Clear Mountain Monastery Project

Ajahn Suchart, a seasoned monk who trained under Luangta Maha Bua, shares profound insights on the first stage of Enlightenment, known as Sotāpanna. He discusses how one can recognize this transformative experience and the vital qualities it involves. The conversation explores the importance of embracing impermanence, understanding the mind's nature, and the distinction between self-view and reality. With a focus on meditation and acceptance, Ajahn Suchart emphasizes the path to inner peace and spiritual fulfillment.

In this talk, Ayya Ānandabodhi, founder of Pārāyana Vihara (https://parayanavihara.org/), speaks about using metta, or loving-kindness practice, to loosen the knots that bind us to suffering, desire, and limited notions of self. Reflecting with insight on the transpersonal nature of life, and our good fortune in encountering the Dhamma, can help soften and brighten the heart as we walk the Buddha' path. Ayya Ānandabodhī's Biography: Ayya Anandabodhi was born and raised in Wales, UK. Ayya first encountered the Buddha’s teaching in her early teens while reading about the Four Noble Truths. This was life-changing and from that moment she experienced a deep confidence in the Buddha’s insight and a wish to understand his teachings more deeply. At the age of 24, Ayya began monastic training at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England under the guidance of Ajahn Sumedho. Seventeen years later she moved to the USA with a wish to create more opportunities for women monastics. In 2011 she took full Bhikkhunī Ordination, joining the worldwide revival of the Theravāda Bhikkhunī Order. Ayya Ānandabodhī loves to share the Dhamma. Ayya’s practice is guided by early Buddhist scriptures, living in community, and through nature’s pure and immediate Dhamma. She's currently founding a Pārāyana Vihara in Port Townsend, Washington. To learn more or offer support, visit https://parayanavihara.org/ --- Tune in with fellow practitioners for Clear Mountain’s weekly online and hybrid events! - Wednesday Evening Teaching & Discussion (6:00 – 7:45 pm PT, YouTube then Zoom) - Saturday Morning Meditation, Teaching, & Coffee Social (9:30 - 11 am PT, Online & In-Person) - Sunday Evening “Mission Majjhima!” Sutta Teaching & Discussion (5:00 - 6 pm PT, Online) See https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/ or visit https://linktr.ee/clear_mountain_monastery for details. Welcome!

In this session, Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho interview Āyasmā Ariyadhammika, spiritual director of Sāsanārakkha Buddhist Sanctuary (SBS), on the broad topic of monastic training in its various expressions in Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and their synthesis in Malaysia at SBS. Specifically, the conversation delves into the fourteen courses of monk trainings at SBS (See https://sasanarakkha.org/monastery/): (1) Meditation theory and practice, which includes experimenting with and gaining proficiency in different meditation techniques which can then be skillfully applied for different purposes, times & situations (2) Dhamma knowledge and proper attitude towards the scriptures (3) Vinaya knowledge and proper attitude towards the Vinaya (4) Abhidhamma knowledge and its scrutiny in the light of Early Buddhism (5) Knowledge of important Chants (in Pāli & English) (6) Development of practical skills (sewing robes, making brooms, living under a tree, going on thudong) (7) Development of research skills with the use of modern technology and specialised software (8) The mastery of basic level Pāli, sufficient for research purposes (Advanced Pāli too, in case of individual interest) (9) Development of right speech and conversation skills that go beyond mere noble silence (e.g. “Non Violent Communication” workshops) (10) Development of verbal & digital presentation skills for giving Dhamma talks (11) Development of writing skills for DhammaVinaya essays (12) Development of Dhamma sharing skills on a Buddhist blog, newsletter, chatgroup, monastery or personal website (13) Development of administrative and leadership skills (14) Development in other areas depending on demand and interest of the resident monastics. - Note: Access to the training/courses mentioned from point ten to thirteen is dependent on vassa age and a sufficient foundation in points one to nine. Āyasmā Ariyadhammika's Biography Ven. Ariyadhammika is an Austrian Buddhist monk who ordained in 2005 in Myanmar with Pa-Auk Sayadaw as his preceptor and meditation teacher. He maintained a very simple lifestyle, living out in the open and under trees, dedicating himself to mindfulness of breathing and later also to many other meditation subjects. He was initiated into the meditation techniques of Mogok, Mahasi, Shwe Oo Min/U Tejaniya and Sunlun. He went to Thailand in 2010, where he stayed for 3 years at Wat Pah Nanachat, undergoing the traditional training of a Thai forest monk of the Ajahn Chah lineage. He stayed in Malaysia from 2013 to 2015, studying Pāli, Suttanta and the Vinaya under the guidance of Ven. Aggacitta Mahāthera. From 2015 to 2018 he stayed in Sri Lanka and returned to Malaysia in Jan. 2018 where he was appointed Saṅghanāyaka of SBS Monk Training Centre, dedicated to guiding and supporting fellow monastics. You can find out more about Āyasmā Ariyadhammika and Sāsanārakkha at the links below: - https://sasanarakkha.org - @ariyadhammikabhikkhu5385 --- The link to the 6:45-7:30 pm Zoom session following the livestream may be found on the event listing at https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/events/wednesday Tune in with fellow practitioners for Clear Mountain’s weekly online and hybrid events! - Wednesday Evening Teaching & Discussion (6:00 – 7:30 pm PT, YouTube then Zoom) - Saturday Morning Meditation, Teaching, & Coffee Social (9:30 - 11 am PT, Online & In-Person) - Sunday Evening “Mission Majjhima!” Sutta Teaching & Discussion (5:00 - 6 pm PT, Online) See https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org or visit https://linktr.ee/clear_mountain_monastery for details. Welcome!

