Wat Pah Nanachat — the name means International Forest Monastery in Thai — was established in 1975 by Ajahn Chah in response to growing interest from practitioners in Europe and North America who wanted to train in the Theravadin forest tradition but found the Thai-language environment of existing monasteries a barrier. The monastery's first abbot was Ajahn Sumedho, an American monk who had trained under Ajahn Chah at the nearby motherhouse, Wat Nong Pah Pong. Sumedho's appointment was a statement of intent: Wat Pah Nanachat would be run by and for the international community, with English as its working language. Residents have always included a wide range of nationalities — monks, novices, and postulants who share the same daily rhythm regardless of where they were born.

The monastery's daily schedule is structured to support uninterrupted practice. After the 3:30 a.m. chanting session, monks go out on almsround at 6:00 a.m., walking the surrounding villages in their saffron robes to receive food offerings. Laypeople visiting the monastery accompany them. By 8:00 a.m., the food is offered formally and the single daily meal is taken. The rest of the morning is given over to Dhamma talks, community work, and private meditation. Tea time at 4:30 p.m. is a brief communal gathering before the evening chanting session at 6:15. On Observance Days — the uposatha, tied to the lunar calendar — monks and laypeople may sit in meditation through the entire night. Men who stay for more than a few days are required to shave their heads. This is not symbolic; it is a concrete, daily reminder of the commitment the place asks for.

Meditation at Wat Pah Nanachat follows the spirit of Ajahn Chah's teaching, which refused to draw a sharp line between vipassana (insight) and samatha (tranquility). He saw them as two aspects of a single cultivated awareness. Breathing meditation predominates. Lay visitors observe the eight precepts — a more demanding version of lay practice than the five precepts most Buddhists follow — and are expected to participate in all daily activities. There are no formal meditation courses or retreat packages. The priority, as the monastery makes clear from the start, is the training of the full-time monastics. Visitors are welcome to be present for that training, but they are not the audience.

Wat Pah Nanachat sits about 15 kilometers from Ubon Ratchathani city in the Tambon Bung Wai area of Warin Chamrap district. Its physical remoteness has not prevented it from generating enormous influence. The abbots who trained here went on to establish and lead major monasteries around the world: Amaravati in England, Abhayagiri in California, Birken Forest in Canada. The collective lineage is known as the Forest Sangha. A total of seven abbots have served Wat Pah Nanachat since 1975. The current abbot, Ajahn Kevali, has served since 2007. The monastery maintains a mailing address — Bahn Bung Wai, Amphoe Warin Chamrap — that sounds like any other rural Thai village, which is exactly what surrounds it on three sides. On the fourth side is the forest.