Ven. Ajahn Chah's Teachings on Meditation practice as a westerner
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It appears that some teachers and traditions are more focused on samatha and jhana like Pa Auk Sayadaw, Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Chah's disciple, Ajahn Brahm.
And then there are other teachers and traditions that are more focused on vipassana like Mahasi Sayadaw, Ledi Sayadaw, Sayagyi U Ba Khin and his student S.N. Goenka, Ajahn Tong Sirimangalo and his disciple, Ajahn Yuttadhammo.
Samatha is cultivation of serenity, and vipassana is cultivation of insight.
Ultimately both are needed.
From a Dhamma talk by Ajahn Chah entitled "Unshakeable Peace":
Meditation is like a single stick of wood. Insight (vipassanΔ) is one end of the stick and serenity (samatha) the other. If we pick it up, does only one end come up or do both? When anyone picks up a stick both ends rise together. Which part then is vipassanΔ, and which is samatha? Where does one end and the other begin? They are both the mind.
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