Recorded talks of Ajahn Fan Acaro (in Thai)

Different web page spells Ajahn Fun's name in English differently: Some spell as Luang Pho or Luang Phor Fan, Fann or Funn.

But this website contains the recorded talks delivered by Ajahn Funn Ajaro หลวงปู่ฝั้น อาจาโร  in Thai language.

These talks were delivered in the 1970s, prior to his passing away in 1977.

http://www.dhammathai.org/sounds/phun.php

If you wish to search for his photos, you may use the search word หลวงปู่ฝั้น อาจาโร .
Ajahn Fan only have a Wikipedia page in Thai language: http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/หลวงปู่ฝั้น_อาจาโร and if you choose the Google Translate, the translation is totally out.

Really wish that the teachings of this great teacher can be translated in English. If my Thai is proficient enough I would be glad to translate- but my understanding of the language is only very basic.

According to Ajahn Sumedho in his book "Now is the knowing"
http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/now_know.pdf, it is mentioned as follows (in page 6):

When I used to travel around the North-East of Thailand on tudong I liked to go and stay at the monastery of Ajahn Fun. Ajahn Fun was a much-loved and deeply respected monk, the teacher of the Royal Family, and he was so popular that he was constantly receiving guests. I would sit at his kuti [hut] and hear him give the most amazing kind of Dhamma talks, all on the subject of 'Buddho'- as far as I could see, it was all that he taught. He could make it into a really profound meditation, whether for an illiterate farmer or an elegant, western-educated Thai aristocrat. The main part of his teaching was to not just mechanically repeat 'Buddho', but to reflect and investigate, to awaken the mind to really look into the 'Buddho', 'the one who knows' really investigate its beginning, its end, above and below,
so that one's whole attention was stuck onto it. When one did that, 'Buddho' became something that echoed through the mind. One would investigate it, look at it, examine it before it was said and after it was said, and eventually one would start listeniing to it and hear beyond the sound, until one heard the silence. 

Teachings of Ajahn Suwat

Came across this page in http://forestmeditation.com/teachings/teachings.html#suwat . He is the student of Ajahn Fan Acaro (หลวงปู่ฝั้น อาจาโร).

Phra Ajaan Suwat Suvaco (1919-2002)
Born on August 29, 1919, Ajaan Suwat ordained at the age of 20 and became a student of Ajaan Funn Acaro two or three years later. He also studied briefly with Ajaan Mun. Following Ajaan Funn's death in 1977, Ajaan Suwat stayed on at the monastery to supervise his teacher's royal funeral and the construction of a monument and museum in Ajaan Funn's honor. In the 1980's Ajaan Suwat came to the United States, where he established four monasteries: one near Seattle, Washington; two near Los Angeles; and one in the hills of San Diego County (Metta Forest Monastery). He returned to Thailand in 1996, and died in Buriram on April 5, 2002 after a long illness.

• Blatantly Clear in the Heart, by Ajaan Suwat Suvaco
  A short talk on the development of virtue, concentration, and discernment. Keep practicing until these qualities become clear in your own heart!
• To Comprehend Suffering, by Ajaan Suwat Suvaco
  Meditation isn't about "getting" things; it's about letting go. We can't let go of the darkness and delusion in our minds; it has to be dispersed by light -- the light of clear-seeing discernment that we cultivate through meditation.
• Disenchantment, by Ajaan Suwat Suvaco
  A talk given at the start of a meditation session, in which Ajaan Suwat explains how to strenghten mindfulness and develop the disenchantment needed for discernment to arise. An excellent introduction to the contemplation of the 32 parts of the body.
• A Fistful of Sand, by Ajaan Suwat Suvaco
  These Dhamma talks and question-and-answer sessions were recorded during a two-week meditation retreat he taught at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts in 1990. This event marked a rare opportunity for an elder Thai ajaan to speak directly to Westerners in their home environment. With a disarming ease and clarity, Ajaan Suwat here illuminates a number of vital points of Dhamma that will help the reader develop the proper attitude towards the practice of meditation.
• The Strategy of a Peaceful Mind, by Ajaan Suwat Suvaco
  Viewing peace of mind as a skillful strategy helps the meditator settle the mind down into concentration. But its uses also extend to more advanced stages of meditation, by helping one disengage from all involvement with the aggregates, thereby bringing the meditator to the threshold of Awakening. In this remarkable talk Ajaan Suwat weaves together teachings for beginning and advanced meditators, alike.

