Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Ajahn Brahm gives a humourous and wise talk on how understanding impermance can bring peace in life.

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Ajahn Brahm explains how the core teaching of Buddhism - the Four Noble Truths - are about finding progessively greater levels of happiness through the practice of the Eightfold Path.

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An often funny but most of all relaxing evening with Ajahn Brahm.  Ajahn asks us to remember why the British Empire lost many of it's colonies. They stopped having "tea breaks".  They stopped taking a break, stopped taking a moment to relax both the body and the mind.  When we become stressed we become less efficient at everything.  Driving, working and even doing our domestic chores.  Stop, take 5 minutes and meditate.

It is very difficult to relax the mind if the body isn't relaxed first.  So take the time to look deeply into your body, asking silently each part of your body if it is relaxed.  If it isn't then focus on it and move it if you need to.  Scratch that itch, rub that nose but most of all, relax.  Then move onto the mind and simply observe.  Don't get tangled up in your thoughts, just let them come and go.  Relax.  Guess what, you are meditating.

Ajahn reminded us that organisations such as Google and Face Book now have meditation areas set aside for their employees.  This allows them to take a break, relax.  This improves efficiency greatly.  So we should take the time to relax, meditate, even for just 5 minutes a day.  Learn our bodies, get physically comfortable, then relax the mind.

Ajahn then guided us through a 30 minute meditation that is well suited to beginners, novice or advanced meditators alike.

After the guided meditation, Ajahn opened to Q&A.

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Ajahn Vayama talks about the contribution of love to our wellbeing and to dealing with pain in our meditation. Ajahn looks at what we mean by ‘love’, as well as why our capacity to give and receive love effects our health and wellbeing. Ajahn explains that in Buddhism we are trying to move away from a narrow exclusive love to having a universal love for all beings because all beings need love. We apologise for the quality of this audio, this Buddha Dhamma talk was given in 2000.

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

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

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

Ajahn tells us that change is inevitable in all things, in all matters.  Meditation helps us learn how to deal with the changes in our lives, our
circumstances and ourselves.  Such change is not always to our liking or such that we can prevent.   Change happens.  Deal with it.  Rather than
become angry, distressed or sad, we meditate and deal with it in a calm rational fashion.

We had no new meditators on this occasion so rather than a full guided 30 minute meditation, Ajahn and the fifty odd people in attendance simply focused on a breath meditation with occasional guidance from Ajahn.  The experienced meditators amongst the group were encouraged to do their own thing.

After meditation Ajahn opened to, and answered well, a number of questions very relevant to meditation.


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Sensual pleasures can be difficult to let go. Ajahn Brahmali teaches us how to gradually reduce our craving in a sustainable way by living well, being kind and practicing meditation.

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In this talk, Ajahn Brahm questions what values are? What underlies the beliefs and values in our world? What is right and wrong? And what are the values of Buddhism? Ajahn Brahm says that Buddhist value systems come from the mindful, peaceful heart of each human being. Ajahn also looks at what values and religion children should be brought up in? And how our value systems in society change with time.

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Ajahn Brahm offers advice to busy people.

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

Ajahn gave a brief description of meditation and then guided us through a body sweep and relaxation meditation.

Although not totally suited to beginners this meditation was easy to follow and a pleasure to do.

After the meditation Ajahn opened to Q&A with some of his frank answers and descriptions making the entire audience laugh.  After the Q&A Ajahn gave a brief talk on how he became a monk and what life is like for a monk at Bodhinyana.  Again Ajahn had the audience laughing.

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Do you have a problem too difficult to overcome? Are you stuck in a difficult situation? Let Ajahn Brahm inspire you with four stories about life and holes.

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Ajahn Visuddhi offers a diverse Dhamma talk, discussing consciousness, awareness and volition. Along with sharing his own experiences and stories in practising Buddhism and emphasising the importance of being mindful, content and appreciating the present moment.

