Hello Bhante,

I see you have come into this group to share your wisdom and
practice. It is a wonderful group and will benefit vastly from your
comments. I fully see what you mean about the difficulty of
watching the breath (involving the heart) compared with learning
Pali (involving the thinking mind). I also count Ajahn Brahm as my
primary teacher. But I also acknowledge you as an influential
second teacher. I am now in Cleveland, Ohio spending a few weeks
with my son. Tonight I shall be taking an overnight Greyhound to
Newark to spend the next 5 days in personal retreat at bodhi
monastery. Hopefully I should arrive in time to attend one of
Bhikkhu Bodhi's weekly sutta discussions based on the Majjhima
Nikaya.

When shall we see you again in Penang?

With best wishes and respect in the Dhamma,
KhaikCheang Oo

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Bhante Sujato" <sujato@...> wrote:
> --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "junet9876" <junet9876@...> wrote:
> > i am starting to think its easier to just sit and watch the
> breath. i
> > find pali requires too much brain usage.
>
>
> hello Junet
>
> My teacher, Ajahn Brahm, said that the first time you go over the
> Pali books with all the grammar it seems impossible. The second
time
> it starts to make a bit of sense. The third time you wonder what
the
> problem was.
>
> I've been both studying Pali and watching the breath for over ten
> years as a monk now, and trust me, the breath is much harder,
> precisely because it requires, not brain, but heart.
>
> I think it's one of the great shames in Buddhism sometimes that
> there is an artificial opposition set up between study and
practice,
> when in fact they should support each other. It always seems to me
> that when there is a balance and harmony between pariyatti and
> patipatti this will create the most lasting and secure grounds for
> what's really important - pativedha.
>
> never say die
>
> Bhante Sujato