Background
He was born on May 21, 1906, as Nguam Phanich in Phumriang, Chaiya, Chaiya Province (now Surat Thani Province), Thailand.
(Any practitioner, after meditating for some time, inevita...)
Any practitioner, after meditating for some time, inevitably wonders what meditation method the historical Buddha Shakyamuni himself used while beneath the Bodhi Tree. Many people understand that prior to his realization, Shakyamuni Buddha studied with many of the great yogis of his time, but most do not know what method he ultimately found leads most directly to nirvana. In Ajahn Buddhadasa Bhikkhu's book, Mindfulness With Breathing, the Thai meditation master provides practitioners with penetrating insights into the Anapanasati Sutta, the canonical text which many believe is the most direct transmission of Shakyamuni Buddha's breath meditation methods. Combined with a concise translation of the sutta itself, Mindfulness with Breathing is one of the best guides to Buddhist meditation practice available in the English language.
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(A renowned Buddhist master digs into the idea of interdep...)
A renowned Buddhist master digs into the idea of interdependencythe very core of the Buddhas teachings. Under the Bodhi Tree takes us back to the principles at the heart of Buddhas teachingsconditionality and dependent co-arising. Ajahn Buddhadasa Bhikkhu makes the case for dependent co-arising as a natural law, and builds a compelling presentation from there of Buddhist philosophy, meditation, and practice. Basing himself squarely on the Buddhas own words as preserved in the Pali Canon, he brings clarity and simplicity to what is typically a thorny philosophical knot. By returning dependent co-arising to its central place in Buddhist theory and practice, Ajahn Buddhadasa provides perspective on the Buddhas own insights and awakening. Under the Bodhi Tree is another excellent entry from one of the most renowned Buddhist thinkers of modern times. For students who wish to study further, a companion guide is available from liberationpark.org.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1614292191/?tag=2022091-20
He was born on May 21, 1906, as Nguam Phanich in Phumriang, Chaiya, Chaiya Province (now Surat Thani Province), Thailand.
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu completed his lower secondary education in Chaiya.
He furthered his studies in Bangkok at Wat Pathum Khongkha, where he distinguished himself in Pali and Buddhist studies.
He went to work at age 15 in his family's business after his father's untimely death. Ordained a Buddhist monk in 1927 at Wat Ubon, he rapidly gained a reputation for his intellectual prowess, interest in meditation, and ability as a preacher. He took the name Buddhadasa, Servant of the Buddha.
Returning to Chaiya after studies to lead a more contemplative life, he settled down at a deserted monastery (Thai: wat; Pali: vasa) outside of town. After ten years, as farmers gradually took over the land around the temple, Buddhadasa established his meditation and study center in a 150 acre plot of virgin jungle about five kilometers outside of town. The new center of Suan Mokkhabalarama, or Suan Mokh as it was more generally known, combined aspects of early Buddhist monastic life with modern methods of propagating the Dhamma (the Buddha's teachings).
The 50 to 60 monks residing at Suan Mokh at any given time lived in simple wooden structures with few of the amenities characteristic of monks who lived in large urban monasteries. While they observed the traditional precepts of the monastic life, most monks at Suan Mokh spent more time in meditation and study than the typical Thai monk. Moreover, many engaged in appropriate forms of manual labor such as casting bas-reliefs copied from such ancient Indian Buddhist sites as Sañchi and Barhut. These were then shipped to monasteries around the country.
While the setting of Suan Mokh and the life style of the monks residing there seemed close to the ideal associated with the Buddha and his disciples, other structures were quite modern. For example, there was a "Spiritual Theater" equipped to teach the Dhamma with modern audiovisual equipment. The walls were covered with mural paintings not only from the Theravada Buddhist tradition of Thailand, but also from the Zen Buddhism of China and Japan and from other religious traditions including Christianity. The paintings taught the basic Buddhist precepts, in particular the importance of non-attachment, an attitude which frees one from egoistic preoccupations and the greed and hatred stemming from them.
