Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Discussion of ordination, the Vinaya and monastic life. How and where to ordain? Bhikkhuni ordination etc.
User avatar
yureee123
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:42 pm

Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by yureee123 »

Hi everyone.

I wish to ask you if anyone knows some information about the current abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat. In my researches i found that his name is "Ajahn Kevali", but i could not find any other information about him. Where he was born, how long he is ordained, any dhamma teaching by him, etc. Does someone knows any information about it? I would like to read a short biography, or something like that.

Thank you. =)
Last edited by yureee123 on Tue Apr 01, 2014 12:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Crazy cloud
Posts: 930
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 8:55 am

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by Crazy cloud »

Here's 9 talks by Ajhan Kevali :)

Be well and happy!

http://www.watpahnanachat.org/mp3playWPNAudio.php
If you didn't care
What happened to me
And I didn't care for you

We would zig-zag our way
Through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain

Wondering which of the
Buggers to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing
- Roger Waters
User avatar
cooran
Posts: 8503
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:32 pm
Location: Queensland, Australia

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by cooran »

According to Ajahn Sujato, Ajahn Kevali is a stalwart of the Anti-bhikkhuni Movement:

http://sujato.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/ ... -nanachat/

With metta,
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
User avatar
yureee123
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:42 pm

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by yureee123 »

Thank you, crazy cloud, for the link. It was a good start. ^^

cooran wrote:According to Ajahn Sujato, Ajahn Kevali is a stalwart of the Anti-bhikkhuni Movement:

http://sujato.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/ ... -nanachat/

With metta,
Chris
I read this text yesterday. Actually it was what started my curiousity about his history. Because i was (i am, actually) planing to stay in wat pah nanachat soon, and i felt unconfortable when i discovered this fact about its abbot. Although my knowledge about the bhikkhuni issue and also about the minutiae of the vinaya is quite superficial, beforehand i have a simpaty with Ajahn Brahm and also i strange the idea of forbid woman of getting ordained. In my thoughts, a mind is a mind, whatever the skin, sex, etc.

By the way, i know i have to deepen the issue.. for now, i was wishing to know more about this one who defends this idea. I'm hoping to find that, despite this question, he is a great teacher.

Thank you.
User avatar
Cittasanto
Posts: 6646
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:31 pm
Location: Ellan Vannin
Contact:

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by Cittasanto »

I met Ajahn Kevali a few years ago, he is from Germany and has been ordained about 17 years if I remember correctly.
He is a nice man, and I found his advice in practicing the Brahma Vihara interesting, and useful.

I would advise listening to his teachings to ascertain more about him than what others say.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
User avatar
James the Giant
Posts: 791
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:41 am

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by James the Giant »

I spent just over three weeks there, and he seemed to me to be a competent and kind ajahn, but uninspiring. Good enough, I guess.
Sorry, that sounds like Damning With Faint Praise.
Several of the monks at Nanachat said he was reluctant to ordain people, and indeed, very few ordinations have happened during his time as abbott of Wat Pah Nanachat. I dunno what that's about, maybe just a lack of suitable candidates, but several monks there mentioned it.
But judge the bhikkhu by his teachings, or even better in person.
Then,
saturated with joy,
you will put an end to suffering and stress.
SN 9.11
User avatar
yureee123
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:42 pm

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by yureee123 »

I hope soon i could meet him personally.
Thanks all for the answers. =)
piano piano
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:52 pm
Location: Switzerland

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by piano piano »

A. Kevali told me that aspirants to ordination leave after a while, as they find his policy of zero internet and zero family and friends contact in the first 6 years are too tough on them; people go to A. Anan Akincano at Rayong instead who is more lenient in this regard. One person who stayed at Wat Pah Nanachat in November saw then 7 aspirants; by January when he was there again, they had all left.
User avatar
James the Giant
Posts: 791
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:41 am

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by James the Giant »

piano piano wrote: zero family and friends contact in the first 6 years.
Wow! I wonder if that includes writing letters.
That's way too strict for me. That's nuts.
Then,
saturated with joy,
you will put an end to suffering and stress.
SN 9.11
piano piano
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:52 pm
Location: Switzerland

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by piano piano »

James the Giant wrote:
piano piano wrote: zero family and friends contact in the first 6 years.
Wow! I wonder if that includes writing letters.
I did not ask about snail mail letters. We only talked about Internet and cell-phone use; A. Kevali explicitly said that Internet use was only allowable for organising a ticket, and nothing else. Actually I got the information about zero family contact from the above mentioned informant who found it too strict to be out of touch with family and friends for 6 years; he had spoken to A. Kevali as well.

