The publication of this book, which is to be made available at hotels and other accommodations, meets a long-standing need. There have been others in the past who have begun and then finally abandoned such a project. This book finally succeeds in remedying an important lack.

Ajahn Jayasaro has written this book in the form of questions and answers, making it interesting and not overly-academic in tone. Furthermore, he has drawn upon his extensive experience in both the study and practice of Buddhism, and also in teaching it to others, to select appropriate topics. He has observed and reflected on which matters are commonly of interest to people, and which matters would be good for them to understand. He also deals in the book with subjects that people tend to misunderstand and others in which important and useful aspects are often overlooked. Thus, Ajahn Jayasaro has chosen suitable topics, ones in which he answers the needs of people interested in Buddhism, remedies misunderstandings, and points to areas that repay attention. He explains and gives advice, enlightening readers on fundamental Buddhist concepts. One beneficial theme infuses every aspect of this book: the elegant, meticulous cultivation of all that is noble in the heart and mind.

Tudong is a Thai derivative of the Pali word dhutanga translating literally as ‘means of shaking off’; it is used to refer to the austere or ascetic practices allowed by the Buddha for his disciples. These practices are thirteen in number and include, for example: eating only one meal a day, eating all your food together in your alms-bowl, never lying down, only wearing robes made from scraps of thrown-away cloth, taking the shade of a tree as your only shelter. These practices are seen as a ‘means of shaking off’ since austerity of lifestyle, when rightly applied, can be greatly conducive to the development of wisdom and insight – that is, the shaking off of one’s delusions.

The word tudong is also used to refer to those monks who adhere closely to the monastic discipline and whose practice of the Buddha’s teachings is based on meditation and the cultivation of these dhutangas. Both the monastic discipline and the additional constraints of the dhutanga practices are tools used to help contain the mind. This containment is achieved as they prevent or make clear the tendencies of the mind to ‘flow out’; that is, absorb into the likes […]”

Perhaps it is impossible to say where anything really begins, nevertheless, it can be useful to map out a few landmarks here and there. Accordingly, here is a little of the background against and amongst which much of the thread of these travelogues unravels.

In the early 1980s Ajahn Sumedho began to make regular visits to northern California. He was the senior Western disciple of Ajahn Chah, one of the most highly respected Buddhist masters of the Thai forest tradition of Theravāda Buddhism, and he had been invited to come and teach in the US by Jack Kornfield, a former Peace Corps volunteer and psychologist, with whom he had spent some time in Thailand, in the late ’60s, when they were both monks under Ajahn Chah’s tutelage.

Jack had left the monk’s robes after returning to the States in the early ’70s and, with his friends Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein and Jacqueline Schwarz (now Mandell), had embarked upon establishing the Buddhist retreat center in Massachusetts called Insight Meditation Society (IMS). This had met with great success but had also revealed some differences in styles of teaching and practice amongst the founders. These differences, along with the massive interest in Buddhist meditation that was brewing in northern California, led Jack back to his city of origin, San Francisco, to found a parallel center to IMS on the West Coast. When it eventually came into being the new place became known as Spirit Rock Meditation Center.

These annual invitations to California were doubly attractive to Ajahn Sumedho in that, not only being an American and an alumnus of Berkeley University and thus being given a chance to visit his old stomping grounds, they also gave him the opportunity to visit his elderly parents and sister in San Diego. It therefore duly became part of his annual schedule to step out of the many duties he had in the foundation of his new monasteries in England (Cittaviveka in West Sussex and Amaravati in Hertfordshire) and to head to the West Coast for a few weeks to teach and to see family.

Over the next ten years he developed a devoted following of students in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1988 they formed the Sanghapala Foundation, with the mission of creating a branch Monastery of Ajahn Chah’s lineage somewhere in northern California. Dr. Marc Lieberman, Nancy Garfield, Debbie Stamp and […]”

This book contains a number of talks given mostly to lay people by the Venerable Ajahn Dtun. The first talk, The Power of Virtue, Concentration, and Wisdom, was given in 2011 at the Bandar Uttama Buddhist Society in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At the time it was appreciated by many listeners for being a good overview of the Buddha’s path of practice as well as describing clearly the stages of attainment on the Noble Path to Liberation. The talk has been reworked from the original oral translation so as to give greater accuracy of meaning while also filling in the small omissions that naturally occur during live translations.

Then there are four shorter pre-meal reflections. These types of reflections are frequently given by the Venerable Ajahn to the laity who come to make offerings of food and requisites at the monastery. The reader will notice a difference in tone or style within these short and pithy reflections. They emphasize fundamental points of Dhamma without going into great details. Each reflection does, however, serve to reassert the correct path of practice

As with all talks given by the meditation masters within the Thai Forest Tradition, they are very much ad lib in their style. The emphasis is always to speak from the heart and touch upon points of Dhamma that are felt to be relevant to the listener. This can be seen in the final talk, The Ten Spiritual Perfections, as it gently encourages its listeners to always persevere in their spiritual practices so that they may achieve their goals.