Buddhadasa's teachings from the 1950 on were collected and published in nearly 50 substantial volumes. They include his written work, as well as numerous talks and lectures which were recorded and transcribed. The oral nature of Buddhadasa's thoughts tends to give the material an informal and contextual cast. Very little has been translated into English or other foreign languages, which accounts for the fact that he was not as well known as Buddhist interpreters who write in English. Part of Buddhadasa's unique genius, however, stemmed from the fact that, with the exception of a pilgrimage to Buddhist sites in India, he lived exclusively in Thailand.
Many of the Thai monks associated with Suan Mokh were, furthermore, well educated, helping to make Buddhadasa's monastery an outstanding place for Buddhist practice and study. While Buddhadasa should be seen as a reinterpreter of his own Theravada tradition, he also studied and was influenced by other religions. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu suffered from heart attacks and strokes as he grew older, but his ardent desire to teach helped to keep him alive. He finally succumbed to a stroke just before his birthday celebration in 1993.
Shortly before he died, he enhanced the Suan Mokkh center by establishing the International Dhamma Hermitage to foster principles of Buddhism among visitors to Thailand. The Hermitage provides instructional curricula for foreign students and meeting facilities for religious leaders from all nations. A final project which he conceived, and which was undertaken by his followers after his death, was the establishment of the small Dawn Kiam monastery (Suan Atammayatärämä). Dawn Kiam is a missionary training facility for monks from other lands.
He established himself as the most creative and controversial interpreter of Theravada Buddhism in the modern period. Buddhadasa developed a personal view that rejected specific religious identification and considered all faiths as principally one. His groundbreaking thought inspired such persons as the French schooled Pridi Banomyong, leader of the Siamese revolution of 1932, and a group of Thai social activists and artists of the 20th century.
(Any practitioner, after meditating for some time, inevita...)
(This work brings together in a single volume the translat...)
(A renowned Buddhist master digs into the idea of interdep...)
At the deepest level, Buddhadasa saw all religions standing for something quite similar. For example, he argued that terms like God, Tao, and Dharma all point to the same underlying truth which transcends all the ordinary distinctions on which conventional language is built. Hence, the religious journey or path should be toward an understanding of things the way they really are, a universal state of being in which we are able to realize our essential oneness with human beings of all kinds and persuasions as well as with the universe. This is a kind of religious socialism in which our own personal well-being is realized in terms of the good of the whole. It is an ideal, to be sure, but one which Buddhadasa hoped would inspire people to work for the peace and harmony of the entire human community.
Buddhadasa was controversial for several reasons. In the first place he was quite critical of conventional Thai Buddhism, which he saw as dominated by a desire to use religion for one's own personal, worldly benefit. In the Thai Buddhist context this is called "making merit" (Thai: tham puñña). Buddhadasa found the preoccupation with the externals of religious rituals and ceremonials with the intent of bettering one's self in the world to be a kind of materialism rather than true religious practice. Buddhadasa was equally critical of a kind of mindless philosophizing which has no transformative effect on one's attitudes and actions. Specifically, he thought that the memorization of endless categories of Abhidhamma philosophy was not only useless, but led one away from genuine religious practice and understanding. However, Buddhadasa was more than a critic of Thai Buddhism. His system of thought represented one of the most comprehensive interpretations of Theravada Buddhism of the modern period, or, as some admirers claimed, ever since Buddhagosha standardized Theravada doctrine in the 5th century A. D. It was an influence comparable to St. Thomas Aquinas in Roman Catholicism. The originality of his thought stemmed from a profound understanding of such seminal Buddhist concepts as interdependent co-arising (paticca samuppada), impermanence (anicca), not-self (anatta), and, of course, Nirvana. His thought was characterized by the use of language in a way which provoked deep insight into these ideas. For example, he made the ordinary Thai term for "nature" (dhamma-jati) into a means of understanding the difficult but fundamental concept of Theravada Buddhism, interdependent co-arising (paticca samuppada).
He read widely, particularly in the Zen Buddhist tradition which he admired, and had rather extensive contacts with Americans and Europeans, several of whom were monks in residence at Suan Mokh.
Quotes from others about the person
In his No Religion (1993) Buddhadasa famously remarked, "in advanced perspectives there is no religious identification whatsoever. "
