GIFTS HE LEFT BEHIND

• Copyright
• A Biographical Sketch
• Introduction
• 1. A Dhamma welcome
• 2. No resistance
• 3. On the four noble truths
• 4. Above & beyond words
• 5. A warning for heedless monks
• 6. Real, but not for real
• 7. Letting go of visions
• 8. External things
• 9. Stopping to know
• 10. Advancement or destruction
• 11. On the ultimate level there’s no desire
• 12. Teaching him a lesson?
• 13. Why do they suffer?
• 14. Inspired words
• 15. More inspired words
• 16. Still more inspired words
• 17. What buddho is like
• 18. For those who want something good
• 19. He does, but he doesn’t
• 20. Aware in time
• 21. Cutting no slack
• 22. Frugal with his words
• 23. Simple, but hard to do
• 24. Throw it away
• 25. A truth in line with the truth
• 26. That wasn’t his aim
• 27. Worlds apart
• 28. One thing only
• 29. What to study and what not to study
• 30. What to watch
• 31. Problems & responsibilities
• 32. The poorer, the happier
• 33. The less, the better
• 34. Didn’t think of that
• 35. Don’t aim in the wrong direction
• 36. In the Buddha’s words
• 37. Those with no fault by way of speech
• 38. The perfection of endurance
• 39. No trouble through his words
• 40. Monks who victimize spirits
• 41. Nice, but…
• 42. Meditators who are uncertain
• 43. When dwelling, dwell above
• 44. Looking for new teachers
• 45. Holding on vs. putting aside
• 46. When the mind resists growing still
• 47. The genuine basis of the Dhamma
• 48. A warning not to be heedless
• 49. Sometimes he came down hard
• 50. Not sidetracked
• 51. Simply a motion
• 52. Seize the opportunity
• 53. The limits of science
• 54. How to extinguish suffering
• 55. The truth is always the same
• 56. Refined
• 57. Empty
• 58. Not all that clear
• 59. Knowledge from study vs. knowledge from practice
• 60. A strategy for loosening attachment
• 61. On eating
• 62. More on eating
• 63. Still more on eating
• 64. Business practices & Dhamma practice
• 65. Buried memories
• 66. In his own style
• 67. “I want to do well in my studies…”
• 68. The purpose of wandering
• 69. To stop you have to know how
• 70. Similar results, but not the same
• 71. There’s only one place
• 72. The world vs. the Dhamma
• 73. Should you ask?
• 74. The purpose of the practice
• 75. Hoping for far-off results
• 76. Nothing more than that
• 77. It’s easy if you’re not attached
• 78. Sometimes what I heard amazed me
• 79. Even this sort of question
• 80. A scolding
• 81. Letting go of one thing to get stuck on another
• 82. A comparison
• 83. Another comparison
• 84. Things outside and in
• 85. Not even the five precepts
• 86. Never perturbed
• 87. How the Dhamma protects
• 88. Only practice can resolve doubt
• 89. Is that all they want?
• 90. No fables
• 91. Strange
• 92. Stranger still
• 93. The truth as he saw it
• 94. Answering questions with questions
• 95. Luang Pu’s habits
• 96. Heavy pain, but not heavy with pain
• 97. A safe shortcut
• 98. Everything comes from action
• 99. Making no show
• 100. The end of rebirth
• 101. A comparison
• 102. The safest way to dwell
• 103. Continued
• 104. The end of stress
• 105. His last illness
• 106. Approaching death
• 107. One last recollection of the Dhamma
• 108. Final words
• 109. A moment of wilderness in the city
• 110. Even the timing was apt
• 111. No bad karma with regard to the body
• Glossary

A Biographical Sketch

Ajaan Dune Atulo was born on October 4, 1888 in Praasaat Village in Muang District, Surin province. At the age of 22 he ordained in the provincial capital. Six years later, disillusioned with his life as an uneducated town monk, he left to study in Ubon Ratchathani, where he befriended Ajaan Singh Khantiyāgamo and reordained in the Dhammayut sect. Shortly thereafter, he and Ajaan Singh met Ajaan Mun Bhūridatto, who had just returned to the Northeast after many years of wandering. Impressed with Ajaan Mun’s teachings and with his deportment, both monks abandoned their studies and took up the wandering meditation life under his guidance. They were thus his first two disciples. After wandering for 19 years through the forests and mountains of Thailand and Cambodia, Ajaan Dune received an order from his ecclesiastical superiors to head a combined study and practice monastery in Surin. It was thus that he took over the abbotship of Wat Burapha, in the middle of the town, in 1934. There he remained until his death in 1983.

As one of the most senior members of the Forest tradition founded by Ajaan Mun, Ajaan Dune was widely known as Luang Pu, a term of great respect and affection, meaning “Venerable Grandfather.”

Introduction

Many people have asked for Luang Pu’s Dhamma talks, out of a desire to read them or listen to them, and I have to confess frankly that Luang Pu’s Dhamma talks are extremely rare. This is because he never gave any formal sermons or discoursed at any great length. He simply taught meditation, admonished his students, answered questions, or discussed the Dhamma with other elder monks. He would speak in a way that was brief, careful, and to the point. In addition, he never gave sermons at formal ceremonies.

So in response to the desire and interest that many people have shown in Luang Pu’s Dhamma, I have compiled this book of his short teachings—pure truths at the highest level, lessons and admonishments he gave his students, answers to questions, and passages from the Buddha’s words in the Canon that he always liked to quote. Because I lived for a long time with him, to the end of his days, I have gathered these passages from memory or from notes in my journal. I have also included the events, locations, and people who were involved, to help make the passages easier to understand and more inviting to read.

It was noteworthy—and amazing—that even though Luang Pu normally wouldn’t speak, or would speak as little as possible, he was still very quick and astute in his expression, never missing his mark. His words were brief but full of meaning, every sentence containing a message complete in itself. It was as if he would hypnotize his listeners, forcing them to ponder his words for a long time with their deepest discernment.

The reader—noticing that some of the passages here contain teachings that are ordinary, some that are amusing, and some that are pure truth on the ultimate level—may wonder why they weren’t placed in ascending order, from easy to difficult, or from low to high. The reason I didn’t place them in order like that is because each passage is complete on one page, and I wanted to vary the atmosphere. If this is inappropriate, unseemly, or faulty in any way, I ask that all those who are learned will be kind enough to forgive me, an author of very little intelligence.