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.
