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Forest Dhamma Books's Documents
Samana - Luangta Maha Boowa Memorial Book
"The next morning, I went to tell my vision to Ajaan Mun. He interpreted it very well. “This dream,” he said, “is very auspicious. It shows a definite pattern for your practice. Follow the practice in the way that you’ve dreamed. In the beginning, it will be extremely difficult. You have to give it your best effort. Don’t retreat. The beginning part where you made it through the clump of bamboo: that’s the difficult part. The mind will make progress only to slip back, over and over again. So give it your best. Don’t ever retreat. Once you get past that, it’s all wide open. You’ll get to the island of safety without any trouble. That’s not the hard part. The hard part is here at the beginning.” Taking his words to heart, I focused on my meditation with renewed diligence. My samadhi had been erratic for over a year by that time, so my meditation practice was constantly up and down. Again and again, it advanced to full strength only to deteriorate as before. It wasn’t until April that I found a new approach, focusing on my meditation theme in a new way that made my concentration really solid. From that point on, I was able to sit in meditation all night long. My mind was able to settle down fully, which allowed me to continue accelerating my efforts. Speaking of the difficulties in the beginning stages of practice that my vision had predicted: that constant struggle to bring the mind under control was the most difficult part for me."
Category:BiographyReads:745Uploaded:04 / 03 / 2011ShareAdd to collectionThings As They Are
“In order to be principled and methodical in your training, keep your awareness constantly with the body. Keep mindfulness focused there and use wisdom to investigate within the sphere of the body. The more you investigate the body until you understand it clearly, the more sharply you will understand the affairs of feelings, memory, thought-formations, and consciousness, because all these things are whetstones for sharpening wisdom step by step. It’s the same as when we bail water out of a fish pond: the more water we bail out, the more clearly we’ll see the fish. Or as when clearing a forest: the more vegetation we cut away, the more space we’ll see. When you use wisdom to contemplate in this way, the currents of the heart will become plain...”
Category:Religion & SpiritualityReads:1,087Uploaded:09 / 24 / 2010ShareAdd to collectionStraight From the Heart
“Once the mind has been well-cleansed so that it’s constantly radiant, then when we’re in a quiet place, without any sounds – for instance, late in the still of the night – even if the mind hasn’t gathered in samadhi, we find that when we focus on that centre of awareness, it is so exceedingly delicate and refined that it’s hard to describe. This refinement then becomes like a radiance that spreads all around us in every direction. Nothing appears to be making contact with the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and feeling at that moment, even though the mind hasn’t gathered into the factors of samadhi. Instead, this is the firm foundation of the mind that has been well-cleansed and displays a striking awareness, magnificence, and sensitivity within itself...”
Category:Religion & SpiritualityReads:703Uploaded:09 / 24 / 2010ShareAdd to collectionA Life of Inner Quality
“People often say that the way Buddhism teaches constantly about the suffering of living beings is unpleasant to them and makes them so depressed that they get no joy out of listening to the Dhamma. They feel as if the sufferings and discontentment being talked about are joining forces with the sufferings and discontentment already inside them, making them despondent and sad. If that weren’t enough, the basic principles of the Buddha’s teaching – the Four Noble Truths – start out with suffering as their primary theme, since that’s what the religion teaches about far more than anything else. When people say things like this, it shows that they haven’t had enough training in the religion to understand its true aims. The fact that Buddhism teaches about suffering is completely in line with the way things are. It is in keeping with the name ‘Noble Truths’. These truths are the religion’s basic principles. They’re true. The Buddha was a person who truly knew. This is why he was able to point out the lacks and deficiencies in living beings – for the sufferings we experience all have deficiencies as their basic cause...”
Category:Religion & SpiritualityReads:731Uploaded:09 / 23 / 2010ShareAdd to collectionMae Chee Kaew: Her Journey to Spiritual Awakening Enlightenment
Excerpt: "Late one afternoon, as Mae Chee Kaew stubbornly continued to argue her case, Ajaan Maha Boowa abruptly broke the conversation off, and curtly dismissed her from his presence. He told her pointblank to leave the cave immediately, and to never return. Uttering harsh and fiery words, he chased her off in front of the other nuns. Mae Chee Kaew was taken aback by the intensity of his verbal attack and the seriousness of his tone. Such an outcome had never occurred to her. Mae Chee Kaew left Ajaan Maha Boowa’s cave in tears, feeling utterly devastated, her confidence shattered. With his stern reprimand still ringing in her ears, she made the long trek back to the nunnery feeling that she would never see him again..."
Category:BiographyReads:1,803Uploaded:02 / 17 / 2010ShareAdd to collectionAmata Dhamma (The Deathless Dhamma)
“The heart is pre-eminent. Nothing surpasses the heart in importance. The business of the heart is therefore extremely pressing and imperative. All things originate from the heart – just this much is enough to shake the entire physical world. Even the slightest motion must originate in the heart. All things have the heart as their basis. Nothing but the heart can discern all the various phenomena. Since nothing else is capable of this, we must try to understand the heart’s essential knowing nature.”
Category:(not categorized)Reads:1,792Uploaded:02 / 15 / 2009ShareAdd to collectionThe Dhamma Teaching of Acariya Maha Boowa in London
“Buddhism is derived from practice. The Buddha himself practised until he fully understood the true nature of Dhamma; only then did he begin to teach others. Buddhists, therefore, understand the importance of practising meditation and training themselves according to the teachings. When they are not put regularly into practice, the knowledge and understanding gained from learning will not bring satisfactory results. So you should learn about and practise the moral precepts until they become higher morality, and learn and practise all the different levels of wisdom until you reach the level of higher wisdom. You must then practise until you truly reach freedom from dukkha and escape from the round of repeated birth and death. Because of that, practice is the most important part of Buddhism.”
Category:(not categorized)Reads:1,067Uploaded:02 / 15 / 2009ShareAdd to collectionWisdom Develops Samadhi
"Anapanasati Bhavana (developing the awareness of breathing) uses the breath as the objective support of the heart and consists in knowing and mindfulness (sati) of in and out breathing. In becoming aware of breathing, one should at first fix attention on the feeling of the breath at the nose or the palate (roof of the mouth), as it suits one, because this is where the breath initially makes contact, and one may use this as a marker point for holding one’s attention. Having done this until one has become skilled, and the in and out breathing becomes finer and finer, one will progressively come to know and understand the nature of the contact of in and out breathing, until it seems that the breathing is located either in the middle of the chest or the solar plexus. After this one must just fix one’s attention on breathing at that place and one must no longer be concerned about fixing attention on the breathing at the tip of the nose or the palate, nor about following it in and out with awareness..."
Category:Religion & SpiritualityReads:1,157Uploaded:02 / 15 / 2009ShareAdd to collectionA Life of Inner Quality
Let me stress once more that we have each come from our parents and have gained knowledge from our teachers. This is why we shouldn’t forget ourselves and think that we’re smart and self-sufficient. Otherwise, when we make a slip and fall, we won’t be able to pick up the pieces – the pieces of us – which is the worst sort of loss we can experience, especially now that the world is changing faster than anyone can keep up with, because of all sorts of strange and unnatural theories and ideas. If anyone were to come along and say that the world has gone crazy, he wouldn’t be wrong, and we’d have to admire him for speaking the truth because things you wouldn’t think were possible have come to pass. I’ve been around a fairly long time now, and I’ve come to see things in this present-day world that I’ve never seen before. Students, for example, will at the drop of a hat put their teachers in jail or drive them out of their jobs and create all sorts of havoc, stirring up trouble in places that used to be at peace. At first they seem reasonable and admirable in their ideals, but as time passes they get carried away with themselves, loose sight of their parents and teachers and forget that good adults do exist. If this keeps up, I’m afraid that young people carried away with theories of this sort will end up throwing their parents in jail on grounds of being old-fashioned, out-of-date and an embarrassment to them in front of their friends. This sort of thing can happen if we don’t come to our senses and correct the situation right now. Don’t let these ‘modern’ ideas bring about the end of the world – for the world these days is spinning towards … it’s hard to say what. I’m afraid the knowledge we’ve gained will become a tool for cruelty and heartlessness, and we’ll end up drowning in it. So I ask that you reflect on things carefully. Our nation and society are things of great value to us, so don’t treat them as tools for your opinions, your urge for the excitement of action, or your desire for fame. If society breaks down, you’ll have no way of restoring it. Buddhism is absolutely right in teaching us the virtue that can prevent all these dangers – the virtue of gratitude to our benefactors. Who are our benefactors? To begin with, our parents, who have cared for us from the day of our birth all the way up to the present. There is no one else in this world who would dare make such sacrifices for us, who would love and show us such compassion as our parents. They are the ones whose kindnesses we should bear in mind more than those of anyone else – and yet we hardly ever give them any thought.