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Lazy Person's Guide to Making Good Karma | Ajahn Brahm

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This is a deeper talk from Ajahn Brahm about the powerful, blissful and serene states of mind known as the jhanas, that constitute the Eighth Factor - samma-samadhi - of the Noble Eightfold Path. He starts by referring to the Buddha's teaching on the jhanas and then goes on, speaking from experience, about the inner pathway into the super-natural world of the jhanas.

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Ajahn Nissarano explains how to practice the AFL Code - to acknowledge, forgive and learn - and how this can bring peace and understanding into our lives.

This talk was recorded by the Buddhist Society of Victoria. You can subscribe to their Youtube channel here.

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When it's done it's finished. Meditation allows us to leave the things that have happened in our busy lives and be peaceful, be calm. Forget about what's happened before and just be in this moment. Sit down, close your eyes and relax. Many of us don't give ourselves that opportunity to let it all go. We wake in the morning full of beans and by the end of the day we are mentally tired. We need to train our minds to let the day go. Meditation allows us to do this.

Ajahn guided us in a thirty minute meditation well suited to people learning to meditate.

After the meditation Ajahn related a story about the growth of a fire tree at Bodhinyana Monastery. He had watched the tree grow for many years and wondered why, given the care it received, that it hadn't seemed to grow. Ajahn continued his training in Wat Buddha Dhamma Buddhist Monastery in Wisemans Ferry, New South Wales for five years. On returning to Bodhinyana Monastery, he was quietly walking past the fire tree and wondered how it was faring. He was surprised to find that it was now an enormous mature tree. Just as Ajahn didn't notice the slight growth of the fire tree, when we begin to meditate, we often don't see or rather, notice any progress. Each time we meditate, be it for five minutes a day or half an hour each week, we are retraining our minds and this has a cumulative effect. One day we will sit down and realise that we can let it all go just as easily as sitting down.

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What is the meaning of life? After Venerable Hasapanna's mother passed away, she realised she could no longer avoid this unanswered question. Venerable shares her insight, that life is not about how much you can accumulate, but how much you can let go.

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The Buddha taught the way out of suffering. Ajahn Vayama offers some reflections on the Buddha’s teaching “Transcendental Dependent Arising”, which Ajahn explains is a teaching on the chain of cause and effect, one thing giving rise to the next, that starts with suffering (dukkha) and goes all the way to the end of suffering; enlightenment Nirvana. This teaching starts with dukkha and looks on it as a teacher, because suffering is an invitation to wake up in our life, to wake up to the realities of life. Ajahn talks about how suffering can motivate us to find a way out of suffering; for us to put in the effort and energy required to find peace and wake up. 

We apologise for the quality of this audio, this Dhamma talk was given in 2000.

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In early March, Ajahn Brahm lectured at the University of Hong Kong on the topic of “Seeing Meaning in Life through Buddhism and Science” to talk about Buddhism, science and life. In the first half of the lecture, A Jiang spoke first of all about scientific threats to religious beliefs. He cited several scientific research results to clarify that Buddhists are most qualified to think outside the box without being limited to academic knowledge;
 
In the second half, three experts from different fields came together to discuss the meaning of life with Ah Jiang. They are Dr. Berry Kerzin, Professor Guo Xin and Professor Chen Lichang. Kerzin is a member of the monks, teachers and doctors. He is currently a scholar of the Center for Spiritual and Life Studies and a therapist for the Dalai Lama. Guo Xin is a renowned astronomer and dean of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, while Chen Lichang is at the University of Hong Kong. Professor of pathology, director of the Center for Medicine and Humanities, is dedicated to humanistic care in blood cancer research and development medicine. The four people went through a two-hour conversation together. Everyone has a great reputation for explaining the meaning of life, science and the mind.

This talk was recorded in front of a large audience in an auditorium in Hong Kong. It is hosted by the organisation Buddhistdoor.

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