Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Ajahn Brahmali guides a meditation for approximately half an hour. 

To find and download more Guided Meditations on Podcast, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the meditation you want and then type the date into the Podcast search box e.g. 01-09-2018 or try 1 September 2018.

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.

Venerable Mettaji will offer a Metta meditation, share his understanding of Metta and answer any questions. 

The Peace Treaty

The Right Way to Criticise Someone

0:00 – Introduction
2:26 – Meditation practice
27:59 – Importance of Metta
32:15 – Metta Sutta
34:10 – Peace Treaty
37:26 – The antidote
39:15 – Problem solving
42:33 – Partners
43:55 – Some stories 
48:39 – Q & A
49:21 – Metta to ‘objects’
56:27 – Conflict at Bodhinyana
1:01:54 – Reasons for ordaining
1:07:08 – Beyond images
1:09:43 – Ajahn Brahm’s marriage ceremonies
1:12:16 – Q: Challenges practising Metta
1:12:38 – Fault-finding
1:14:55 – Self-righteousness
1:18:20 – Ego: friends & threats
1:22:07 – Pride & those who’ve harmed us
1:26:33 – Sleepiness
1:28:55 – Remorse
1:32:27 – Too effective? Wisdom & saying no
1:38:13 – Metta spirit, energy, frequency
1:40:38 – Metta to strangers
1:41:57 – Closing & dedication

About the presenter: Bhikkhu Mettaji believes that he is a very fortunate Bhikkhu to be given the opportunity to ordain late in life at Bodhinyana, which is a very precious and rare gift. His lifelong search for absolute truth started a long time ago in Europe in his teens, but sadly led to lots of cul-de-sacs and dead ends. He is in his mid-60s and believes he only found the real teachings when he touched Theravada Buddhism 10 years ago. Living and studying at Bodhinyana Monastery enabled him to finally find the real teachings. Good people with Metta sustained and nurtured him through the difficult years. His father, as an expression of Metta, often comes to mind and also his children who are young adults now. Isn’t family some of our best teachers too, even when events don’t go too well?

He was fortunate to run into an ex-monk from the Thai Forest tradition in 2009,in Sydney, who had been one of Ajahn Chah’s carers. Soon afterwards he discovered that all the teachings of the Buddha are very honest and thorough, and passed all experiential investigation. There are no loopholes in the Suttas and the Eightfold Path does gradually reduce suffering.

He tried to blend Buddhist practice into a number of senior roles that he had in the Finance and Charity sectors in Sydney but soon realised that colleagues will only practice if they want to! He finds it a blessing to have Ajahn Brahmavamso as his preceptor and access to other marvellous teachers like Ajahn Brahmali, Bhante Sujato and Bhikkhu Bodhi. Such riches! His name, Mettaji comes from a monk in the time of the Buddha and translates as ”Victory through loving kindness.” That is the aspiration he wants to fulfill in his practice and in meeting anyone, anywhere.

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.

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

• In this episode of Spirit Stories we have as our guest, Ajahn Nitho who is coming to us from the mountains near Ørsta in western Norway.

Ajahn Nitho was born on the west coast of Norway in 1970, and after finishing high school, attended the University of Bergen and to The Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. He then spent a few years working as a chief financial officer at various companies, and then spent two years of backpacking around the world. Having become interested in meditation, Ajahn Nitho travelled to Australia in 2007 to be ordained as a bhikkhu (a Buddhist monk), under Ajahn Brahm at the Buddhist Society of Western Australia (BSWA), Perth.

After one year as an anagarika, one year as a samanera (novice), Ajahn Nitho took higher ordination as a bhikkhu (monk) in 2009. After more than 10 years of training as a bhikkhu in Perth, and a few stays with Ajahn Ganha in Thailand, he has now returned to Oslo in Norway, where he currently resides.

Together with Jon Endre Mørk, he established the Buddhist Society of Oslo and Viken (ovbf.org) in 2021, and he is now teaching retreats and Buddhism various places in Norway, while building a Buddhist community there. The goal is to establish a centre in Norway for teaching and practise.

Links from this episode:

• The Buddhist Society of Oslo and Viken (OVBF) - https://ovbf.org/ 
• Donate to the OVBF - https://ovbf.org/en/donasjoner/ 

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.

Tuesday 15th November 2022

Bhante Cunda joins the Armadale Meditation Group on-line live. Armadale Meditation Group (AMG) is designed to teach you about meditation. The classes generally begin with chanting the Metta Sutta, then receiving meditation instructions and meditating together, followed by asking questions and finally if time remains listening to a Dhamma talk. However, the layout can vary. Due to social distancing regulations, these weekly Tuesday night teachings are happening via Zoom from Bodhinyana Monastery.

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.

Monday Night Meditation at Wat Dhammayanaram, Cambodian Society of WA (CBSWA) with Steven Towler on the 24 October 2022. 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.

Steven Towler has been a Buddhist for over fifty years. He studied and practised meditation with several well known teachers of the Thai forest tradition. He has translated text from teachers such as Luang Poo Tate, Luang Ta Maha Boowa and Acharn Piak from Thai to English.

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.

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

Ajahn Brahmali talks about the benefits of practicing the Noble Eightfold Path and the importance of taking refuge within ourselves or our Buddhist practice. Taking refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha is a traditional part of being a Buddhist.

To find and download more Guided Meditations on Podcast, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the meditation you want and then type the date into the Podcast search box e.g. 01-09-2018 or try 1 September 2018.

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

Ajahn Brahmali gives a teaching on the importance of harmony, that is how to get along peacefully with others and have beautiful relationships.

