The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah

(3-vol. boxed set, Aruna Publications, 2011)

In this new collection of his previously published English-language teachings, the renowned Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah offers unparalleled insight into the nature of the mind and how it relates to itself—so as to effect either tangles and confusion or freedom and release. He offers the Buddha’s teachings in his signature no-nonsense, straightforward style using simple language, humor and delightful application of simile. At times he is fierce and exacting, as when he urges the monastic community to make full use of the renunciant life. At other times he’ll make you laugh out loud, such as when he warns meditators not to think too much because obsessive thinking will bring you to tears. Ajahn Chah says he wants to “teach the Dhamma in a balanced way”—neither so vague or broad that people don’t know how to practice, nor so esoteric that it’s difficult to decipher. Instead, he insists on making conditions “just right for the listener to understand and practice to personally benefit from the teachings.” Clearly, in this collection his teaching accomplishes this objective.     —Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia

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Meditation: A Way of Awakening by Ajahn Sucitto

(275 pp., Amaravati Publications, 2011)

Ajahn Sucitto offers this how-to book for those relatively new to meditation and the Buddha’s path. Even so, it’s not just for beginners. While Ajahn’s tone is intimate and informal, he assumes the reader to be smart and perceptive. There’s no dumbing-down. The book is divided into three parts: body, mind-states and awareness. The core consists of numerous exercises—such as guided meditations—designed to lead the reader on to progressively deeper levels of practice. Often these are followed by text that addresses difficulties the reader may encounter and suggestions for taking the exercises further. In addition, the book provides lots of doctrinal context for the exercises, covering a wide range of topics, including the five aggregates, karma and the nature of awakening. Ajahn Sucitto brings his own unique perspective to the subject matter. His teachings speak to the power of emotion, energetic currents and somatic intelligence. This may sound like airy, new-age stuff, but it’s all down-to-earth: direct and skillful means for those on the path to liberation.     —Matthew Grad

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The Truth of Rebirth (and Why It Matters for Buddhist Practice) by Thanassaro Bhikkhu (Ajaan Geoff DeGraff)

(62 pp., Metta Forest Monastery, 2011)

Is rebirth in the Buddha’s teachings merely a cultural artifact of his times? Ajaan Geoff says no, and provides ample excerpts from the Pali suttas showing that rebirth is “woven inextricably” throughout the teachings. And yet, he observes, “of all the Buddha’s teachings, rebirth has been one of the hardest for modern Westerners to accept.” In this booklet, Ajaan addresses our resistance head-on, pulling no punches. He explains why, in terms of Buddhist practice, “placing your bets” on the truth of rebirth is a wise thing to do. Some of us might balk at that, partly because we think of rebirth as something that happens to a “being” after death. But that isn’t the whole story, not by a long shot, as Ajaan explains in detail. This book goes deep, probing some of the Buddha’s most difficult teachings, such as dependent co-arising, leading us to a new, more intimate relationship with his teaching on rebirth.     —Matthew Grad

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Selves and Not-Self  by Thanassaro Bhikkhu (Ajaan Geoff DeGraff)

(106 pp., Metta Forest Monastery, 2011)

As followers of the Dhamma, we may have abandoned the view that there’s an essential self and taken up the “Buddhist view” that no self exists. Ajaan Geoff tells us, however, that the Buddha was not much concerned with such ontological matters—instead, his teachings focus on practical strategies to end suffering. One strategy, Ajaan says, uses the two ways we perceive things—as self and as not-self—to help us end stress and suffering. This strategy is what this important book is about. It offers a radically different tack from that of trying, relentlessly, to realize not-self as an “ultimate truth.” For Ajaan, perceiving things as not-self is a strategic activity to be mastered. This entails “knowing how to put down a particular sense of self when it’s no longer skillful, and ultimately, when your selves have taken you as far as they can, knowing how to let go of them all.”     —Matthew Grad

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From the Fall 2012 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 29, No. 1)

© 2012 by the authors