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Thai Forest Tradition

Type	Dharma Lineage
School	Theravada Buddhism
Formation	c. 1900 ; Isan, Thailand
Founders	Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta, Ajahn Sao Kantasilo
Founding Maxims	The customs of the noble ones (ariyavamsa) The Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma (dhammanudhammapatipatti)

The Kammaṭṭhāna Forest Tradition of Thailand (Pali: kammaṭṭhāna [kəmːəʈːʰaːna] meaning "place of work"), commonly known in the West as the Thai Forest Tradition, is a lineage of Theravada Buddhist monasticism, as well as the lineage's associated heritage of Buddhist praxis. The tradition is distinguished among other Buddhist traditions for it's doctrinal emphasis of the notion that the mind precedes the world, it's description of the Buddhist path as a training regimen for the mind, and it's objective to reach proficiency in a diverse range of both meditative techniques and aspects of conduct that will eradicate defilements (Pali: "kilesas") — unwholesome aspects of the mind — in order to attain awakening.

The tradition began circa 1900 with Ajahn Mun Bhuridatto and Ajahn Sao Kantasilo: two Dhammayut monks from the Lao-speaking cultural region of Northeast Thailand known as Isan. They began wandering the Thai countryside out of their desire to practice monasticism according to the normative standards of Classical Buddhism (which Ajahn Mun termed "the customs of the noble ones") during a time when folk religion was observed predominately among Theravada village monastic factions in the Siamese region. Because of this, orthopraxy with regard to the earliest extant Buddhist texts is emphasized in the tradition, and the tradition has a reputation for scrupulous observance of the Buddhist monastic code, known as the Vinaya.

Nevertheless, the Forest tradition is often cited as having an anti-textual stance, as Forest teachers in the lineage prefer edification through ad-hoc application of Buddhist practices rather than through methodology and comprehensive memorization, and likewise state that the true value of Buddhist teachings is in their ability to be applied to reduce or eradicate defilement from the mind. In the tradition's beginning the founders famously neglected to record their teachings, instead wandering the Thai countryside offering individual instruction to dedicated pupils. However, detailed meditation manuals and treatises on Buddhist doctrine emerged in the late 20th century from Ajahn Mun and Ajahn Sao's first-generation students as the Forest tradition's teachings began to propagate among the urbanities in Bangkok and subsequently take root in the West.

The purpose of practice in the tradition is to the ultimate end of experiencing the Deathless (Pali: amata-dhamma): an absolute, unconditioned dimension of the mind free of inconstancy, suffering, or a sense of self. According to the traditions exposition, awareness of the Deathless is boundless and unconditioned and cannot be conceptualized, so it must be arrived at through the aforementioned mental training which includes deep states of meditative concentration (Pali: jhana); and Forest teachers directly challenge the notion of dry insight. The tradition further asserts that the training which leads to the Deathless is not undertaken simply through contentment or letting go, but the Deathless must be reached by "exertion and striving" (sometimes described as a "battle" or "struggle") to "cut" or "clear the path" through the "tangle" of defilements that bind the mind to the conditioned world in order to set awareness free.

Doctrine

The mind comes first

Further information: Ajahn Maha Bua § Some basic teachings on the 'Citta'

Excerpt from
The Ballad of Liberation from the Khandas

But then there was another man afraid of death, his heart all withered & discouraged. He came to me and spoke frankly in a pitiful way. He said, "You've made an effort at your meditation for a long time now. Have you seen it yet, the true Dhamma of your dreams?" (Eh! How is it that he knows my mind?)

He asked to stay with me, so I agreed. "I'll take you to a massive mountain with a cave of wonders free from suffering & stress: mindfulness immersed in the body. You can view it at your leisure to cool your heart and end your troubles. This is the path of the Noble lineage. It's up to you to go or not.

I'm not deceiving or compelling you, just telling you the truth for what it is." And then I challenged him with riddles.

                                             (click to show more) ---->

First:

"What runs?"

