RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa

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Matt Jon Rousseau, modified 2 Months ago at 8/26/24 7:47 PM
Created 2 Months ago at 8/26/24 7:47 PM

Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa

Posts: 245 Join Date: 5/1/22 Recent Posts
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 2 Months ago at 8/26/24 11:27 PM
Created 2 Months 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. 
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Matt Jon Rousseau, modified 2 Months ago at 8/27/24 9:49 AM
Created 2 Months ago at 8/27/24 9:49 AM

RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa

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He comes off as a little bit of a grouch towards the end of the book 
Martin, modified 2 Months ago at 8/27/24 10:19 AM
Created 2 Months 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. 
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Matt Jon Rousseau, modified 2 Months ago at 8/27/24 5:52 PM
Created 2 Months ago at 8/27/24 5:52 PM

RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa

Posts: 245 Join Date: 5/1/22 Recent Posts
His description of his meditative experience  seems typical though . It is basically  in line with Theravada that is heavily vissuamttaga  based. 
Martin, modified 2 Months ago at 8/27/24 8:30 PM
Created 2 Months 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. 
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Matt Jon Rousseau, modified 2 Months ago at 8/27/24 8:39 PM
Created 2 Months ago at 8/27/24 8:39 PM

RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa

Posts: 245 Join Date: 5/1/22 Recent Posts
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 2 Months ago at 8/27/24 10:03 PM
Created 2 Months 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. 
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Ben V, modified 2 Months ago at 8/28/24 5:39 AM
Created 2 Months 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'. 
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Matt Jon Rousseau, modified 2 Months ago at 8/28/24 6:58 AM
Created 2 Months ago at 8/28/24 6:58 AM

RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa

Posts: 245 Join Date: 5/1/22 Recent Posts
Yea 
 that was so Interesting
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Martin, modified 2 Months ago at 8/29/24 9:49 AM
Created 2 Months ago at 8/29/24 9:49 AM

RE: Path ro Arahantship by Ajahn Maha Boowa

Posts: 1023 Join Date: 4/25/20 Recent Posts
I just read this very short autobiography. 

https://forestdhamma.org/about/ajaan-maha-boowa/

It's interesting to see how he sees himself. 

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