Ajahn Chah

The life and his teachings.

Subject: BUCU 21322

Lecturer: Sandamali Udeshika

Student: Do Tho Ha (Nadi)

Student Id: HS/FS20/0009

The Content:
1. Background Information

2. Early life.

3. Monasteries founded.

4. Later life.

5. Conclusion.

6. References.
The Background Information
Renowned for the beauty and simplicity of his teachings, Ajahn Chah was one of the greatest
meditation teachers within Theravāda Buddhism of the last century.

1. Dhamma Name: Subhaddo.

2. Other names: Luang Por Chah, Ajahn Chah, Chao Kun Bodhinyana Thera.

3. School: Theravada, Maha Nikaya, Buddhism.

4. Born: June 17, 1918 – Ubon Rachathani, N.E Thai Land

5. Died: January 16, 1992 (aged 73), Ubon, Thai Land.

Early life
- As is traditional, Ajahn Chah entered the monastery as a novice at the age of nine, in March 1931.
- He learned to read and write here for 3 years and returned to the lay life to help his parents.
- At the age of twenty, on April 26, 1939, he again entered a monastery and took higher ordination as a bhikkhu.
- In 1946, he chose to leave the settled monastic life and became a wandering ascetic after his death of his
father. He lived in caves and forests while learning from the meditation monks of the Forest Tradition. The
monks of this tradition keep very strictly what they believe to be the original monastic rule laid down by the
Buddha known as the vinaya. 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. Other examples of these practices are sleeping
outside under a tree, or dwelling in secluded forests or graveyards.
Ajahn Chah steadily practiced the path of morality, concentration and wisdom to the highest point, the complete
liberation, Nibbāna (Nirvana).
His teachings on meditation and Buddhist philosophy are simple, full of humour but at the same time deep and
confrontational.
Monasteries founded
- In 1954, Wat Nong Pah Pong monastery was established and included over 250 branches throughout Thailand, 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. This is
the first monastery in Thailand geared towards training English speaking Westerners in the monastic Vinaya.

- In 1977, Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho were invited to visit the United Kingdom by the English Sangha Trust who
want to form a residential sangha. In 1979, Cittaviveka or Chithurst Buddhist Monastery was founded in England.

- Now, several of Ajahn Chah’s Western students have since established monasteries throughout the world, such as:
Ajahn Sumedho, abbot of Cittaviveka and Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, England. Ajahn Khemadhammo, abbot of
The Forest Hermitage, England. Ajahn Viradhamma, abbot of Tisarana Buddhist Monastery, Canada. Ajahn Pasanno,
abbot of Abhayagiri Monastery, USA. Ajahn Brahmavamso, abbot of Bodhiyana Monastery, Western Australia, etc…
Later life
- The early 1980s, Ajahn Chah’s health was in decline due to diabetes. But he still 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 the true refuge within themselves, since he would not be able to
teach for very much longer.”

- He would remain bedridden and ultimately unable to speak for ten years, until his death on January
16, 1992, at the age of 73.
Conclusion
Venerable Ajahn Chah always gave his talks in simple, everyday language. His objective was to clarify the
Dhamma, not to confuse his listeners with an overload of information. Wisdom is a way of living and being, and
Ajahn Chah has endeavored to preserve the simple monastic life-style in order that people may study and
practice the Dhamma in the present day.
“When I had been practicing for only a few years, I
still could not trust myself. But after I had experienced
much, I learned to trust my own heart. When you
have this deep understanding, whatever happens,
you can let it happen, and everything will just rise
and pass away. You will reach a point where the
heart tells itself what to do.”

-AJAHN CHAH-
References:
https://forestsangha.org/ajahn-chah/biography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajahn_Chah

No Ajahn Chah, Reflections, Complied & Edited by Dhamma Garden.

About Ajahn Chah, The Teachings of Ajahn Chah, compilers and editors: bhikkhus Dhammajoti and
Gavesako, 2007, pages xi – xv.

https://www.ajahnchah.org/book/About_Ajahn_Chah.php
Mahā Kassapa
The Father of the Sangha

Subject: BUCU 21322

Lecturer: Sandamali Udeshika

Student: Do Tho Ha (Nadi)

Student ID: HS/FS20/0009

The content
1. Introduction.

2. The early life.

3. The Buddha’s teaching to the Māha Kassapa Thero.

4. The characteristic trait of the Māhakassapa Thero.

5. Conclusion.

6. References.
Introduction
- Mahākassapa (Sanskrit: Mahākāśyapa) was one of the principal disciples of the Buddha.

- He is regarded in Buddhism as an enlightened disciple, being foremost in ascetic practice.

