A Dhamma Compass is a collection of three dhamma talks that Phra Ajahn gave in the three winter retreats during 2003-2005 at Abhayagiri. Debbie Stamp was most helpful and instrumental in ensuring that the manuscripts were ready and arrived in time. Ronna Kabatznick was the editor of the talks, and Dee Cope helped transcribe the talks, to whom all of us would like to record our thanks. Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Jayasaro were so kind as to look over the final version of the texts.

“The Ways of the Peaceful” is one of the many possible renderings of the term “Samana-Dhamma”, an expression that summarizes the whole lifestyle of a Buddhist monk. “Samana” means somebody who is peaceful. Generally in the time of the Buddha all kinds of recluses, ascetics, contemplatives, and members of ordained communities living the life of a homeless practitioner (anagarika) were referred to as “Samanas”. The Buddhas disciples were often called the “Samanas of Gotama” or the “Samanas of the Sakyan clan”, using the Buddhas family and clan names. Whenever the aspect of celibacy of these religious practitioners is stressed, the term “brahmacariya” is used, which translates in short as “Holy Life”. The Buddha himself called his monks “Bhikkhus”. This literally means beggars, but especially in the Thai Forest Tradition a second translation is popular: “Those who see the danger in the round of rebirth”. Besides the specific monastic code that the Buddha established for his monks (the “Vinaya”, with its 227 major training rules and countless minor rules), that spells out the conduct of a Buddhist monk in great detail, there was a general understanding of the etiquette, the virtues and qualities of a Samana, a peaceful ascetic. This is the “Samana-Dhamma”

To što smo i vi i ja morali da pređemo mukotrpno dug put možemo zahvaliti tome što nismo otkrili, nismo shvatili četiri istine. Koje četiri? To su: plemenita istina o patnji, plemenita istina o nastanku patnje, plemenita istina o prestanku patnje i plemenita istina o putu koji vodi do prestanka patnje.

(Digha nikaya, 16)

Dhamma­ćakka­ppavattana sutta, Budino učenje o četiri ple- menite istine, bila je osnovna nit koju sam godinama koristio u svojoj praksi. To smo učenje koristili u našem manastiru u Tajlandu. Budistička teravada škola smatra ovu suttu esencijom Budinog učenja. Ova jedna jedina sutta sadrži sve što je neop- hodno za razumevanje Dhamme i za prosvetljenje.

Premda se Dhamma­ćakka­ppavattana sutta smatra prvim govorom koji je Buda održao posle probuđenja, ponekad volim da mislim da je on svoju prvu propoved održao onda kada je sreo asketu na svom putu u Varanasi. Posle prosvetljenja u Bod Gaji, Buda je pomislio: “Ovo je tako suptilno učenje. Verovatno da re- čima ne mogu izraziti ono što sam otkrio i zato neću podučavati. Jednostavno ću do kraja života sedeti pod bodi drvetom.”