Ajahn Chah
Encyclopedia
Venerable Ajahn Chah Subhaddo (Chao Khun Bodhinyana Thera) ' onMouseout='HidePop("15410")' href="/topics/Luang_Por">Luang Por
and Phra; 17 June 1918 – 16 January 1992) was an influential teacher of the Buddhadhamma and a founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition
.
Respected and loved in his own country as a man of great wisdom, he was also instrumental in establishing Theravada Buddhism in the West. Beginning in 1979 with the founding of Cittaviveka
(commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery) in the United Kingdom, the Thai Forest Tradition
of Ajahn Chah has spread throughout Europe, the United States and the British Commonwealth. The dhamma talks of Ajahn Chah have been recorded, transcribed and translated into several languages.
More than one million people, including the Thai royal family, attended Ajahn Chah's funeral in 1992. He left behind a legacy of dhamma talks, students, and monasteries.
in the Isan
region of northeast Thailand. His family were subsistence farmers. As is traditional, Ajahn Chah entered the monastery as a novice at the age of nine, where, during a three-year stay, he learned to read and write. He left the monastery to help his family on the farm, but later returned to monastic life on 16 April 1939, seeking ordination as a Theravadan monk (or bhikku). According to the book Food for the Heart: The Collected Writings of Ajahn Chah, he chose to leave the settled monastic life in 1946 and became a wandering ascetic after the death of his father. He walked across Thailand, taking teachings at various monasteries. Among his teachers at this time was Ajahn Mun, a renowned meditation master in the Forest Tradition. Ajahn Chah lived in caves and forests while learning from the meditation monks of the Forest Tradition. A website devoted to Ajahn Chah describes this period of his life:
The monks of this tradition keep very strictly to the original monastic rule laid down by the Buddha known as the vinaya
. The early major schisms in the Buddhist sangha were largely due to disagreements over how strictly the training rules should be applied. Some opted for a degree of flexibility (some would argue liberality) whereas others took a conservative view believing that the rules should be kept just as the Buddha had framed them. The Theravada tradition is the heir to the latter view. An example of the strictness of the discipline might be the rule regarding eating: they uphold the rule to only eat between dawn and noon. In the Thai Forest Tradition monks and nuns go further and observe the 'one eaters practice', whereby they only eat one meal during the morning. This special practice is one of the thirteen dhutanga
- optional ascetic practices permitted by the Buddha that are used on an occasional or regular basis to deepen meditation practice and promote contentment with little. They might, for example, as well as eating only one meal a day, sleep outside under a tree, or dwell in secluded forests or graveyards.
After years of wandering, Ajahn Chah decided to plant roots in an uninhabited grove near his birthplace. In 1954, Wat Nong Pah Pong
monastery was established, where Ajahn Chah could teach his simple, practice-based form of meditation. He attracted a wide variety of disciples, which included in 1966, the first Westerner, Venerable Ajahn Sumedho
. Wat Nong Pah Pong includes over 250 branches throughout Thailand, as well as over 15 associated monasteries and ten lay practice centers around the world.
In 1975, Wat Pah Nanachat
(International Forest Monastery) was founded with Ajahn Sumedho as the abbot. Wat Pah Nanachat was the first monastery in Thailand specifically geared towards training English-speaking Westerners in the monastic Vinaya
, as well as the first run by a Westerner.
In 1977, Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho were invited to visit the United Kingdom by the English Sangha Trust who wanted to form a residential sangha. 1979 saw the founding of Cittaviveka
(commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery due to its location in the town of Chithurst
) with Ajahn Sumedho as its head. Several of Ajahn Chah's Western students have since established monasteries throughout the world.
By the early 1980s, Ajahn Chah's health was in decline due to diabetes. He was taken to Bangkok
for surgery to relieve paralysis
caused by the diabetes, but it was to little effect. Ajahn Chah used his ill health as a teaching point, emphasizing that it was "a living example of the impermanence of all things...(and) reminded people to endeavor to find a true refuge within themselves, since he would not be able to teach for very much longer". Ajahn Chah would remain bedridden and ultimately unable to speak for ten years, until his death on January 16, 1992 at the age of 73.
