Luang Por Liem: The Ways of the Peaceful - Wat Pah Nanachat

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person that is accomplished and pure in the qualities and virtues of a true Sangha member. Speaking of ‘Sangha’; it is worth mentioning that Sangha doesn’t have anything to do with specific, individual monks. When speaking about the Sangha in its conventional sense (sammuti-sangha), the Buddha didn’t refer to certain monks. Sammuti-sangha merely means a group of four or more monks; a sufficient number to be able to perform communal duties. This is one way the Buddha defined ‘Sangha’. But in what the Buddha called the ariya-sangha, the group of the Noble Enlightened Beings, the word ‘Sangha’ is related to their realisations of the Dhamma. In that context the Buddha did refer to certain individuals: those that no longer fall under the power of the Worldly Dhammas, or those that are not prone to agati and therefore progress with right practice – namely: those who walk the Middle Way. The Middle Way doesn’t follow the course of Worldly Dhammas. These are the paths of householders and ordinary unenlightened beings. If our behaviour is not yet accomplished in the Dhamma, there will always be elements of agati. So in this matter of changing one’s behaviour, what we should do is have a look at ourselves and evaluate our own feelings. Observing other people can take us far away from relating to ourselves in a way where we can see the Dhamma. This is an interesting aspect of Dhamma: how is it possible that good and bad feelings arise, or happiness and suffering? Happiness, according to our way of thinking, is positive, and for us who haven’t yet reached the level where one truly feels content, anything that is dukkha is undesirable. But those who are accomplished and free from the mind states of worldly, 110
unenlightened people would maintain that even sukha is something negative. They would see neither sukha nor dukkha as something positive. The Buddha still considered feelings of appreciation as dangerous. They are another aspect of dukkha. Only because we agree to this type of dukkha, we say it’s positive. There has to be peace from sukha and dukkha, peace from good and bad, peace from agreement and disagreement. This peace arises from seeing things in the light of the nature of reality. This is how we should observe things. One needs to be well aware of the different kinds of angles from which one looks at things. This is why the Buddha taught us to live grounding ourselves in attention and heedfulness, looking at the world and all the mind states that arise in ourselves. If the things that occur in our mind arise in a peaceful way, without proliferating or fantasizing about the Worldly Dhammas, they can potentially provide peace and happiness for us. This is what is called “seclusion from the sankharas” in the Buddha’s words – seclusion from the proliferating mind states. This is something that is hard to put into words: if there is no mental proliferation, how is it possible for somebody to act at all? One can understand it in this way: those who don’t have any activity of mental proliferation carry out their actions with a state of mind that is perfected with what the Buddha called kindness, friendship, and helpfulness, or metta. Metta means wanting to be useful to those people that are still in a state of danger – wanting similar benefits to arise in them. You could call it the intention of a real grown-up person. It is the way the Buddha acted. In that sense, when one pursues the peace that arises from separation from the defilements (upadhi-viveka), peace means peace from 111
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The Ways of the Peaceful Teachings
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Information about the Ajahn Chah Tr
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Foreword “The Ways of the Peacefu
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In this book, besides general outli
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“Following in the Footsteps of th
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Day by day our lives come closer to
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pleasure. We should maintain that i
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endurance, resolute strength and di
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“Practising One’s Duties” 13
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elies on nothing else but the human
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knowledge of how to improve things
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“Ordination: Going Forth” 19
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Ordination: Going Forth Going Forth
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Now I will tell you the basic medit
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permanent. All these are just state
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We develop peaceful bodily conduct.
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In our training there is the topic
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good or that thing is better or the
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“Ordination: The Announcements”
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Ordination: The Announcements After
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where we naturally have to rely on
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“Contentment” 39
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Contentment During his visit to Mal
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Don’t go and follow the thoughts
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45 “Restraint”
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Restraint Luang Por Liem gave the f
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current. They never give way to the
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“Gentleness, Humbleness and Patie
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Gentleness, Humbleness and Patience
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espectful starts to feel smoother a
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follow the principle of being happy
Page 65 and 66: “Wealth and Fame” 59
Page 67 and 68: Wealth and Fame Excerpt from Luang
Page 69 and 70: nature of animals to live in consta
Page 71 and 72: “Advice on Robe Washing Day” 65
Page 73 and 74: Advice on Robe Washing Day From Lua
Page 75 and 76: But still, the Buddha wanted us to
Page 77 and 78: “Creating Benefit” 71
Page 79 and 80: Creating Benefit On April 25 th , 2
Page 81 and 82: - One should teach the Dhamma in a
Page 83 and 84: The way Luang Por Chah lived. it wa
Page 85 and 86: “Reflections after the Patimokkha
Page 87 and 88: spiritual qualities that we have ac
Page 89 and 90: Practicing mindfulness of the body,
Page 91 and 92: nine types of higher knowledge aris
Page 93 and 94: attitude of practice and willingnes
Page 95 and 96: him to recite principles of the tea
Page 97 and 98: So, at this time, as we are about t
Page 99 and 100: “The Ornaments of One Gone Forth
Page 101 and 102: laypeople or householders 37 , who
Page 103 and 104: We should be determined to look, to
Page 105 and 106: eauty to arise. Walking - one is be
Page 107 and 108: Our practice relies on following ce
Page 109 and 110: to cover ourselves. If we stay far
Page 111 and 112: of the heart is damaged, simply tha
Page 113 and 114: “Different from Ordinary People
Page 115: Dhamma; we are prejudiced. If one s
Page 119 and 120: existing, and ceasing to be. From t
Page 121 and 122: didn’t want us to study anywhere
Page 123 and 124: “From the Darkness to the Light
Page 125 and 126: From the Darkness to the Light Exce
Page 127 and 128: Until the state of perfection is re
Page 129 and 130: wear out. They don’t consider the
Page 131 and 132: Feelings are just feelings, happine
Page 133 and 134: someone is just a product of the de
Page 135 and 136: People who have no problems, who do
Page 137 and 138: modern terms. This provides the abi
Page 139 and 140: 133 We sometimes wonder where purit
Page 141 and 142: goodness towards me. With such thou
Page 143 and 144: of the body as attractive and beaut
Page 145 and 146: Over long periods of time, our expe
Page 147 and 148: journey together. May this be usefu
Page 149 and 150: 143 Look and figure it out Try and
Page 151 and 152: hojane mattaññuta (Pali): Knowing
Page 153 and 154: saddha (Pali): Confidence, faith or
Page 155: About Luang Por Liem Luang Por Liem
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Luang Por Liem: The Ways of the Peaceful - Wat Pah Nanachat

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