"What runs quickly is viññana, movements walking in a row, one after another. Not doubting that saññas are right, the heart gets caught up in the running back & forth. Saññas grab hold of things outside and pull them in to fool the mind, Making it think in confusion & go out searching, wandering astray. They fool it with various dhammas, like a mirage."

"What gains total release from the five khandhas?"

"The heart, of course, & the heart alone. It doesn't grasp or get entangled. No more poison of possessiveness, no more delusion, it stands alone. No saññas can fool it into following along behind them."

"When they say there's death, what dies?"

"Sankharas die, destroying their effects."

"What connects the mind into the cycle?"

"The tricks of sañña make it spin. The mind goes wrong because it trusts its saññas, attached to its likes, leaving this plane of being, going to that, wandering till it's dizzy, forgetting itself, completely obscure to itself. No matter how hard it tries to find the Dhamma, it can't catch a glimpse."

"What ferrets out the Dhamma?"

"The heart ferrets it out, trying to find out how saññas say 'good' and grasp at 'bad' and force it to fasten on loving & hating."

"To eat once & never look for more?"

"The end of wanting to look, to know, to hope for knowing more, The end of entanglements. The mind sits still on its dais, discarding its attachments."

Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta, tr. by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Ajahn Mun stated that unawareness (usually identified as the first stage of the cycle of dependent origination) is conditioned and therefore must have an identifiable cause, and he identified this cause as an individuals awareness — simply put, the aspect of one's mind that takes on preoccupations and is aware of them. Ajahn Mun identifies this awareness with the term thitibhutam (Pali, meaning "fixed-source"). Ajahn Lee elaborates on this fixed awareness:

So I would like to make a short explanation: The primal nature of the mind is a nature that simply knows. The current that thinks and streams out from knowing to various objects is a mental state. When this current connects with its objects and falls for them, it becomes a defilement, darkening the mind: This is a mental state in interaction. Mental states, by themselves and in interaction, whether good or evil, have to arise, have to disband, have to dissolve away by their very nature. The source of both these sorts of mental states is the primal nature of the mind, which neither arises nor disbands. It is a fixed phenomenon (ṭhiti-dhamma), always in place. By the primal nature of the mind — which is termed 'pabhassara,' or radiant — I mean the ordinary, elementary state of knowing in the present. But whoever isn't able to penetrate in to know it can't gain any good from it, like the proverbial monkey with the diamond.

The mind is not just the cause for unawareness, it is the cause for awareness as well — the difference being that the mind imbued with delusion is a cause for unawareness, and when the mind is freed from delusion it is a cause for awareness and it is able to be "alert to conditions for what they really are". According to Ajahn Mun the mind will no longer "give rise to conditions again", which will end the cycle of death and rebirth.

Doctrine and Practice of Ajaan Mun and his students

The mind and defilements

The mind (Pali: “citta”, “mano” — used interchangably as “heart” or “mind” en masse) refers to the essential knowing nature of an individual. Ajahn Chah writes:

The mind isn’t “is” anything. What would it “is”? We’ve come up with the supposition that whatever receives preoccupations—good preoccupations, bad preoccupations, whatever—we call “heart” or “mind.” Like the owner of a house: Whoever receives the guests is the owner of the house. The guests can’t receive the owner. The owner has to stay put at home. When guests come to see him, he has to receive them. So who receives preoccupations? Who lets go of preoccupations? Who knows anything? [Laughs] That’s what we call “mind.” But we don’t understand it, so we talk, veering off course this way and that: “What is the mind? What is the heart?” We get things way too confused. Don’t analyze it so much. What is it that receives preoccupations? Some preoccupations don’t satisfy it, and so it doesn’t like them. Some preoccupations it likes and some it doesn’t. Who is that—who likes and doesn’t like? Is there something there? Yes. What’s it like? We don’t know. Understand? That thing... That thing is what we call the “mind.” Don’t go looking far away.

