One Monk, Many Masters: A New Title from Parami Press

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Published on Wednesday, 03 August 2011 09:41

Paul Breiter with Ajahn Pasanno
during a recent visit to Wat Pah Pong

I met Paul Breiter late last summer as he traveled through Portland on his way to southern Oregon to one of his several annual extened retreats. He is a long-time friend of Sakula, the spiritual director at Portland Friends of the Dhamma, where I am an active participant. Paul is author of several books, among them Venerable Father: A Life with Ajahn Chah.

Sakula knew Paul was working on a new book, and she knew I was looking for a new publishing project. It seemed natural for us to get together to talk about what we were up to and how we could work together.

One Monk, Many Masters: The Wanderings of a Simple Buddhist Traveler is to be published in the spring of 2012.

In 1969 Paul was among the throngs of disaffected youth who traveled to the Exotic East, seeking to escape the cultural and spiritual upheavals at home. He traveled to India, thinking that indulging the senses would be his means of finding God.

Instead, he found himself at a monastery in Thailand, taking the precepts of a Buddhist monk. He would spend the next seven years in robes, not indulging the senses, but depriving them.

One Monk, Many Masters is an account of Paul’s life as a monk in the Thai Forest Tradition and his ongoing search for awaking after leaving the robes.