Thanissaro bhikkhu biography sample
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Full text of "Bhikkhu Thanissaro ( Ajahn Geoff)'s Biography And Interview"
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On Bhikkhu Thanissaro Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff) has been a Theravada Buddhist monk since 1976. After studying in Thailand with Ajaan Fuang Jotiko for ten years, he returned to the U.S. in 1991 to help found Metta Forest Monastery in the mountains north of San Diego where he is currently Abbot. Thanissaro Bhikkhu’ s writing includes a translation of the Dhammapada, Noble Strategy, The Mind Like Fire Unbound, and The Wings to Awakening . He has also translated several meditation guides by Thai forest masters. A print edition of Thanissaro Bhikkhu's sutta translations is available in a four- volume book entitled, Handful of Leaves. Volume 1, which includes suttas from the Digha and Majjhima Nikayas, is available free of charge upon request from: Sati Center for Buddhist Studies PO Box 2021 Santa Cruz, CA 95063-2021 USA Volume 2 (Samyutta Nikaya) is expected by the end of March, 2003. Metta Forest Monastery A Question of Skill An Interview with Thanissaro Bhikkhu Reprinted with permission from Insight Journal. Barre Center for Buddhist Studies Volume 14, Spring 2000 Thanissaro Bhikkhu, also known more informally to many as Ajaan Geoff, is an American- born Theravada monk
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Several years ago, while I was preparing for a trip to South-east Asia–in part to learn about Buddhism–a friend suggested that I first contact Thanissaro Bhikkhu, the abbot of the Metta Forest Monastery in northern San Diego County. Despite his imposing Thai name, this monk was actually raised in rural New York and Virginia under an equally imposing American name: Geoffrey Furguson DeGraff.
As an Oberlin student, Geoff was introduced to meditation during a winter-term seminar in 1969. He graduated in 1971, and then served as a Shansi rep in Thailand for two years. After returning there in 1976, he was ordained a monk and spent the next 15 years immersed in the Forest monastery tradition of Theravada Buddhism (see sidebar). He returned to the United States in 1991 to establish the Metta Forest Monastery, an American equivalent of the Thai Forest retreats.
Known informally as "Than Geoff," Thanissaro Bhikkhu has written several books on Buddhism and Vipassana (Insight) meditation. Fluent in Thai and Pali, the languages of early Buddhist writings, he has translated the writings of two noted Thai abbots and four volumes of the Pali Canon. In short, he knows his Buddhism.
Although I was anxious during our first phone call, Than Geoff was relaxed and friendly. He sta
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Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
American Buddhistic monk (born 1949)
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Biography
[edit]Early life
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