Food for the Heart : The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah

by Chah, Ajahn; Kornfield, Jack; Amaro, Ajahn

• ISBN13: 9780861713233
• ISBN10: 0861713230
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-06-15
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Summary

Offers a compilation of the Thai Buddhist master's talks on Buddhism andpiritual practice.

Author Biography

Ajahn Chah (1918-92) was part of a movement to establish simple monastic communities in the remote forests of Thailand. At this date over one hundred forest monasteries have been established that look to his teaching as their inspiration. Ajahn Chah's simple yet profound style of teaching has a special appeal to Westerners, and in 1979 the first of several branch monasteries in the West was established in England, and there are now more than ten monasteries in the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Ajahn Amaro is abbot of the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in southeast England and author of numerous books and articles on Buddhist themes across traditions. Born in England in 1956, Ven. Amaro received his BSc. in Psychology and Physiology from the University of London. He studied Buddhism in Thailand in the Forest Tradition and was ordained as a bhikkhu by Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah at Wat Pah Nanachat in 1979. He returned to England and joined Ajahn Sumedho at the newly established Chithurst Monastery. He resided for many years at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England, and in 1996 he established Abhayagiri Monastery in Redwood Valley, California. He lived there until 2010, when he was called back to Amaravati to assume the duties of abbot.

Jack Kornfield co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, in 1975 and later the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. He holds a PhD in clinical psychology. His books include After the Ecstasy, the Laundry and the national bestseller A Path with Heart.
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Table of Contents

Foreword	7	(9)
Jack Kornfield
Introduction	9	(32)
About This Mind	41	(2)
Fragments of a Teaching	43	(10)
Part 1: Conduct-Virtue And The World Of The Senses
Living in the World with Dhamma	53	(8)
Making the Heart Good	61	(8)
Sense Contact-the Fount of Wisdom	69	(12)
Understanding Vinaya	81	(12)
Maintaining the Standard	93	(8)
Why Are We Here?	101	(10)
The Flood of Sensuality	111	(8)
The Two Faces of Reality	119	(16)
Part 2: Meditation
A Gift of Dhamma	135	(6)
Inner Balance	141	(6)
The Path in Harmony	147	(6)
The Training of the Heart	153	(10)
Reading the Natural Mind	163	(16)
The Key to Liberation	179	(40)
Meditation (Samadhi Bhavana)	219	(8)
Dhamma Fighting	227	(4)
Just Do It!	231	(8)
Right Practice-Steady Practice	239	(10)
Samma Samadhi-Detachment Within Activity	249	(8)
In the Dead of Night	257	(18)
Part 3: Wisdom
What is Contemplation?	275	(4)
Dhamma Nature	279	(8)
Living with the Cobra	287	(4)
The Middle Way Within	291	(6)
The Peace Beyond	297	(10)
Convention and Liberation	307	(6)
No Abiding	313	(6)
Right View-the Place of Coolness	319	(4)
Our Real Home	323	(10)
The Four Noble Truths	333	(8)
``Tuccho Pothila''-Venerable Empty Scripture	341	(10)
``Not Sure!''-the Standard of the Noble Ones	351	(12)
Still, Flowing Water	363	(10)
Transcendence	373	(10)
Toward the Unconditioned	383	(12)
Epilogue	395	(2)
Glossary	397	(6)
Notes	403	(6)
Sources of the Text	409	(6)
Index	415