Translator’s Preface

Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo was unique among the ajaans in the Thai Wilderness tradition in that he composed systematic treatises on the practice. These are valuable documents, giving a wilderness perspective on basic Dhamma topics, and in particular on topics taught in the standard textbooks that Thai monks have been studying since the early part of the last century. The style of these treatises is somewhat terse and formal, in that it adopts the pattern of the textbooks, presenting lists of dhammas – Pali terms and Thai definitions – followed by discussions. The lists and their definitions are all derived from the textbooks; Ajaan Lee’s original contribution lies both in how he arranges the lists to amplify one another, and in how he explains them in the discussions, reflecting his own practical experience as a wilderness monk and what he had learned from his teachers. Among the highlights of these discussions are the passages where he departs from the formality of the textbook style with anecdotes and analogies that bring the teachings alive.

Four of these treatises, dating from the latter part of Ajaan Lee’s life, are translated here. These were all composed after Ajaan Lee had formulated the method for breath meditation that has since become established with his name. The first three treatises form a set, in that What is the Triple Gem? shows that the practice of the noble eightfold path lies at the heart of the act of taking refuge in the Triple Gem; The Path to Peace & Freedom for the Mind shows that the practice of breath meditation lies at the heart of the noble eightfold path; and Basic Themes deals in detail with issues related to breath meditation itself.

All three of these treatises emphasize two points where the Wilderness tradition differed most sharply from the scholarly tradition in Bangkok in Ajaan Lee’s time: in their assertion that the superior human attainments of jhāna and nibbāna are still possible, and in their interpretation of the not-self teaching.

Also, The Path to Peace & Freedom for the Mind makes the point – common to the entire Wilderness tradition – that virtue, concentration, and discernment are inseparable, mutually supporting practices: concentration and discernment bring virtue to perfection; discernment and virtue bring concentration to perfection; and discernment becomes liberating only when based on virtue and concentration.

As for Basic Themes, it was originally a smaller treatise. Ajaan Lee expanded it to its current form – adding the Prologue and Epilogue – when he was asked to provide a meditation text for an academy for monks and novices under construction north of Bangkok. Plans to use the text in the academy never materialized, as Ajaan Lee died before the academy was built, but the added portions give an interesting perspective on the aspects of the Canon that he viewed as being most directly related to the meditation. Of particular interest is the inclusion of the fourteen duties or protocols (vatta) from the Vinaya, which stress the way in which training in meditation is a form of apprenticeship. This is a distinctive feature of the Wilderness tradition, in that these duties have been abandoned by many other Buddhist practice traditions.

Duties of the Saṅgha is somewhat different sort of treatise, in that it deals with the formal organization of the Thai Saṅgha. It was written at a time when this organization was being overhauled, and it offers a Wilderness perspective on what sort of organization – and attitude to organization – would be genuinely conducive to the aims of the Buddhist religion. The departments mentioned in the treatise were disbanded shortly after it appeared and were replaced by a very different system of organization, which is still in place. However, the lasting value of the treatise lies in the way in which Ajaan Lee shows that the work of the Saṅgha is primarily a matter of the inner development of skillful qualities in the heart and behavior of each monk. These points remain valid regardless of whatever form the external organization of the Saṅgha takes.

The translations in this book are based on the editions printed during Ajaan Lee’s lifetime that seem most definitive and complete. At certain points, these editions differ from those more recently printed. Also, I was able to locate a copy of Basic Themes containing corrections in Ajaan Lee’s own hand. These have been incorporated in the translation.

The Thai term for treatises of this sort is lak wichaa: principles of skill, or principles of knowledge. I hope that these translations will provide your practice with principles of knowledge and skill that will keep it firmly grounded.

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu