Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (also known as Ajahn Geoff; born 28

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
December 1949) is an American Buddhist monk and author.
Belonging to the Thai Forest Tradition, for 10 years he studied
under the forest master Ajahn Fuang Jotiko (himself a student of
Ajahn Lee). Since 1993 he has served as abbot of the Metta Forest
Monastery in San Diego County, California—the first monastery
in the Thai Forest Tradition in the US—which he cofounded with
Ajahn Suwat Suvaco.[2]

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is perhaps best known for his translations of

the Dhammapada and the Sutta Pitaka—almost 1000 suttas in all
—provided free of charge on his website "Talks, Writing &
Translations of Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu" [3] as well as translations from

Personal
Born Geoffrey DeGraff
28 December 1949[1]
Long Island, New York
Religion Buddhism
Nationality American
School Theravāda
Lineage Kammaṭṭhāna Forest
Tradition of Thailand
Education Oberlin College
Order Dhammayuttika
Nikaya
Senior posting
Teacher Ajahn Fuang Jotiko
Ordination 7 November 1976,
aged 26
(46 years ago)[1]
Post Abbot of Metta Forest
Monastery (since
1993)
Website dhammatalks.org (htt
p://dhammatalks.org)
the dhamma talks of the Thai forest ajahns. He has also authored several dhamma-related works of his own,
and has compiled study-guides of his Pali translations.[4]

Contents
Biography
Early life
Time at Oberlin
First trip to Thailand
Return to Thailand
Time with Ajahn Fuang
Posting at Wat Metta
Teachings
Classical Buddhist modernism
Views on commentarial meditation practice
Forest as teacher and Buddhist counterculture
Unbinding with reference to nibbana
On the self
Achieving "true happiness"
Publications
Some teaching locations
References
Bibliography
External links

Biography

Early life

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu was born Geoffrey DeGraff in 1949 and was introduced to the Buddha's teaching on
the Four Noble Truths as a high-school exchange student on a flight back from the Philippines.[4][5]
Tricycle writes: "he grew up 'a very serious, independent little kid", spending his early childhood on a
potato farm on Long Island, New York, and later living in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.[6]

Time at Oberlin
At Oberlin College in the early 1970s, "he eschewed campus political activism because 'I didn't feel
comfortable following a crowd.' For him, the defining issue of the day wasn't Vietnam, but a friend's
attempted suicide." [6] Ṭhānissaro took a religious studies class when he found out there was meditation
involved. Ṭhānissaro writes: "I saw it as a skill I could master, whereas Christianity only had prayer, which
was pretty hit-or-miss."[6]

First trip to Thailand

After graduating in 1971 with a degree in European Intellectual History from Oberlin College, he traveled
on a university fellowship to Thailand.[7] After a two-year search, Ṭhānissaro found a forest teacher: Ajahn
Fuang Jotiko, a Kammatthana monk who studied under Ajahn Lee Dhammadaro.

After a brief stay with the teacher, which was cut short by malaria, he returned to the U.S. to weigh the
merits of academia and monasticism.

Return to Thailand

Ṭhānissaro states that when he returned to Thailand, he originally planned on becoming a monk tentatively
for five years. When he said that he wanted to be ordained, Ajahn Fuang made him promise to either
"succeed in the meditation or die in Thailand. There was to be no equivocating."[2] Ṭhānissaro felt certain
upon hearing this.

Time with Ajahn Fuang

By Ṭhānissaro's third year ordained as a monk, he became Ajahn Fuang's attendant. Ajahn Fuang's case of
psoriasis deteriorated. It reached a point where Thānissaro had to be at his side constantly.

Ṭhānissaro writes: "When I talked with Ajahn Fuang about going back to the West, about taking the
tradition to America, he was very explicit. 'This will probably be your life's work,' he said. He felt, as many
teachers have, that the forest tradition would die out in Thailand but would then take root in the West."[2]

Posting at Wat Metta

Before Ajahn Fuang's death in 1986, he expressed his wish for Ajahn Geoff to become abbot of Wat
Dhammasathit. Ṭhānissaro says that in spite of Ajahn Fuang's wish there were a lot of people maneuvering
to become abbot. After Ajahn Fuang died, Wat Dhammasathit had already come far from the outlying forest
hermitage that Taan Geoff had once arrived at. Ṭhānissaro said: "Ajahn Fuang said to keep moving; this is
not a tradition that works well in big groups." Taan Geoff declined the offer of abbot of Wat Dhammasathit,
which came with strings attached, and no authority since he was a Westerner in a monastery founded by
and for Thai monks.
Instead of taking that position, he travelled to San Diego County in 1991, upon request of Ajahn Suwat
Suvaco, where he helped start Metta Forest Monastery.[4] He became abbot of the monastery in 1993.[8] In
1995, Ajahn Geoff became the first American-born, non-Thai bhikkhu to be given the title, authority, and
responsibility of Preceptor (Upajjhaya) in the Dhammayut Order. He also serves as Treasurer of that order
in the United States.

