Meditation Talks by Ajahn Chah, Part 2, Read by Luang Por Pasanno

Luang Por Pasanno reads two more talks by Ajahn Chah from his teachings on formal practice. “Just This Much” (chapter 22) contrasts studying books with studying the eyes, ears and mind directly, using a man who keeps cows without drinking their milk and a ladle that never tastes the soup. “Still, Flowing Water” (chapter 17) is introduced as a talk given on a mountain in north-east Thailand, late in Ajahn Chah’s teaching life. It looks at body and mind as nama and rupa. A misplaced pen shows how wrong understanding causes worry, and a rock over grass stands for samadhi, with wisdom as the rock left in place. Ajahn Chah warns against clinging to good and evil, asks listeners to meet every sensation as uncertain, and illustrates this with a monkey, a glass already broken and a dam without a spillway. The reading ends on the still, flowing water of the title.