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Introduction 簡介
Introduction 簡介
Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro is Phra Ajaan Keng’s primary teacher. He was born on 28 December 1949, and grew up in rural New York and Virginia, in the United States of America.
During high school, he went to the Philippines under the auspices of the American Field Service (AFS). On the plane going back home, he met two American students who had been to Thailand and been ordained as novices (sāmaṇeras). During their conversations, they explained to him the Buddha’s most fundamental teaching, the Four Noble Truths, and he found that it made a lot of sense to him. The following year, he met his girlfriend who was the daughter of a military man who had been stationed in Thailand. She had lots of stories to tell about Thailand as well, so he was intrigued.
During his sophomore year at Oberlin College, Donald Swearer, a professor of religion, brought in a monk from Japan and a monk from Thailand to teach meditation. He signed up immediately and felt that “This is a really cool skill. You sit down and breathe, and you come up an hour later a much better person.’ That’s what I liked about meditation from the beginning: learning how to bring your mind under control and find happiness inside.”
Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro graduated from Oberlin College in 1971 and was a Shansi Rep in Chiengmai, Thailand, for two years, 1972–74. There he taught English at Chiengmai University. Towards the end of his tenure there, in 1974, he ordained as a Buddhist monk and fi rst met his primary teacher, Than Phor Fuang Jotiko (a close student of Than Phor Lee Dhammadharo) at Wat Dhammasathit, Rayong, Thailand. He planned to extend his time in Thailand, but caught malaria and had to disrobe to return to the USA.
He thought of getting his graduate degree in religion and teaching Buddhism at the university level, so he went to an American Academy of Religion conference in Chicago, where the three big names in Thai Buddhist studies — Donald Swearer, Frank Reynolds, and Stanley Tambiah — were giving presentations. Only about ten people showed up, though, and there was no dialogue going on at all. He thought, “I can’t do this with my life,” and kept thinking about Than Phor Fuang on his hillside, with not much to his name — yet perfectly happy. He eventually decided to return to Thailand in 1976 to have the full-time opportunity to meditate. Than Phor Fuang took him back as a student on one condition: That he make a vow that he would be willing to die in Thailand if he didn’t succeed in his meditation. Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro took the vow. He was ordained on 7 November 1976 at Wat Asokaram, with Phra Rajavaraguṇa (Samrong Guṇavuḍḍho) as his Preceptor, and Phra Khru Suvaṇṇadhammajoti (Ajaan Thong Candasiri) as his Announcing Teacher.
Within a few years, he became Than Phor Fuang’s attendant monk. Before passing away in 1986, Than Phor Fuang made it known that he wanted Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro to take over Wat Dhammasathit as its abbot. However, there was no precedent for a Westerner taking over a Thai monastery that had been founded by and for Thai monks, so the position of abbot remained vacant for five years.
By the time he was offered the position of abbot, there were so many strings attached that it would have been all responsibility and no authority. It was then that Phra Ajaan Suwat Suvaco sought him out and asked him to help translate at a retreat he was to teach in Massachusetts in May of 1990. It was on this retreat that an American student off ered to donate land for Phra Ajaan Suwat to build a forest monastery. Phra Ajaan Suwat refused to accept the off er unless Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro returned to the USA to help with the project. So Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro agreed to help. In 1991 (2534), he moved to Wat Metta, and in 1993 (2536) Phra Ajaan Suwat requested that he assume the position of the abbot of the new monastery. Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro has been resident there ever since. However, he teaches extensively in the USA, Canada, France, and Brazil, and returns to Southeast Asia every few years.
Phra Ajaan has contributed signifi cantly to the growth of Buddhism and the teachings of the Thai Forest Meditation Tradition by translating many of the teachings of the Kruubaa Ajaans and the Pali Canon, and by giving meditation and Dhamma teachings. Some of his major works are The Buddhist Monastic Code, volumes 1 & 2, The Mind Like Fire Unbound, The Wings to Awakening, Skill in Questions, Buddhist Romanticism, On the Path, and Right Mindfulness. His works and teachings are off ered freely in print and in softcopy via the internet (Dhammatalks.org and accesstoinsight.org). There is also a growing collection of his talks on Youtube.
Before passing away, Than Phor Lee told Than Phor Fuang to be responsible for his books after he was gone. Than Phor Fuang was not sure of what Than Phor Lee meant, as he felt that he did not have the educational standing to be responsible for Than Phor Lee’s books. However, judging by the huge volume of works by Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro, we can certainly surmise that Than Phor Lee foresaw that Than Phor Fuang was going to be responsible for training the person who would continue his legacy of putting the Dhamma in writing and expanding it further to English speaking readers of the world.
In recognition of his extensive work in translating (from both Pali & Thai languages), compiling, and teaching the Dhamma to a global following, Phra Ajaan received an honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD – Buddhist Studies) by the Mahamakut Buddhist University, Thailand, in 2005. In the same year, the King of Thailand also gave him the ecclesiastical title of Chao Khun, with the name Phra Bhāvanāvidhānaparijā.
Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro has been a driving force for the growth and understanding of the teachings and practice of the Kammaṭṭhāna tradition in Singapore and Malaysia, by his coming to teach in Wat Palelai. He also inspired and facilitated the ordination of Phra Ajaan Keng Khemako. Moreover, he has been guiding the monastics and lay people in the way in which Buddhism and the Kammaṭṭhāna practices are to be introduced and conducted in Wat Palelai and Wat Santi. In the early years of the founding of Wat Santi, for example, he helped to ordain new monks, undertaking the role of the Preceptor during the ordinations.
Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro has a strong and growing group of students and supporters in the USA, where he has been advocating strict adherence to the study and practice of the Dhamma & Vinaya, as taught in the Pali Canon. This is no simple task, as all the major and minor schools of Buddhism are present in the USA. While that may seem like a good thing, there are also the challenges of having to ensure that people do not misinterpret the Dhamma in accordance with their whims and fancies, in the name of wanting to re-make Buddhism to be more in tune with the times, or with Western culture and beliefs.
Since his return to the USA, Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro has also been an exemplar of how the mentorship model of the monastic life is to be lived, albeit in an environment foreign to its original context. A growing number of men who desire to live the life of a monk have come to study with him, and as of September 2017, there are thirteen monks under his tutelage in Wat Metta. Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro has been tutoring some of them in the Thai and Pali languages and this will, hopefully, ensure that the Dhamma as taught by the Forest Meditation Masters will continue to live on and expand even further in the West. （cred. to 寧心寺）
坦尼沙羅比丘（Phra Ajaan Ṭhānissaro）是Ajaan Keng 的主要導師。他於1949年12月28日出生，在美國紐約州和維吉尼亞州的鄉村地區長大。
高中時期，他透過美國野外服務組織（AFS）的資助前往菲律賓。在返家的飛機上，他遇見兩位曾到泰國短期出家為沙彌（sāmaṇeras）的美國學生。交談中，他們向他解釋佛陀最根本的教導——四聖諦，他深感共鳴。次年，他結識了女友，其父曾是駐泰軍官。她講述了許多關於泰國的故事，更引發了他的興趣。
就讀歐柏林學院（Oberlin College）二年級時，宗教學教授唐納德·斯威勒（Donald Swearer）邀請了一位日本僧侶與一位泰國僧侶前來教授禪修。他立刻報名參加，並感覺「這真是一項絕妙的技能。你坐下、呼吸，一小時後起身，整個人煥然一新。這正是我最初喜歡禪修的原因：學習如何調伏自心，從內在尋得快樂。」
坦尼沙羅比丘於1971年從歐柏林學院畢業，1972至1974年間以「善士代表」（Shansi Rep）身份在泰國清邁服務，於清邁大學教授英語。1974年任期結束前，他在泰國羅勇府的瓦達摩薩提寺（Wat Dhammasathit）出家為比丘，並初次遇見其主要導師——阿姜放·焦提科（Than Phor Fuang Jotiko，阿姜李·達摩達羅的親近弟子）。他原計劃延長在泰時間，卻因感染瘧疾而不得不還俗返回美國。
他曾考慮攻讀宗教學碩士學位，於大學教授佛學，因此參加了在芝加哥舉辦的美國宗教學院會議。當時泰國佛教研究領域的三位知名學者——唐納德·斯威勒、弗蘭克·雷諾茲（Frank Reynolds）與斯坦利·坦比亞（Stanley Tambiah）——皆在場發言。然而，聽眾僅約十人，且毫無互動交流。他心想：「我不能這樣度過一生。」並不斷憶念起山間簡樸卻安樂自在的阿姜放。最終，他於1976年決定重返泰國，全心投入禪修。阿姜放接納他為弟子，但提出一個條件：必須立誓——若禪修未成，甘願死於泰國。坦尼沙羅比丘鄭重立誓，並於1976年11月7日在瓦阿索卡蘭寺（Wat Asokaram）受具足戒，戒師為Phra Rajavaraguṇa（桑朗·古那弗陀），揭磨師為Phra Khru Suvaṇṇadhammajoti（阿姜通·詹達西利）。
數年內，他成為阿姜放的侍者。1986年圓寂前，阿姜放明確表示希望由坦尼沙羅比丘接任瓦達摩薩提寺住持。然而，由西方人接管專為泰國僧眾創建的寺院並無先例，因此住持之位懸空長達五年。
當住持職位終於被提出時，卻附帶諸多限制，使之有責無權。此時，阿姜蘇瓦特·蘇瓦喬（Phra Ajaan Suwat Suvaco）邀請他協助翻譯，於1990年5月在麻薩諸塞州舉辦的禪修營進行教學。禪修期間，一位美國學員提出捐贈土地供阿姜蘇瓦特建造森林寺院。阿姜蘇瓦特堅持除非坦尼沙羅比丘返回美國協助，否則不接受捐贈。於是坦尼沙羅比丘應允相助。1991年（佛曆2534年），他移居美德寺（Wat Metta）；1993年（佛曆2536年），阿姜蘇瓦特請其擔任新寺院的住持。此後，坦尼沙羅比丘便常駐於此。他亦廣泛在美國、加拿大、法國及巴西教學，並每隔數年重返東南亞。
坦尼沙羅比丘透過翻譯諸多禪修大師著作及巴利經典，並傳授禪法與佛法，對佛法弘揚與泰國森林禪修傳統的傳播貢獻卓著。其重要著作包括《佛教僧侶戒律》卷一與卷二、《無縛之心》、《覺悟之翼》、《善巧問答》、《佛教浪漫主義》、《於道上》、《正念》等。其作品與教法透過網路（Dhammatalks.org 與 accesstoinsight.org）免費提供印刷版與電子版，其在YouTube上的開示集亦持續增長。
阿姜李圓寂前，曾囑咐阿姜放負責其身後著作。阿姜放當時不解其意，自覺學養不足，難當此任。然而，從坦尼沙羅比丘豐碩的譯作與著述來看，我們可以確信：阿姜李早已預見，阿姜放將培養出繼承其志業之人，將佛法以文字形式留存，並進一步傳播至全球英語讀者。
鑒於坦尼沙羅比丘在翻譯（自巴利文與泰文）、編纂與向全球信眾教授佛法方面的卓越貢獻，泰國瑪哈摩古佛教大學於2005年授予其榮譽哲學博士學位（佛學研究）。同年，泰國國王亦敕封其為「昭坤」（Chao Khun），法號「Phra Bhāvanāvidhānaparijā」。
坦尼沙羅比丘親赴瓦巴雷萊寺（Wat Palelai）教學，極大地推動了新加坡與馬來西亞對「禪修傳統」（Kammaṭṭhāna）教法與實踐的增長與理解。他亦啟發並促成了 Ajaan Keng Khemako 的出家因緣，並持續指導瓦巴雷萊寺與瓦桑提寺（Wat Santi）的僧俗二眾，確立佛法與禪修實踐在該寺院的弘揚方針。例如，在瓦桑提寺創立初期，他曾多次擔任戒師，為新戒比丘授具足戒。
在美國，坦尼沙羅比丘擁有眾多日益增長的信眾與護持者。他始終倡導嚴格依循巴利經典中的佛法與戒律（Vinaya）進行修學。這並非易事，因美國匯聚了佛教各宗各派。雖看似多元，卻也面臨挑戰：須防止人們以「使佛教更契合時代或西方文化信仰」為名，依個人好惡曲解佛法。
自返回美國後，坦尼沙羅比丘亦樹立了僧團師徒傳承生活模式的典範——儘管處在與原初環境相異的國度。越來越多渴望出家生活的男性前來依止學習；截至2017年9月，美德寺已有十三位比丘在其指導下修行。坦尼沙羅比丘親自教授部分弟子泰文與巴利文，這將有望確保森林禪修大師所傳授的佛法在西方持續扎根，廣為流佈。
《The drawbacks of worldly gains 世間快樂的缺陷》
《The drawbacks of worldly gains 世間快樂的缺陷》
Ajahn Lee once said the goodness of the world isn’t true. And the truth of the world isn't good. You can see that all around us. The goodness of the world is what? It’s wealth. It’s Status. It’s praise. It’s sensual pleasures. But how true are these things? You get wealth and the world can take it away. You've got money. Your name is not on the money. Somebody else's name, even your credit card. Your name is small and the name of the bank is large. The status, again, it can be given to you and it'll be taken away.
The praise of other people doesn't necessarily depend on your own goodness at all. Depends on their opinions. And the pleasures of the world come and go. You work hard to have good karma. You’re Generous. You're virtuous. And then when you gain wealth, gain pleasures, it spoils your character if you're not careful. I say that samsara is a sick job. You work really hard to be good. The rewards of goodness never found in the world. Wear you away, pull you down. On top of that , the way we would look for happiness in the world in terms of wealth and status, Praise, Pleasures. It’s paired with the opposites. Wherever there's wealth, there's gonna be loss of wealth. Or their status is lost. The status where there's praise, there’s going to be criticism. When there's pleasure, there's pain.
And what's even worse is it’s the pursuit of happiness and these things develops divisions among us. When you gain wealth, somebody else has to lose. You gain status, that someone else has to lose status. Same with praise, same with pleasures. Of course, when they gain, then you lose.
This is why there's so much divisiveness in the world, because people are looking for happiness in these things. So the goodness of the world isn't true. The truth of the world is that whatever you trying to latch on to will slip through your fingers. The Buddha gives the image of someone being washed down the river in a flood. There's grass in the bank of the river and you try to hold on to the grass. Near to the grass gets pulled out of the bank, in this case it doesn't offer you any security at all.
Or you try to hold on to it and it cuts through your hands. This is why we're wise here, and coming here to look for goodness inside, goodness in the dharma. Because again, this is Ajahn Lee says the goodness of the Dharma is really true with the truth of the the Dharma is really good. You're all good qualities in mind. Then stay with it. They really are yours. These are things that can't be taken away from here. The only way you can lose your good qualities is if you throw them away. What's also good about them is it you don't have to depend on the goodness of the world in order to develop them. You created them from within. It's like you have your own source of rain or wealth. You can generate as you like.
