COME & SEE

Copyright

Copyright 2018 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

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Phra Ajaan Funn Ācāro was born in 1899 in Phannana Nikhom district, Sakon Nakhorn province, in northeastern Thailand. His parents were descendants of government officials, and as a boy Ajaan Funn had his heart set on entering government service. However, as he was continuing his education while living with his eldest sister and brother-in-law, who was already a government official, one of his chores was to take food to former government officials who were now in prison, charged with murder and extortion. This experience convinced him that government service was not for him, and it impressed on him the fleeting and corrupting nature of status and power.

So he returned home and ordained as a novice. He was so intent on strictly practicing the Buddha’s teachings that his grandmother prophesized that he would be a monk until his death, inspiring many people from all walks of life with his personal example and the Dhamma he taught. In 1919 he was ordained as a monk in a village monastery near home, and the following year he met Phra Ajaan Mun Bhūridatto, one of the founders of the Wilderness Tradition. Inspired by Ajaan Mun’s Dhamma and personal example, he asked to be accepted as one of his students. After staying with Ajaan Mun for a period of time, he went wandering on his own through the forests and hills of Sakon Nakhorn and the neighboring provinces, returning to ask for Ajaan Mun’s help whenever he encountered any obstacles in his practice. In 1925, when he was sure that he would be able to give his life to the practice, he reordained in the Dhammayut sect, and then went to live with Ajaan Mun for his first Rains retreat.

For the next 40 years, he wandered throughout northeastern Thailand, facing and overcoming many hardships—wild animals, lack of food, and recurring diseases. Because of his kindness and strength of character, he soon developed a following, both lay and ordained. In 1944, he returned to his home village in Phannana Nikhom district, and stayed in a cemetery near to a neighboring lake. The local villagers set up a small hut and Dhamma hall at the spot, and this was the beginning of Wat Paa Udomsomphorn, the monastery where Ajaan Funn eventually settled in the last decades of his life. However, it wasn’t until 1964 that he actually began spending the Rains there. In the meantime, he set up monasteries and hermitages in several secluded spots throughout the northeast.

The 1950’s through the 1970’s were a period of upheaval in the northeast, due to the Communist insurgency. In response, the Thai government began focusing more attention on the area—which it had neglected for many years—building roads and improving living conditions in general. One of the direct consequences of these changes was that in the early 1970’s the Wilderness Tradition became known in central Thailand, even up to the level of the King. Wilderness ajaans—Ajaan Funn prominent among them—were invited to teach in Bangkok, and were soon receiving busload after busload of visitors at their monasteries. Known for his wisdom, kindness, and the power of his concentration, Ajaan Funn developed a nationwide following, at the same time becoming a personal teacher to the King, who set up a railroad courier service to send him tape-recorded Dhamma questions. Ajaan Funn would answer by sending recorded responses via the return train.

The strain of having to receive guests at all hours of the day, however, began taking a toll on Ajaan Funn’s health. Even though the King arranged to provide him with the best possible medical care, he passed away quietly of a heart attack at Wat Paa Udomsomphorn in January, 1977, at the age of 77 years.

Several of Ajaan Funn’s Dhamma talks were recorded. Most of these were given to large groups of people new to the Wilderness Tradition and to meditation in general, and so they are fairly basic. His closest students said that his most profound teachings were reserved for situations in which he was teaching one-on-one. However, the talks do convey a sense of his strength of character, with its distinctive combination of kindness and strictness. Because of their value, both as a record of the teachings of the Wilderness Tradition and as inspiring lessons in the Dhamma, three of them are offered here in translation.