Our sponsors
Primary Supporter: Buddhist Council of NSW
Buddhist Library and Meditation Centre
Mahayana Youth Initiative for Interconnectedness (MYI4I)
Dhammachai Education Foundation
Buddhist Federation of Australia
AABCAP
Australian Institute of Buddhist Learning and Practice
Thai Potong |
|
 |
In 1988, on Christmas Day, Venerable (Shi) Yuan Zhi took his Wu Jie (Five Precepts) vows and became a Ch’an Buddhist disciple at Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, China. At that time he was only the fourth westerner to take vows under Ch’an master and then Abbot, Ch’an master Shi Su Xi (1923-2005). Shi Yuan Zhi was instructed to work in Australia as a Buddhist “high layman” until 1995, when he took the role of householder monk to continue his work and studies.
On May 8, 2005 he was ordained at the Ch’an temple, Da Xiang Guo Si, by the Abbot Shi Xing Guang in Kai Feng, China. Shi Yuan Zhi thus attained the rank of Sha Mi Jie (Ch’an Master) and became the first westerner to reach this level in the temple’s 1,500-year history. On this day he was also raised to the position of incumbent Head Seat Monk of Australia’s Da Xiang Guo Si Shaolin Ju Shi Lin. |
 |
Reverend Heng Sure currently serves as Director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and teaches at the Institute for World Religions. Rev. Sure ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1976 after meeting his teacher, the late Ven. Master Hsüan Hua, while finishing an M.A. in Oriental Languages at UC Berkeley.He also completed a Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union(GTU) in 2003. After receiving full ordination in the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism he commenced a threesteps, one bow pilgrimage. With a fellow monk, he travelled more than 600 miles up the California Coastal Highway from Pasadena to Ukiah, making a full prostration to the ground every three steps. They dedicated their efforts to world peace. The journey took over two years and nine months to complete. During the pilgrimage and for the following 6 years, he observed a practice of total silence. Rev. Heng Sure has been a Trustee of the United Religions Initiative since 1997 and serves as a Board member of the Interfaith Center at the Presidio. He also directs the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and has taught at the GTU seminary since 1997. He grew up in Toledo, Ohio and is involved in translating Buddhist music, both liturgical and popular, into the West. |
 |
Rob Sok was born in the Netherlands where he met his teacher Lama Ole Nydahl in 1994 and he has been practicing Diamond Way Buddhism ever since. After living in Germany for five years he and his partner, Maike came to Australia in 1999 to take up a position at the Australian National University in Canberra where he works as a research fellow. He has been part of the local Diamond Way Sangha, setting up and running 'Mahamudra House'. A few years ago he was asked by Lama Ole Nydahl to start teaching and has since then taught in Australia, New Zealand, Northern Europe and Canada. |
 |
Venerable Christine Roberts is President and Resident Teacher of the Australian Institute of Tibetan Healing Practices and Tibetan Buddhist Healing Practices, NQ. Venerable Chris is a Tibetan Buddhist nun who has been teaching Buddhism since 1992 in a traditional Tibetan medical and healing institute. She has written and teaches a four year course on overcoming problems through Tibetan Buddhism. Ven. Chris was a founding member of the Women's Interfaith Network, and was on the NSW Cancer Council ethics committee for many years. She has lectured to a diverse range of organizations including hospitals, universities and community groups. She is the author of Standing on the Edge : a Buddhist nun's story of transforming adversity and finding happiness. |
 |
Venerable Sucinta Bhikkhuni came to Australia by invitation from the Buddhist Society of Victoria to teach meditation and the Buddhist way of living to young and old. She has also been asked by BSV to set up a monastery for nuns in Theravada tradition near Melbourne. Born in Germany, she began a monastic life at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England in 1991, then trained under the guidance of Venerable Dr. Henepola Gunaratana at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia, USA. In 1998 she received Bhikkhuni Ordination in Bodhgaya, India. She spent several years meditating and studying in Myanmar. |
 |