Luang Por
Luang por means "venerable father" and is used as a title for respected senior Buddhist monastics. Luang is a Thai word meaning "royal" or "venerable". It is used in both family context and to express respect for monastics. Por is the Thai word for "father". It is used in both family context and...
and Phra; 17 June 1918 – 16 January 1992) was an influential teacher of the Buddhadhamma and a founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition
Thai Forest Tradition
The Thai Forest Tradition is a tradition of Buddhist monasticism within Thai Theravada Buddhism. Practitioners inhabit remote wilderness and forest dwellings as spiritual practice training grounds. Maha Nikaya and Dhammayuttika Nikaya are the two major monastic orders in Thailand that have forest...
.
Respected and loved in his own country as a man of great wisdom, he was also instrumental in establishing Theravada Buddhism in the West. Beginning in 1979 with the founding of Cittaviveka
Chithurst Buddhist Monastery
Cittaviveka, popularly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, is a Theravada Buddhist Monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition. It is situated in West Sussex, England in the hamlet of Chithurst between Midhurst and Petersfield...
(commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery) in the United Kingdom, the Thai Forest Tradition
Thai Forest Tradition
The Thai Forest Tradition is a tradition of Buddhist monasticism within Thai Theravada Buddhism. Practitioners inhabit remote wilderness and forest dwellings as spiritual practice training grounds. Maha Nikaya and Dhammayuttika Nikaya are the two major monastic orders in Thailand that have forest...
of Ajahn Chah has spread throughout Europe, the United States and the British Commonwealth. The dhamma talks of Ajahn Chah have been recorded, transcribed and translated into several languages.
More than one million people, including the Thai royal family, attended Ajahn Chah's funeral in 1992. He left behind a legacy of dhamma talks, students, and monasteries.
Early life
Ajahn Chah was born on 17 June 1918 near Ubon RatchathaniUbon Ratchathani
Ubon Ratchathani is a city on the Mun River in the south-east of the Isan region of Thailand. It is known as Ubon for short. The name means "Royal Lotus City." The provincial seal features a pond with a lotus flower and leaves in a circular frame. Ubon is the administrative centre of Ubon...
in the Isan
Isan
Isan is the northeastern region of Thailand. It is located on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Prachinburi mountains south of Nakhon Ratchasima...
region of northeast Thailand. His family were subsistence farmers. As is traditional, Ajahn Chah entered the monastery as a novice at the age of nine, where, during a three-year stay, he learned to read and write. He left the monastery to help his family on the farm, but later returned to monastic life on 16 April 1939, seeking ordination as a Theravadan monk (or bhikku). According to the book Food for the Heart: The Collected Writings of Ajahn Chah, he chose to leave the settled monastic life in 1946 and became a wandering ascetic after the death of his father. He walked across Thailand, taking teachings at various monasteries. Among his teachers at this time was Ajahn Mun, a renowned meditation master in the Forest Tradition. Ajahn Chah lived in caves and forests while learning from the meditation monks of the Forest Tradition. A website devoted to Ajahn Chah describes this period of his life:
For the next seven years Ajahn Chah practiced in the style of an ascetic monk in the austere Forest Tradition, spending his time in forests, caves and cremation grounds. He wandered through the countryside in quest of quiet and secluded places for developing meditation. He lived in tiger and cobra infested jungles, using reflections on death to penetrate to the true meaning of life.
Thai forest tradition
During the early part of the twentieth century Theravada Buddhism underwent a revival in Thailand under the leadership of outstanding teachers whose intentions were to raise the standards of Buddhist practise throughout the country. One of these teachers was the Venerable Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta. Ajahn Chah continued Ajahn Mun's high standards of practise when he became a teacher.The monks of this tradition keep very strictly to the original monastic rule laid down by the Buddha known as the vinaya
Vinaya
The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...
. The early major schisms in the Buddhist sangha were largely due to disagreements over how strictly the training rules should be applied. Some opted for a degree of flexibility (some would argue liberality) whereas others took a conservative view believing that the rules should be kept just as the Buddha had framed them. The Theravada tradition is the heir to the latter view. An example of the strictness of the discipline might be the rule regarding eating: they uphold the rule to only eat between dawn and noon. In the Thai Forest Tradition monks and nuns go further and observe the 'one eaters practice', whereby they only eat one meal during the morning. This special practice is one of the thirteen dhutanga
Dhutanga
Dhutanga is a group of thirteen austerities, or ascetic practices, most commonly observed by Forest Monastics of the Theravada Tradition of Buddhism.-Description:...
- optional ascetic practices permitted by the Buddha that are used on an occasional or regular basis to deepen meditation practice and promote contentment with little. They might, for example, as well as eating only one meal a day, sleep outside under a tree, or dwell in secluded forests or graveyards.