In this session, Ajahn Kovilo suggests a 5-part taxonomy of the sukhas (happinesses & pleasures) taught by the Buddha: 1) pleasure like fire - kāma-sukha (sensual pleasures not to be pursued); 2) pleasures like fresh air - kusala/nekkhamma-sukha (wholesome/healthy pleasures to develop); 3) pleasures like space - vipassana/upasama-sukha (the pleasures of clear seeing to be made much of); 4) pleasures like water - jhāna/paviveka-sukha (the pleasures of absorption/jhāna meditation - a trainable, uncomplicated, blameless, profound mental ease); 5) pleasures like earth - magga-phala/sambodhi-sukha (the pleasures of the Paths & Fruitions of Enlightenment). See The Araṇa-vibhaṅga Sutta for more on how to define sukha and to cultivate it internally: https://suttacentral.net/mn139/en/nyanamoli?lang=en Tune in with fellow practitioners for Clear Mountain’s weekly online and hybrid events! - Wednesday Evening Teaching & Discussion (6:00 – 7:30 pm PT, YouTube then Zoom) - Saturday Morning Meditation, Teaching, & Coffee Social (9:30 - 11 am PT, Online & In-Person) - Sunday Evening “Mission Majjhima!” Sutta Teaching & Discussion (5:00 - 6 pm PT, Online) See https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/ or visit https://linktr.ee/clear_mountain_monastery for details. Welcome!

In this session, Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho interview Bhante Joe Atulo, curator of www.dhammavinayapatipada.com. Subjects touched upon include: the Sri Lankan Forest tradition - its history and present, the happiness of respect, Bhante Ñāṇadīpa, and other relevant topics. You can find more of Bhante Joe's teachings at www.dhammavinayapatipada.com or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@DhammaVinayaPatipada Bhante Joe's Biography: Born in London, Ontario in 1983, Bhante Joe’s interest in Buddhism began in high school after reading about the Four Noble Truths. He trained at the Toronto Zen Buddhist Temple before turning to Theravāda and joining Tisaraṇa Buddhist Monastery in 2008. Ordained as a bhikkhu in 2010, he trained in Canada and Thailand until 2015. After time in California and Toronto, he moved to Sri Lanka in 2019, where he now resides. Tune in with fellow practitioners every Wednesday evening from 6 - 6:45 pm or Saturday morning from 9:30 am - 11 am for a Dhamma Talk and Q&A with Ajahn Kovilo or Ajahn Nisabho. Saturday mornings begin with a thirty-minute meditation. Wednesday evening Q&A's are followed by a discussion on Zoom from 6:45 pm - 7:30 pm. See https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/ or visit https://linktr.ee/clear_mountain_monastery for details. Welcome!

In this Q&A session, Ajahn Nisabho speaks about looking at flavors of energy spoke of in Taoist tradition, a speculative overlay of some Taoist principles onto the traditional four Buddhist foundations of mindfulness, the meaning of sankhara (mental formations) and viññana (sense consciousness) in the five aggregates of clinging, Buddhist sleep advice, metta (loving-kindness), khanti (patient endurance), and more. You can access more teachings from Jason Bartlett, the source of the speculative overlay of jing, qi, and shen onto the four foundations of mindfulness, at of http://www.luminousdharma.org/ . --- Tune in with fellow practitioners for Clear Mountain’s weekly online and hybrid events! - Wednesday Evening Teaching & Discussion (6:00 – 7:30 pm PT, YouTube then Zoom) - Saturday Morning Meditation, Teaching, & Coffee Social (9:30 - 11 am PT, Online & In-Person) - Sunday Evening “Mission Majjhima!” Sutta Teaching & Discussion (5:00 - 6 pm PT, Online) See https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/ or visit https://linktr.ee/clear_mountain_monastery for details. Welcome!

