Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (also known as Ajahn Geoff; born 1949-12-28) is an American Buddhist monk and author. Belonging to the Thai Forest Tradition, for 10 years he studied under the forest master Ajahn Fuang Jotiko (himself a student of Ajahn Lee). +more
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is perhaps best known for his translations of the Dhammapada and the Sutta Pitaka-almost 1000 suttas in all-provided free of charge on his website "Talks, Writing & Translations of Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu" as well as translations from the dhamma talks of the Thai forest ajahns. He has also authored several dhamma-related works of his own, and has compiled study-guides of his Pali translations.
Biography
Early life
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu was born Geoffrey DeGraff in 1949 and was introduced to the Buddha's teaching on the Four Noble Truths as a high-school exchange student on a flight back from the Philippines. Tricycle writes: "he grew up 'a very serious, independent little kid", spending his early childhood on a potato farm on Long Island, New York, and later living in the suburbs of Washington, D. +more
Time at Oberlin
At Oberlin College in the early 1970s, "he eschewed campus political activism because 'I didn't feel comfortable following a crowd. ' For him, the defining issue of the day wasn't Vietnam, but a friend's attempted suicide. +more
First trip to Thailand
After graduating in 1971 with a degree in European Intellectual History from Oberlin College, he traveled on a university fellowship to Thailand. After a two-year search, Ṭhānissaro found a forest teacher: Ajahn Fuang Jotiko, a Kammatthana monk who studied under Ajahn Lee Dhammadaro.
After a brief stay with the teacher, which was cut short by malaria, he returned to the U.S. to weigh the merits of academia and monasticism.
Return to Thailand
Ṭhānissaro states that when he returned to Thailand, he originally planned on becoming a monk tentatively for five years. When he said that he wanted to be ordained, Ajahn Fuang made him promise to either "succeed in the meditation or die in Thailand. +more
Time with Ajahn Fuang
By Ṭhānissaro's third year ordained as a monk, he became Ajahn Fuang's attendant. Ajahn Fuang's case of psoriasis deteriorated. +more
Ṭhānissaro writes: "When I talked with Ajahn Fuang about going back to the West, about taking the tradition to America, he was very explicit. 'This will probably be your life's work,' he said. +more
Posting at Wat Metta
Before Ajahn Fuang's death in 1986, he expressed his wish for Ajahn Geoff to become abbot of Wat Dhammasathit. Ṭhānissaro says that in spite of Ajahn Fuang's wish there were a lot of people maneuvering to become abbot. +more
Instead of taking that position, he travelled to San Diego County in 1991, upon request of Ajahn Suwat Suvaco, where he helped start Metta Forest Monastery. He became abbot of the monastery in 1993. +more
Teachings
Classical Buddhist modernism
Views on commentarial meditation practice
Ṭhānissaro rejects the practice of kasina outlined in the Visuddhimagga, and warns against forms of "deep jhana" practiced by contemporary meditation teachers who draw from the commentaries. Ṭhānissaro calls these meditations "wrong concentration", and says that they have no basis in the Pali Canon, which he argues should be considered ultimately authoritative.
Forest as teacher and Buddhist counterculture
Ṭhānissaro talks about the importance of the forest to give rise to the qualities of mind necessary to succeed in Buddhist practice. Barbara Roether writes:
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Unbinding with reference to nibbana
Ṭhānissaro and others use the term "unbinding" when discussing nibbana.
On the self
Ṭhānissaro says that our sense of self is an activity, and a strategy for avoiding suffering and maximizing happiness.
Achieving "true happiness"
Ṭhānissaro writes, "You let go of the grosser forms of happiness, the grosser strategies for happiness, and get used to more and more refined ones. And they finally take you to the point where there's no course left but to let go of strategies. +more
Publications
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu's publications include: * Translations of Ajahn Lee's meditation manuals from Thai * [url=https://www. dhammatalks. +more
Aside from Buddhist Religions, all of the books and articles and talks mentioned above are available for free distribution on Bhikkhu's website [url=https://dhammatalks.org]dhammatalks.org[/url].
Some teaching locations
[url=http://watmetta. org]Metta Forest Monastery[/url] *[url=http://www. +more
Bibliography
American expatriates in the Philippines
Buddhist translators
Converts to Buddhism
Living people
Oberlin College alumni
Theravada Buddhism writers
Theravada Buddhist monks
American Theravada Buddhists
American Buddhist monks
Latest activity
