Ajahn Chah
Ajahn Chah (17 June 1918 – 16 January 1992), also known as Luang Por Chah, was a Thai Buddhist monk and an influential teacher of the Thai Forest Tradition. He was born near Ubon Ratchathani in northeast Thailand, ordained as a monk in 1939, and spent years as a wandering forest monk, including time with Ajahn Mun.
In 1954 he founded Wat Nong Pah Pong, and in 1975 Wat Pah Nanachat, an international forest monastery for Western monks. His students include many Western teachers, among them Ajahn Brahm, and the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah has spread across Europe, the United States and the Commonwealth.
Sources: Wikipedia: Ajahn Chah, About Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org), ajahnchah.org and Wat Nong Pah Pong.
The source books are © The Sangha, Wat Nong Pah Pong, and are offered for free distribution. You can read them free at ajahnchah.org.
Being Mindful Stories currently has 30 stories from his talks, retold in our own words from his free-distribution books, each with the talk, book and pages it comes from. Each one is a retelling in our own words, not Ajahn Chah's own words; read the original talk in the book. Browse all stories A–Z, or describe your situation to find a match.
Stories from Ajahn Chah, A–Z
- Asking Ajahn Mun about the Visuddhimagga — Overwhelmed by the endless detail of the monastic texts, the young Ajahn Chah asks Ajahn Mun what…
- Beeswax in the ears — As a young monk disturbed by noise, Ajahn Chah stuffs his ears with beeswax, only to find that the…
- Coming to stay at Wat Nong Pah Pong — Invited by his mother, Ajahn Chah settles in the forest his father once spoke of, endures fever…
- Deep peace on a village-party night — On a night of loud village celebrations, Ajahn Chah's mind settles three times into a deep, still…
- First night in the charnel ground — Ajahn Chah forces himself to spend a night in a cremation ground, sits through terror, a funeral…
- King Mahajanaka and the mango tree — A king finds his fruit-laden mango trees stripped and broken by greedy ministers, while a…
- Por Sang teaching Dhamma in the bamboo grove — One night Ajahn Chah follows the sound of a non-stop talk to a bamboo grove and finds the…
- Running off to live alone — Fed up with companions, Ajahn Chah runs off to live alone, and within a fortnight catches his mind…
- Sariputta does not yet believe — Asked by the Buddha whether he believes a teaching, Sariputta says not yet, and the Buddha praises…
- Searching the mountains for a teacher — Afraid of practising wrongly, Ajahn Chah wanders from mountain to mountain looking for a teacher,…
- The bird, the fish and the wise crab — A bird lures the fish of a shrinking pond away one by one with tales of a wonderful lake, until a…
- The Buddha's plate floats against the current — Before his enlightenment the Buddha floats his plate of rice on a stream, and it drifts upstream;…
- The disciple who would not mend his roof — A monk eager to 'let go' refuses to repair his half-collapsed hut, then protests when Ajahn Chah…
- The empty flag — Two monks argue over whether the wind or the flag is moving, until their teacher says there is no…
- The five ascetics abandon the Buddha — When the Buddha gives up extreme austerities and eats normally, his five companions think he has…
- The friend who lifted the Buddha statue — An old practice companion tells Ajahn Chah that he proved his own purity by lifting a Buddha…
- The fruit trees in the abandoned monastery — Camping in an abandoned monastery, Ajahn Chah will not eat its fruit without permission, and when…
- The lay sage and Ajahn Tongrat's stump — A precept-keeping patron makes one excuse after another for fishing and killing frogs, slowly…
- The monk who would keep his money — A visiting monk asks to stay and keep his money 'without attachment'; Ajahn Chah answers that if…
- The poisoned banana — In his early years as a monk, Ajahn Chah sees sense pleasures as a sweet but poisoned banana, and…
- The thirsty man and the poisoned water — A thirsty traveller is warned that a tempting drink will make him gravely ill, drinks his fill…
- The tortoise who pitied the snake — In a forest fire a slow tortoise pities a snake for having no legs, but the snake slips away…
- The wanderer who went from teacher to teacher — A wanderer collects teachers and methods until his confusion only grows; the Buddha tells him to…
- The wandering master he first misunderstood — Ajahn Chah listens with inner disrespect to a wandering meditation master, and only years later,…
- The wild chickens and the rice — In the forest, wild chickens fear the rice Ajahn Chah throws them, until they see for themselves…
- The young novice in the cemetery — A very young novice lives alone in a cemetery; when Ajahn Chah checks on him, he is at ease,…
- Three groups of disciples when the Buddha died — When the Buddha died, some disciples wept, some were relieved to be free of his exhortations, and…
- Unoffered food at the Saraburi temple — Staying at a village temple, Ajahn Chah and his monks quietly eat only plain rice rather than food…
- Venerable Empty-Scripture and the muddy bog — A famous scholar monk is greeted by the Buddha as 'Empty Scripture', sees that he studies but does…
- Watching Ajahn Tong Raht eat — As a young monk, Ajahn Chah is upset that his teacher eats fast and noisily while telling others…
Stories about Ajahn Chah
Ajahn Brahm trained under Ajahn Chah and often tells stories about him in his talks. Read 30 Ajahn Brahm stories about Ajahn Chah.