小船向大山搖櫓而去，搖櫓者是誰？這是一本非常特 別的中譯書，因為此書的作者是一位南傳佛教的長老比 丘，現為英國南傳阿姜查森林佛教傳統阿瓦拉馬諦寺的住 持，此書的內容是與藏傳佛教大圓滿教法相對應的巴利經 典及泰國森林傳統禪法的教法，此書中文版的翻譯則為漢 傳佛教的出家人。這些特勝的元素加在一起，不知淬鍊出 什麼樣的佛教書籍，實在有待讀者仔細玩味。
因緣際會讓譯者協助審訂《小船與大山》的中文初譯 稿。遠因是譯者曾在阿姜阿馬羅的道場參加各三個月的結 冬安居和結夏安居。安居結束之後，心中曾經發願要將阿 姜阿馬羅的著作翻譯成中文，以報答安居的恩情。
Born in England in 1956, Ajahn Amaro received his BSc. in Psychology and Physiology from the University of London. Spiritual searching led him to Thailand, where he went to Wat Pah Nanachat, a Forest Tradition monastery established for Western disciples of Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, who ordained him as a bhikkhu in April 1979. He returned to England in October 1979 and joined Ajahn Sumedho at the newly established Chithurst Monastery in West Sussex.
In 1983 he made an 830-mile trek from Chithurst to a new branch monastery, Harnham Vihāra, near the Scottish border. In July 1985, he moved to Amaravati Buddhist Monastery north of London and resided there for many years. In the early 1990s, he started making trips to California every year, eventually establishing Abhayagiri Monastery near Ukiah, Northern California, in June of 1996.
He lived at Abhayagiri until the summer of 2010, holding the position of co-abbot along with Ajahn Pasanno. At that time, he then moved back to Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England to take up the position of abbot of this large monastic community.