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 Brahmali guides a meditation for approximately half an hour. 

To find and download more Guided Meditations on Podcast, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the meditation you want and then type the date into the Podcast search box e.g. 01-09-2018 or try 1 September 2018.

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

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

• Welcome to Treasure Mountain, the podcast that inspires and guides people to find the the treasure within human experience. I’m your host Sol Hanna.
• In this episode of Spirit Stories we have as our returning guest, Ayya Tathālokā from Dhammadharini Monastery and Aranya Bodhi Forest Hermitage in California.
• Last week when we spoke with Ayya Tathālokā we found out about her journey from discovering Buddhism through many trials until finally being able to achieve her ideal of full ordination as a bhikkhuni. It’s a really interesting story of overcoming obstacles with some unexpected twists, and if you want to listen to that episode you can click on this link.
• Ayya Tathālokā has a number of achievements and been actively involved in establishing and extending the opportunities for women to go forth and also take higher ordination in the Buddhist sangha. In this episode we are going to find out about her journey since higher ordination and the work she has done and continues to do to expand opportunities for women to ordain and practice in an authentic manner that is true to the bhikkhuni vinaya - the monastic rules for Buddhist nuns. In the process we will also find out about the rapidly evolving opportunities for women within Buddhism as a result of the work being done by leaders like Ayya Tathālokā.

Links from this episode:

• Dhammadharini Monastery - https://www.dhammadharini.net/
• Donate to Dhammadharini Monastery - https://www.dhammadharini.net/support
• Ayya Tathālokā's biography - https://www.treasuremountain.info/guests/ayya-tathaloka/

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 17 October 2022. 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 reminds us of the importance of having kindness in our meditation because it will take us deeper.

To find and download more Guided Meditations on Podcast, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the meditation you want and then type the date into the Podcast search box e.g. 01-09-2018 or try 1 September 2018.

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

Ajahn Brahm teaches about the dangers of fear and how we can overcome it and become fearless.

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 Brahm guides a meditation for approximately half an hour. 

To find and download more Guided Meditations on Podcast, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the meditation you want and then type the date into the Podcast search box e.g. 01-09-2018 or try 1 September 2018.

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

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

On this episode of Spirit Stories we have as our guest, Ayya Tathālokā from Aranya Bodhi Awakening Forest Hermitage in California. Ayya Tathālokā was born in Washington, DC in 1968 to environmentally-minded scientist parents. In 1988, at age nineteen, urgently inspired by the sudden death of an associate, she left her Pre-naturopathic Medical studies in university and made her way first to Europe and then on to India, entering monastic life as an white robed anagarika and then two years later undertaking ten-precept nuns ordination. Wishing to connect with the ancient lineage of the Bhikkhuni Sangha, she sought and found her female mentor in Buddhist monastic life in South Korea, the most venerable bhikkhuni elder Myeong Seong Sunim (和法界 明星), who gave her the name "Tatha-alokā", and went on to train under her mentorship for ten years.

Returning to the United States in 1996, with her bhikkhuni mentor's blessings, in 1997 in Los Angeles, with an international gathering of bhikkhus, bhikkhunis, Dharma teachers and supporters in attendance, she received bhikkhuni higher ordination from the Sri Lankan bhikkhu sangha led by her preceptor, the Venerable Dr. Havanpola Ratanasara Nayaka Mahathero. Since then Venerable Tathālokā has focused on meditation, and on both the study and practice of Dhamma & Vinaya. Her meditation training in Theravada Buddhism has been largely with the masters of the Thai forest traditions stemming from Ajahn Mun Buridatta: Ajahn Maha Bua Nyanasampanno and teachers of the Ajahn Chah tradition, together with the Burmese mindfulness and insight masters of Sayadaw U Pandita's tradition and meditation master Pa-auk Sayadaw. Overall, her practice and teachings are profoundly influenced by the Buddha's own advice and injunctions as contained in the Early Buddhist suttas.

Recognizing the growing number of Theravadin bhikkhunis and samaneris in the United States and the true value of coming together in harmony, Ayya Tathālokā proposed and participated in the founding of the North American Bhikkhuni Association (NABA) in 2004. Several months later, she also participated in founding the first residential community for bhikkhunis in the western United States named "Dhammadharini”. Ayya Tathālokā is the first Western woman to be appointed as a Theravada Bhikkhuni Preceptor, and she has contributed to the going forth and full ordination of more than 50 women as nuns in the USA, Australia, India, and Thailand.

Ayya Tathālokā’s primary role is as the founding abbess and preceptor of both the Dhammadharini Monastery at the western foot of Sonoma Mountain in Penngrove and the Aranya Bodhi Awakening Forest Hermitage on the Sonoma Coast in Northern California, where she provides Dhamma and meditation teaching and guidance, and monastic mentorship. And since 2021, she has been actively invovled in the United Theravada Bhikkhuni Sangha International working group together with other international bhikkhuni preceptors and leaders of Theravada traditions.

Links from this episode:

• Dhammadharini Monastery - https://www.dhammadharini.net/

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 10 October 2022. 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 Santutthi reminds us that we cannot force our mind to be peaceful, instead we teach our mind to relax, let things be and settle on one object.

To find and download more Guided Meditations on Podcast, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the meditation you want and then type the date into the Podcast search box e.g. 01-09-2018 or try 1 September 2018.

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

Ajahn Santutthi offers a teaching on how to develop peace and contentment.

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 Santutthi guides a meditation for approximately half an hour. 

To find and download more Guided Meditations on Podcast, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the meditation you want and then type the date into the Podcast search box e.g. 01-09-2018 or try 1 September 2018.

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