Category:(not categorized)Reads:2,811Uploaded:01 / 28 / 2009ShareAdd to collectionThe Path to Arahantship
Excerpt from Acariya Maha Boowa explaining his meditation practice: "From then on I accelerated my efforts. It was at that time that I began sitting in meditation all night long, from dusk until dawn. While sitting one night I started focusing inward as usual. Because it had already developed a good, strong foundation, the citta (heart) easily entered into samadhi (calm). So long as the citta rested there calmly, it remained unaware of external bodily feelings. But when I withdrew from samadhi many hours later I began to experience them in full. Eventually, my body was so racked by severe pain that I could hardly cope. The citta was suddenly unnerved, and its good, strong foundation completely collapsed. The entire body was filled with such excruciating pain that it quivered all over. Thus began the bout of hand-to-hand combat that gave me insight into an important meditation technique. Until the unexpected appearance that night of such severe pain, I had not thought of trying to sit all night. I had never made a resolution of that kind. I was simply practicing seated meditation as I normally did, but when the pain began to overwhelm me, I thought: “Hey, what’s going on here? I must make every effort to figure out this pain tonight.” So I made the solemn resolve that no matter what happened I would not get up from my seat until dawn of the next day. I was determined to investigate the nature of pain until I understood it clearly and distinctly. I would have to dig deep. But, if need be, I was willing to die in order to find out the truth about pain. Wisdom began to tackle this problem in earnest. Before I found myself cornered like that with no way out, I never imagined that wisdom could be so sharp and incisive. It went to work, relentlessly whirling around as it probed into the source of the pain with the determination of a warrior who never retreats or accepts defeat. This experience convinced me that in moments of real crisis wisdom arises to meet the challenge. We are not fated to be ignorant forever — when truly backed into a corner we are bound to be able to find a way to help ourselves. It happened to me that night. When I was cornered and overwhelmed by severe pain, mindfulness and wisdom just dug into the painful feelings. The pain began as hot flashes along the backs of my hands and feet, but that was really quite mild. When it arose in full force, the entire body was ablaze with pain. All the bones, and the joints connecting them, were like fuel feeding the fire that engulfed the body. It felt as though every bone in my body was breaking apart; as though my neck would snap and my head drop to the floor. When all parts of the body hurt at once, the pain is so intense that one doesn't know how to begin stemming the tide long enough just to breathe. This crisis left mindfulness and wisdom with no alternative but to dig down into the pain, searching for the exact spot where it felt most severe. Mindfulness and wisdom probed and investigated right where the pain was greatest, trying to isolate it so as to see it clearly. “Where does this pain originate? Who suffers the pain?” They asked these questions of each bodily part and found that each one of them remained in keeping with its own intrinsic nature. The skin was skin, the flesh was flesh, the tendons were tendons, and so forth. They had been so from the day of birth. Pain, on the other hand, is something that comes and goes periodically; it’s not always there in the same way that flesh and skin are. Ordinarily, the pain and the body appear to be all bound up together. But are they really? Focusing inward I could see that each part of the body was a physical reality. What is real stays that way. As I searched the mass of bodily pain, I saw that one point was more severe than all the others. If pain and body are one, and all parts of the body are equally real, then why was the pain stronger in one part than in another? So I tried to separate out and isol
Category:(not categorized)Reads:2,360Uploaded:01 / 27 / 2009ShareAdd to collection
