The Skill of Release

　　Teachings of Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo

　　by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo

　　(Phra Suddhidhammaransi Gambhiramedhacariya)

　　Translated from the Thai by

　　Thanissaro Bhikkhu

　　For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma

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　　Contents

　　Foreword

　　By Way of Introduction

　　The Affairs of the World

　　The Treasures of the Dhamma

　　Why Meditate

　　Beginning Concentration

　　The Basics of Breathing

　　The Skills of Jhana

　　Wings to Awakening

　　Monastic Life

　　Teaching & Learning

　　Birth, Aging, Illness, & Death

　　All-around Discernment

　　Letting Go

　　Glossary

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　　Foreword

　　During my second year as a monk, I was invited to give a Dhamma talk to the woman — whom I knew only as "Aunty" — who had raised the woman who had sponsored my ordination. Aunty had suddenly fallen ill, and her relatives were sure that she didn”t have much longer to live. In her time, she had known many of the great masters of the forest tradition, so rather than give her a talk of my own, I decided to read her some by Ajaan Lee. When I finished, she asked, "Whose talks were those

　　"

　　"Ajaan Lee”s," I told her.

　　"That”s what I thought," she replied. "Nobody could give a Dhamma talk as beautifully as he."

　　I”ve often thought of her comment since then and, in particular, of what she meant by beautiful. For most Thais of her day, a beautiful talk was one that made use of formal, courtly language, with heavy literary embellishments, often saying as little as possible with a maximum number of words. That, however, was not Ajaan Lee”s style. What I think Aunty meant was a different kind of beauty: a directness and clarity of expression, with imaginative similes and metaphors. Ajaan Lee was skilled at making obscure points of Dhamma clear, and more familiar teachings memorable. Although he had a poet”s sense of how to play with words, the beauty of his talks was more a natural beauty of the mind than of studied verbal effects. In this book, which is drawn from Ajaan Lee”s collected talks, this is the kind of beauty I have kept in mind in selecting the passages for translation.

　　Only in the last year of his life were any of Ajaan Lee”s talks tape-recorded. We owe our records of his earlier talks to a handful of followers who took notes while he spoke: a nun, Arun Abhivanna; a monk, Phra Bunkuu Anuvaddhano; and a lay woman, Thao Satyanurak, who included some of Ajaan Lee”s talks in her diary, which was published after her death. In compiling this book, I have drawn on notes made by all three. Of the three, Arun Abhivanna was by far the most prolific. For years she took notes of Ajaan Lee”s talks — sometimes simply jotting down catchy phrases, other times reconstructing entire talks. Her notes — together with those by Phra Bunkuu and transcripts of the recorded talks — have more recently been collected in two large volumes. Because of their haphazard arrangement, the collections are hard to read straight through, but they are excellent companions for meditators who simply want to open to a passage at random, read enough to throw light on their problems, and then return to the practice.

　　Ajaan Lee was unique among the forest masters in leaving behind systematic guides to meditation and Buddhist practice in general: books like Keeping the Breath in Mind, The Craft of the Heart, Frames of Reference, and Basic Themes. Anyone who wants to understand the general outlines of his teaching should turn to those books first. His talks, though, are where he reveals something of his rough-and-ready personality, giving small asides that throw a revealing light on his more systematic teachings and making points that he…

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