Mae Chee Kaew: Her Journey to Spiritual Awakening & Enlightenment

by Silaratano Bhikkhu

Mae Chee Kaew (1901 - 1991) was a countrywoman, who lived a simple village life in the northeastern region of Thailand and overcame enormous difficulties in her attempt to leave home and follow the Buddha's noble path. Blessed with the good fortune to meet the most renowned meditation masters of her era, Mae Chee Kaew took their teachings on meditation to heart, diligently cultivating a mind of clear and spontaneous awareness. Her persistence, courage, and intuitive wisdom enabled her to transcend conventional boundaries - both those imposed upon her by the world and those limiting her mind from within - and thereby find release from birth, ageing, sickness and death.

Mae Chee Kaew is one of the few known female arahants of the modern era and testimony to all beings that regardless of race, gender or class, the Buddha's goal of supreme enlightenment is still possible.

This book is for FREE distribution only. For any inquiries or digital copies, please visit www.forestdhamma.org

Genres: Buddhism, Spirituality, Biography

246 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Aasinathena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I READ THIS VENERABLE MAE CHEE KAEW STORY.

AS A FEMALE..... AS A ARAHAT, IN THE RECENT PAST I AM STUNNED BY HER SUPREME ACHIEVEMENTS. IN MY THINKING ALL MONKS, BHIKKUNIS, MEN AND WOMEN OF MUST TRY TO FOLLOW AND ADOPT HER SIMPLE AND BUDDHIST WAY OF LIFE.

AS A BUDDHIST I PAY MY UTMOST RESPECT TO HER.

ITS A WAY THAT ALL OF US CAN FOLLOW IF YOU HAVE THE "BRAVERY" TO FACE THE UNCHANGEABLE REALITY OF THE WORLD.....

[Umeshikad · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far the best book ever I read. Her amazing life teaches many lessons to ours and the beauty is that we can use her advise in almost everything we do in our daily life.

I couldnt keep it down, it was a page turner.

already looking forward to reread it.

[Andrew Vought · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book to read on recommendation, and at first, I wondered if I really wanted to read this and if I would learn anything applicable from it. Having now finished the book, I find it to be inspiring as it contains some valuable teaching to learn from. She seems to have an extraordinary psychic ability and is able to converse with disembodied spirits. Eventually though, she has to learn how to meditate, and that means putting external experiences (including spiritual ones) on ignore and focusing inward. At one point, her teacher, Ajahn Maha Boowa, dismisses her because she refuses to follow his meditation instructions. Because she is too enraptured by her ability to see the spiritual world, he becomes fed up with her and tells her to never come back, and only after this encounter does she finally begin to understand that her ability to explore pscyhic phenomena while ignoring meditation instructions does not advance her spiritual practice and has no real benefit.

Bhikku Silartano writes incredibly detailed accounts of her meditations, and as he mentions in the beginning, this isn't necessarily advice that just anybody should be taking or trying to emulate. However, the book can be of benefit to meditation practitioners in showing what is possible for someone whose life is dedicated to the pursuit of enlightenment. For example, some of the meditations she experiences about the body could be enlightening to anyone regardless of whether they meditate or not in that most people aren't focused on the gory details of their own bodies or its impermanence. Her meditations in this area deconstruct the body to its core to reveal the underlying "not self" essence. At one point, she realizes that the more the body disintegrates, the stronger the mind presence becomes. In an incredibly insightful passage of the book, she thinks she has reached nirvana only to be told by Ajahn Maha Boowa that she isn't there yet. She still experiences a "self" admiring her mind's bright pure essence, and he tells her that only when "self" leaves the empty room can nirvana be experienced; She learns that self and nirvana are not compatible and that more work is still yet to be done in her meditation practice. I find that passage helpful because it warns that even an experienced meditator might mistakenly believe they are enlightened when in fact, they are still attached to self, and it is very difficult to loosen attachment to self because it can be so subtle and deceptive that we may not be aware of it.

