Ajahn Chah Memorial Day - Sun 14 January

Ajahn Moneyyo will offer some reflections on occasion of the day of Ajahn Chah's passing away during our regular Sunday program on 14th January. Ever since his passing, the monks in the lineage of Ajahn Chah are gathering every year on the date of his birthday, 17th of June, and on the day of his passing, 16th of January. They all come together to remember our teacher Ajahn Chah with gratitude ('kataññū-katavedī'), and to express that gratitude in the form the teacher would appreciate most; i.e. by practising his teaching. The Buddha himself explained that:

"Whichever monk, Ananda, or nun, or male or female lay disciple lives practising the Dhamma in line with the Dhamma, practises properly and conducts himself according to Dhamma, that person honours, respects, revers and worships the Tathāgatā with the supreme form of worship." [Dīgha Nikāya/Long Discourses #16.5, 'Mahāparinibbānasutta'']

"A person of integrity, monks, is grateful and acknowledges what has been done for him. His virtue can be recognized by exactly this quality, namely gratitude and appreciation. That belongs entirely to the sphere of persons of integrity, namely gratitude and appreciation of what has been done for them." [Anguttara Nikāya/Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Twos #32]

One of our long term Vietnamese supporters has written a little guide with information for anyone interested to attend the Ācariya Pūja for Ajahn Chah. Ty doesn't speak Thai, but she could still easily manage together with her elderly mother; and she likes to encourage everyone to join the Ajahn Chah commemoration at Wat Nong Pah Pong at least once.

Click here for Ty's info guidelines as published on our Dhammagiri blog

A booklet with short introduction to Ajahn Chah's life & teachings can be downloaded here

Senior monks who have personally trained with Ajahn Chah share their recollections of living together with him in this booklet