He wants you sharp as a razor and as straight as a forest monk.
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"Thai forest monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu answers questions from Tricycle readers." Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and Bhikku Bodhi's acclaimed translation of the Pali Canon also recommends it .Bhikkhu Bodhi. In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon.
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Sop Pong has two Buddhist temples, at either end of the village, including a forest monk temple, called Wat Ming Muang. It also has a Christian church, a Chinese temple, and a Haw Chinese Muslim mosque in old Sop Pong.
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Most Ven. Matara Sri Nanarama Maha Thera (December 11, 1901 – April 30, 1992) (spelled Ñāṇārāma in Pali, sometimes called Gnanarama in Sinhala, Sinhala: අති පූජ්ය මාතර ශ්රී ඤාණාරාම මහා ථේර) was an influential Sri Lankan meditation master, scholar and forest monk of the 20th century.
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Learning that his mother was ill, he returned home to look after her. Villagers and relatives requested that he settle permanently in the forest south of the village and no longer wander in the manner of a forest monk. As his mother was very old and that it was appropriate for him to look after her, he accepted the offer. With a donation of of land, he began to build his monastery in November 1955.
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Upon hearing his stories of the life as a forest monk he realised it was the way of life he was looking for. After joining Ajahn Sumedho's community as an anagārika in 1978 he travelled to Thailand to ordain at Wat Nong Pah Pong in 1979. He received full ordination by Ajahn Chah in 1980 and was abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat from 1997 to 2002. Jayasāro has been involved in educating Thai people about the ivory trade.
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Taylor, J.L. Forest Monks and the Nation-state: An Anthropological and Historical Study, pp. 9–13 While this divide seems to have been in existence for some time in the Theravāda school, only in the 10th century is a specifically forest monk monastery, mentioned as existing near Anuradhapura, called "Tapavana".Taylor, J.L. Forest Monks and the Nation-state: An Anthropological and Historical Study, p. 15 This division was then carried over into the rest of Southeast Asia as Theravāda spread.
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Back at home, villagers and relatives requested that he settle in the forested area south of the village. They also asked him to make his residence permanent, as a favor to them, and to no longer wander in the manner of a forest monk. Through the donation of a piece of land of approximately , he would be able to establish a monastery. Considering that his mother was very old and that it was appropriate for him to look after her, he accepted the offer and began to build this monastery in November 1955.
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He died on July 2, 1999 after spending 27 years as a forest monk at Mitirigala. Ven. Dhammanisanthi was 80 years of age at the time of his death. The distinguished senior monk Venerable Matara Sri Nanarama Mahathera was the first abbot and the meditation master. During his period Nissarana Vanaya became one of the most respected meditation monasteries of Sri Lanka due to the fame of its meditation master as well as its secluded and contemplative life where monks practiced sincerely with the aspiration of attaining Nibbana in this very life.
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Laity who stay at the monastery will have to abide by the traditional eight Buddhist precepts. The life of the monk or nun in a community is much more complex than the life of the forest monk. In the Buddhist society of Sri Lanka, most monks spend hours every day in taking care of the needs of lay people such as preaching bana,Mahinda Deegalle, Popularizing Buddhism: Preaching as Performance in Sri Lanka, State University of New York Press, Albany, 2006. accepting alms, officiating funerals, teaching dhamma to adults and children in addition to providing social services to the community.
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Ajahn Viradhammo or Luang Por Viradhammo (born Vitauts Akers, April 27, 1947 Esslingen, Germany) is a Canadian monk in the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was ordained as a monk in 1974 by Ajahn Chah at Wat Nong Pah Pong monastery and became one of the first residents at Wat Pah Nanachat, the international monastery in north-east Thailand.Biography of Ajahn Viradhammo on Amaravati Web Site Luang Por Viradhammo is the most senior Thai Forest monk in Canada and currently the Abbot of Tisarana Buddhist Monastery in Perth, Ontario. Luang Por means Venerable Father (หลวงพ่อ), an honorific and term of affection in keeping with Thai custom; ajahn means teacher.
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Mahākassapa Thera was a 12th-century Sri Lankan forest monk and an abbot of Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara, a forest monastery outside of Polonnaruwa.Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera; Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Volume 4, Issue 4 Government of Ceylon, 1989 Mahākassapa who was well versed in Vinaya, presided over the Buddhist council convened by King Parakramabahu I (1153-1186) whose main goal was to reorganize, reform and unify the Sangha.Richard H. Robinson, Willard L. Johnson, Ṭhānissaro (Bhikkhu.), Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction, p 151. An inscription at Gal Vihara states that with Mahākassapa's advice, the council expelled hundreds of corrupt monks and unified the Sangha under one single monastic Nikaya, the Mahavihara sect.
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