I am very pleased with George Sharp writing down the history of the English Sangha Trust, the Hampstead Vihara and the time that I spent there. I lived for two years in the Hampstead Vihara, then came Chithurst Monastery and, later, Amaravati.

George has an incredible memory for detail – I’m very impressed because he remembers all the legalities and minutiae that were involved in the selling of the Hampstead Vihara, the purchasing of Chithurst House, acquiring of Hammer Wood and later, in 1984, the purchasing and development of the Amaravati Monastery in Hertfordshire.

He is the important person in this endeavour because when I met him in 1976 I knew very little of the Hampstead Vihara but was encouraged by Tan Ajahn Paññavaddho to contact George Sharp if I ever needed a place to stay while I was in London. I was travelling back to Bangkok – I flew from New York to London and I had to wait three days for a connecting flight to Thailand. During that time George would come to see me every evening and tell me of his intentions.

He was the first layman I met who, on my travels through America and then during my brief sojourn in England, seemed to have some understanding of what was needed to establish a Theravadan Buddhist forest monastery.

In America, I travelled from California to New York and was quite open to possibilities of invitations to come and live, to come and establish this Thai Forest Tradition in the United States. Nothing really developed. Least of all was I expecting anything to happen during the three-day sojourn in London!

I was very impressed by George’s understanding of what was needed, that we weren’t going to be put in an impossible position of just becoming meditation teachers or writing newsletters. His whole emphasis was guided by the wisdom of Ajahn Maha Boowa and Ajahn Paññavaddho regarding the establishment of a forest monastery where the development of a bhikkhu could be made possible within the European setting. That impressed me so much that I encouraged George to come and visit Thailand and to meet Luang Por Chah because I thought that he should at least come and see what our life is like. Living in a city townhouse is different from living in the Thai Forest tradition. But if George came to Wat Pah Pong in Ubon, then he would see for himself: ‘Is this what you really want?’

Excerpt from the Introduction by Luang Por Sumedho

A collection of teachings by Ajahn Pasanno published in 2018 with gratitude to Ajahn Pasanno. The four teachings included are “Gradual Instruction”, “Balancing the Mind”, “Enjoying the Breath” and “Beneath the Bodhi Tree”. The publication is on the occasion of the completion of the Reception Hall building and surrounding grounds as well as shortly preceding Ajahn Pasanno departing for a one year sabbatical and handing off the responsibility of abbot to others in the community.

Awareness has a mirror-like quality. We can tap into it right now, become aware of the mind and body as they are in this moment. Perhaps awareness is reflecting the feeling of sleepiness or of not knowing, the feeling of cold or heat, heaviness or lightness. Reflective consciousness can see things, even the things that are closest to us. It reflects feelings of aversion, anger, kindness, pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings – all kinds of things. This quality of seeing, of knowing this reflective mind, is neutral. There is no sense of judging or criticising; awareness merely reflects the judging or the critical mind. That is what the Buddha is talking about when he says that the Dhamma is ‘apparent here and now’; not tomorrow or yesterday, but here and now in the present moment. And the Dhamma is timeless – it is not dependent on time.

When Luang Por Pasanno completed the teaching of the retreat that is the source of this book in September of 2008, a handful of us declared enthusiastically that we would produce a book so others could also benefit from this retreat. Time passed. My mother passed. The idea to put these teachings into a book resurfaced, but this time with a deeper intention. It felt like a wonderful tribute to my mother, to all mothers—whether from a biological mother or someone who has fit the ideal, perhaps a father, aunt, uncle, older sibling, friend, or teacher—as an expression of the gratitude for the example and the love.

This book is compiled from talks given mostly in 2001 by Ajahn Sumedho. The first edition was originally published in 2004, but has long since been out of print. This new edition has been reviewed for typographical errors and redesigned, and some re- editing has been done. However, the Dhamma content has not been changed. The talks were transcribed, edited and proofread by various members of the sangha as well as people from the broader community, and a variety of people helped with the creation of the front cover. The editors wish to express their deep gratitude for all of the generous and kind-hearted effort put into making these teachings available in book format.