---Ajahn Thanissaro
2-12-2025
English transcribed by Dhamma friends
阿姜李曾說：世間的好並非真實，而世間的真理並不美好。這在我們周遭隨處可見。世間的好是什麼？是財富、地位、讚譽、感官享樂。但這些事物有多少真實性？你獲得財富，世間也能將其奪走。你擁有金錢，但錢幣上印的不是你的名字——那是別人的名字，就連信用卡也是：你的名字渺小，銀行名號卻巨大。地位亦然，既能被賦予，也會被剝奪。
他人的讚譽未必源自你的良善，而是取決於他們的看法。世間的快樂則來去無常。你努力行善積德：慷慨布施、持守戒律，而當你獲得財富與享樂時，若不謹慎，反而會敗壞品格。我認為輪迴是一份病態的工作——你辛勤耕耘以求善果，但世間從不存有真正的善報。它只會磨蝕你、拖垮你。更甚者，我們追求世間幸福的方式，無論是財富地位、讚譽或享樂，皆與其對立面相伴相生：有財富處，必有失財；有地位處，必遭跌落；有讚譽處，必生批評；有歡樂處，必存痛苦。
更糟的是，對幸福與這些事物的追求，竟在人際間製造分裂。當你獲取財富，必有人蒙受損失；你攀升地位，必有人失去權位；讚譽與享樂亦是如此。當然，當他們獲得時，你便失去。
正因人們在這些事物中尋找幸福，世間才充斥如此多的分裂。所以說，世間的善並不真實；世間的真理在於：任何你試圖緊抓的事物，終將從指縫流逝。佛陀曾以洪水漂流的景象為喻：有人被洪流沖走，看見河岸邊的草叢便想抓住，但草根輕易被拔起，根本無法提供庇護；又或者，你拚命抓握，草葉反而割傷雙手。
因此，我們在此尋求智慧，向內探求心性中的好、法義中的好。正如阿姜李所言：法的好真實不虛，法的真理至善至美。當心中升起一切良善品質，請安住其中。這些才能真正屬於你，是無法被奪走的珍寶。唯一會失去這些善質的方式，是你親手拋棄。它們的殊勝之處更在於：你無需依賴世間虛幻的善來培育它們，而是從內心深處創造。這就像擁有自己的甘霖之源或財富之泉，能隨心而生，無盡湧現。
——阿姜坦尼沙羅
2025年2月12日
英文聽錄由法友協助
圖片來自 @寧心寺
更多關於阿姜坦尼沙羅：
https://www.knownsee.com/%E5%A4%A7%E5%B8%AB%E7%88%B6-masters/%E7%BE%8E%E5%9C%8B-usa/ajahn-thanissaro
《Precepts are more important tham money 戒行比金錢更加重要》
《Precepts are more important tham money 戒行比金錢更加重要》
I was listening to an interview on the Radio one time. An American has been a soldier in Vietnam years back. He said , every night he remembered this young Vietnamese girl that he had killed. The memory haunted him. He said if he could have had a million dollars and he can go back and undo that deed, he’ll glad to pay that million dollars. And no amount of money in the bank can erase the bad things you've done. Which means that when you hold to the precepts, your precepts are worth more than any kind of money.
我曾有一次在廣播中聽到訪談。一位美國人，多年前曾在越南擔任士兵。他說，每晚都會想起那個被他殺害的年輕越南女孩。那段記憶纏繞著他。他說，如果能夠用一百萬美元回到過去、抹去那樁行為，他會欣然付出一百萬。然而，銀行裡再多的錢也無法消除你做過的惡事。這意味著，當你持守戒律時，你的戒行比任何金錢都更有價值。
---Ajahn Thanissaro
2-12-2025
English transcribed by Dhamma friends
《Let go of the lesser happiness to get the greater happiness 捨小樂，得大樂》
《Let go of the lesser happiness to get the greater happiness 捨小樂，得大樂》
The second quality is truth. Which is paired with relinquishment. Because once you made-up your mind that you're gonna follow it a good path. You realize that there are things you have to give up. You know, this is not popular, especially in the modern world where we're told we can have everything. I have a friend who teaches at a university back in America. She writes novels. Many of her novels are set in at a university back in America. She writes novels. Many of her novels are set in China. And every time one of her new novels comes out, she's invited to the alumni clubs at the university. Did you read the portion of her novel? So when one of the novels, the incident that she read involved a young woman who had lost her
mother. The father swears up and down he's gonna be true to the memory of the mother.
But after a while, his eyes began to wander. He goes down to the southern part of China on business and comes back with the new wife, Cortisone. But the new wife is a good woman and she wants to be a good mother to the girl. And so one evening, they're playing chess. You know, she's playing chess, she's giving lessons to the young girl, saying that if you want to be truly happy in life, you have to decide that there's one thing you want more than anything else. You're willing to give up everything else for that one thing.
The young girl's half listening, half not listening, but she begins to notice that her new mother is a very sloppy chess player. She's losing pieces here, losing pieces there. So the young girl thinks， ‘That was my chance and she gets more aggressive in the game, but in being aggressive she gets careless and pretty soon she's been checkmated. ’
Of course, the way the mother was playing chess illustrated the principle she was trying to teach. You wanna win, you have to be willing to give up your chess pieces. My friend said she read this at a couple of alumni clubs and after the second or third reading, she realized she had to find another part of the novel.
