‘Forest Path’ was first printed in 1999 and originally planned as the first edition of a Wat Pah Nanachat newsletter. Over-enthusiasm and considerable proliferation resulted in a one-off book publication which more or less coincided with the monastery’s twenty-fifth anniversary. Since then we have been surprised by the number of requests to reprint this collection of little essays, talks and anecdotes about life in Wat Pah Nanachat as it was at that time. Apart from the formal Dhamma talks the book contains, we were hesitant at first to reprint its other contents, the ‘old stories’ and personal accounts by then younger authors. But it was those other parts which in fact added much of the book’s authentic flavour and made so many people find it beneficial and joyful to read.

The first volume of ‘Seeing the Way’ was printed in 1989. Our teacher, the Venerable Ajahn Chah, had been seriously ill for a number of years. Publishing this collection of Dhamma talks in English was one way of expressing our love and gratitude to him.

Numerous requests to reprint that original anthology have been made over the years. The two decades that have passed since that time, however, have found the shape and size of our community change considerably. Hence, rather than reprinting, I decided to offer a ‘Seeing the Way’, Volume Two.