A collection of Ajahn Chah's most powerful teachings, including those on mediation, liberation from suffering,calming the mind, enlightenment and the living dhamma. The book Offers a compilation of the Thai Buddhist master's talks on Buddhism and spiritual practice.
【Review】 The Buddhism practiced and preached at the monastery at Wat Pah Pong in northeast Thailand has grown in popularity in part because of its gifted leader and speaker, the late Ajahn Chah. This compilation of talks given by Ajahn (acharya or teacher in Sanskrit) Chah extols the virtues of practice over pedantry, and makes judicious use of the technical vocabulary of Buddhism, which can be daunting to casual readers. But even without the full glossary of terms and explanatory notes, Ajahn Chah' s humorous, analogy-laden narration of his tradition' s Buddhist practice a practice that is basic and almost reductionistic, similar to modern Zen makes these teachings accessible to beginners and appealing to serious practitioners. More troubling is the lack of context for Ajahn Chah' s talks: no dates or details are given. For instance, readers who encounter the injunction to renounce familial ties alongside a consideration of how spousal sexual relations may conform to the Four Noble Truths may be perplexed if they do not know that Ajahn Chah tailored his talks to the needs of both monastics and lay practitioners on quite separate occasions and in varying contexts. Also, there is very little introductory material about what distinguishes the Thai Forest tradition, other than a definition of tudong (forest pilgrimage and meditation) and the fact that it belongs to Theravada, the minority of the two great doctrinal divisions within Buddhism. However, this is a valuable collection of the Thai Buddhist master' s thoughts. (Sept.) Forecast: In a market saturated with new Buddhist releases, this solid exposition of basic Buddhist practice is a welcome addition, particularly since some of the Thai leader' s teachings are available here in English for the first time. (Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.)
目次
Foreword／Jack Kornfield Introduction 9 (32) About This Mind 41 (2) Fragments of a Teaching 43 (10) Part 1: Conduct-Virtue And The World Of The Senses Living in the World with Dhamma 53 (8) Making the Heart Good 61 (8) Sense Contact-the Fount of Wisdom 69 (12) Understanding Vinaya 81 (12) Maintaining the Standard 93 (8) Why Are We Here? 101 (10) The Flood of Sensuality 111 (8) The Two Faces of Reality 119 (16) Part 2: Meditation A Gift of Dhamma 135 (6) Inner Balance 141 (6) The Path in Harmony 147 (6) The Training of the Heart 153 (10) Reading the Natural Mind 163 (16) The Key to Liberation 179 (40) Meditation (Samadhi Bhavana) 219 (8) Dhamma Fighting 227 (4) Just Do It! 231 (8) Right Practice-Steady Practice 239 (10) Samma Samadhi-Detachment Within Activity 249 (8) In the Dead of Night 257 (18) Part 3: Wisdom What is Contemplation? 275 (4) Dhamma Nature 279 (8) Living with the Cobra 287 (4) The Middle Way Within 291 (6) The Peace Beyond 297 (10) Convention and Liberation 307 (6) No Abiding 313 (6) Right View-the Place of Coolness 319 (4) Our Real Home 323 (10) The Four Noble Truths 333 (8) Tuccho Pothila''-Venerable Empty Scripture 341 (10) Not Sure!''-the Standard of the Noble Ones 351 (12) Still, Flowing Water 363 (10) Transcendence 373 (10) Toward the Unconditioned 383 (12) Epilogue 395 (2) Glossary 397 (6) Notes 403 (6) Sources of the Text 409 (6) Index 415
