http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajahn_Sumedho
American-born Ajahn Sumedho (Thai:
อาจารย์สุเมโธ) (born July 25, 1934 ) is a seminal
figure in the Thai Forest Tradition and Western Theravada Buddhism. The
word "Ajahn" is not a proper name, but a title which means
"Teacher" in Thai.
He is also affectionately known among his students as "หลวงพ่อ"
which means "Venerable Father" in
Ajahn Sumedho (Robert Jackman) was born in Seattle, Washington in 1934. Beginning at the
age of eighteen, he served overseas as a medic in the United
States navy for four years, including the period of the Korean War.
Following his military service, he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Far
Eastern Studies and, in 1963, graduated with a Masters Degree in South Asian
Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He served in the Peace Corps
as an English teacher in Borneo from 1964 to 1966, following a one-year stint as a
social worker for the Red Cross. In 1966, Ajahn Sumedho was ordained as a novice monk (samanera) at Wat Sri
Saket in Nong Khai, northeast Thailand, and
received full ordination, as a bhikkhu, in May of the following year.
Ajahn Sumedho at the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery teaching
a monk in the middle
of the Sangha.
Following this, he spent the next ten years from
1967-1977 at Wat
Nong Pa Pong, studying under the highly venerated teacher, Ajahn Chah.
Since that time, he has been regarded as the most influential Western disciple
of Ajahn Chah. In 1975 he helped to establish and became the first abbot of the
International Monastery, Wat
Pa Nanachat in northeast
Ajahn Sumedho was granted authority to ordain others as
monks shortly after he established Cittaviveka Forest Monastery. He then
established a ten precept
ordination lineage for women, "Siladhara".
Ajahn Sumedho is currently the abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery near Hemel
Hempstead in
Teachings
Ajahn Sumedho is a prominent figure in the Thai Forest
Tradition. His teachings are very direct, practical, simple, and down to earth.
In his talks and sermons he stresses the quality of immediate intuitive
awareness and the integration of this kind of awareness into daily life. Like
most teachers in the Forest Tradition, Ajahn Sumedho tends to avoid
intellectual abstractions of the Buddhist teachings and focuses almost
exclusively on their practical applications, that is, developing wisdom and compassion
in daily life. His most consistent advice can be paraphrased as to see things
the way that they actually are rather than the way that we want or don't want
them to be ("Right now, it's like this..."). He is known for his
engaging and witty communication style, in which he challenges his listeners to
practice and see for themselves. Students have noted that he engages his
hearers with an infectious sense of humor, suffused with much loving kindness,
often weaving amusing anecdotes from his experiences as a monk into his talks
on meditation practice and how to experience life ("Everything
belongs").
Sound of Silence
A meditation technique taught and used by Ajahn Sumedho
is the "Sound of Silence" [Disputed] (also known -- in the Hatha Yoga
Pradipika, for example -- as the Nada tone). Listening to, and resting in, this
inner sound produces a peaceful, non-reactive mind in which intuitive wisdom
can and does arise. The "Sound of Silence" is also the title of one
of Ajahn Sumedho's books (published by Wisdom in 2007).