Hello there,
Serveral teachers/Ajahns in the Thai Forest tradition seems to teach the concept of "Pure Mind" or "Original Mind", thtat "Awareness" and "Consciousness without feature" is actually a kind of eternal citta that is not part of the five aggregates, and that is sometimes equated to nibbana in this tradition.
I do not agrees with those views. I was wondering if any of you know if Ajahn Sona from Birken monastery has those views about the citta/awareness? I didn't see any trace of this yet, but he has alot of videos on youtube I didn't all watch. If not, are there any other teacher in the Thai forest tradition that doesn't teach those views?
Thanks in advance
I'm making a reading list of books by non mainstream alleged Buddhists ( non mainstream from my standpoint, of course). I would like to get some ideas about how Ajahn Buddhadasa's thoughts diverged from conventional Buddhist teachings. I've read "Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree," and he was sounding pretty much like a secular Buddhist.
mahayana practitioners may not be familiar with the name of ajahn chah, or his teachings.
in my passing familiarity with mahayana teachings, however, i have seen a close resemblance between the teachings of ajahn chah, and the many of the discussions about Buddha nature and emptiness from mahayana practitioners here.
some of my favourite quotes from ajahn chah are:
>About this mind... In truth there is nothing really wrong with it. It is intrinsically pure. Within itself it's already peaceful. That the mind is not peaceful these days is because it follows moods. The real mind doesn't have anything to it, it is simply (an aspect of) Nature. It becomes peaceful or agitated because moods deceive it. The untrained mind is stupid. Sense impressions come and trick it into happiness, suffering, gladness and sorrow, but the mind's true nature is none of those things. That gladness or sadness is not the mind, but only a mood coming to deceive us. The untrained mind gets lost and follows these things, it forgets itself. Then we think that it is we who are upset or at ease or whatever ...
Our practice is simply to see the Original Mind. So we must train the mind to know those sense impressions, and not get lost in them. To make it peaceful. Just this is the aim of all this difficult practice we put ourselves through.
>This is the practice, not to have anything, not to have the flag and not to have the wind. If there is a flag, then there is a wind; if there is a wind, then there is a flag. You should contemplate and reflect on this thoroughly until you see in accordance with Truth. If considered well, then there will remain nothing. It's empty β void; empty of the flag and empty of the wind. In the great Void there is no flag and there is no wind. There is no birth, no old age, no sickness or death. Our conventional understanding of flag and wind is only a concept. In reality there is nothing. That's all! There is nothing more than empty labels.
>I am like a tree in a forest. Birds come to the tree, they sit on its branches and eat its fruits. To the birds, the fruit may be sweet or sour or whatever. The birds say sweet or they say sour, but from the treeβs point of view, this is just the chattering of birds.
>*The streams, lakes, and rivers that flow down to the ocean, when they reach the ocean, all have the same blue color, the same salty taste. The same with human beings: It doesnβt matter where theyβre fromβwhen they reach the
... keep reading on reddit β‘
Which book do you think should I base more my meditation pratice on to reach the jhanas according to the suttas?
I know the book "With each and every breath" by Thanissaro Bhikku is based on the Ajaan Lee method of meditation to reach jhanas, and says it is based on the suttas. The jhanas he describea seem pretty reachable, in the sense of with considerable effort, but not necessirly to the point of needing to be bhikku to attain it.
Ajahn Brahm, with his book "Mindfulness, Bliss and beyond" also says the jhanas he describes is based on suttas, although it seems to me that they are more based on the Vishudimagga. The jhanas he describes seem really really hard and rare to achieve, and look almost like a near-death experience in its intensity, with no consciousness of anything at all beside bliss.
I don't know what to think at all about this. Both are teachers I respect, but if I want to get the closer I can get to stream-entry or once-returner, non-returner etc., I don't know which method I should base my meditation on, to pratice more like the suttas describes.
What do you think of those two methods/books? Did anyone reach the jhana they describes in the books? What are your thoughta on that?
Metta
The Buddha did not encourage faith in dogmas. He did teach that when we gain a strong conviction that our suffering is a conditioned phenomena and that we can completely eliminate it through practice of the Eightfold Path, a great breakthrough occurs. This faith signals the beginning of the process that culminates in liberation.
In the Upanisa Sutta (SN12.23) the Buddha elaborates:
"Suffering is the supporting condition for faith, Faith is the supporting condition gladness, Gladness is the supporting condition for joy, Joy is the supporting condition for tranquillity. Tranquillity is the supporting condition for happiness, Happiness is the supporting condition for samΔdhi SamΔdhi is the supporting condition for the knowledge and vision of things as they really are, The knowledge and vision of things as they really are is the supporting condition for disenchantment, Disenchantment is the supporting condition for dispassion, Dispassion is the supporting condition for liberation, Liberation is the supporting condition for the knowledge of destruction (of the taints (Δsava)).
- Ajahn Jayasaro
https://www.facebook.com/751774638558726/posts/1425559281180255/?d=n
Could you point out to some contemporary Ajahns that are students of Ajahn Fuang Jotiko, or otherwise followers of Ajahn Lee?
I read&listen Ajahn Geoff's works. I practice in Ajahn Lee's breath controlling jhana aiming way. I'd like to hear more voices from this side of the Thai Forest Tradition
So I saw Ajahn Mun, the founder of the Thai forest tradition, (is this correct? I think I read he had a teacher that also was a forest monk?) and his lineage is part of the Dhammayuttika Nikaya, while Ajahn Chah's teachings and lineage is part of the Maha Nikaya (even though many of the monks would reordain in the dhammayuttika order to honour Ajahn Mun).
How come they're part of different orders? Are their teachings different?
"Meditation doesn't just involve being at peace with the world...confronting the self can be like walking into a raging storm...it's quite usual to want to despair...to want to kill oneself
Some people think that a monk's life is a lazy and an easy one...if that's what they think they should just try and see how long they can stand it.....a monk's work is hard he works to free his heart so he begins to feel loving kindnes which embraces everything
He sees that all life has the characteristics of the breath.....it rises and it falls... everything that is born expires
So his suffering diminishes as he knows that nothing belongs to him"
From this video
https://youtu.be/qu7mtlbVBOA
Hello there,
Serveral teachers/Ajahns in the Thai Forest tradition seems to teach the concept of "Pure Mind" or "Original Mind", thtat "Awareness" and "Consciousness without feature" is actually a kind of eternal citta that is not part of the five aggregates, and that is sometimes equated to nibbana in this tradition.
I do not agrees with those views. I was wondering if any of you know if Ajahn Sona from Birken monastery has those views about the citta/awareness? I didn't see any trace of this yet, but he has alot of videos on youtube I didn't all watch. If not, are there any other teacher in the Thai forest tradition that doesn't teach those views?
Thanks in advance