Monasteries founded
Wat Nong Pah Pong
Wat Nong Pah Pong is the main monastery of the late Thai Forest Tradition meditation master, the Venerable Ajahn Chah...
monastery was established, where Ajahn Chah could teach his simple, practice-based form of meditation. He attracted a wide variety of disciples, which included in 1966, the first Westerner, Venerable Ajahn Sumedho
Ajahn Sumedho
Luang Por Ajahn Sumedho is the senior Western representative of the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery just north of London from its consecration in 1984 until his retirement in 2010...
. Wat Nong Pah Pong includes over 250 branches throughout Thailand, as well as over 15 associated monasteries and ten lay practice centers around the world.
In 1975, Wat Pah Nanachat
Wat Pah Nanachat
Wat Pah Nanachat is situated in a small forest in north-east Thailand about fifteen kilometres from the city of Ubon Rachathani. The late Ajahn Chah established the monastery in 1975 to serve as a training community for non-Thais along traditional monastic lines. Its monks, novices and postulants...
(International Forest Monastery) was founded with Ajahn Sumedho as the abbot. Wat Pah Nanachat was the first monastery in Thailand specifically geared towards training English-speaking Westerners in the monastic Vinaya
Vinaya
The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...
, as well as the first run by a Westerner.
In 1977, Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho were invited to visit the United Kingdom by the English Sangha Trust who wanted to form a residential sangha. 1979 saw the founding of Cittaviveka
Chithurst Buddhist Monastery
Cittaviveka, popularly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, is a Theravada Buddhist Monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition. It is situated in West Sussex, England in the hamlet of Chithurst between Midhurst and Petersfield...
(commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery due to its location in the town of Chithurst
Chithurst
Chithurst is a village in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies within the civil parish of Trotton with Chithurst, just off the A272 road 3 miles west of Midhurst....
) with Ajahn Sumedho as its head. Several of Ajahn Chah's Western students have since established monasteries throughout the world.
By the early 1980s, Ajahn Chah's health was in decline due to diabetes. He was taken to Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
for surgery to relieve paralysis
Paralysis
Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
caused by the diabetes, but it was to little effect. Ajahn Chah used his ill health as a teaching point, emphasizing that it was "a living example of the impermanence of all things...(and) reminded people to endeavor to find a true refuge within themselves, since he would not be able to teach for very much longer". Ajahn Chah would remain bedridden and ultimately unable to speak for ten years, until his death on January 16, 1992 at the age of 73.
Prominent Western students
- Ajahn SumedhoAjahn SumedhoLuang Por Ajahn Sumedho is the senior Western representative of the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery just north of London from its consecration in 1984 until his retirement in 2010...
, former abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire England - Ajahn KhemadhammoAjahn KhemadhammoVenerable Ajahn Khemadhammo, OBE is a Theravada Buddhist monk.He was born in England in 1944...
, abbot of The Forest Hermitage Warwickshire, England - Ajahn MunindoAjahn MunindoAjahn Munindo is a Theravada Buddhist monk and teacher in the Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah. He is the abbot of Aruna Ratanagiri. Ajahn Munindo has been a monk since 1974.-Biography:...
, abbot of Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery Northumberland, England - Ajahn Pasanno, abbot of Abhayagiri Monastery, Redwood Valley, California, USA
- Ajahn BrahmAjahn BrahmAjahn Brahmavamso Mahathera , born Peter Betts in London, United Kingdom on 7 August 1951, is a Theravada Buddhist monk...
, spiritual director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia and Abbot of Bodhinyana Buddhist Monastery, Serpentine WA, Australia - Ajahn Amaro, abbot of Amaravati Monastery, Amaravati Buddhist Monastery Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire England
- Ajahn Viradhammo: Abbot of Tisarana Buddhist Monastery Perth, Ontario, Canada
- Ajahn Mitsuo Gavesako, abbot of Wat Pah Sunandavanaram Kanchanburi Province, Thailand
- Jack KornfieldJack KornfieldJack Kornfield is a teacher in the vipassana movement of American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, including as a student of the Thai monk Ajahn Chah...
- Ajahn Jayasaro, ex former abbot of Wat Pa Nanachat, He is now living alone in a hermitage at the foot of Kow Yai mountains.
External links
- Short biography and picture.
- Video: detailed biography of Ajahn Chah
- Website of Wat Nong Pah Pong
- International branch monasteries of Wat Nong Pah Pong
- Ajahn Chah website - in English and other languages, with useful links and info.
- Ajahn Chah's talks in English and other languages