- He has been described as “Both an anchorite and the friend of mankind, even of the outcast.”
 The Early Life
Name: Pipphali.

Born: in the village Mahātittha, Magadha country.

He is the son of the brahman Kapila and his wife Sumanadevi. His father owned sixteen villages over which he ruled like a little
king, so Pipphali grew up in the midst of wealth and luxury.

In his young years, he wish to leave the worldly life and hence he did not want to marry. But under the family’s arrangement, he
reluctantly got married Bhaddā Kāpilanī, a wealthy brahman’s daughter, aged sixteen, four years younger than Pipphali
Kassapa.

Bhaddā Kāpilanī also wished to live a religious life, so young couple both agreed to maintain a life of celibacy.

After their parents passed away, they took charge of the large property, but soon to shake by the insight into kammic
retribution, they both decided to go forth into the ascetic’s life.

When walking on the way to find the liberation, Kassapa went ahead while Bhaddā followed behind him. But they quickly
realized it was not suitable for ascetics and agreed to separate at a crossroads to seeking the high goal of Arahantship. It is
said that the earth, shaken by the power of their virtue, quaked and trembled.

After that, on the way between Rājagaha and Nālandā, Kassapa met the Buddha sitting under the banyan tree waiting for him
and immediately decided to become the disciple of the Buddha.
The Buddha’s teaching
to Mahā Kassapa Thero
The Master said to Māha Kassapa Thero: “Sit down, Kassapa. I shall give you your heritage.” Then he gave
the following three exhortations:

1. “You should train yourself thus, Kassapa: “A keen sense of shame and fear of wrong doing (hiri-ottappa)
shall be present in me towards seniors, novices, and those of middle status in the Oder.

2. “Whatever teaching I hear that is conducive to something wholesome, I shall listen to with an attentive ear,
examining it, reflecting on it, absorbing it with all my heart.”

3. “Mindfulness of the body linked with gladness shall not be neglected by me! Thus should you train yourself.”

(Cīvara Sutta – S16.11)

1. Tibbaṃ me hi’rottappaṃ paccupaṭṭhitaṃ bhavissati theresu navesu majjhimesūti

2. Yaṃ kiñci dhammaṃ suṇisāmi kusalūpasaṃhitaṃ sabbaṃ taṃ aṭṭhiṃ katvā manasikaritvā sabba, cetasā
samannāharitvā ohita, sôt dhammaṃ suṇissāmīti.

3. Sāta, saha, gatā ca me kāya, gatā sati na vijahissatīti.

The characteristic trait
of Māha Kassapa.
1. Māha kassapa shared with the Master seven of the thirty-two "Marks of a Great Man."

2. He had been the only monk with whom the Buddha had exchanged robes. This exchange of robes
can be regarded as a great distinction bestowed on Kassapa, an honor which was not shared by any
other disciple. By that exchange of robes the Buddha may have intended to motivate Kassapa to
observe some other "austere practices" (dhutanga).

3. He possessed to the highest degree the ten "qualities that inspire confidence.”

4. Here his powerful meditative achievements, equaling those of the Buddha, appear as a characteristic
trait of Maha Kassapa's mind. He can attain at will the four fine-material and immaterial meditative
absorptions, the cessation of perception and feeling, the six supernormal knowledges.

5. He has been described as “Both an anchorite and the friend of mankind, even of the outcast.”
Conclusion
- According to tradition, Mahākassapa Thero assumed the leadership of the Sangha following
the death of the Buddha, presiding over the First Buddhist Council, near Rājagaha. He was
seen as the de facto head of the Sangha. Later on, he handed over the Buddha’s alms bowl to
Ānanda as symbol of the faithful preservation of the Dhamma. Thus, Mahākassapa Thero had
been generally recognized in the Order as the worthiest in succession.

- There is no report in the Pali literature about the time and circumstances of Mahākassapa’s
death, but through the Northern Buddhist tradition, he climbed to the summit of Mount
Kukkaṭapāda alone, sat down cross-legged in a cave and made the determination that his body
should remain intact until the coming of the future Buddha Metteyya.

- He attained final Nibbāna here. The earth quaked, the devas strewed flowers over his body
and the mountain closed over him.
References:
Maha Kassapa, Father of the Sangha, Hellmuth Hecker, 1995.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/hecker/wheel345.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahākāśyapa.