Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Published with permission of Treasure Mountain Podcast. Please visit Treasure Mountain Podcast, Treasure Mountain website and Treasure Mountain Facebook page. 

From time immemorial we have looked up to heroes for guidance and as models of how to live an excellent life: people with virtues such as courage, patience, kindness and wisdom. But who are our heroes today? We live in an age of celebrity and social media influencers. But are celebrities and social media influencers our heroes?

To answer these questions and more, we have with us our return guest, Ayya Santussika from the Karuna Buddhist Vihara in northern California to discuss the topic of heroes versus celebrities in the age of social media.

And I think she is well qualified to speak on this topic having attained BS and MS degrees in computer science and worked as a software designer and developer for fifteen years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ayya Santussika is well familiar with computers and the internet. But on the other hand, her search for deeper meaning and ways to be of service led her to train as an interfaith minister in a four-year seminary program that culminated in a Masters of Divinity degree. Later her quest led her to ordaining as a Buddhist nun, and Ayya Santussika has been a bhikkhuni since 2012. And she has kindly offered her time to reflect upon our current fascination with the rich and famous, and what this says about where we are at in a present culture, as well as search for nobler human qualities.

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Links from this episode:

• Ayya Santussika's biography
• Karuna Buddhist Vihara
• Link to the Vimangsaka Sutta (The Inquirer) referred to in this episode.

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Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Ajahn Brahm points out the various ways we create our own suffering through wanting. Ajahn also explains how making peace with our current circumstances often reduces suffering.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Copyright Buddhist Society of Western Australia www.bswa.org

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

Monday Night Meditation at Wat Dhammayanaram, Cambodian Society of WA (CBSWA) with Venerable Kassapa on 23 January 2023. These weekly teachings give an introduction into Meditation and some guidance and basics into the practice of the Buddhist Path. They usually consist of a short talk, thirty minute meditation and then questions & answers.

Venerable Kassapa has trained at Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, WA (Buddhist Society of WA monastery – abbot Ajahn Brahmavamso), where he has been a resident since 2013.

Currently Venerable Kassapa is staying at Wat Dhammayanaram two to three weeks at a time and then returning to Bodhinyana for a week. Venerable has committed to help out the temple (for possibly up to 1-2 years), to assist the Cambodian monk Bhante Sukkhakamo by keeping him company and helping with things, such as this teaching engagement. Venerable Kassapa has been helping the temple on and off since he became a monk.

Please support BSWA in making these teachings available by donating via Patreon or our General Expenses Fund.

To download the audio, click on the audio track’s title to open it up in Podbean.

More dhamma teachings are available from:

• BSWA Podcast Channel (Dharma talks and guided meditations)
• BSWA DeeperDhamma Podbean Channel (retreats and suttas)
• BSWA YouTube Playlists
• Books and articles are available on our website.

Teaching retrieved from CBSWA please visit https://thecbswa.org to find out how to attend the monastery in person.

Ajahn Brahm explains how you can live a happy life by appreciating life and accepting its imperfections.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Copyright Buddhist Society of Western Australia www.bswa.org

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

Dhamma talk by Ajahn Nissarano on the 1st Jan 2023, at the Buddhist Society of Victoria (BSV). 

Please visit the BSV Podcast Channel and BSV YouTube Channel

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Monday Night Meditation at Wat Dhammayanaram, Cambodian Society of WA (CBSWA) with Venerable Kassapa on 16 January 2023. These weekly teachings give an introduction into Meditation and some guidance and basics into the practice of the Buddhist Path. They usually consist of a short talk, thirty minute meditation and then questions & answers.

Venerable Kassapa has trained at Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, WA (Buddhist Society of WA monastery – abbot Ajahn Brahmavamso), where he has been a resident since 2013.

Currently Venerable Kassapa is staying at Wat Dhammayanaram two to three weeks at a time and then returning to Bodhinyana for a week. Venerable has committed to help out the temple (for possibly up to 1-2 years), to assist the Cambodian monk Bhante Sukkhakamo by keeping him company and helping with things, such as this teaching engagement. Venerable Kassapa has been helping the temple on and off since he became a monk.

Please support BSWA in making these teachings available by donating via Patreon or our General Expenses Fund.

To download the audio, click on the audio track’s title to open it up in Podbean.

More dhamma teachings are available from:

• BSWA Podcast Channel (Dharma talks and guided meditations)
• BSWA DeeperDhamma Podbean Channel (retreats and suttas)
• BSWA YouTube Playlists
• Books and articles are available on our website.

Teaching retrieved from CBSWA please visit https://thecbswa.org to find out how to attend the monastery in person.

Ajahn Brahm teaches about how to deal with anger arising and the power of forgiveness which helps resolve anger.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Copyright Buddhist Society of Western Australia www.bswa.org

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

Dhamma talk by Ajahn Nissarano on the 18th Dec 2022, at the Buddhist Society of Victoria (BSV). 

Please visit the BSV Podcast Channel and BSV YouTube Channel

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

How much does our mind shape our reality? Ajahn Brahm teaches us what the Buddha taught about ‘mind and reality’.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

Dhamma talk by Ajahn Nissarano on the 20 Nov 2022, at the Buddhist Society of Victoria (BSV). 

Please visit the BSV Podcast Channel and BSV YouTube Channel

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Ajahn Brahm inspires us to practice generosity and kindness through his stories on this.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

New Year's Eve event with Ajahn Brahmavamso, which included a talk, guided meditation and chanting. Happy 2023!

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page , choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Teachings are available for downloading from the BSWA website, the BSWA Youtube Channel, the BSWA Podcast, and Deeper Dhamma Podcast

Dhamma talk by Ajahn Nissarano on the 4 Sep 2022, at the Buddhist Society of Victoria (BSV). 

Please visit the BSV Podcast Channel and BSV YouTube Channel

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera (known to most simply as Ajahn Brahm) is the popular Buddhist teacher to a growing international audience of people keen to learn meditation and develop a deeper spiritual understanding. He is also the founding father of an emergent Australian forest tradition of Buddhist monasticism focused on being true to the original roots of the Buddha's Teaching of Dhamma and Vinaya.

This talk was retrieved from Buddhist Society of Victoria, visit the BSV Podcast Channel and BSV YouTube Channel.

Please support BSWA in making these teachings available by donating via Patreon or our General Expenses Fund.

To download the audio, click on the audio tracks' title to open up in Podbean.

More dhamma teachings are available from:

• BSWA Podcast Channel (Dharma talks and guided meditations)
• BSWA DeeperDhamma Podbean Channel (retreats and suttas)
• BSWA YouTube Playlists
• Books and articles are available on our website.

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Ajahn Brahmali teaches about the idea of "going against the stream", and how we can use this to enhance our spiritual practice.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera (known to most simply as Ajahn Brahm) is the popular Buddhist teacher to a growing international audience of people keen to learn meditation and develop a deeper spiritual understanding. He is also the founding father of an emergent Australian forest tradition of Buddhist monasticism focused on being true to the original roots of the Buddha's Teaching of Dhamma and Vinaya.

This talk was retrieved from Buddhist Society of Victoria, visit the BSV Podcast Channel and BSV YouTube Channel.

Please support BSWA in making these teachings available by donating via Patreon or our General Expenses Fund.

To download the audio, click on the audio tracks' title to open up in Podbean.

More dhamma teachings are available from:

• BSWA Podcast Channel (Dharma talks and guided meditations)
• BSWA DeeperDhamma Podbean Channel (retreats and suttas)
• BSWA YouTube Playlists
• Books and articles are available on our website.

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Dhamma talk by Ajahn Mudito on the 3 Jul 2022, at the Buddhist Society of Victoria (BSV). 

Bhante Mudito was born in a remote village in Northern-Finland. After completing military service, he travelled to the United States where he attended chef school and worked in a high-end hotel for a few years. While living in New York his long-time interest in Buddhism evolved as he started meditating with different groups. He sought after many teachers and found many of them to be too lofty of simply too boring. But then the stars aligned when Ajahn Brahm wrote his hit book Open the Door of your Heart and on the book promotion tour he came to New York where Mudito fell in love with Ajahn and his simple teachings. He has followed Ajahn Brahm ever since and in 2010 he went to stay in Bodhinyana and ordained as a monk in 2012.

Please visit the BSV Podcast Channel and BSV YouTube Channel

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Ajahn Brahm retells his personal story of the ‘Two Bad Bricks’ to demonstrate how we often focus on our mistakes and negative aspects, instead of the wonderful and beautiful parts of our life. Ajahn Brahm built a brick wall at the Bodhinyana monastery and misplaced two bricks. He hated that wall, until one day someone pointed out the other 999 well placed bricks and suddenly he realised the wall was in fact a nice looking wall after all.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

This talk is republished with permission by Metta Centre, teaching retrieved from http://Dhamma Talks – Metta Centre.

We decided that everyone should choose their own life path, but it seems that we forgot to talk about what makes a good life. Should you follow your bliss if your bliss is doing bad things? Is purpose innate or do we have a choice? How can we find purpose if life seems determined to strip it away?

0:00 - Metta meditation
22:12 - Finding purpose
32:33 - Being a monastic
33:55 - See the bigger picture
34:53 - Impermanence & choices

37:47- Q & A
38:30 - Choices & conditioning
41:59 - Regretting ordination
47:09 - Hard finding purpose
53:50 - Q: Challenges finding one's purpose
54:20 - Am I doing enough?
57:39 - What we want to become
58:17 - Our impact
1:01:13 - The present
1:02:03 - Perhaps the only purpose is waking up?
1:03:34 - Do choices end?
1:06:45 - Traditional values & expectations
1:14:45 - How to find purpose in the mundane?
1:16:40 - Pre-announcement: Buddhist Professional Network
1:17:43 - Too busy to consider purpose..
1:20:56 - Guiding principles
1:22:51 - Noble Eightfold Path
1:26:28 - Hard rejecting dreaded freelance jobs
1:28:20 - Closing
1:29:39 - Dedication of merits

About the presenter: Bhante Sujato is an Australian Theravada Buddhist monk ordained in a monastery in Chiang Mai in Thailand during the 1990s. Besides spending 3 years in the Bodhinyana monastery with Ajahn Brahm, he also spent several years in remote hermitages and caves in Thailand in Malaysia. He helped establish the Santi Forest Monastery in Bundanoon, where he was the abbot for many years. As a scholar of early Buddhism, Venerable Sujato has authored several books and essays, and is the founder of SuttaCentral.net, an impressive online collection of early Buddhist texts, attributed to the teachings of the Buddha or his earliest disciples, with translations and commentary available on the site. Venerable Sujato has taught Buddhism and meditation in Australia and internationally such as in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, America, Germany, Norway, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and many others. Venerable Sujato is now residing at Lokanta Vihara (the Monastery at the End of the World) in Sydney, Australia.

Facilitator: Tina Ng

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

Dhamma talk by Ajahn Mudito on the 19 Jun 2022, at the Buddhist Society of Victoria (BSV). 

Bhante Mudito was born in a remote village in Northern-Finland. After completing military service, he travelled to the United States where he attended chef school and worked in a high-end hotel for a few years. While living in New York his long-time interest in Buddhism evolved as he started meditating with different groups. He sought after many teachers and found many of them to be too lofty of simply too boring. But then the stars aligned when Ajahn Brahm wrote his hit book Open the Door of your Heart and on the book promotion tour he came to New York where Mudito fell in love with Ajahn and his simple teachings. He has followed Ajahn Brahm ever since and in 2010 he went to stay in Bodhinyana and ordained as a monk in 2012.

Please visit the BSV Podcast Channel and BSV YouTube Channel

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

This talk was retrieved from Buddhist Society of Victoria, visit the BSV Podcast Channel and BSV YouTube Channel.

Please support BSWA in making these teachings available by donating via Patreon or our General Expenses Fund.

To download the audio, click on the audio tracks' title to open up in Podbean.

More dhamma teachings are available from:

• BSWA Podcast Channel (Dharma talks and guided meditations)
• BSWA DeeperDhamma Podbean Channel (retreats and suttas)
• BSWA YouTube Playlists
• Books and articles are available on our website.

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.