Being Dharma: The Essence of the Buddha's Teachings

by Jack Kornfield and Ajahn Chah

Chah offers a thorough exploration of Theravadan Buddhism in a gentle, sometimes humorous, style that makes the reader feel as though he or she is being entertained by a story. He emphasizes the path... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570628084
• ISBN13: 9781570628085
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Shambhala
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A good book about Dharma

This book covers many different topics. Ajahn Chah adresses many common difficulties and straightens some common wrong views. The style this book is written in is easy to understand, although there is deep meaning in the words. Ajahn Chah speaks from his heart, from what he knows to be true himself as apposed to something that he just believes. I think anyone could learn from this book.

The Great Thai Master Alive In This Work

Ajahn Chah devoted some 25 years to the teaching of Buddhism to Thai monastics up until the time of his death in 1992, as well as various laypersons. He always had an uncanny ability to explain the Dharma in a way that made your belly move with laughter, while at the same time helping to open your mind, too. His ambition was to always present the Dharma in a way that even the most uneducated could derive something from, and he succeeded 10-fold. Paul Breiter has done an excellent job here translating this beloved teachers most profound dharma talks encompassing a wide range of Buddhist topics: ethical conduct, impermanence, right view and right action, among others. Ajahn Chah instructs us all to steer completely clear from recklessness in our lives, be that with our awareness of life itself or in regards to other people. He gives us the practice and plan of what the very title of this book suggests, "being dharma." Likewise, as texts like The Tao Te Ching have asserted throughout the ages (in addition to countless keen eyed teachers), Chah speaks of the problems relating to the sense of ownership; how since we don't really own anything, one should not get caught up in sentiments of greed which always follows from a clinging to possessions. This book addresses all of us in the modern era, in a world so caught up in a seeming epidemic of self serving, heedless, and all around oftentimes very foolish lifestyle. It doesn't matter which sect of Buddhism you might practice (if any) to take something beneficial from this current text, for it was written for us all. Enjoy.

Dzogchen Demystified

Paul Breiter's wonderful and timely translation of the teachings of the late Thai Dharma master Ajahn Cha provides western dharma students access to a straight path toward the gate of Dzogchenpo. Are we westerners culturally pre-disposed to dispense with preliminaries in hopes of vanquishing suffering through rapid apprehension of the ultimate? Living Dzogchen masters have begun reminding students that Samatha concentration is the door to the spaciousness of Vipassana, and that Vipassana is the entryway to unexecelled Dzogchen/ Mahamudra view. Ajahn Cha communicates this in the simplest terms. He provides guidance for students seeking to progress toward the jettison of conceptualization and grasping. Terms such as "accumulation of merit," sometimes difficult for western students to fully comprehend, are de-mystified. Ajahn Cha's instructions enable readers to disentagle from complexity and superstitious beliefs, and to practice Dharma purely, easily and confidently. Great teachers remind us that the Dharma Essence is so simple, it is difficult to apprehend. Luang Paw (Venerable Father) Cha provides down-to-earth advice for how to accomplish the results of merit and wisdom through everyday life/practice. Here in Laos, it seems fair to suggest that Laotian people remain among the "simplest", kindest and most down-to-earth. Suffused with his own Laotian heritage, Ajahn Cha provides lucid, compassionate and accesssible explanations of the mystical Path of Dharma. Western Dharma students are fortunate to have access to many of the great Dharma texts and treatises. "Being Dharma" is among the best now available. Its instructions for how to "live Dharma", ease the mind, and help attenuate further elaboration of confusion in our troubled world. To the translator, could you provide us please with more of Ajahn Cha's Dharma Nectar?

An Uncommon Voice

The Dharma teachings in this book are taken from recordings of the Thai Forest Monk Ajahn Chah. As such they are folksy and often humorous. But, they represent one of the clearest representations of the Theravada path of Buddhism you are likely to find. The Theravada path is, at least until recently in the West, the lesser known of the two major divisions of Buddhism. In recent years the interest in this path, which places emphasis on the Monastic life and strict meditation, has grown. But, for the most part, those interested have not had the wealth of printed material that is available on Zen or Tibetan paths. Ajahn Chah often uses examples from Zen and other Buddhist paths. While at one time the Theravada path was most common path, it has, over the centuries, had less influence in the West. This book, along with the works of Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein, gives us a powerful view into that approach to Buddhism and its relevance to the development of spirituality in the West.

A clear, informative, straightforward, open-handed approach

Written by the much-loved Thai Buddhist master Ajahn Chah (1919-1992), Being Dharma: The Essence Of The Buddha's Teachings is a clear, informative, straightforward, open-handed approach to the wisdom of the Buddha. From the Path, to Peace, and life beyond Cause and Effect, chapters cover numerous core aspects of Buddhism in language that lay readers can easily follow. Being Dharma is an enthusiastically recommended introduction to Buddhist studies and a welcome contribution to the growing library of Buddhist literature available to western readers.