I find her dedication to the meditative life to be highly inspiring to my own practice. It has caused me to question the value of always looking outward that is so habitually engrained in our society as well as thinking that I have to accomplish certain things in life as a way of self-fulfillment or thinking that something external is going to bring lasting happiness. Her story shows that one doesn't have to always be looking outward or seeking to be known or validated by others, but that looking inward has real benefits that most people aren't aware of as a result of our societal conditioning. The book serves as a warning against not questioning our conditioned way of life: "Stupid people welcome suffering with open arms. They mistake suffering for happiness. Smart people look inside and examine themselves until they see what happiness truly is and what suffering truly is." If that isn't a wise observation about people, then I don't know what is.

[Harshini Nawarathna · Rating 5 out of 5]

අම්මාගේ ආදරය රැකවරණය නැතිව කටුක ළමා වියකුත්, සැමියාගේ කිසිදු රැකවරණයකුත් නැතිව කටුක තරුණ වියකුත් පසු කළ ඇය සංසාර දුකින් මිදීම පමණක්ම අරමුණු කර සුදු රෙදි අඳින සිල් මාතාවක්ව ශාසනයට ඇතුළුවී, දැඩි කැපවීමෙන් මහණදම් පුරා, කාන්තාවකට වුවද නිවන් මගට එළඹිය හැකිබව පෙන්වූ, මෑත කාලයේ පහලවූ ශේෂ්ඨ කාන්තාවකි. තායිලන්තයේ පිටිසර ගමකින් ඇරඹෙන මේ කතාව, ආරණයය වාසීව ගත කරන සිල් මාතාවන්ගේ සරල ජීවිත ගැනත්, සිල් මාතා කායිව් රහත් මඟට එළඹි ආකාරයත් සවිස්තරාත්මකව දක්වයි.

"එහි පස්සිකෝ"

[Jnana Hodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Renowned as a living female arahant, Thai Buddhist nun Mae Chee Kaew (1901-1991) was accomplished in meditation and visions from youth on. This is a lovely biography and presentation of her teachings, especially once she was able to take up full-time spiritual practice after the dissolution of her marriage. Like the monks, a nun, or mae chee, has a shaved head and wears white robes and lives a strict monastic discipline. This inspiring volume effortlessly explains Buddhism itself in the passing, as well as the experience of meditation.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Description of the life and times of Buddhist nun in Thailand. This book details her life of awakening to psychic revelations. It carries through her being denied serving in the monastery and living a life of marriage and children. Eventually she leaves her family for monastic existence. The journey continues as she leads nuns and continues in her meditative practice.

[J. Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many books about spiritual paths are written by men. Nothing wrong with that at all, mind, but for me, this book was special, like having girl-time with a close friend -- walking down the spiritual path together, giggling.

[John Lescano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to an audiobook version available at forestdhamma.org

A riveting account Mae Chee Kaew's magical life. Although a prodigy and a student of both Ajaan Mun and Ajaan Mahabua, her journey was not an easy one. Maybe it was the way it was written, or maybe there is no other way to perceive her life, her story kept you cheering her on as she fought one battle after another - both in the worldly life and in the spiritual.

[Cilla Huang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its good to know that the struggles are real.

[Felicity Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging on a number of levels but a book I'm glad I've read nonetheless.

[Sparrow Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part apologist propaganda, part formulaic spiritual biography, and part genuine biography, this is nevertheless worth the read. The story contains many useful practice instructions, imparts a sense of the culture of the time, & conveys a sense of Mae Chee Kaew's strong determination to practice wholeheartedly, some of the mistakes she made along the way, & how her liberation was realized & actualized in life.

[Soraj Hongladarom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of one of most prominent Thai Buddhist nuns. Great read if you are interested in Thai Buddhism.

[Vesna]

very inspirational. it is so good to read about woman's spiritual accomplishment.