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 Great
meditation master of the Thai forest Tradition, influential
teacher.
Read Ajahn Chah for direct and profound
advise on insight meditation, supported by simple lessons and
keen wisdom drawn from snapshots of our spectrum of everyday
life but somehow stay blinded to us.
Born in 1918 in in Ubon Rajathani, Thailand.
After finishing his basic schooling, he spent three years as a
novice before returning to lay life to help his parents on the
farm. At the age of twenty, however, he decided to resume
monastic life, and in 1939 he received his higher ordination.
Study Buddhist teachings and the Pali scriptural language
extensively and gained some proficiency in Pali.
Feeling disenchanted he abandoned his studies and set off on
mendicant pilgrimage in 1946. Was told about Venerable Ajahn Mun
Bhuridatto, a most highly respected Meditation Master, and set
off on foot for the Northeast in search of him.
Ajahn Mun told him that although the teachings are indeed
extensive, in their hearts they are very simple. His succinct
and direct teaching was a revelation for Ajahn Chah, and
transformed his approach to practice. For the next seven years
Ajahn Chah practiced in the style of the austere Forest
Tradition, wandering through the countryside in quest of quiet
and secluded places for developing meditation.
In 1954, after years of wandering, he was invited back to his
home village. The monastery, which is now known as Wat Pah Pong
began there. Eventually branches of the monasteries were also,
established elsewhere in Thailand.
In 1977, Ajahn Chah was invited to visit Britain by the English
Sangha Trust, a charity with the aim of establishing a locally
resident Buddhist Sangha. He took Venerable Sumedho and
Venerable Khemadhammo along, and seeing the serious interest
there, left them in London at the Hampstead Vihara. It was from
here that a list of other forest sangha monasteries was
established across many western countries. |