Ajahn Pasanno

Ajahn Pasanno was born in Canada. He took ordination in Thailand in 1974 and met Ajahn Chah in his first year as a monk, asking to stay and train under him. He was one of the early residents of Wat Pah Nanachat, the international monastery Ajahn Chah founded in 1975, and became its abbot in his ninth year as a monk. Abhayagiri’s own account says he spent 24 years living in Thailand.

At the end of 1997 he moved to California to share the abbotship of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery with Ajahn Amaro. When Ajahn Amaro left for Amaravati in 2010, he became sole abbot, and he held the post for eight years. In 2018 he stepped back from the abbotship, and Abhayagiri now lists him as its Guiding Elder.

His talks are published by Abhayagiri as audio and on its YouTube channel. Talks on the channel include “More Than Mindfulness”, “Four Protective Meditations” and an ānāpānasati (mindfulness of breathing) daylong.