Venerable ajahn chah monastery icons

He ordained as a novice monk for a brief period in his youth, and at the age of 20, still deeply attracted to monastic life, took full ordination. After following the traditional curriculum of Buddhist studies customary in Thailand at that time, he eventually grew disenchanted with study. In he took up the austere life of a wandering forest monk.

He spent the following eight years of his life searching out remote wilderness areas and practicing meditation under various teachers of the tradition, including Venerable Ajahn Mun himself. After many arduous years of travel and practice, Ajahn Chah was invited to settle in a thick forest grove, known as a dwelling place of tigers, cobras, and spirits, near the village of his birth.

The monastery that eventually grew up there came to be known as Wat Nong Pah Pong.

Venerable ajahn chah monastery icons: Ajahn Chah practiced in the style

The conditions were difficult and the basic living requisites scarce. Out of faith and loyalty to their teacher, Ajahn Chah, the monks and nuns willingly endured these myriad hardships to follow the path and teachings Ajahn Chah lovingly laid out for them. In , Ajahn Sumedho, an American intrigued by the strict monastic discipline and way of life, came to study under Ajahn Chah.

From this time on the number of Western disciples grew, and the first overseas branch monastery of Wat Nong Pah Pong was established in England in Despite this intervention, his condition became progressively worse, and he spent the last ten years of his life bedridden and unable to speak.