I must say that I found Ajahn Kevali's position understandable since we are so much addicted to this instant exchange of information with each other, and this sharing with the whole world which is contrary to the idea of renunciation, and requires certainly a reprogramming of habits in a more wholesome direction. It is not about cencorship by someone else, but a re-learning of being simple and frugal and self-dependant, an attitude which would hardly be contradicted by the reception of an occasional letter.
User avatar
Bhikkhu Pesala
Posts: 4644
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:17 pm

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

I have never met Ajahn Kevali, and knew nothing about him before reading this thread.

He is right not to ordain monks too readily. It is a long-term commitment like adopting a child, and should not be done without careful consideration.
BlogPāli FontsIn This Very LifeBuddhist ChroniclesSoftware (Upasampadā: 24th June, 1979)
User avatar
pilgrim
Posts: 1679
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:56 pm

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by pilgrim »

It is quite possible that with more experience and knowledge in such matters, I would understand this policy. But from my current position, this ultra-strict policy just seems to discourage people from ordaining and that doesn't seem like a good thing.
Edit: And I think there is neither precedence or support for this from the suttas.
piano piano
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:52 pm
Location: Switzerland

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by piano piano »

pilgrim wrote:It is quite possible that with more experience and knowledge in such matters, I would understand this policy.
The background of this is the reality in Thailand (and perhaps elsewhere too), that everyone (including monks) has a Facebook page and is constantly referring to it, updating, checking, trying to get mote likes or "friends". In Thailand it is common that monks walk around with smartphones or tablets, some checking their mails during or after Pindapata perhaps because of better reception outside their wats.

I was reccently in a remote forest monastery when a group of Thai monks came visiting the ailing Luang Phor. One monk was taking pictures with his tablet and uploading them right away to Facebook. He was really taken aback when I told him I had no Facebook page, disappointed to not get another kick from being connected with a falang.

Another reason is that the training at Wat Pah Nanachat is constantly, even in the smallest details of life, referring to the Vinaya. I think that the perception is that using the Internet for other than immediate practical tasks is an unnecessary distraction from that training.

If you know a good number of older monks, you are likely to find among that number a few who are really internet-addicts. Internet-addiction is the scourge of the 21st century. I guess we all know this reality, including the seduction of claiming to make use of technology for a higher good. In this perspective it is understandable that a training which focusses exclusively on Vinaya will accept a zero-Internet policy.
User avatar
Mr Man
Posts: 4016
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2011 8:42 am

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by Mr Man »

I don't think it is suitable for monks to own a cell phone or for junior monks to have free access to the internet. Monks being alone with a computer could possibly be seen as equal to being alone with a member of the opposite gender - tongues may wag.
User avatar
Sokehi
Posts: 405
Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2012 4:27 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Informations about Ajahn Kevali

Post by Sokehi »

I'm not sure if this no contact rule towards family members really exists. Maybe with regards to the internet. Gratitude towards ones parents is mentioned very often within the context of the Ajahn Chah lineage. When I stayed there under the guidance of Ajahn Nyanadhammo several parents of monks showed up and they where always treated with great respect.

Plus I really don't think if parents would show up at the monastery gates they would be really send away. Such behaviour is just straight unthinkable. So I guess it refers more to internet activities.
Get the wanting out of waiting

What does womanhood matter at all, when the mind is concentrated well, when knowledge flows on steadily as one sees correctly into Dhamma. One to whom it might occur, ‘I am a woman’ or ‘I am a man’ or ‘I’m anything at all’ is fit for Mara to address. – SN 5.2

If they take what's yours, tell yourself that you're making it a gift.
Otherwise there will be no end to the animosity. - Ajahn Fuang Jotiko

https://www.youtube.com/user/Repeataarrr
Post Reply