have we arrived? Take me to the Uposatha Hall.’ His disciples half-led, half-carried him into the building. Once inside, he somehow managed to pull himself into a sitting posture and asked for his outer robe to be folded over his left shoulder. He began to meditate. After a few minutes had passed, he came out of the cross-legged posture in order to bow three times to the large Buddha statue in front of him. After a while his disciples realized that he had not moved for some time. They rushed over, checked for a breath on a small mirror, and found none. Luang Pu Sao had passed away while prostrating before the Buddha. … | 13m 38s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 43 Chapter XII: A Broader Canvas - Inner Land – Outer Land | Luang Por in the West – 1977 & 1979: Part 1 INNER LAND – OUTER LAND In 1976, Ajahn Sumedho returned to California in order to visit his parents. On his flight back to Thailand, he stopped over in London for a few days as a guest of the English Sangha Trust (E.S.T.), a body set up to establish a Theravada Sangha in England. For the duration of his visit, Ajahn Sumedho stayed at Hampstead Vihāra, a four-storeyed terraced house belonging to the trust on the busy Haverstock Hill road, a mile or so south of Hampstead Heath. The E.S.T. had suffered years of frustration and disappointment in their efforts to promote a home-grown Sangha. In Ajahn Sumedho, they saw someone who might finally turn their dreams into reality. … | 56m 17s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 44 Chapter XII: A Broader Canvas - Dutiyampi: And For a Second Time | Luang Por in the West – 1977 & 1979: Part 2 DUTIYAMPI: AND FOR A SECOND TIME Two years later on the thirtieth of April, 1979, accompanied by his American attendant, Ajahn Pabhakaro, Luang Por set off to the West for a second and final time. On this trip, he was to visit America as well as Europe. But his first destination was England where the E.S.T had invited him to give encouragement to Ajahn Sumedho’s community, and to see for himself the latest developments in their efforts to establish a forest monastery. … | 1h 16m 06s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 45 Chapter XII: A Broader Canvas - The Last Night | Luang Por in the West – 1977 & 1979: Part 3 THE LAST NIGHT On the evening of the twenty-seventh of June, his last night at Chithurst before returning to Thailand, Luang Por met with the Sangha for an evening of conversation and exhortation. The tape recording made that night captures wonderfully the warmth and informality of the occasion. ‘Monks’ and ‘zestful’ are two words not commonly linked in one sentence, but the conviviality, punctuated by gales of laughter, is tangible. It was the old magic of Luang Por, making people feel by his presence that they’d never in their lives been so happy and contented. He also took the opportunity to show off his only English phrase. Just a few sentences into a more formal Dhamma talk, a layperson entered the room with a new tray of hot drinks. … | 8m 30s | ||||||
| 1/15/21 | 46 Stillness Flowing: Luang Por | Luang Por by Ajahn Jayasaro You were a fountain of cool stream water in the square of a dusty town, and you were the source of that stream, on a high, unseen peak. You were, Luang Por, that mountain itself, unmoved, but variously seen. Luang Por, you were never one person, you were always the same. You were the child laughing at the Emperor’s new clothes, and ours. You were a demand to be awake, the mirror of our faults, ruthlessly kind. Luang Por, you were the essence of our texts, the leader of our practice, the proof of its results. You were a blazing bonfire on a windy, bone-chilled night: How we miss you! Luang Por, you were the sturdy stone bridge, we had dreamed of. You were at ease in the present as if it were your own ancestral land. Luang Por, you were the bright full moon that we sometimes obscured with clouds. You were ironwood, you were banyan, and you were bodhi: ‘Pormae – khroobaajahn’. Luang Por, you were a freshly dripping lotus in a world of plastic flowers. Not once did you lead us astray. You were a lighthouse for our flimsy rafts on the heaving sea. Luang Por, you are beyond my words of praise and all description. Humbly, I place my head beneath your feet. พระช้อน June, 1995 | 1m 59s | ||||||
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Chart Positions
14 placements across 12 markets.
Chart Positions
14 placements across 12 markets.