Nobody wanted to hear this message. Everybody wants to win the game, win the game and keep all their pieces. But it doesn't work that way. As has been pointed out, If you see that there's a greater happiness that comes from letting go of a lesser happiness, the wise person is willing to let go of the lesser happiness for the sake of the greater happiness.
---Ajahn Thanissaro
2-12-2025
English transcribed by Dhamma friends
第二項特質是「真實」。它與「捨離」相伴而生。因為一旦你決心踏上善道，便會明白有些事物必須放下。你知道，這並不受歡迎——尤其在當代社會，人們總被告知「我們可以擁有一切」。我有一位在美國大學任教的朋友，她是小說家，許多作品都以中國為背景。每當她的新書出版，總會被邀請至大學校友會朗讀片段。
有一次，她朗讀小說中的一段情節：一位年輕女子失去了母親，父親信誓旦旦要忠於對亡妻的記憶。但時日漸久，他的目光開始游移。一次赴中國南方出差後，他帶著新妻子科蒂松返家。這位新母親是個善良的女子，真心想對女孩付出關愛。
某個傍晚，兩人下棋。新母親一邊教女孩下棋，一邊說道：「若想在生命中得到真實的快樂，你必須決定什麼是自己最渴望的目標——並願意為此捨棄其他一切。」女孩半聽半未入心，卻漸漸察覺這位新母親棋藝粗疏，時而丟失這個棋子，時而失去那個棋子。女孩暗想：「這是我的機會！」於是攻勢轉猛，卻因急進而疏忽，很快便被將死了。
當然，母親的下棋方式正闡釋了她試圖傳授的道理：若想獲勝，必須願意捨棄棋子。我的朋友說，她在幾個校友會朗讀這段後，意識到必須換一段內容——無人願意聆聽這個訊息。人人都想贏得棋局，卻同時緊抓所有棋子。但世事從不如此運作。
正如所指出的：若你洞見「捨棄小樂能帶來更大幸福」，智者便願意為大樂而捨小樂。
——阿姜坦尼沙羅
2025年2月12日
《We simply need goodwill 我們只需要善意》
《We simply need goodwill 我們只需要善意》
when you have goodwill for somebody, it's not a case that they deserve your goodwill. It's more that you need your goodwill. Otherwise you start doing unskillful things and that becomes your own bad karma.
當你對某人懷有善意時，並非因為他們值得這份善意，而是因為你需要這份善意。否則，你便可能開始行不善之事，那將成為你自己的惡業。
---Ajahn Thanissaro
2-12-2025
English transcribed by Dhamma friends
《Be careful about our compassion 慎待我們的悲心》
《Be careful about our compassion 慎待我們的悲心》
you have to be careful about your compassion, careful about empathetic joy. Because sometimes when you see somebody suffering, you may be looking down on them. And your compassion becomes condescending. Which is not skillful.
So when you see somebody who's poor or very, very sick or suffering from bad karma. You have to remind yourself you've been there too. In the many, many lifetimes that you had, there have been some lifetimes where that's where you were. You were that person.
As for people who are happy, sometimes it's very easy to resent their happiness. This is a test for your goodwill. Because we see some people, when they're happy, abuse their good fortune. So you can't resent them. You have to actually have compassion for them because they're foolishly using their good fortune. But again, you have to remind yourself you've probably been there as well. Over our many, many lifetimes, there been times when we've had good fortune and we've all abused it.
---Ajahn Thanissaro
2-12-2025
English transcribed by Dhamma friends
你必須謹慎對待自己的悲心，謹慎對待隨喜。因為有時當你看見他人受苦，或許會不自覺地以俯視的姿態看待他們，而你的慈悲便可能流於居高臨下——這並非善巧。
因此，當你看見貧困、重病或飽受惡業之苦的人，應當提醒自己：你也曾身處同樣的境地。在無盡的生生世世中，你必然也曾經歷那樣的時刻，你正是那樣的人。
至於那些快樂的人，我們有時很容易對他們的幸福感到不滿。這正是對你善意的考驗。因為我們看見有些人，在幸福之時濫用他們的福報。你無法因此心生怨懟，反而應當對他們懷有悲憫，因為他們正愚癡地消耗自身的福德。但同樣，你必須提醒自己：你很可能也曾如此。在漫長的生命輪迴中，我們都曾有過幸運的時刻，而我們也都曾辜負過它。
——阿姜坦尼沙羅
2025年2月12日
英文聽錄由法友協助
《The simile of a cook 廚師之喻》
《The simile of a cook 廚師之喻》
The way the Buddha taught karma, you have raw material coming in from your past karma, your past actions. But the way you experience it right now will depend on what you're doing with that. And it's these three kinds of fabrication that fashioned your past karma into what you actually experienced.
It's like a cook. You go into the kitchen, you have certain raw ingredients, and depending on your skill, you make good food out of it or bad food. If you're engaged in these three kinds of fabrication unskillfully, you're making bad food for yourself. But you can learn how to do it with knowledge. You can develop a skill by doing it and then reflecting on it. You're getting better and better.