Teachings

Classical Buddhist modernism

Views on commentarial meditation practice

Ṭhānissaro rejects the practice of kasina outlined in the

Visuddhimagga, and warns against forms of "deep jhana" practiced
by contemporary meditation teachers who draw from the
commentaries. Ṭhānissaro calls these meditations "wrong
concentration", and says that they have no basis in the Pali Canon,
which he argues should be considered ultimately Ajahn Geoff going on almsround
authoritative. [9][10]

Forest as teacher and Buddhist counterculture

Ṭhānissaro talks about the importance of the forest to give rise to the qualities of mind necessary to succeed
in Buddhist practice.[11] Barbara Roether writes:

Like Thoreau, Thanissaro Bhikkhu has founded a kind of Walden as the Abbot of the Metta
Forest Monastery near San Diego, the first Thai forest tradition monastery in this country. Just
as the utopian movement in America was sparked by the advent of the industrial revolution,
the forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism was developed in Thailand around the turn of the
century by Ajahn Mun Bhuridatto in reaction to the increasing urbanization of the Buddhist
monastic communities there. Forest monks abandoned the heavy social demands of the city
and devoted themselves to meditation instead.[2]

Unbinding with reference to nibbana

Ṭhānissaro and others use the term "unbinding" when discussing nibbana.[12][13]

On the self

Ṭhānissaro says that our sense of self is an activity, and a strategy for avoiding suffering and maximizing
happiness.[14]

Achieving "true happiness"

Ṭhānissaro writes, "You let go of the grosser forms of happiness, the grosser strategies for happiness, and
get used to more and more refined ones. And they finally take you to the point where there's no course left
but to let go of strategies. All strategies... This is the way to true happiness."[15]

Publications
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu's publications include:[16]

Translations of Ajahn Lee's meditation manuals from Thai

With Each and Every Breath (https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/WithEachAndEveryBreat
h/Section0001.html), a basic meditation guide
Handful of Leaves (https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/index.html), a five-volume anthology
of sutta translations
The Buddhist Monastic Code (https://www.dhammatalks.org/vinaya/bmc/Section0001.html),
a two-volume reference handbook on the topic of monastic discipline
Wings to Awakening (https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Wings/Section0001.html), a study
of the factors taught by Gautama Buddha as being essential for awakening
The Mind Like Fire Unbound (https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/MindLikeFire/Section000
1.html), an examination of Upādāna (clinging) and Nibbana (Nirvana) in terms of
contemporary philosophies of fire
The Paradox of Becoming (https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/ParadoxOfBecoming/Sectio
n0001.html), an extensive analysis on the topic of becoming as a causal factor of dukkha
(suffering)
The Shape of Suffering (https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/ShapeOfSuffering/Section000
1.html), a study of patittasamuppāda (dependent co-arising) and its relationship to the factors
of the Noble Eightfold Path
Skill in Questions (https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/SkillInQuestions/Section0001.html),
a study of how the Buddha's fourfold strategy in answering questions provides a framework
for understanding the strategic purpose of his teachings
Noble Strategy, The Karma of Questions, Purity of Heart, Head & Heart Together, and
Beyond All Directions, collections of essays on Buddhist practice
Meditations (1-10), collections of transcribed Dhamma talks
Dhammapada: A Translation (https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/index_Dhp.html),
a collection of verses by the Buddha
And as co-author, a college-level textbook, Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction

Aside from Buddhist Religions, all of the books and articles and talks mentioned above are available for
free distribution on Bhikkhu's website dhammatalks.org (https://dhammatalks.org).