In addition to this quality of taking on preoccupations or “knowing”, Ajaan Maha Bua notes that the mind does not die — the reason that an individual suffers is that the mind becomes superficially tangled with it's preoccupations, and fails to see that it is separate from the aggregates (Pali: khandas), which are subject to the three characteristics.

Phenomena are

preceded by the heart,

ruled by the heart,

made of the heart.

If you speak or act
with a corrupted heart,
then suffering follows you –

as the wheel of the cart,

the track of the ox

that pulls it.

Phenomena are

preceded by the heart,

ruled by the heart,

made of the heart.

If you speak or act
with a calm, bright heart,
then happiness follows you,
like a shadow

that never leaves.

From The Dhammapada (tr. Thanissaro)

The Dhammapada, a poem commonly attributed to the Buddha, begins by saying that all phenomena are preceded by the mind. Ajaan Mun elaborates on this phrase to say that the mind is the origin of the round of dependent origination — the origin of fabrication and all subsequent conventional, fabricated realities. According to Ajaan Mun:

Each and every one of us born as a human being has a birthplace: we have our parents as our birthplace. So why did the Buddha formulate the teaching on sustained conditions only from the factor of unawareness onwards? What unawareness comes from, he didn't say. Unawareness has to have a mother and father just as we do, and we learn from the above line that thitibhutam is its mother and father. Thitibhutam refers to the primal mind.

When the mind in it's primal state (thithibhutam) is “imbued with delusion,” the condition of avijja (Pali, meaning “ignorance” or “unawareness”) is present, which in turn gives rise to sankhara (Pali, meaning “fabrications” or “formations). This avijja also gives rise to the act of clinging to the sankhara, and that combination gives rise to becoming and birth. According to Ajaan Mun: “They are thus called sustained or sustaining conditions because they support and sustain one another.”

Ajaan Lee describes this another way: this primal nature of the mind (when imbued with delusion), streams out from it's essential knowing nature to various objects via a current that “thinks and streams”. This current that “thinks and streams” is referred to as a mental state. When the mental state connects with an object and falls for it subject to craving and clinging it then becomes a kilesa (Pali: “defilement"), which “darkens the mind”.

While these mental states (including mental states in interaction) have the property of anicca (Pali, meaning “impermanence” or “inconstancy”) — they must “arise and disband” by their very nature — the essential knowing nature of the mind never arises nor disbands, and therefore can act as the source of these mental states. Ajaan Lee writes that “[The primal mind] is a fixed phenomenon (ṭhiti-dhamma), always in place. By the primal nature of the mind — which is termed 'pabhassara,' or radiant — I mean the ordinary, elementary state of knowing in the present. But whoever isn't able to penetrate in to know it can't gain any good from it, like the proverbial monkey with the diamond.”

Meditative development

In freeing the mind of defilment, a common analogy used by the Thai Ajaans is that of a battle — if one is successful in overcoming defilement it is seen as a “victory” over the defilements. In keeping with this analogy Ajaan Mun says that one must first establish a stronghold by establishing one's mindfulness in the four satipatthana (Pali, meaning “establishing of mindfulness” or “frames of reference”).

As one works on establishing mindfulness of the four satipatthana, they will also want to employ specific techniques based on problems they face in their practice — i.e. for weakening sensual desire the asubha contemplations are considered useful, and for ill-will the brahmaviharas are considered useful.

Additionally, Ajaan Mun suggests examining the body in all it's parts; later, he suggests a similar examination of the body in terms of the four properties: earth, water, wind, and fire. Ajaan Mun suggests this practice should be “worked at repeatedly.” Ajaan Mun writes:

'Working at it and developing it repeatedly' should be understood as follows: When rice farmers grow rice, they work in the soil, plowing the soil and planting rice in the soil. The following year they grow rice in the soil again. They don't grow their rice in the air or in the middle of the sky. They grow it only in the soil, and the rice then fills their granaries of its own accord. When they work repeatedly in the soil, they don't have to plead, 'Rice, O rice, please come and fill our granaries.' The rice pours in of its own accord. And even if they forbid it, saying, 'Rice, O rice, don't come and fill our granaries,' if they have completed their work in the soil, there's no doubt but that the rice will still come and keep their granaries full.