---Ajahn Thanissaro
2-12-2025
English transcribed by Dhamma friends
佛陀教導業力之道：過往的業行如同原料送入你手中，但你當下如何經驗這些業果，端賴你如何處理它們。正是這三種造作，將你過去的業轉化為你實際的體驗。
這就像一位廚師。走進廚房，你擁有某些原始食材；憑藉你的技藝，可以烹調出佳餚，也可能煮出劣食。如果你不善巧地運用這三種造作，便是在為自己烹製苦果。但你可以學習以智慧行事——透過實踐與反省培養技能，逐漸進步，愈來愈純熟。
——阿姜坦尼沙羅
2025年2月12日
英文聽錄由法友協助
《The analogy of the salt about kamma 業力的鹽喻》
《The analogy of the salt about kamma 業力的鹽喻》
we focus on the present moment as we meditate. Because that can make the difference between whether we suffer from past karma or not. As the Buddha said that your state of mind right now will depend, will determine how you experience the results of past karma, even past bad karma. If your state of mind is good right now, will not give much suffering to you, not give much pain to you.
The analogy the Buddha gives was having a big lump of salt. If you take that lump of salt and you put it in a small cup of water, you can't drink the water because it's too salty. But if you put that same lump of salt into a large, clean river, you can still drink the water because the water is so much more.
In the same way, if you expand your mind, develop a good state of mind, it's like a large clean river. So whatever past bad karma you've done, you don't have to suffer from it. There may be pains there, but the mind is well trained so that it doesn't have to suffer from the pains.
---Ajahn Thanissaro
2-12-2025
English transcribed by Dhamma friends
image cred. to Tricycle
我們在禪修時專注當下，因為這將決定我們是否承受過去業果之苦。正如佛陀所言：你當下的心境，會影響並決定你如何經驗過去業力——即便是惡業——的果報。若此時心境良善，它便不會帶給你太多苦受、太多痛楚。
佛陀所用的譬喻是：若有一大塊鹽，將其放入一小杯水中，水會鹹得無法飲用；但若將同樣的鹽塊投入一條寬廣清澈的河流中，你仍可飲用河水，因為水量遠大於鹽。
同理，若你拓展自心、培養善妙的心境，就如同擁有一條寬廣清淨的河流。那麼無論過去造作何種惡業，你都不必為此受苦。或許仍有苦痛存在，但心已得到良好訓練，不必再因苦痛而煎熬。
——阿姜坦尼沙羅
2025年2月12日
英文聽錄由法友協助
圖片來自 Tricycle
《Precepts are the giving of universal safety 戒律是給予全世界安全》
《Precepts are the giving of universal safety 戒律是給予全世界安全》
As the Buddha said, when you hold by the precepts with no exceptions ,You're giving universal safety to everybody else. In other words, nobody has anything to fear from you. And when your safety you give to others is universal, then you're gonna have a portion of that safety as well. If you break some of the precepts in some cases, again with people you don't like at times when you want to get ahead or just for convenience sake. And the safety you're giving is not universal and you're not going to have a portion of any kind of universal safety as well
佛陀曾言，當你持守戒律而無例外時，便是將遍及一切的安全給予所有眾生。換言之，無人需要對你心生畏懼。而當你所給予他人的安全是普遍無別的，你自身也將分享這份安穩。
倘若你在某些情境中破戒——或許是面對不喜之人，或許是為了爭先、圖求方便——那麼你所給予的安全便非普遍，而你自身也無法分享任何形式的普世安穩。
---Ajahn Thanissaro
2-12-2025
English transcribed by Dhamma friends
《The way forest masters used to cope with pain 森林派大師面對疼痛的方式》
《The way forest masters used to cope with pain 森林派大師面對疼痛的方式》
Another thing you have to learn how to tolerate is pain. You know, the Buddha does accept the fact that when pain comes to the body, you can use medicine. In fact, the rules for the monks are full of rules about proper medicines that can be used. It's because of the monks’ rules that we know so much about how medicine was practiced in the time of the Buddha.
But he also notes that there are a lot of times when no matter what medicine you give, a pain will not go away. You also know that you're going to have to face in the future, pains of illness, pains of aging, and the pain of death. You don't want your mind to be shaken by these things. And if you're afraid of pain, people can use that fear against you. We see politicians doing this all the time. If you don't want to be pushed around by other people, you have to learn how not to be afraid of pain. You have to learn how to tolerate it. The Buddha’s instructions to deal with pain come in his instructions on how to do breath meditation.
There's a series of four steps that deal with feelings. Says you're trying to breathe, breathe in and out with sensitive to a sense of refreshment. You breathe in and out, sensitive to pleasure. You breathe in and out, sensitive to mental fabrications. In other words, the perceptions you're using and the feelings you're producing. And then you're trying to calm that effect. Know the various forest Ajahns and Ajahn Lee focuses most attention on those first 2 steps. In other words, saying that when there's a pain in one part of the body, you don't focus there right away. You focus on the parts of the body that you can make comfortable by the way you breathe. For the time being, let the pain have that part of the body. You lay claim to another part. That's your foundation.
The image he gives is of eating a mango. If you cut open a mango and discover a rotten spot, you don't eat the rotten spot. You cut that out and you eat just the the good part remaining. In the same way, you can find parts of the body that you can make comfortable by the way you breathe. So focus there and then when you feel secure there, then you can think of that good breath energy going through the pain. Say there's a pain in your knee, in your right knee but the left side of your body is comfortable. Well, think of the good breath energy and the left side going down the spine, going out the leg, through the pain, out the foot.
Don’t make it stop at the pain. Sometimes we have a feeling there's a wall around the pain that the energy cannot penetrate, but that's not a good perception to have. This is where Ajahn Lee’s instructions to move into the third step, being sensitive to your perceptions, and the fourth step in learning to calm them. Think of the pain as being porous. The breath energy can go right through. Sometimes when you do that, the pain will actually go away. At the very least, you dissolve any patterns of tension around it which can only aggravate the pain. But the important thing is you'll learn how not to be afraid of the pain. You can face it, and you can deal with it. Because you have a technique.
---Ajahn Thanissaro
2-12-2025
English transcribed by Dhamma friends
image cred. to original owner
你必須學會忍受的另一件事是疼痛。佛陀確實接受這個事實：當身體感到疼痛時，可以採用醫藥治療。實際上，比丘戒律中有許多關於適當用藥的規範，正是因為這些戒律，我們才得以了解佛陀時代的醫療實踐。
但他也指出，很多時候無論使用何種藥物，疼痛仍不會消失。我們也必須認知，未來必將面對病痛、老苦與死亡的折磨。你不希望自己的心被這些動搖；如果你畏懼疼痛，他人就可能利用這種恐懼來操控你——我們時常看到政治人物如此行事。若不想受人擺布，就必須學會無懼於痛，學會承受它。
佛陀關於面對疼痛的教導，蘊含在他教授呼吸禪修的指引中。其中有一段針對感受的四個步驟：嘗試呼吸時，出息入息覺知清新之感；出息入息覺知愉悅之感；出息入息覺知心之造作（亦即你所運用的想與所生起的受）；接著試著平靜這些影響。
據我所知，許多森林派阿姜與阿姜李最注重前兩個步驟。也就是說，當身體某處感到疼痛時，不要立刻專注於該處，而應將注意力放在能透過呼吸調節而感到舒適的部位。暫時將疼痛的部位「交出去」，你佔據另一處身體部位作為根基。
阿姜李用的比喻是吃芒果：切開芒果若發現有腐壞處，你不會吃腐壞的部分，而是切掉它，只吃剩餘完好的部分。同樣地，你可以找到身體中能透過呼吸調節而舒適的部位，專注於那裡。當你在那裡感到安穩後，再想像良好的呼吸能量流經痛處。比如右膝疼痛，但左側身體舒適，那麼就觀想左側的良性能量沿脊椎下行，經過腿部、穿透痛處，再從腳底流出。
不要讓能量停在痛處。有時我們感覺疼痛周圍彷彿有牆，能量無法穿透，但這並非有益的認知。此時阿姜李的教導會引導我們進入第三步——覺知自身的「想」，以及第四步學習平靜它們。將疼痛想像為多孔隙的，呼吸能量可以直接穿透。有時這樣做，疼痛確實會消失；至少，你能化解疼痛周圍的緊繃模式，而這種緊繃只會加劇痛苦。
但最重要的是，你將學會不再恐懼疼痛。你能面對它、處理它，因為你掌握了方法。
——阿姜坦尼沙羅
2025年2月12日
英文聽錄由法友協助
《Analyze pain to alleviate mental sufferings 剖析疼痛以減輕心苦》
《Analyze pain to alleviate mental sufferings 剖析疼痛以減輕心苦》
Years back, I was asked to participate in a psychology experiment. This was after I learned how to meditate a little bit before I was ordained. And they had me put my hand in a bucket of ice water. My right hand went into the bucket. And they said to imagine that the warmth of my left hand is going to my right hand whenever it is cold and my right hand is going into the left. So I sat there for about 5 minutes. And then they said I could stop because I was breaking the curve.
I found out later that this experiment was designed. They divided people into three groups, one group was told, put your hand in there and when it gets painful, take it out. The second group was told put your hand in there and try to keep it in there as long as you can. The third group, which is the group that I was in, was told this method for thinking of the warmth of their warm hand going to warm up your cold hand and vice versa. And they found, of course, that the third group would keep their hand in the water much longer. Because they were given a a tool to use against the pain. So they were not, they were not afraid of it. That's the first lesson in dealing with pain.
Use whatever comfort you can have in the body. That you can generate through the breath and then you can use that to make yourself fearless in the face of the pain. And give you some tools to use with it. Ajahn Maha Boowa takes the next two steps, steps three and four, goes into a lot of detail. Once you're able to focus on the pain, ask yourself, what kind of perceptions do you have around the pain? For instance, that pain in your knee. You see that it's the same thing as the knee? Irrationally would say it's not, but the way we actually approach the feeling of pain, often that's what it seems to be to be like. Then he says, well, focus on the fact that the knee is made out of the physical elements that make up the body.
