About This Teaching
This reading gathers accounts of people meeting Ajahn Chah for the first time. Some found the meeting electric; others changed slowly; a few left offended when he punctured their conceit. Like an overturned vessel that sunlight cannot enter, some minds stayed closed.
One man sat listening from afternoon until dawn, forgot his hunger and the mosquitoes, and afterwards gave up alcohol and fishing. A proud village sceptic who denied kamma was asked why, then, he did not try robbery; told he should not trust even his own mind, since as a carpenter he had sawn wood wrongly, he eventually became a devoted supporter. A woman biologist felt a stream of coolness on bowing, then felt ashamed after calling out for a photograph, only to find Ajahn Chah's face full of kindness. Ajahn Chah likened his monastery to a garage for broken lives, consoling a grieving father that no house is untouched by death. A herbalist who argued four days and nights fainted, and was later reminded that one who lives high can see those below.