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    คำนำของอาจารย์เรวตะ ภาษาอังกฤษ

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    The document provides context about Supawan Green's book "A Handful of Leaves" which summarizes the teachings of Ajahn Buddhadasa, one of the greatest contemporary Buddhist teachers in Thailand. The author notes that when Supawan first came to his monastery 18 years ago, she struggled with English but has since become fluent in the language. He was impressed with her talent in writing about Buddhist concepts in articulate English as a working mother from Asia. The book explains Ajahn Buddhadasa's teachings in simple language and provides lucid explanations of key Buddhist ideas. The author hopes the book will help promote understanding of Thai Buddhism and reverse its decline.

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    คำนำของอาจารย์เรวตะ ภาษาอังกฤษ

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    The document provides context about Supawan Green's book "A Handful of Leaves" which summarizes the teachings of Ajahn Buddhadasa, one of the greatest contemporary Buddhist teachers in Thailand. The author notes that when Supawan first came to his monastery 18 years ago, she struggled with English but has since become fluent in the language. He was impressed with her talent in writing about Buddhist concepts in articulate English as a working mother from Asia. The book explains Ajahn Buddhadasa's teachings in simple language and provides lucid explanations of key Buddhist ideas. The author hopes the book will help promote understanding of Thai Buddhism and reverse its decline.

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    คำนำของอาจารย์เรวตะ ภาษาอังกฤษ

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    The document provides context about Supawan Green's book "A Handful of Leaves" which summarizes the teachings of Ajahn Buddhadasa, one of the greatest contemporary Buddhist teachers in Thailand. The author notes that when Supawan first came to his monastery 18 years ago, she struggled with English but has since become fluent in the language. He was impressed with her talent in writing about Buddhist concepts in articulate English as a working mother from Asia. The book explains Ajahn Buddhadasa's teachings in simple language and provides lucid explanations of key Buddhist ideas. The author hopes the book will help promote understanding of Thai Buddhism and reverse its decline.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    12 views2 pages

    คำนำของอาจารย์เรวตะ ภาษาอังกฤษ

    Uploaded by

    pirapong
    The document provides context about Supawan Green's book "A Handful of Leaves" which summarizes the teachings of Ajahn Buddhadasa, one of the greatest contemporary Buddhist teachers in Thailand. The author notes that when Supawan first came to his monastery 18 years ago, she struggled with English but has since become fluent in the language. He was impressed with her talent in writing about Buddhist concepts in articulate English as a working mother from Asia. The book explains Ajahn Buddhadasa's teachings in simple language and provides lucid explanations of key Buddhist ideas. The author hopes the book will help promote understanding of Thai Buddhism and reverse its decline.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 2

    Foreword

    It was about eighteen years ago that Supawan Green came to my monastery with her
    husband. It is quite usual, in Southeast Asian countries, that whenever people have any
    problems they go to see a monk to express their feelings. She had just arrived in England,
    a strange land, and it was probably because of culture shock that she wanted to speak to a
    monk. Then I was the only Buddhist monk residing in this part of the country.
    Unfortunately, I could not understand Thai, and she could not yet express her feelings in
    English either. So we didn’t have much communication, and she left without being able
    to express her thought.

    A few years later, when I met her somewhere in Birmingham, she was speaking fluent
    English, and seemed to have a sound command of the language. When she came to see
    me last year, I was very impressed by the improvement she had made, both in English
    and in her professional status. I then learnt that she was teaching Tai chi at the University
    of Birmingham, and writing books and articles in English.

    When I received the manuscript for “A Handful of Leaves” I was astonished that she had
    so much talent to express her understanding of the Dhamma in writing. Many people can
    speak a foreign language, and a few can give a talk in public but writing down one’s
    thoughts and feelings in articulate English is difficult. In this book, Supawan expresses
    her thoughts fluently on the page, which is a remarkable achievement for a working
    mother from Asia.

    When I started to read the manuscript, I was surprised to learn that she studied with
    Ajahn Buddhadasa in Thailand. Ajahn Buddhadasa was one of the greatest contemporary
    teachers in Thailand. His teachings, ideas and views were controversial for mainstream
    Thai Buddhists. In Thailand and other Theravada countries, Buddhism is well-
    established, and most teachings are based on traditional interpretations of the Pali texts. If
    anyone differs from this traditional interpretation, it soon becomes controversial. Ajahn
    Buddhadasa was fearless and had no hesitation to publicly express his thoughts and
    feelings, whether people agreed with him or not. Nevertheless, his teachings are now
    widely accepted by intellectuals in Thailand, and those outside the Theravada tradition.
    Personally, I appreciate his ideas because his approach is very straightforward, logical
    and easy to comprehend.

    In this book, Supawan explains Ajahn Buddhadasa’s teaching in uncomplicated language


    that will be easy for ordinary people to follow. Her explanations on the essence of
    Buddhism, the nature of nibbana and on ultimate reality are particularly lucid. I very
    much appreciate her efforts to present Ajahn Buddhadasa’s teachings in non-scholastic
    language.

    Supawan relates how to apply the four foundations of mindfulness to understand nibbana,
    and realise the truth. In some chapters she expresses her own views about the degenerate

    6
    condition of Thai Buddhism, western culture, Christianity, etc. Though it may be
    challenging for them to read, this book will help Thai people to better understand their
    own culture and religion. It will also be very beneficial for others who want to understand
    Buddhism from a modern Asian’s point of view.

    I expect that this publication will prove very successful, and hope that she will achieve
    her aim to promote the understanding of Thai Buddhism as taught by Ajahn Buddhadasa.
    I hope that her book will help to reverse the decline in Thai Buddhism and culture, above
    which she is so concerned.

    Ven. Dr. Rewata Dhamma (M.A., PhD.)


    Spiritual Directory
    Birmingham Buddhist Vihara
    August 1999

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