Biography
Venerable Ajahn Chah was born on June 17, 1918 in
a small village near the town of Ubon Rajathani, North-East
Thailand. After finishing his basic schooling, he spent three
years as a novice before returning to lay life to help his parents
on the farm. At the age of twenty, however, he decided to resume
monastic life, and on April 26, 1939 he received upasampada
(bhikkhu ordination). Ajahn Chah's early monastic life followed a
traditional pattern, of studying Buddhist teachings and the Pali
scriptural language. In his fifth year his father fell seriously
ill and died, a blunt reminder of the frailty and precariousness
of human life. It caused him to think deeply about life's real
purpose, for although he had studied extensively and gained some
proficiency in Pali, he seemed no nearer to a personal
understanding of the end of suffering. Feelings of disenchantment
set in, and finally (in 1946) he abandoned his studies and set off
on mendicant pilgrimage.
He walked some 400 km to Central
Thailand, sleeping in forests and gathering almsfood in the
villages on the way. He took up residence in a monastery where the
vinaya (monastic discipline) was carefully studied and practiced.
While there he was told about Venerable Ajahn Mun Bhuridatto, a
most highly respected Meditation Master. Keen to meet such an
accomplished teacher, Ajahn Chah set off on foot for the Northeast
in search of him.
At this time Ajahn Chah was wrestling with a
crucial problem. He had studied the teachings on morality,
meditation and wisdom, which the texts presented in minute and
refined detail, but he could not see how they could actually be
put into practice. Ajahn Mun told him that although the teachings
are indeed extensive, at their heart they are very simple. With
mindfulness established, if it is seen that everything arises in
the heart-mind. ..right there is the true path of practice. This
succinct and direct teaching was a revelation for Ajahn Chah, and
transformed his approach to practice. The Way was
clear.
For the next seven years Ajahn Chah practiced in
the style of the austere Forest Tradition, wandering through the
countryside in quest of quiet and secluded places for developing
meditation. He lived in tiger and cobra infested jungles, using
reflections on death to penetrate to the true meaning of life. On
one occasion he practiced in a cremation ground, to challenge and
eventually overcome his fear of death. Then, as he sat cold and
drenched in a rainstorm, he faced the utter desolation and
loneliness of a homeless monk.
In 1954, after years of
wandering, he was invited back to his home village. He settled
close by, in a fever ridden, haunted forest called 'Pah Pong'.
Despite the hardships of malaria, poor shelter and sparse food,
disciples gathered around him in increasing numbers. The
monastery, which is now known as Wat Pah Pong began there, and
eventually branch monasteries were also, established
elsewhere.
In 1967 an American monk came to stay at Wat Pah
Pong. The newly ordained Venerable Sumedho had just spent his
first vassa ('Rains' retreat) practicing intensive meditation at a
monastery near the Laotian border. Although his efforts had borne
some fruit, Venerable Sumedho realized that he needed a teacher
who could train him in all aspects of monastic life. By chance,
one of Ajahn Chah's monks, one who happened to speak a little
English visited the monastery where Venerable Sumedho was staying.
Upon hearing about Ajahn Chah, he asked to take leave of his
preceptor, and went back to Wat Pah Pong with the monk. Ajahn Chah
willingly accepted the new disciple, but insisted that he receive
no special allowances for being a Westerner. He would have to eat
the same simple almsfood and practice in the same way as any other
monk at Wat Pah Pong. The training there was quite harsh and
forbidding. Ajahn Chah often pushed his monks to their limits, to
test their powers of endurance so that they would develop patience
and resolution. He sometimes initiated long and seemingly
pointless work projects, in order to frustrate their attachment to
tranquility. The emphasis was always on surrender to the way
things are, and great stress was placed upon strict observance of
the vinaya.
In the course of events, other Westerners came
through Wat Pah Pong. By the time Venerable Sumedho was a bhikkhu
of five vassas, and Ajahn Chah considered him competent enough to
teach, some of these new monks had also decided to stay on and
train there. In the hot season of 1975, Venerable Sumedho and a
handful of Western bhikkhus spent some time living in a forest not
far from Wat Pah Pong. The local villagers there asked them to
stay on, and Ajahn Chah consented. The Wat Pah Nanachat
('International Forest Monastery') came into being, and Venerable
Sumedho became the abbot of the first monastery in Thailand to be
run by and for English-speaking monks.
In 1977, Ajahn
Chah was invited to visit Britain by the English Sangha Trust, a
charity with the aim of establishing a locally-resident Buddhist
Sangha. He took Venerable Sumedho and Venerable Khemadhammo along,
and seeing the serious interest there, left them in London at the
Hampstead Vihara (with two of his other Western disciples who were
then visiting Europe). He returned to Britain in 1979, at which
time the monks were leaving London to begin Chithurst Buddhist
Monastery in Sussex. He then went on to America and Canada to
visit and teach. After this trip, and again in 1981, Ajahn Chah
spent the 'Rains' away from Wat Pah Pong, since his health was
failing due to the debilitating effects of diabetes. As his
illness worsened, he would use his body as a teaching, a living
example of the impermanence of all things. He constantly reminded
people to endeavor to find a true refuge within themselves, since
he would not be able to teach for very much longer. Before the end
of the 'Rains' of 1981, he was taken to Bangkok for an operation;
it, however, did little to improve his condition. Within a few
months he stopped talking, and gradually he lost control of his
limbs until he was virtually paralyzed and bed-ridden. From then
on, he was diligently and lovingly nursed and attended by devoted
disciples, grateful for the occasion to offer service to the
teacher who so patiently and compassionately showed the Way to so
many.