Reflections

by Ajahn Chah

Genres: Buddhism, Philosophy

205 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Ajahn Chah was born in 1918 in a village located in the north-eastern part of Thailand. He became a novice at a young age and recieved higher ordination at the age of twenty. He followed the austere Forest Tradition for years, living in forests and begging for almsfood as he wandered about on mendicant pilgrimage.

He practised meditation under a number of masters, among whom was Ajahn Mun, a highly respected and accomplished meditation teacher of the time. Ajahn Mun had an indelible influence on Ajahn Chah, giving his meditation practice the direction and clarity that it lacked. Ajahn Chah later became an accomplished meditation teacher in his own right, sharing his realization of the Dhamma with those who sought it. The essence of his teaching was rather simple: be mindful, don't hang on to anything, let go and surrender to the way things are.

Ajahn Chah passed away in peace after a long bout of illness on January 16, 1992, at his home monastery, Wat Pah Pong, in Ubon Ratchatani.

Reviews

[Jeff Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of many statements and phrases that opened pathways.

'Letting Go'- being an important step.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Buddha tells of a man who had been shot by an arrow and would not let anyone pull it out until his questions about the arrow, The bow and the archer were all answered. The only problem was that the wounded man would probably die before he could get the replies to all of his questions. What he didn’t realize was that he was in pain and dying, and he should do something about that right now.

The certainty is that things must inevitably be uncertain, and that they cannot be otherwise. Feelings are not real, only changes.

Peacefulness is the end of confusion.

You are your own teacher. investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside.

No one and nothing can free you but your own understanding. A lot of thinking without wisdom is extreme suffering.

[Neil Crowle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful little book full of wisdom. I really enjoyed reading this one.

[Bella Peardon · Rating 5 out of 5]

gifted from a friend, cherished forever.

[Binar Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me a brief perspective about Buddhist teachings

Quite refreshing

[Ganga Kahandawala · Rating 5 out of 5]

ඉපදීම හා මරණය
නිවැරදි පුහුණුව ලෙස සැලකිය හැක්කේ " මා ඉපදුනේ කුමකට ද?" කියා ඔබ ඉතා අවංකව ඔඛෙන් ම ඇසීමය. මෙම ප්‍රශ්නය උදේටත්, සවසටත්, රාත්‍රියටත්...එසේම සැම දිනකමත් ඔබෙන් ම අසන්න.
ඉපදීම හා මරණය යනු හුදෙක් එකම දෙයකි. මේ දෙකෙන් එකක් නොමැතිව අනිකට පමණක් පැවතීමට නොහැකිය. මිනිසුන් යම් මරණයකදී තම දෑස්වල ඔය තරම් ප්‍රමාණයක් කඳුළු පුරවා ගනිමින් දුක්වීම, එසේම උපතකදී ප්‍රීතිවීම හා සතුටුවීම දක්නට ලැබීම තරමක් හාස්‍ය ජනකය. එය මුලාවකි. හැඬීම සඳහා කෙනෙකුට සැබැවින්ම අවශ්‍ය නම් උප්පත්තියක් සිදුවූ විට හැඬීම වඩාත් සුදුසු ය කියා මම කල්පනා කරමි. හැඬීම කළ යුතු වන්නේ මුලදීමය. ඒ මක්නිසාද? උප්පත්තියක් සිදු නොවූයේ නම් මරණයක් ද නොසිදු වන නිසාය. ඔබට මෙය වටහා ගැනීමට හැකි ද?

[Andrew Mossberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really nice collection of short Buddhist teachings in the Theravada tradition. They are excerpted from other books by Ajahn Chah. Very accessible and promotes the benefits of meditation and the importance of non-attachment.

[Sikha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was gave to me by my friend answered my curiosity about Buddhism. Good book for reflection as it titled.

[Hendro Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is simply superb. you can understand a dharma from a enlightening and questions provoking stories. Thanks.