Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu | |
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Metta Forest Monastery (since 1993) | |
Website | dhammatalks |
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (also known as Ajahn Geoff; born December 28, 1949) is an American
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is perhaps best known for his translations of the
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Biography
Part of a series on |
Buddha in the Japanese Tea Garden, San Francisco |
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Early life
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu was born Geoffrey DeGraff in 1949 and was introduced to the
Time at Oberlin
At Oberlin College in the early 1970s, "he eschewed campus political activism because 'I didn't feel comfortable following a crowd.' For him, the defining issue of the day wasn't Vietnam, but a friend's attempted suicide."[6] Ṭhānissaro took a religious studies class when he found out there was meditation involved. Ṭhānissaro writes: "I saw it as a skill I could master, whereas Christianity only had prayer, which was pretty hit-or-miss."[6]
First trip to Thailand
After graduating in 1971 with a degree in European Intellectual History from
After a brief stay with the teacher, which was cut short by malaria, he returned to the U.S. to weigh the merits of academia and monasticism.[citation needed]
Return to Thailand
Ṭhānissaro states that when he returned to Thailand, he originally planned on becoming a monk tentatively for five years. When he said that he wanted to be ordained, Ajahn Fuang made him promise to either "succeed in the meditation or die in Thailand. There was to be no equivocating."[2] Ṭhānissaro felt certain upon hearing this.
Time with Ajahn Fuang
By Ṭhānissaro's third year ordained as a monk, he became Ajahn Fuang's attendant. Ajahn Fuang's case of psoriasis deteriorated. It reached a point where Thānissaro had to be at his side constantly.
Ṭhānissaro writes: "When I talked with Ajahn Fuang about going back to the West, about taking the tradition to America, he was very explicit. 'This will probably be your life's work,' he said. He felt, as many teachers have, that the forest tradition would die out in Thailand but would then take root in the West."[2]
Posting at Wat Metta
Before Ajahn Fuang's death in 1986, he expressed his wish for Ajahn Geoff to become abbot of Wat Dhammasathit. Ṭhānissaro says that in spite of Ajahn Fuang's wish there were a lot of people maneuvering to become abbot.[citation needed] After Ajahn Fuang died, Wat Dhammasathit had already come far from the outlying forest hermitage that Taan Geoff had once arrived at. Ṭhānissaro said: "Ajahn Fuang said to keep moving; this is not a tradition that works well in big groups." Taan Geoff declined the offer of abbot of Wat Dhammasathit, which came with strings attached, and no authority since he was a Westerner in a monastery founded by and for Thai monks.
Instead of taking that position, he travelled to
Teachings
Classical Buddhist modernism
Views on commentarial meditation practice
Ṭhānissaro rejects the practice of
Forest as teacher and Buddhist counterculture
Ṭhānissaro talks about the importance of the forest to give rise to the qualities of mind necessary to succeed in Buddhist practice.[11] Barbara Roether writes:
Like Thoreau, Thanissaro Bhikkhu has founded a kind of Walden as the Abbot of the
Metta Forest Monastery near San Diego, the first Thai forest tradition monastery in this country. Just as the utopian movement in America was sparked by the advent of the industrial revolution, the forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism was developed in Thailand around the turn of the century by Ajahn Mun Bhuridatto in reaction to the increasing urbanization of the Buddhist monastic communities there. Forest monks abandoned the heavy social demands of the city and devoted themselves to meditation instead.[2]
Unbinding with reference to nibbana
Ṭhānissaro and others use the term "unbinding" when discussing nibbana.[12][13]
On the self
Ṭhānissaro says that our sense of self is an activity, and a strategy for avoiding suffering and maximizing happiness.[14]
Achieving "true happiness"
Ṭhānissaro writes, "You let go of the grosser forms of happiness, the grosser strategies for happiness, and get used to more and more refined ones. And they finally take you to the point where there's no course left but to let go of strategies. All strategies... This is the way to true happiness."[15]
Publications
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu's publications include:[16]
- Translations of Ajahn Lee's meditation manuals from Thai
- With Each and Every Breath, a basic meditation guide
- Handful of Leaves, a five-volume anthology of suttatranslations
- The Buddhist Monastic Code, a two-volume reference handbook on the topic of monastic discipline
- Wings to Awakening, a study of the factors taught by awakening
- The Mind Like Fire Unbound, an examination of Upādāna (clinging) and Nibbana (Nirvana) in terms of contemporary philosophies of fire
- The Paradox of Becoming, an extensive analysis on the topic of dukkha(suffering)
- The Shape of Suffering, a study of patittasamuppāda (dependent co-arising) and its relationship to the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path
- Skill in Questions, a study of how the Buddha's fourfold strategy in answering questions provides a framework for understanding the strategic purpose of his teachings
- Noble Strategy, The Karma of Questions, Purity of Heart, Head & Heart Together, and Beyond All Directions, collections of essays on Buddhist practice
- Meditations (1-10), collections of transcribed Dhammatalks
- Dhammapada: A Translation, a collection of verses by the Buddha
- And as co-author, a college-level textbook, Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction
Aside from Buddhist Religions, all of the books and articles and talks mentioned above are available for free distribution on Bhikkhu's website dhammatalks.org.
Some teaching locations
- Metta Forest Monastery
- Portland Friends of Dhamma
- Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
- The Cambridge Insight Meditation Center
- Insight Meditation Center
References
- ^ a b พระภาวนาวิธานปรีชา วิ. (เจฟฟรีย์ ฐานิสฺสโร).
- ^ a b c d Roether 1995.
- ^ "Talks, Writing & Translations of Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu".
- ^ a b c Orloff, Rich (2004), "Being a Monk: A Conversation with Thanissaro Bhikkhu", Oberlin Alumni Magazine, 99 (4)
- ^ De Graff, Geoffrey Furguson (April 29, 2022). Right Next to Ignorance.
- ^ a b c "Survival Tactics for the Mind: Thanissaro Bhikkhu speaks about tradition, sexism, and following the Buddha's rules". Tricycle. Winter 1998.
- ^ "About; Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Phra Ajaan Geoff)". Retrieved January 13, 2019.
- ^ "Contributing Authors and Translators: Biographical Notes". Access to Insight (Legacy Edition). Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ Quli 2008.
- ^ "Jhanas, Concentration, and Wisdom". DhammaTalks.net. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
- ^ "The Customs of the Noble Ones". Access to Insight. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
- ^ "DN 16 Mahā Parinibbāna Sutta | the Great Total Unbinding Discourse".
- ^ "Nibbana Sutta: Total Unbinding". www.vipassana.co.uk. Archived from the original on October 8, 2020.
- ^ "Mature Strategies | Meditations2".
- ^ https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Meditations2/Section0040.html at end
- ^ Bullitt, John (2007), "Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff)", Access to Insight, retrieved August 31, 2010
Bibliography
- Quli, Natalie (2008), "Multiple Buddhist Modernisms: Jhana in Convert Theravada" (PDF), Pacific World: 225–249
- Roether, Barbara (Fall 1995), Exile Spirit: A profile of Thanissaro Bhikkhu and the Metta Forest Monastery, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
- Survival Tactics for the Mind: Thanissaro Bhikkhu speaks about tradition, sexism, and following the Buddha's rules, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Winter 1998, archived from the original on September 9, 2015
- Shankman, Richard (2008), The Experience of Samadhi: An In-depth Exploration of Buddhist Meditation (PDF), ISBN 978-1-59030-521-8, archived from the original(PDF) on February 15, 2015
- Thanissaro (2010), The Customs of the Noble Ones, Access To Insight