Buddhist Teachings
http://www.buddhistteachings.org/ This website sprung primarily from a wish to share the teachings and translations of Venerable Ajahn Payutto (Phra Payutto; Tahn Chao Khun Brahmagunabhorn), one of Thailand’s most respected and revered monks. His monumental work titled Buddhadhamma is considered by many to be one of the most important compendiums of the Buddhist teachings of the modern era. An ambitious project is underway to complete the translation of this text into English. It is my privilege to be at the forefront of this project, after having spent some time living with Ven. Payutto when I was a monk and now receiving his blessing to translate his books.
The Buddhadhamma Foundation in Bangkok, a non-profit publishing company, has invited me to work for them, with the aim of completing this translation before the end of 2014. At the moment, three chapters of Buddhadhamma have been published as separate volumes, and two more books are being prepared for publication. Excerpts from all of these books are available on this website, along with information on how to acquire the complete volumes.
In addition, I hope this website can be a resource for information on the Buddha’s teachings. It is my intention to use the blog to discuss such questions as:
* What is Buddhism? Is it a religion or a philosophy?
* What is the role of meditation in the Buddhist teachings? Is there a conflict between insight meditation (vipassanā) and concentration meditation (samatha)?
* What are some of the challenges of translating Buddhist texts? For example, is it more effective to use Pali terms (e.g., Dhamma, kamma, Nibbāna), or preferable to use the more commonly encountered Sanskrit versions (e.g., Dharma, karma, Nirvana)?
* What are the Buddhist teachings on enlightenment and awakened beings (Sangha)?
* What are the challenges for contemporary Buddhists and what are the solutions?
Robin’s Bio (Author)
Robin Moore was born in Palo Alto, USA in 1963. At the age of 16 he attended Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts. Here, both in the comparative religion classes and in the English Literature class, in which the students read Jack Kerouac’s ‘The Dharma Bums,’ he was introduced to the Buddhist teachings. Later, he studied religion for two years at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. His interest in Buddhism burgeoned and as a result he worked on staff at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) at Barre, Massachusetts during the year of 1987. Here he met Ajahn Sumedho, who provided an inspiration which led him to the monasteries in England.
Robin Moore
After two years as a novice he was ordained in 1990 as a bhikkhu (named Suriyo Bhikkhu) at Chithurst Monastery in the UK with Ajahn Sumedho (Tahn Chao Khun Raja Sumedhachariya) as preceptor. After training in England for seven years he lived in Thailand for eight years. Three of these years were spent as an itinerant (‘tudong’) monk, wandering for several thousand kilometers across Thailand. During the final year and a half he lived at Wat Nyanavesakavan with Phra Ajahn Payutto (Tahn Chao Khun Brahmagunabhorn) and began the translation of Ajahn Payutto’s Buddha-dhamma. Between 2003 and 2006 he acted as abbot of Hartridge Monastery in Devon, UK. After a long struggle with poor health, he left the monkhood in 2007. He now resides in Bangkok and works as a translator for the Buddhadhamma Foundation.