Booklet in Thai distributed during Luangta Maha Bua's funeral

Herein is the booklet copy  written in Thai language. It was distributed during Luangta's funeral. The copy below which I received were reprinted through the generous donations:

The translated book that was published during Luangta's funeral

Dear all,

Sorry for not posting for a long time (a year exactly).

I was fortunate to have received a physical copy of the English translation of book "Paying Our Last Respects", the book published in commemoration of Venerable Ajahn Maha Boowa's funeral.

The book is published by Forest Dhamma of Wat Pa Baan Taad. I tried to search for the online pdf copy but found the links to that ebook was not working. Therefore, I thought of scanning and then converting into editable text to upload to this site- for the benefit of everyone.

There are many books and publications written based on transcribed teachings of Luangta- but in Thai language. This book was one of the transcribed from the Thai version and contains a lot of content that was previously unavailable. I find this book to be very meaningful and it gave insight to the life of Luangta and on how he had met Ajahn Mun.

The book is about 178 pages long. I would do the scanning and posting the words in stages.

So far, the completed sections are:

• Cover and photos of the first few pages of the book
• Introduction (written by Bhikkhu Martin)
• A Biography of Luangta Maha Bua Nanasampanno

Articles on Luang Phor Fan

Even though I have not known Luang Phor Fan หลวงปู่ฝั้น อาจาโร (of Sakon Nakhon) who had passed away in 1977, I have been deeply impressed by him.
Herein are resources I've obtained from other blogs that contained information on Ajahn Fan Ajaro which all currently all in Thai language except for the 1st link:

• Ajahn Fan Ajaro from Isaan Life- it is hard to find translations of his life in English and was glad this site had provided the information.


• Ajahn Fan in Wikipedia Thai- using the google English translate page (not accurate)


• Life History of Luang Phor Fan in Thai


• Facebook page (in Thai language)

Videos

• Video of Luang Phor Fan about his background


• List of audio recordings in Dhammathai.org (in Thai)


• The funeral

10 Series of Documentary on Luang Phor Fan (in Thai language) in YouTube:

• Part 1


• Part 2


• Part 3


• Part 4


• Part 5


• Part 6


• Part 7


• Part 8


• Part 9


• Part 10

An article about Luangta Maha Bua's early life

Recently I came across an article about the early life of Luangta Maha Bua. The following is an excerpt of the article that mentioned about Luangta's early life:

Luangta Maha Boowa, the abbot of Wan Pa Baan Taad in Udon Thani’s Muang district, came into the limelight when he initiated a fund-raising campaign to help the country recover from the effects of the 1997 financial crisis.

As of Jan 9 last year, he had handed over 967 gold bars weigh­ing 12 tonnes and US$10.2mil in cash to the Bank of Thailand. “When the economic crisis hit in 1997, I stepped in to help lift the nation from the depths of darkness, that is, from greed on one level of society and from poverty on the other. I wanted Thais to focus on the causes of the crisis so that, by knowing the causes, they could change their behaviour to prevent such an event from recurring. So I used the Help the Nation campaign not only to raise gold for the national treasury, but more importantly as a means to spread Buddha’s teachings to a broader section of Thai society in an age when many Thai people are losing touch with Buddhist principles,” said Luangta Maha Boowa in the booklet, Samana – Maha Boowa Memorial Book, which was distributed after his death.

Luangta Maha Boowa was born on Aug 12, 1913, as Bua Lohitdee to a wealthy farming family. He said he was told by his mother that of the 16 babies she had carried in her womb, he was the one who gave her the most to worry about. “I was either so still in her womb that she thought I must have died, or I was kicking so hard she thought I must have been on the verge of death.

The closer to my birth, the worse those extremes became. Just before I was born, my mother and my father each had an auspicious dream. My father dreamt that he had received a very sharp knife, pointed at the tip with an elephant tusk handle and encased in a silver sheath. My father felt very pleased.

“My mother, on the other hand, dreamed that she had received a pair of gold earrings which were so lovely that she couldn’t resist the temptation to put them on and admire herself in the mirror. The more she looked, the more they impressed her.”

