Being Dharma: The Essence of the Buddha's Teachings [Paperback]

Ajahn Chah (Author), Jack Kornfield (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: October 9, 2001

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 to freedom from emotional and psychological suffering and provides insight into the fact that taking ourselves seriously causes unnecessary hardship.



Ajahn Chah influenced a generation of Western teachers: Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Sylvia Boorstein, Joseph Goldstein, and many other Western Buddhist teachers were at one time his students. Anyone who has attended a retreat led by one of these teachers, or read one of their books, will be familiar with this master's name and reputation as one of the great Buddhist teachers of this century.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Deep in a Thai forest lived "a pot-bellied monk who looked more like a bullfrog than a saint" and yet whose no-nonsense brand of Buddhist meditation has profoundly influenced many of the West's most popular teachers. He was called Ajahn Chah. In Being Dharma Paul Breiter, Ajahn Chah's longtime interpreter, brings us his collection of Ajahn Chah's dharma talks. Here we find a teacher who prefers the concrete to the abstract and practice to theory. The practice is training the mind, and the goal is achieving a constant mindfulness that will end suffering and yield peace and compassion at every moment. Achievements, he says, come gradually with relentless training in meditation and practicing the moral precepts. Ajahn Chah's plain teachings and simple, straightforward examples cross language barriers easily as he instructs us on the fundamentals of impermanence and nonattachment. In Being Dharma Paul Breiter allows us to soak up the simple but profound wisdom of this master to the masters. --Brian Bruya

From Publishers Weekly

According to Jack Kornfield, Thai Buddhist master Ajahn Chah (1919-1992) never taught that there were two levels of dharma instruction one for the monk and an easier one for the layperson. Rather, he required all of the lay practitioners who visited him at his monastery to embody the dharma to the same degree that his monastic disciples did. In Being Dharma: The Essence of the Buddha's Teachings, Ajahn Chah's dharma talks (which could be as long as five hours each) are condensed for Western lay practitioners. Although the length has been shortened, the content is still bracing and memorable. Paul Breiter provides the translation, and Kornfield gives an insightful foreword.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (October 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570628084
• ISBN-13: 978-1570628085
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #294,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Uncommon Voice April 25, 2002

By sbissell3

Format:Paperback

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.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Thai Master Alive In This Work March 6, 2004

By Swing King

Format:Paperback

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.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A clear, informative, straightforward, open-handed approach January 12, 2002

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Paperback

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.