Your sense of the body is made up of sense of energy, which is called breath or wind element, warmth, which is the fire element, coolness, which is the water element, and solidity, the earth element. That's what your knee is, your experience the knee is made of, but the pain is something else entirely. To try to see it as something separate. Or you can ask yourself where is the sharpest point of the pain?And if you're trying to follow around, you can see that it moves. Usually when you see a sharp part of the pain, we run away from it, but again, if you learn how to be fearless in the face of the pain, you find that it runs away from you. And sometimes it actually has that feeling that it separates out from the body. It's not in the body anymore. Where you can ask yourself, is the pain one solid block or is it discrete moments that arise and pass away? If it's just moments, it's a lot easier to deal with because you're just dealing with the moments in the present moment. Your past pain is not there. Your future fear of the pain, that's not there. All you have to deal with is a plain and remote present moment. It's a lot easier to deal with that way. Also if you see it as discrete moments, you can ask yourself when those moments arise, are they coming at you or are they going away from you?
I learned this lesson when I was being given a treatment for my back in Singapore one time. We went to see a Chinese doctor, Ajahn Keng took me there. And the doctor started rubbing oil on my back and at first it felt good, but then he rubbed harder and harder until my back was raw and they brought out some bamboo whisks and started beating me on the back. My first thought was what bad karma have I done that I need to experience this. But then I realized he wasn't going to stop. And then I noticed that if I thought that the pain was coming at me,it was hard to take, but I thought it was going away from me as soon as it arose, it was a lot easier to take. It's like sitting in the back of a car or the back seat is facing to the back. And should the car goes down the road, anything that comes into the range of your vision is going away from you already.
So lots of ways of changing the way you perceive the pain so you don't have to suffer so much from it. Here again, we're using verbal fabrication, mental fabrication, and bodily fabrication. With knowledge. In a skillful way. So you realize that how you approach the pain that's coming from past bad karma will make a difference between whether you suffer from it or not.
---Ajahn Thanissaro
2-12-2025
English transcribed by Dhamma friends
image cred. to aranyarefuge.org
多年前，我曾受邀參與一項心理學實驗。那時我剛學會一點禪修，尚未出家。他們要我把右手放進冰水桶裡，並指示：當右手感到冰冷時，就觀想左手的溫暖流向右手，右手則將冷感傳向左手。我如此坐了約五分鐘，後來他們告訴我可以停止了，因為我的表現「偏離了常態曲線」。
後來我得知，這實驗設計將受試者分為三組：第一組被告知「手痛就拿出來」；第二組是「盡可能忍耐久一點」；第三組——也就是我所在的組別——則學習這種「冷暖交替觀想」的方法。結果發現，第三組能將手浸在水中更久，因為他們掌握了應對疼痛的工具，因而無所畏懼。這是面對疼痛的第一課：運用身體中你能透過呼吸創造的舒適感，以此培養面對疼痛的勇氣，並獲得可用的方法。
阿姜摩訶布瓦則深入後兩個步驟（第三、四步），闡述得極為細緻。當你能專注於疼痛時，可問自己：你對疼痛抱持怎樣的認知？例如膝蓋的疼痛——你是否將其與膝蓋本身視為一體？理性上我們知道並非如此，但我們實際感受疼痛的方式卻常如此混淆。他建議：不妨專注於「膝蓋是由組成身體的物質元素所構成」的事實。
你對身體的感知，其實是由能量感（風界）、溫暖感（火界）、涼潤感（水界）與堅實感（地界）所組成。這就是你的膝蓋——你經驗中的膝蓋由這些構成，而疼痛卻是完全不同的東西。試著將它視為獨立的存在。
或者，你可以問自己：疼痛最尖銳的點在哪裡？若試著追蹤，會發現它其實在移動。通常我們會逃避疼痛的尖銳處，但如果你學會無畏地面對它，反而會發現是疼痛在避開你。有時甚至會感到它從身體分離出去，不再屬於身體。
你還可以問：疼痛是一個堅固的整體，還是生起又滅去的個別瞬間？如果只是瞬間，就容易應對得多，因為你只需處理當下的瞬間。過去的疼痛已逝，對未來的恐懼尚未生起，要面對的只是一個單純的當下——這樣容易多了。若視之為個別瞬間，也可觀察這些瞬間是朝你襲來，還是正離你而去？
我曾在新加坡接受背部治療時學到這一課. Ajahn Keng帶我去看一位中醫，醫生先在我背上抹油，起初感覺舒適，但他愈按愈重，直到背部發紅，接著拿出竹籤開始拍打。我第一個念頭是：「我造了什麼惡業，需受這種苦？」但隨即明白他不會停手。這時我注意到：若想著疼痛正襲向我，便難以承受；但若觀想它一生起即遠離，就容易得多。就像坐在後向的車座上，車行途中，所有映入眼簾的事物其實都在遠離你。
如此，透過許多方式改變對疼痛的認知，你就不必承受過多痛苦。在此，我們再次運用語造作、心造作與身造作——以智慧、以善巧的方式運用。於是你會明白：如何面對源於過去惡業的疼痛，將決定你是否為其所苦。
——阿姜坦尼沙羅
2025年2月12日
英文聽錄由法友協助
圖片來自 aranyarefuge.org
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