In this session, Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho interview Khemarato Bhikkhu, creator of The Open Buddhist University - https://buddhistuniversity.net/. Khemarato's Bio: Khemarato Bhikkhu is a former software engineer from Silicon Valley where he worked on AI systems at Google and Facebook. He ordained in the Dhammayut Tradition in Thailand in 2019 and has lived in a tent in the Thai jungle ever since. He is the creator of the digital resource "The Open Buddhist University" and is an occasional contributor to SuttaCentral. Tune in with fellow practitioners every Wednesday evening from 6 - 6:45 pm or Saturday morning from 9:30 am - 11 am for a Dhamma Talk and Q&A with Ajahn Kovilo or Ajahn Nisabho. Saturday mornings begin with a thirty-minute meditation. Wednesday evening Q&A's are followed by a discussion on Zoom from 6:45 pm - 7:30 pm. See https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/ or visit https://linktr.ee/clear_mountain_monastery for details. Welcome!

In this Q&A session, Ajahn Nisabho speaks about the role of emptiness (suññata) in Buddhism, specifically referencing the image of an extinguished flame described in MN 72 ("To Vacchagotta on Fire" - https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN72.html ), and elaborated on in Ajahn Thanissaro's "Mind Like Fire Unbound" (https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/likefire/index.html). Further questions delved into how to deal with fear arising in response to peace, translations of "metta", and how to work with our human failings. The session ended with an exercise where partners took time to repeatedly ask one another the question, "What's holding you bath from your Dhammic path right now?". -- Tune in with fellow practitioners for Clear Mountain’s weekly online and hybrid events! - Wednesday Evening Teaching & Discussion (6:00 – 7:30 pm PT, YouTube then Zoom) - Saturday Morning Meditation, Teaching, & Coffee Social (9:30 - 11 am PT, Online & In-Person) - Sunday Evening “Mission Majjhima!” Sutta Teaching & Discussion (5:00 - 6 pm PT, Online) See https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/ or visit https://linktr.ee/clear_mountain_monastery for details. Welcome!

In this session, Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho interview their friends Jin Chuan Shi and Jin Wei Shi of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, & Redwood Vihara. Discussion touches upon embodiment, loving-kindness, non-violent communication, and restorative practices. Find out more about Jin Chuan Shi, Jin Wei Shi, and the Redwood Vihara at https://www.redwoodvihara.org/ Biographies: Bhikshus Jin Chuan Shi and Jin Wei Shi both found their spiritual calling early in life and now serve as monastics in the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association. Jin Chuan, born in New Jersey and raised in Silicon Valley, discovered Buddhism while in high school, and committed to the Buddhist path when he met Ajahn Amaro at Stanford, where he was studying physics and religion. He eventually became a resident at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB) in 2005 and received full ordination in 2013. Jin Wei, originally from Poland, began meditating in 1999 and, after reading a translation of the Sixth Patriarch Sūtra, committed himself to Dharma service, eventually arriving at CTTB in 2013 and ordaining in 2017. Both hold M.A. degrees in Buddhist Classics from Dharma Realm Buddhist University, where Jin Chuan now serves as an assistant professor and chaplain. ------ Tune in with fellow practitioners for Clear Mountain’s weekly online and hybrid events! - Wednesday Evening Teaching & Discussion (6:00 – 7:30 pm PT, YouTube then Zoom) - Saturday Morning Meditation, Teaching, & Coffee Social (9:30 - 11 am PT, Online & In-Person) - Sunday Evening “Mission Majjhima!” Sutta Teaching & Discussion (5:00 - 6 pm PT, Online) See https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/ or visit https://linktr.ee/clear_mountain_monastery for details. Welcome!

Ajahn Kovilo offers transformative strategies for moments when practice feels stagnant. He introduces six psycho-physical gestures for liberation, emphasizing concepts like letting go and unhooking from attachments. The discussion highlights the delicate balance of cultivating joy while confronting discomfort in meditation. Additionally, the power of loving kindness and self-compassion is explored, shedding light on how these practices can enhance relationships and personal well-being amid life's challenges.