Venerable Sujato (Anthony Best) is an Australian Buddhist monk, a Pali scholar and a meditator from Santi Forest Monastery, Bundanoon. In 1994, he left his music career to take higher ordination in Thailand in the forest lineage of Ajahn Chah. As well as living for several years in forest monasteries and remote hermitages in Thailand, he spent 3 years in Bodhinyana Monastery (Perth) with Ajahn Brahmavamso, and over a year in a cave in Malaysia. He has combined his love of Buddhism and meditation with study of the Buddha's teachings, and in 2001 published his first book, "A Swift Pair of Messengers", a compilation of Sutra (scripture) passages on the theme of tranquility and insight. He has special interest in exploring the Buddhist scriptures and their commentaries in great depth. |
 |
Dr Eng-Kong Tan, ( MBBS.,MPM.,FRANZCP. ) is an analytic psychotherapist, psychiatrist and practicing Buddhist, mainly of the Theravadan tradition. Dr.Tan is the founder director of Metta Clinic, a group practice consisting of psychiatrists and psychologists in the North Shore of Sydney. He offers individual, couple and group therapies in his practice as well as individual and group meditations. He was formerly Chairman of Training to the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Association of Australia (PPAA) and Chair of the Section of Psychotherapy of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) He has been on the Training Advisory Board of the NSW Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (NSWIPP) and Faculty of Training of the Australian and NZ Association of Psychotherapists (ANZAP).
Eng-Kong is a trustee member of the Universtiy Buddhist Education Foundation of Australia ( UBEF ) and Founder President of the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia ( YBAM ). He has written and presented many papers, workshops and keynote addresses on Psychotherapy, Buddhism, Meditation and Spirituality in Australia and internationally. He is Founder President of the Australian Association of Buddhist Counsellors and Psychotherapists ( AABCAP )and is currently on the Training Committee of AABCAP developing a national Training Program integrating Buddhism and Psychotherapy for counsellors, psychotherapists and members of the Sangha. |
|
Venerable Hue Can. Before her ordination Emily Thai obtained a degree in library studies in Western Australia. She then ran a library education service for migrant students and was also a children’s librarian. Later she became co-ordinator of the Ethnic Child Care Resource Unit Inc., running many workshops relating to early childhood education.
After returning to Vietnam in 1997, Venerable practised with the Buddhist master the Most Venerable Thich Than Tu who gave her the name of Hue Can, meaning “Root of Wisdom”. Since then Venerable has practised Thien Vietnam. She is the Abbess of Thien Tu Tue Can (also known as Sunyata Community and Meditation Centre) nunnery which is the only one that practices Vietnamese meditation in Western Australia and welcomes people of all nationalities to meditation, weekend retreats and Dharma talks.
She has given Dharma talks in Singapore, Malaysia, America, Korea and India. Recently, Venerable Hue Can co-authored the book “Stories of Thien: Vietnamese Buddhist Meditation” with Nick Mills. |
|
Phil Carlisle met Buddhist Master Lama Ole Nydahl in 1996, and has been practising Diamond Way Buddhism in the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism since then. As a lay practitioner, Phil also runs a multimedia business, and seeks to integrate Buddhist practice with living in the modern world. The Sydney Centre of Diamond Way Buddhism, under Lama Ole’s direction and the spiritual guidance of H.H. the 17th Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje currently meets at his residence in Redfern. In 2007 Lama Ole asked Phil to begin teaching Diamond Way Buddhism in Australasia, and join the growing band of lay ‘travel teachers’ who now spread these precious teachings as transparently as possible to idealistic, clear-thinking Western students. |
|
