RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa - Discussion
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
Matt Jon Rousseau, modified 1 Month ago at 8/26/24 7:47 PM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/26/24 7:47 PM
Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
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I just read this small paperback recently. Maha Boowa was a prominent monk of the Thai forest tradition. The book is light and simple . Similar to Sayadows " practical insight meditation. Although the Thais seem to stress some Jhana skill before mindfulness. Does anybody know of this man.? Are there any retreats based on his methods. Just curious about others experiences
Martin, modified 1 Month ago at 8/26/24 11:27 PM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/26/24 11:27 PM
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
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I've read the book. It's interesting as a sort of alternative model. It's quite different from some other descriptions of the Theravada path, but it seems to have worked well for him.
Matt Jon Rousseau, modified 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 9:49 AM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 9:49 AM
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
Posts: 243 Join Date: 5/1/22 Recent PostsMartin, modified 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 10:19 AM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 10:19 AM
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
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Yeah, probably not the kind of guy I'd like to hang out with. Grumpy Arhats make me scratch my head but they don't seem to be all that uncommon. He was, in seems, very intense. And he sometimes has a brute-force approach to meditation that would be too much for me. Also, his views on citta are a sort of essentialism that does not work for me. But I did enjoy the book. He was living in a time when monks meditating was considered a bit weird in Thailand and he showed that the mind could, indeed, be developed through meditation. I like it when I see an approach that is not appealing for me work. It reminds me that it's a big world.
Matt Jon Rousseau, modified 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 5:52 PM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 5:52 PM
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
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His description of his meditative experience seems typical though . It is basically in line with Theravada that is heavily vissuamttaga based.
Martin, modified 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 8:30 PM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 8:30 PM
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
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If I remember he doesn't mention the Path of Insight stages or the four jhanas, and his description of citta as a permanent thing is, to me anyway, unusual. Cool but different from what I have seen from other teachers. But really, I don't know much about the Visuddhimagga or the full range of Theravada teachings, so it could all be totally standard and just new to me.
Matt Jon Rousseau, modified 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 8:39 PM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 8:39 PM
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
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He never mentions jhana . However he thinks it good ro be well established in samadhi before doing investigation. I am almost convinced samadhi and jhana are ( more or less ) interchangeable. Goenka usually refers to samadhi instead of jhana also.
Martin, modified 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 10:03 PM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/27/24 10:03 PM
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
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Right. Samma samadhi means jhana. That's all through the suttas. But you can have samadhi without it being structured as the four jhanas and the four formless realms. We never say, "first samadhi" or "second samadhi," for example. So not quite interchangeable but the same general thing.
Ben V, modified 1 Month ago at 8/28/24 5:39 AM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/28/24 5:38 AM
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
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I've read some of his stuff. Maha Boowa, unlike Ajahn Chah, (who is from the same lineage of Ajahn Mun) did not expand monasteries outside of Thailand. So I doubt you can find retreats outside of Thailand, although Ajahn Chah monasteries may have books on him (it's the case I think with Tisarana Monastery up here in Canada).
I did notice an interesting parallel in Maha Boowa's description of his passage from Anagami to Arahantship that resembles what Daniel Ingram descibes, if not the same thing.
Maha Boowa talks of how (in anagami stage) he was marveling at the ''bright citta'', but began to notice some anoying little something in it. His moment of arahantship he describes as following a voice in him that said ''where there is a center of a knower, that is an agent of birth''. The little point of a knower was dropped. I think he describes this in the book 'Arahatta Magga, Arahatta Phala'.
I did notice an interesting parallel in Maha Boowa's description of his passage from Anagami to Arahantship that resembles what Daniel Ingram descibes, if not the same thing.
Maha Boowa talks of how (in anagami stage) he was marveling at the ''bright citta'', but began to notice some anoying little something in it. His moment of arahantship he describes as following a voice in him that said ''where there is a center of a knower, that is an agent of birth''. The little point of a knower was dropped. I think he describes this in the book 'Arahatta Magga, Arahatta Phala'.
Matt Jon Rousseau, modified 1 Month ago at 8/28/24 6:58 AM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/28/24 6:58 AM
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
Posts: 243 Join Date: 5/1/22 Recent PostsMartin, modified 1 Month ago at 8/29/24 9:49 AM
Created 1 Month ago at 8/29/24 9:49 AM
RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa
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I just read this very short autobiography.
https://forestdhamma.org/about/ajaan-maha-boowa/
It's interesting to see how he sees himself.
https://forestdhamma.org/about/ajaan-maha-boowa/
It's interesting to see how he sees himself.