He said his grandfather interpreted the two dreams to mean that the course of his life would follow one of two extremes. “If I chose the way of evil, I would be the most feared criminal of my time. My character would be so fearsome that I was bound to end up being an infamous crime boss who’d never allow himself to be captured alive and imprisoned, but would hide in the jungle and fight the authorities to the death.

“At the other extreme, if I chose the way of virtue, my goodness would be unequalled,” he said in the memorial book. He became a monk at the age of 21 and was a student of Luangpu Man Phurithatto, one of the most renowned Buddhist meditation masters in Thailand’s Buddhism of the Forest Tradition. His followers believe that he was an arahant, a living Buddhist saint.

It is well-known that Luangta Maha Boowa would always go without food as he said it helped with his meditation.

His thousands of disciples and followers see him as a diminutive, simple and humble monk who did not seek personal gain. To them Luangta Maha Boowa was also an arahant – one who has perfected wisdom and compassion like Bud­­dha and is no longer subject to rebirth.

In the memorial book, Luanga Maha Boowa said he had tried his utmost to help society: “Within my heart, I have no sense of courage and no sense of fear; no such thing as gain or loss, victory or defeat. My attempts to assist people stem entirely from loving compassion. I sacrificed everything to attain the Supreme Dhamma that I now teach. I nearly lost my life in search of Dhamma, crossing the threshold of death before I could proclaim to the world the Dhamma that I realised. Sometimes I talk boldly, as if I were a conquering hero. But the Supreme Dhamma in my heart is neither bold nor fearful. It has neither gain nor loss, neither victory nor defeat. Consequently, my teaching eman­ates from the purest form of com­­passion.”

Luangta Maha Boowa forbade his followers from spending extravagantly at his funeral. In the interview with Nanfa – The Tiger Temple Magazine (produced by Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Tiger Temple, Kanchanaburi Province) in 2009, he said he did not want gifts donated to him for merit while his body was in a casket.

To read the full article, please go to The Star Online> Thai monk revered in life, remembered in death by Foong Thim Leng

Luangta- through the years

Here is a photo taken of a banner showing Luangta Maha Bua through the years. You can click to enlarge the picture.

Luangta Maha Boowa Passed Away on 30 January 2011

It is with great sadness to inform that Luangta Maha Boowa (or known as Luangta Maha Bua) passed away today on 30 January 2011 at the age of 97.


Luangta Maha Boowa was one of the last surviving disciple of Acariya Mun (who passed away in 1949).

Today, it rained the entire day without stop at the area where I am staying- as if the skys are crying over the loss of this great Teacher.

The photos below are taken by me during my visit to Wat Pa Baan Taad:
Below: 11 August 2007- on the eve of his 94th birthday, he gave a short talk to those who were present:

Below: On 12 August 2007, Luangta's birthday:

On 17 Oct 2008- Kathina ceremony:

Luangta was travelling on the golf cart because he could not walk well.

It remains now that the most important is for us to practice and apply his teachings to heart. He had dedicated decades of his life towards teaching us with the best of his ability. My life changed afer discovering his teachings and I am grateful that I had the chance to meet him while he was alive.

Let us all not forsake our practice- one of the best way we can do to honor the Buddha and our teacher is to practice the teachings in our daily live, every moment in our day-to-day life, regardless of what we do.

We do not need wait or plan for some time in future to practice. What's the point of practicing in future if we cannot even do it now. Regardless of whether we are working, studying, retired....living at home or in the monastery, we can still put the teachings to practice day by day. Have mindfulness (sati) and don't let other things intrude into our hearts. Find time to do meditation and chanting- there is no need to 'plan' and do it only at retreats. And in our walking moments, be mindful of our thoughts, words and deeds. Need not go out to search for flaws of others or analyze external things. Deep within each and every one of our hearts, there lies deep immense wisdom that can only be realised in the quiet stillness of the mind.

A Great Teacher has very sadly left us- and while his memories still linger fresh in our minds, let us all make the firm determination to start and continue our path, little by little and day by day. Time wait for no ones and one day, the law of anicca would come. In this lifetime, we have been very blessed and fortunate to come in contact with the teachings of this Great Teacher.

Let us pay our humblest tribute to him through not forsaking our daily practice.