Venerable Bodhicitta (Andrew Kennings) is a 30 year-old Australian Theravada Buddhist monk from Sydney. He ordained at the famous Thai Royal Temple of Wat Bowonnivet (Wat Bowon) in Bangkok in January 2005 as a Samanera and then later travelled back to Wat Bowon in March 2007 to ordain as a full Bhikkhu. He has been studying and practising Buddhism, particularly metta, samatha and vipassana meditation techniques, for over ten years since he was eighteen. Venerable Bodhicitta lives at Bodhi Tree Forest Monastery near Byron Bay NSW and has taken over as webmaster of www.buddhanet.net from Bhante Pannyavaro, he is currently looking at the future of the Dharma on the web, implications of emerging technology upon Dharma practice and communications, as well as the challenges and amazing opportunities new technology provides Dharma students in modern times. He has practised and taught extensively throughout Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Myanmar. Venerable Bodhicitta is a qualified accountant (B.Bus - Acctg at UTS 1998) starting out at Deloitte before setting up his own firm, he was also previously involved with the financing and establishment of new business ventures in various areas of cutting edge technology, from supercomputers, to paint and prosthetic legs, to sms advertising, and of course the internet, including one major multi-million dollar dot com |
|
Rod Lee is the director of the Tibetan Buddhist Society. He has been practising Buddhism for nearly 30 years and is currently a very well-spoken and experienced Buddhist teacher. He was a disciple of Venerable Geshe Loden. By adopting light-hearted and entertaining teaching approaches, Rod Lee teaches Buddhism to a varied audience and Buddhist meditation to business people besides teaching Tai Chi and applying Shiatsu massage. He also provides counselling services and special mental therapies from the Buddhist perspectives. |
|
Sister Pema Chodron (Karen Schaefer) was ordained in Bhutan as a nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She spent many years in intensive meditation practice in India. She has undertaken extensive philosophical and practice training with respected teachers in both the Indian and Tibetan traditions in India, Nepal and Australia. Prior to ordination she was a counsellor and management trainer in the IT sector. |
|
Giles Barton has been working with young people over the last fifteen years in the areas of oncology, grief and loss, drug and alcohol, emotional disturbance, behavioural difficulites and mental illness. Giles is currently the nursing unit manager for an adolescent psychiatric service in the Sydney metroplitan area, and is completing a masters degree by research into the area of adolescent development and spirituality. Giles was introduced to Buddhism and meditation in 1986 and has continued to practice teachings as taught by monks in the Thai forest tradition. |
|
Subhana Barzaghi Roshi has been practising Buddhist meditation for the last 25 years, and is authorised to teach in two traditions, the Insight-Vipassana Meditation tradition and the Zen Buddhist tradition. She is currently the spiritual director and resident teacher of the Sydney Zen Centre, the senior teacher of the Blue Gum Sangha. She leads intensive meditation retreats and workshops throughout Australia, New Zealand and occasionally India. She is also an authorised religious Marriage Celebrant. |
|
Venerable Geshe Thubten Dawa ordained Ven Choden in 2003. Under the guidance of her Teacher and Abbess, Venerable Thubten Tenzin, Ven Choden is the Director of MYI4I (Mahayana Youth Initiative for Interconnectedness). MYI4I encourages young people to be actively involved in environmental issues and world peace. Ven Choden's academic background includes a BA from Sydney University and a Diploma of Community Services. |
 |
Venerable Phra Mana Viriyarampo was born in the busy city of Bangkok, Thailand. He was trained as a medical student for 3 years before undertaking his religious vows. He has undergone meditation practice and training with several great teachers in Thailand and abroad. Throughout his 14 years experience as a monk, he has traveled to more than 30 countries teaching Buddhism and meditation, attending symposiums, conferences, religious events and many more. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, Buddhism was being represented by monks as volunteers for the Religious Centre in the Games Village. Venerable Phra Mana Viriyarampo was chosen as the Buddhist Chaplain together with other Buddhist monks from different traditions to teach meditation to the athletes and contingents of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Today, he focuses his training in teaching meditation and cultivating a healthy diet with exercise and wholesome living through Sunnataram Forest Monastery as Abbot. He continues to steer, guide and touch the lives of Australians and Asian community through Dhamma (teaching of the Buddha) and meditation to achieve happiness, calm and peace. He is a picture of health, an animator, a strong believer in the power of positive thought, a yoga & Tai Chi enthusiast and an inspiration both to the Sangha (monastic order of monks and nuns) and the lay community. |
