Ajahn Punnadhammo Q&A, II - Dragons, Fairies, and Bear Awareness
Channel: Clear Mountain Monastery
Date: 2022-01-17

Part 1: https://youtu.be/AMwsYTgXYys
Part 2: https://youtu.be/OEvLRe_kBgs

Find our more about Ajahn Punnadhammo and the Arrow River Hermitage here: https://www.arrowriver.ca

Chapters
0:00 - Introduction

0:20 - What are your thoughts on Mahayana’s Bardo and mind-to-mind direct transmission from a teacher to a student?

3:33 - There are a few instances in the Suttas where a disciple will take the knife and then be declared blameless. I’ve always been curious if that was an Arhat committing suicide or someone on the verge of being an Arhat die but right when they die attaining Arhatship and therefore being blameless. Do you have any thoughts on this?

4:29 - Internet Interruption

5:23 - How would one know if one had attained stream entry? What would one remember? What are your thoughts on this whole realm?

8:03 - What kind of preparation you do before giving Dhamma talks?

9:22 - While you're reading and studying, do you take notes or have a way of structuring your knowledge base?

10:32 - You’ve remained in robes for a long term. How you've dealt what dark valleys you have had? How you moved through them and remained in the holy life for so many decades?

12:35 - Can you speak more about your teacher: Kema Ananda?

15:23 - Ajahn Amaro has noticed how strange it is that in the Pali Suttas no monk asking the Buddha how one becomes the Buddha. Ajahn Amaro’s theory was that perhaps once the tension between the Mahayana and Theravada had become prominent, certain parts of the canon were actually excised. The parts that had to do with the bodhisattva path. What your thoughts are on that idea? In addition, can you tell us about “the bear?”

18:11 - We have a question about Buddha’s omniscience. There's agreement that the Buddha couldn't know all things at all times. But there may be some idea that he could know anything at one time? What are your thoughts on that?

19:39 - You've done so much study. Could you explain or talk about the role that study has played in your life and the longevity of your life? Do you think it is an accident that you've been able to stick around so long? Does your study bring you joy? How does your study relate to your practice?

21:02 - Casual Conversation

22:07 - Do you have any advice for us young monks?

22:44 - Outro


In this interview, Ajahn Punnadhammo continues answering questions on Buddhist Cosmology, Abhidhamma, the "Commentaries", studying Pali, writing Buddhist fiction, consilience between Buddhist, European, and other cosmologies, stream entry, the bardo, and the practice of "recollection of the devā."

Ajahn Punnadhammo is the abbot of Arrow River Forest Hermitage in Northern Ontario, Canada. Born in Toronto in 1955, at the age of 23, he began studying Buddhism under Kema Ananda, the founder and first teacher of the Arrow River Center. In 1990, at the age of 35, Ajahn Punnadhammo ordained into the Ajahn Chah forest tradition in Thailand and stayed there for the next five years largely based at Wat Pah Nanachat, the International Forest Monastery. After his fifth year in robes, his first teacher, Kema Ananda, contracted lung cancer and, with death imminent, he asked Ajahn Punnadhammo to return to Canada to assume management of the Arrow River Center. Ajahn Punnadhammo returned with the blessing of his seniors in the order in November of 1995 and was able to spend time with his beloved teacher before his death. Since its founder's passing, Arrow River Forest Hermitage has continued as a place of practice and refuge for both monastics and lay visitors with Ajahn Punnadhammo as its abbot.
Ajahn Punnadhammo is the author of extensively researched The Buddhist Cosmos: A Comprehensive Survey of the Early Buddhist Worldview; according to Theravāda and Sarvāstivāda sources, Letters from Māra - an insightful and creative allegory in the spirit of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, and many other writings which can be found at https://www.arrowriver.ca/dhamma.html

To learn more, visit https://linktr.ee/clear_mountain_monastery
Tune in with fellow practitioners every Wednesday evening from 6 - 6:45 pm or Saturday morning from 9:30 - 11 am for a Dhamma Talk and Q&A with Ajahn Kovilo or Ajahn Nisabho. Saturday mornings begin with a thirty-minute meditation. Wednesday evening Q&A's are followed by a discussion on Zoom from 6:45 - 7:30 pm. See https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/ for details. Welcome!