It is therefore sincerely hoped that the reader will gain the same benefit as the listeners did, by receiving the inspiration to either start, or keep on with, the practice of spiritual development.

Venerable Ajahn Chah was a master at using the apt and unusual simile to explain points of Dhamma in a memorable way. He was especially talented at exploiting the open-ended nature of the simile - using a particular image to make one point in one context, and a very different point in another. This book is a companion to In Simple Terms, an earlier collection of similes drawn from Ajahn Chah's transcribed talks.

Just as a bird, wherever it goes, flies with its wings as its only burden; so too is a monk content with a set of robes to provide for his body and alms-food to provide for his hunger. Wherever he goes, he takes only his barest necessities along. (D 11)

I am delighted to be here for the twenty-fifth anniversary of Chithurst and the opening of the new Dhamma hall. This space is very beautiful; everyone can spread out comfortably. On the other hand, some people sitting in the back may not be able to hear me so well, if at all. Isn’t this an excellent example of the unsatisfactory nature of existence? even in the midst of such uplifting circumstances, a certain amount of dukkha is unavoidable.

One evening in Northeast Thailand…

Night is falling swiftly. The forest reverberates with the undulating buzz of countless crickets and the eerie rising wail of tropical cicadas. A few stars poke dimly through the treetops. Amid the gathering darkness there is a pool of warm light, thrown from a pair of kerosene lanterns illuminating the open area below a hut raised up on stilts. Beneath their glow, a couple of dozen people are gathered around a small, solidly-built monk who is seated cross-legged on a wicker bench. The air is filled with a vibrant peace. Venerable Ajahn Chah is teaching.

In some ways the group gathered here is a motley crew. Close beside Ajahn Chah (or Luang Por, Venerable Father, as he is affectionately known to his students) is a cluster of bhikkhus (monks) and novices; most of them are Thai or Lao, but there are a few pale-skinned figures among them – a Canadian, two Americans, a young Australian and an Englishman. In front of the Ajahn sits a well-groomed middle-aged couple, he in a stiff suit and she coiffed and gold-bedecked – he’s a member of parliament from a distant province, they’re taking […]

This book is based on a series of talks on the Seven Factors of Awakening given at Bodhinyanarama Monastery in New Zealand during the Rains Retreat in 2007. My intention is to give some basic information about the Factors based upon the teachings in the Pali Canon, the scriptures of the Theravada school of Buddhism, to readers ranging from complete beginners to experienced meditators, including guidance on how to develop these important spiritual qualities. Thus this is a series of meditative contemplations to help support a direct experience of the Factors. I have therefore tended to emphasize certain aspects of particular Factors, for example, acknowledging natural energy rather than only will-power, making Awakening more accessible rather than explaining the ‘higher stages’, etc. I have included a suggested meditation at the beginning of each chapter to encourage a meditative enquiry. The book is by no means a definitive presentation of this theme. I suggest that those interested in more information on these themes should consult the Pali Canon directly, or the other books listed in the bibliography.

The aim of this book is to provide instruction and reflection on Buddhist meditation as taught by Ajahn Sumedho, using material extracted from talks he gave in the early 1980s. These talks were almost all given to monastics who were familiar with the language and terms of Theravada Buddhism – but Ajahn Sumedho’s approach is not technically intricate, and so we felt that many more people could benefit from these instructions than the small gatherings in the monasteries. You are therefore invited to make use this book for your own spiritual practice.

Last year I decided to produce a Dhamma book that would be of interest to the many people in Thailand who do not usually read Dhamma books. It would be a book of photographs. I asked for photos on any subject at all from my students and through them their families and friends. In all I received some three or four thousand images, which I whittled down to a few hundred of my favourites. And then I began to impose a narrative on the material. I chose as my subject the path to liberation. The demands of metre can affect the content of a poem, bringing forth phrases from the poet’s mind that might otherwise have remained unformed. Similarly, In seeking to present the Buddha’s teachings within the framework provided by a random set of photographs I have found new ways of expressing myself. I hope my readers will enjoy the experiment as much as I have.

It has always been my intention to share the teachings of Phra Ajahn Jayasaro with other lay followers and those who are seeking the best way to live their lives. In every attendance of the teachings, I have always received good thoughts and advice to help disentangle frustrations in my normal busy life, and most of all, I somehow regain my sati to realize and reconsider the other angles of view and life. I did share this moment of findings with my family, and do hope that I can cultivate more thorough understandings and practices of Dhamma to my son, Pordee, from the teachings of Phra Ajahn. Dhamma book is another channel to share the teachings with others, friends and Dhamma friends, and hope that they will have their own approach to appreciate the teachings and apply to their everyday life as well.