Don Swearer was never ordained at Suan Mokkh, but he is a brilliant scholar of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu’s life and works. He had even recommended the revered monk to divide his sermons into series, keep an audio recording of each and every one of them, and compile and transform them into book form later. Since Buddhadasa took up Ajarn Don’s suggestion, we now have a sizeable collection of his works—a real treasure.

A young American who took the ordained name Santikaro then often served as Buddhadasa’s interpreter. After leaving the monkhood, Santikaro has become the leading translator of Buddhadasa’s works, especially for readers in the United States. By comparison, some Western scholars who claim to be Buddhadasa experts possess only superficial understanding of him.

Buddhadasa’s works have been translated into many different languages, including Chinese and Japanese. He is also the subject of numerous books. To my knowledge, Louis Gabaude of the Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient has compiled the most complete bibliography of works on or citing Buddhadasa in various languages.

After retiring from Swarthmore College and the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, Ajarn Don still regularly translates and writes on Buddhadasa for the Western audience—an admirable feat. Some of his pieces can be found in our Seeds of Peace magazine.

In this book, Ajarn Don shows us the links between Buddhadasa’s and Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings. The latter is a progenitor of socially engaged Buddhism. In fact, Buddhadasa admired Nhat Hanh’s writings, even insisting that they are more poetic and eloquent than his own.

When we first established the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) in 1989, both of these monks agreed to be our patrons; and so too did His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The publication of this book in Taiwan is made possible by the goodwill of the local Buddhists. Of course, it will be translated into Chinese, too.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ajarn Don Swearer not only for compiling and translating this book, but also for the years of friendship and support. I became well-known in the United States primarily because of his contribution in Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia, ed. Christopher S. Queen and Sallie B. King (State University of New York Press, 1996). He was also the main reason why I became Distinguished Visiting Professor for Social Change at Swarthmore College and Senior Fellow in Residence at the Harvard-Yenching Institute.

In this book, Ajarn Don has selected and translated a number of pieces by Buddhadasa. In the Introduction, he has already provided an explanation and commentary on them. I have nothing more to add. I would like to thank him as well as Thai and Taiwanese kalyanamitta for publishing this book which commemorates Buddhadasa Bhikkhu’s birthday on 27 May 2019.

(Foreword)

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