Some teaching locations

Metta Forest Monastery (http://watmetta.org)
Portland Friends of Dhamma (http://www.pdxdhamma.org)
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (http://www.dharma.org/bcbs)
The Cambridge Insight Meditation Center (http://cambridgeinsight.org)
Insight Meditation Center (http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org)

References
 1. พระภาวนาวิธานปรีชา วิ. (เจฟฟรีย์ ฐานิสฺสโร) (https://sangkhatikan.com/monk_view.php?ID=755).
2. Roether 1995.
3. "Talks, Writing & Translations of Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu" (https://www.dhammatalks.org/).
4. Orloff, Rich (2004), "Being a Monk: A Conversation with Thanissaro Bhikkhu" (http://www.ob
erlin.edu/alummag/spring2004/feat_monk.html), Oberlin Alumni Magazine, 99 (4)
5. De Graff, Geoffrey Furguson (2022-04-29). Right Next to Ignorance (https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=beX61KwZhJw).
6. "Survival Tactics for the Mind: Thanissaro Bhikkhu speaks about tradition, sexism, and
following the Buddha's rules" (https://tricycle.org/magazine/survival-tactics-mind/). Tricycle.
Winter 1998.
7. "About; Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Phra Ajaan Geoff)" (https://www.dhammatalks.org/). Retrieved
January 13, 2019.
8. "Contributing Authors and Translators: Biographical Notes" (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/li
b/authors/index.html#than). Access to Insight (Legacy Edition). Retrieved August 31, 2010.
9. Quli 2008.
10. "Jhanas, Concentration, and Wisdom" (http://www.dhammatalks.net/Books/Bhikkhu_Thanis
saro_Jhanas_Concentration_Wisdom.htm). DhammaTalks.net. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
11. "The Customs of the Noble Ones" (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/cust
oms.html). Access to Insight. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
12. "DN 16 Mahā Parinibbāna Sutta | the Great Total Unbinding Discourse" (https://www.dhamm
atalks.org/suttas/DN/DN16.html).
13. "Nibbana Sutta: Total Unbinding" (https://web.archive.org/web/20201008040455/http://www.
vipassana.co.uk/canon/khuddaka/udana/ud8-3.php). www.vipassana.co.uk. Archived from
the original (http://www.vipassana.co.uk/canon/khuddaka/udana/ud8-3.php) on 2020-10-08.
14. "Mature Strategies | Meditations2" (https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Meditations2/Sectio
n0040.html).
15. https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Meditations2/Section0040.html at end
16. Bullitt, John (2007), "Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff)" (http://www.accesstoinsight.or
g/lib/authors/thanissaro/), Access to Insight, retrieved August 31, 2010

Bibliography
Quli, Natalie (2008), "Multiple Buddhist Modernisms: Jhana in Convert Theravada" (http://w
ww.leighb.com/Jhana_in_Theravada_Quli.pdf) (PDF), Pacific World: 225–249
Roether, Barbara (Fall 1995), Exile Spirit: A profile of Thanissaro Bhikkhu and the Metta
Forest Monastery (http://www.tricycle.com/new-buddhism/three-refuges-triple-treasure/exile-
spirit), Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
Survival Tactics for the Mind: Thanissaro Bhikkhu speaks about tradition, sexism, and
following the Buddha's rules (https://web.archive.org/web/20150909073221/http://www.tricyc
le.com/special-section/survival-tactics-mind), Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Winter 1998,
archived from the original (http://www.tricycle.com/special-section/survival-tactics-mind) on
2015-09-09
Shankman, Richard (2008), The Experience of Samadhi: An In-depth Exploration of
Buddhist Meditation (http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Experience%20of%20Sa
madhi_Shankman.pdf) (PDF), Shambhala Publications, ISBN 978-1-59030-521-8
 Thanissaro (2010), The Customs of the Noble Ones (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth
ors/thanissaro/customs.html), Access To Insight

External links
Dhamma Talks and Writings of Ṭhānissaro Bhikku (http://www.dhammatalks.org/)
Wat Mettavanaram Forest Monastery (http://www.watmetta.org/)
Suttas read aloud (http://www.suttareadings.net/audio/index-readers.html#than)
Audio archive from the Do It Yourself Dharma website (https://web.archive.org/web/2009010
3171953/http://diydharma.org/Thanissaro)
Talks at AudioDharma (http://www.audiodharma.org/teacher/16/)
Lecture 2019 "Right View Comes First" (a lecture representative of what he teaches) (https://
dhammatalks.org/Archive/Lectures/IMSB/20191001-Thanissaro_Bhikkhu-IMSB-right_view_
comes_first-58982.mp3)

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