|
Reverend Su Co Kshanti (aka Su Co Thich Tu Nhan) is a Cuban-born Zen Buddhist nun who trained at the Desert Zen Center in California and served as Buddhist Chaplain at several California State prisons and Los Angeles County Jail facilities |
|
Venerable Xing Fu is a Ch'an Buddhist practitioner from Da Xiang Guo Si Shaolin Ju Shi Lin. He is the dharma successor to Abbot Shi Yuan Zhi and an elder disciple in the Ts’ao Tung family of Ch’an Buddhism, Xing Fu teaches (Cha’n) Buddhism as a system of distillation; realizing the essence of one’s Self through unbecoming. He is also a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner, with his clinic located in the Blue Mountains. |
|
Winton Higgins began meditating and practising the Dharma in the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) in 1987. In 1994 he became an active supporter of Wat Buddha Dhamma, where he began to lead meditation retreats in 1995. Since then he has led retreats for the Wat, the Blue Gum Sangha and Sydney Insight Meditators, and taught many courses for the Buddhist Library in Sydney. He follows the western insight (vipassana) tradition and is particularly interested in the convergence of Dharma practice and progressive western values such as democracy, feminism and critical inquiry. His teaching has an affinity with the work of Stephen Batchelor. He is a writer and a social-science academic; he and his partner, Lena, have two grown-up daughters and a grandson. |
|
Dr Danuse(Dana) Murty was first introduced to Buddhism in early 1970s, and she has been seriously studying and practicing the Buddha’s teachings since early 1990s. Danuse has a BSc Hon in Applied mathematics and PhD in mathematical biology from UNSW. From 1991-2001 she worked at the School of Biology of UNSW, doing PhD research, laboratory teaching of ecology, and later doing a post-doctoral research, in Forest ecology and Global climate change issues. Her research formed a part of the UNSW-CSIRO Forest Ecosystem Modeling project and it contributed to the Australian Government and International global climate change programmes. In 2002 she left her scientific career for a more peaceful lifestyle of a spiritual study and practice. Since then she has been working part-time for a local community NGO, teaching disadvantaged people computer skills, and devoting her remaining time to her grandchildren and personal development. Apart from a few scientific publications, she is an author of several Buddhist books for young people and of the BodhiTree website, sponsored by the Buddhist Council of NSW. Due to the current Global climate crisis, her latest project is again on the Climate change. |
 |
John Barter is a registered counselling and consulting Psychologist and Mindfulness Meditation teacher/trainer. He brings to his work 25 years of study and practice in meditative disciplines, 11 years of which he was a Buddhist monk (of the Theravada Forest Tradition) living, and training in Australia , North-East Thailand, Britain, and Europe.
In his psychological work, John is the founding director, and key practitioner of the private counselling/ psychotherapy and consulting practice, 'WELL-AWARE-NESS Living & Health' through which he presents a perspective towards health, healing, and human potential, that embraces the psychologies of both the East and the West. In his Consulting work for 'WELL-AWARE-NESS', John teaches Mindfulness Meditation courses, workshops, and retreats, as well as giving seminar presentations on the application and potentials of Mindfulness Meditation for various health and stress related issues, as well as enabling and enhancing personal/ professional potential. This Consulting work includes the areas of Public Health, Educational Institutions, and the Corporate Business sector. |
 |
Michael Dash BA, Dip. Ed. Grad. Dip. Counselling has been a Buddhist meditation practitioner for over 20 years. He has studied meditation in Australia, Thailand and Burma. Michael has taught in Melbourne and Sydney, including numerous Mindfulness training courses as well as Buddhist meditation retreats. He has a private counselling practice in Sydney and is currently working as a bereavement counsellor at Sacred Heart Hospice and Calvary Hospice. |
| |
