A Still Forest Pool, The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah

Suppose you were to go to Asia in the 1980s in search of living teachings of the Buddha, to discover if there are still monks and nuns practicing a life of simplicity and meditation, supported by alms-food, and dwelling in the forest. Perhaps you had read descriptions of the Buddha himself wandering with his monks in the forests of India, inviting men and women of good families to join him in cultivating wisdom and univer?sal compassion, inviting them to live the simple life of a mendicant, to dedicate themselves to inner calm and awareness. Would you find this way of life alive to?day, twenty-five centuries later? And would its teachings still be applicable and relevant for our modem society, our modem minds?