Ajahn Chah

Food for the Heart

Food for the Heart

Renowned for the beauty and simplicity of his teachings, Ajahn Chah was Thailand’s best-known meditation teacher. His charisma and wisdom influenced many American and European seekers, and helped shape the American Vipassana community.

This collection brings together for the first time Ajahn Chah’s most powerful teachings, including those on meditation, liberation from suffering, calming the mind, enlightenment and the ‘living dhamma’.

Most of these talks have previously only been available in limited, private editions and the publication of Food for the Heart therefore represents a momentous occasion: the hugely increased accessibility of his words and wisdom.

Western teachers such as Ram Dass and Jack Kornfield have extolled Chah’s teachings for years and now readers can experience them directly in this book.

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About Ajahn Chah

The Venerable Ajahn Chah Subhaddo (June 17, 1918 - January 16, 1992) was an influential meditation teacher within Buddhism and the founder of two great monasteries in the Thai Buddhist forest tradition.

He was respected and loved in his own country as a man of great wisdom, and was instrumental in establishing Theravāda Buddhism in the West. Starting in 1979 with the founding of Cittaviveka (better known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery) in Great Britain, the Thai Buddhist foresttradition of Ajahn Chah has spread throughout Europe, the U.S. and the British Community.

Ajahn Chah's Dhamma talks have been recorded and translated into several languages. He was known for his simple and clear presentation of the Dhamma, which inspired both the local villagers and the highest social class in Bangkok.

He was also known as the master with the most Western monk-disciples, for which he opened a separate monastery (Wat Pah Nanachat) near his own monastery Wat Nong Pah Pong. More than a million people, including the Thai royal family, attended the funeral of Ajahn Chah in 1992. He left a legacy of Dhamma talks, pupils and monasteries behind him.

All posts by Ajahn Chah

You yourselves must strive, the Buddhas only point the way

Buddha, Dhp 276