‘Bodhinyana’ was the first collection of talks by Ven. Ajahn Chah to be translated and published by his Western students. Although Ajahn Chah passed away in 1992, the training which he established is still carried on. Primarily at the Wat Pah Pong monastery in Thailand and its branches. The training usually consists of group meditation twice a day and sometimes a talk by the senior teacher. But the heart of the meditation is the way of life. The monastics do manual work, dye and sew their own robes, make most of their own requisites and keep the monastery buildings and grounds in immaculate shape. They live extremely simply following the ascetic precepts. This is example by eating once a day from the alms bowl and limiting their possessions and robes. Scattered throughout the forest are individual huts where monks and nuns live and meditate in solitude. Here they practice walking meditation on cleared paths under the trees. Discipline is strict. They believe it enables one to lead a simple and pure life in a harmoniously regulated community where virtue, meditation, and understanding may be skillfully and continuously cultivated.
A record of a living experience
From the book:
Ajahn Chah’s wonderfully simple style of teaching can be deceptive. It is often only after he is read or heard many times that suddenly our minds are ripe and somehow the teaching takes on a much deeper meaning. His skillful means in tailoring his explanations of Dhamma to time and place, and to the understanding and sensitivity of his audience, was marvelous to see. Sometimes on paper though, it can make him seem inconsistent or even self-contradictory. At such times the reader should remember that these words are a record of a living experience. Similarly, if the teachings may seem to vary at times from tradition, it should be borne in mind that the Venerable Ajahn speaks always from the heart, from the depths of his own meditative experience.
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Bodhinyana