This metaphor is used to indicate that when doing this work, the meditator should be focused doing the aforementioned work rather than contemplating release with the hope of understanding through conjecture or obtaining by wanting.

Wrong concentration

Central to meditation practice in the Forest tradition is the notion that not only is samadhi a necessary practice for the meditative development, but that certain factors need to be present within one's concentration practice for the concentration to lead to insight. Samadhi practices common in other meditation traditions may involve the taking up either an external theme, such as following visions or signs (Pali: nimitta); or the narrowing of awareness to a focal point on ones body (the tip of the nose, for instance). Ajaan Mun's students dismiss both of the former samatha practices entirely, referring to the narrowing of awareness as a sort of “wrong concentration” which is devoid of the actual factors of jhana in the Buddhist sense:

• The first of the two samatha themes — that of directing ones gaze to an external object — is commonly referred to as kasina practice. The meditator will focus on this object until signs and visions arise, and then follow those signs and visions outside of the body. Ajaan Lee writes that this type of meditation is falls under yogic meditation practices and is outside the scope of Buddhist teachings. He reports that this type of meditation leads to a state of disorientation which is "lacking the mindfulness and alertness that form the present".

According to his spiritual biography, Ajaan Mun practiced such a type of meditation early in his monastic career before devoting himself to mindfulness-immersed-in-the-body practices. Tambiah writes that "[Ajahn Mun] first began his meditation sittings by contemplating the corpse and had images appear before him of bloated and festering bodies being torn to pieces by vultures, gods, and crows; these were followed by quick changes of visions — of climbing and walking on mountains and so on. But such volatile and distracting experiences brought no peace and balance of mind. He then decided to refrain from concentrating on external objects and events and focused his attention on his own body. Having spent some time in walking meditation (cankamma), he turned to sitting meditation using his body (its nature and processes) as the central theme and reached the condition of one-pointedness of mind. This introspective method of meditation became his favored technique, which he later modified as he engaged in more advanced practices and efforts."

• The second aforementioned type of meditation, where one stays in the body but continually narrows their awareness by staring down, ultimately leads to what is referred to in the forest tradition as the plane of non-perception. In this state the mind is put in a sort of trance where it is willed not to settle on even the most fleeting thought, to where all alertness and “sense of body and mind” is lost. Ajaan Lee writes that in this state “Your awareness isn't well-rounded, your mindfulness lacks circumspection, and as a result discernment has no chance to arise. This is called Wrong Concentration, Wrong Release, a mental blank — no awareness of past, present or future.”

Ajaan Lee writes elsewhere that correct concentration practice involves a strong sense of the present moment — aware of the present results the meditation as well as what the meditator is doing to bring about those results. This awareness falls under the evaluation (Pali: "vicara") aspect of jhana.

Release

According to Thanissaro release occurs when the mind touches the amata-dhamma (Pali, meaning “deathless dimension”) — an unconditioned dimension which is already present, but is obscured by the delusion which imbues the mind. One metaphor Thanissaro uses is that of saltwater and freshwater: the freshwater is present in the saltwater, but an effort must be made to distill out and separate the salt so that one can get the freshwater.

The 'original mind' means the original mind of the round in which the mind finds itself spinning around and about, as in the Buddha's saying, 'Monks, the original mind is radiant' — notice that — 'but because of the admixture of defilements' or 'because of the defilements that come passing through, it becomes darkened.' The original mind here refers to the origin of conventional realities, not to the origin of purity. The Buddha uses the term 'pabhassaram' — 'pabhassaramidam cittam bhikkhave' — which means radiant. It doesn't mean pure. The way he puts it is absolutely right. There is no way you can fault it. Had he said that the original mind is pure, you could immediately take issue: 'If the mind is pure, why is it born? Those who have purified their minds are never reborn. If the mind is already pure, why purify it?' Right here is where you could take issue. What reason would there be to purify it? If the mind is radiant, you can purify it because its radiance is unawareness incarnate, and nothing else. Meditators will see clearly for themselves the moment the mind passes from radiance to mental release: Radiance will no longer appear. Right here is the point where meditators clearly know this, and it's the point that lets them argue — because the truth has to be found true in the individual heart. Once a person knows, he or she can't help but speak with full assurance.

