Ven. Ajahn Dhammasiha

Ven. Ajahn Dhammasiha was born in West Germany on Dec 5, 1966. After finishing High School and serving as a conscript in the German armed forces, he studied business administration in West Berlin from 1987 to 1993. During field research in India in 1994 for a PhD on "Indian Corporate Culture", he read the Dhammapada which hit him as a true revelation. He ordained in Sri Lanka in 1995 with Most Ven Pandita K Sri Jinavarisa. For 3 years he trained at Nissarana Vana, Meetisigala, a forest monastery dedicated to solitary practice of meditation and meticulous observance of the Theravada Vinaya. In 1998, he went to Australia and train at Bodhiyana Monastery and Vimokkharam Forest Hermitage in Melbourne. During this period, he received teachings from some of the foremost living teachers of the Thai Forest tradition such as LP Tui and LP Plien.

Ajahn Dhammasiha arrived in Brisbane in 2007 at the invitation of the Brisabane Buddhist Vihara to help establish a forest monastery in Brisbane. He is now the abbot of Dhammagiri Forest Hermitage, Brisbane, Australia.

Bandar Utama Buddhist Society · Tan Ajahn Dhammasiha - Dhamma Talk in BUBS on 21 June 2015

Ven. Ajahn Jutindharo

Ajahn Jutindharo grew up in Leeds. At university, he became interested in meditation and Buddhism, which culminated in a decision to join a Buddhist monastic order in 1987. His monastic life has been spent primarily in Britain, with short periods in Asia. Since 2007, he has been abbot of Hartridge Monastery in Devon, England.

Luang Por Viradhammo

Luang Por Viradhammo is a Canadian monk in the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was ordained as a monk in 1974 by Ajahn Chah at Wat Nong Pah Pong monastery and became one of the first residents at Wat Pah Nanachat, the international monastery in north-east Thailand. Ven. Luang Por Viradhammo is the most senior Thai Forest monk in Canada and currently the Abbot of Tisarana Buddhist Monastery in Perth, Ontario.

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Ven. Ajahn Keng

Chao Khun Keng Khemako is a Singaporean monk of the Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Mun Buridatto. He is commonly known as “Ajahn Keng”. He was ordained in 1987 under the recommendation of Ajahn Geoffrey (Thanissaro Bhikkhu). One of his main teachers was Luang Pu Jiak Cundo, the first generation disciples of Ajahn Mun disciples. He received the title of Chao Khun in 2012. Currently, Ajahn Keng is the Abbot of Santi Forest Monastery (JB) and the Abbot of a hill-tribes forest monastery in Om Koi, Chiangmai , President of Palelai Buddhist Temple (Singapore).

Ven. Ajahn Ṭhānissaro

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff) is an American Buddhist monk of the Kammatthana (Thai Forest) Tradition. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1971 with a degree in European Intellectual History, he travelled to Thailand, where he studied meditation under Ajaan Fuang Jotiko, himself a student of the late Ajaan Lee. He was ordained in 1976 and lived at Wat Dhammasathit, where he remained following his teacher’s death in 1986. In 1991 he travelled to the hills of San Diego County, USA, where he helped Ajaan Suwat Suvaco establish Metta Forest Monastery. He was made abbot of the Monastery in 1993.

Ven. Ajahn Vajiro

Ven. Ajahn Vajiro was born in Malaysia in 1953. He met  Ven. Ajahn Chah and Ven. Ajahn Sumedho at the Hampstead Vihara in 1977. He joined the community in London in 1978. In 1979 he went to Wat Pah Nanchat and received upasampadā  from Ven. Ajahn Chah at Wat Pah Pong in 1980. Ven. Ajahn Vajiro returned to England in 1984, and assisted with the establishment of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. He lived in the monasteries in the UK for many years and then went to New Zealand followed by Australia. He returned to Amaravati in 2001 and for most of this century has lived there. He has been invited to lead a community in Portugal where it is hoped that a monastery may grow.

Ven. Ajahn Jayanto

Born in Boston in 1967, Ven. Ajahn Jayanto grew up in Newton and attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison, during which time a period of world travel kindled a great interest in the spiritual life. A meditation class at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center led him to live for a while at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he made plans to join the monastic community of Luang Por Sumedho as a postulant at  Amaravati Monastery in England in 1989. Taking bhikkhu (monk) ordination at the related Cittaviveka Monastery in 1991, he trained there and at Aruna Ratanagiri Monastery until 1997, at which point he embarked on a period of practice in Thailand and other Asian Buddhist countries.

He returned to the UK in 2006, where he lived at Amaravati until moving to Temple in 2014. Since 2009 Ven. Ajahn Jayanto has helped to lead the efforts to establish a branch monastery in New England, and he now serves as abbot of Temple Forest Monastery.

Āyasmā Rāhula

Āyasmā  Rāhula has lived in Asia for the last 21 years in different periods where he has practised and studied the Dhamma.

Ayasma was ordained in Myanmar with the most Venerable Sayadaw Dr. Nandamālābhivaṃsa. Since 2004 Ayasma has received meditation guidance from Sayadaw U Tejaniya and has studied Suttas and Abhidhamma with Sayadaw Dr Ukkamsacara.

In 2019 Āyasmā completed a course on Buddhist scriptures from Harvard University.

Āyasmā continues his training in Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary in Malaysia under the guidance of Ven. Ariyadhammika.

Āyasmā has offered weekly courses on the anatomy of the mind (applied Abhidhamma) in English and Spanish followed online by students in more than 15 countries.

Āyasmā continues introducing and propagating the Buddha’s teaching in South America, assisting in programs to aid parts of the society in the freedom from drug addiction and alcoholism, and supporting educational campaigns to prevent them.

Below are a few Dhamma talks by Āyasmā given in BUBS.

Ven. Ajahn Kittisobhāņo (Bhante Huat Poh)

Ordained in the Dhammayut Thai Forest Tradition, Bhante Huat Poh has been instrumental in sharing the profound Dhamma to the lay community, in ways that promote deeper understanding of the Buddha’s Teachings and inspire faith to walk the Path that leads to Liberation. Born and bred in Penang, Bhante Huat Poh was first introduced to Theravada Buddhism in his teens, and his interest and practice in the Dhamma has steadfastly progressed as he grew into adulthood. Finding his true calling, he decided to give up his career as an engineer, to go forth. Having spent the past 15 years of his monkhood practicing in remote areas of Thailand, Bhante Huat Poh currently divides his time between Vihara Boon Raksa in Penang, and a monastery in Omkoi, north Thailand. Phra Ajahn is currently spending his time between Omkoi and Malaysia and is proficient in giving Dhamma teachings and meditation in English as well as Hokkien.

Ven. Ajahn Siripanyo

Ven. Ajahn Siripanyo is a Thai-Malaysian monk born in London and educated in UK. He was ordained in Thailand and lived there as a Thai forest monk. Ven. Ajahn Siripanyo is now the Abbot of hermitage Dtao Dam on the Thai-Burmese border in Saiyok National Park, beyond Kanchanaburi

Below are selected talks by Ajahn Siripanno.