Practice

Kammatthana — The place of work

Ajahn Maha Bua writes that the "work" in the word kammatthana is the work of demolishing future births and the removal of defilement from the heart.

Ajahn Chah writes:

As for the path of practice, it's nothing far away. It's right within you: in your body and mind. It's the same whether you're Thai or from abroad. The body and mind are what stir up trouble. But the body and mind can bring peace. [...]

So the practice of bringing the mind to peace is called, in Buddhism, doing kammaṭṭhāna. Kammaṭṭhāna. Ṭhāna means foundation. Kamma is the work we have to do. One part of this is the body; one part is the mind. That's all there is: these two things. The body is a rūpa-dhamma, a physical condition. It has a shape you can see with your eyes. The mind is a nāma-dhamma, a mental phenomenon that doesn't have a shape. You can't see it with your eyes, but it's there. In ordinary language we call these things body and mind. The body you can see with your physical eyes. The mind you can see with your inner eye, the eye of the mind. There are just these two things, but they're all stirred up.

Satipatthana: the foundation for practice

The satipatthana are called the “training area”, and having consistently strong concentration developed with one's attention firmly established in the four satipatthana is called “laying the foundation” or “establishing the stronghold” that forms the area for the training.

This aspect of kammatthana practice is not considered one-to-one with concentration or discernment. It is said in the tradition that concentration gives rise to discernment and discernment allows one to get into or “fosters” deeper concentration – concentration and discernment build off of each other.

The techniques for eradication of defilement

When the practitioner has a solid grounding in the satipatthana (they have set up the "place" for work to be done), they can begin employing the strategies to eradicate defilement.

Ajahn Mun writes:

Once you have investigated the body until it is clear, you should then consider dividing it up into its various parts, using your own way of being methodical. Separate the body into the elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, examining it until you really see it in those terms. At this stage, you may use any strategies of your own devising that are agreeable to your temperament, but you must not in any event abandon the original reference point that first appeared to you. When you are investigating at this stage, you should work at it and develop it repeatedly. Don't investigate once and then let it go for half a month or a month. Investigate in and out, back and forth, again and again. In other words, withdraw inward to quiet the mind and then come out again to investigate the body. Don't exclusively investigate the body or exclusively quiet the mind. When you have investigated in this way until you have it thoroughly mastered, what happens next is what comes of its own accord. The mind is bound to converge in a big way; and the instant it converges, everything will appear to converge, being one and the same. The entire world will be nothing but elements. At the same time, an image will appear of the world as being level as a drum head, because the entire world is of one and the same inherent nature. Forests, mountains, people, animals — even you yourself — will all ultimately have to be leveled down in one and the same way. Together with this vision, knowledge arises, cutting off all doubts in the heart. This is called yatha-bhuta-ñana-dassana vipassana: the clear insight that both knows and sees things for what they actually are.

Ajahn Chah writes:

When the mind is quiet, discernment will arise; discernment will know; discernment will see. When the mind is quiet, use the quiet mind to contemplate. Contemplate what? It's kammatthana: your body from the head down to the toes, from the toes up to the head. Use the quiet mind to keep contemplating back and forth. Look at the hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, and skin as your kammatthana. See that all bodies hyave earth, water, fire, and wind. These four groups are called kammatthana. They're called properties: the earth property, the water property, the fire property, the wind property. When they come together, we call them a "human being," a "living being." But the Buddha said to see them just as properties. . .