Venerable Sister Sudhira Bhikkuni has been an ordained sangha member at Sangha Lodge since returning from Sri Lanka in December 2004. Sudhira Bhikkuni had been a supporter and associated with Sangha Lodge and Bhante for many years prior to commencing serious monastic studies and training at Ling Yen Shan Se Temple in Taiwan in 1997. In 1999 at a Sakhyadita Conference in Nepal Sudhira bhikkuni met the most venerable Rahatungoda Saddha Sumana, a senior Bhikkuni from a small Arame in Eheliyagoda, Sri Lanka. The Venerable Saddha Sumana invited her to continue her training and study in Sri Lanka. Sudhira Bhikkuni took her novice ordination in 2000 and her higher ordination as a full Bhikkuni in July 2004. Sudhira Bhikkuni has experience of hospice work prior to her ordaining. |
|
Ven Thubten Chokyi is a Tibetan Buddhist nun in the gelugpa tradition and resident at Vajrayana Institute where she runs meditation classes. She has been meditating for many years and recommends this practice for anyone wanting to bring mindfulness and equanimity into the activities of everyday life. |
|
Venerable Tejadhammo Bhikku was ordained by Venerable Tanchaokhun Phra Visalsalmanagun, Chaokhana Changwat, Phuket, in Thailand. Bhante has a background in Western Philosophy and Theology, and has studied and taught at Silpakorn University, Thailand. Although ordained in the Theravada tradition, he has also studied with Tibetan and Mahayana teachers and has a commitment to the Dharma that he believes encompasses all traditional expressions of it. Bhante is the Spiritual Director of the Association of Engaged Buddhists founded in 1993, and senior resident monk at Sangha Lodge, Sydney. The Association aims to foster a more active engagement of followers of the Buddha within the local community. Apart from the usual teachings and retreat activities, Bhante works with people who are seriously ill in various hospitals, hospices and their homes in and around Sydney. Bhante teaches and conducts regular retreats and is a founding member of the Australian Monastic Encounter which seeks to promote inter-religious and inter monastic dialogue. Bhante has also taught in Thai Universities and jails. |
|
John Barclay has been practising in the tradition of Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) for 12 years. He formally became a Dharma teacher, taking the Dharma Lamp Transmission in 2004. In April this year he spent 3 weeks acompanying Thay and his Sangha on part of his tour of Vietnam. John is a member of the Lotus Buds Sangha in Sydney and leads a mindfulness evening at the Buddhist Library in Camperdown every Wednesday. |
|
Susan Murphy, Roshi is a lineage-holder in the Diamond Sangha (Robert Aitken) and Pacific Zen (John Tarrant), and is the founding teacher for Zen Open Circle in Sydney, and teacher for the Melbourne Zen Group.
She is a film writer and director (feature film Breathing Under Water, 1992, music documentary Under Rookwood, 1996, Blind Love Tango, and a screen adaptation of Sixty Lights). She taught screen studies, performance studies and screenwriting for many years at UTS, recently held a five-year Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship at UWS, and is the author of several books on Australian film (The Screening of Australia, Volumes I and II, The Imaginary Industry). Susan is a regular freelance radio documentary producer for ABC Radio National, and a freelance teacher of writing. She has also made extensive investigation of dreamwork, and works regularly with the Bell Shakespeare Company bringing dreamwork into their rehearsal process. Her creative work and her work as a Zen teacher and lineage-holder, in Diamond Sangha and Pacific Zen, are not separate worlds.
|
|
Christopher Michaels is an eclectic lay practitioner with over thirty years of experiential exploration of various traditions with Buddhist practices, values and philosophy as his centre. His primary inspirations come from the challenges of integrating Chan/zen, Theravadan and Tantric traditions. |
|
Born and raised in Wales, Dr Mari Rhydwen began Zen practice in Japan under Yamada Roshi. When she moved to Australia she continued her practice under a number of teachers in the same tradition, and was invited to teach by Ross Bolleter Roshi. A linguist and writer, Mari has worked with Aboriginal Languages for many years, living in remote communities in Arnhemland and elsewhere in the Northern Territory, and teaching and researching at universities across Australia whilst raising two daughters. When they were grown, she and her husband sailed a small yacht around the Indian Ocean, a voyage documented in her book Slow Travel. Currently based in Sydney, Mari is Aboriginal Languages consultant at the NSW Department of Education and recently started teaching with Zen Open Circle. Her work involves regular travel around country NSW and she now has a sailing boat again, so she can combine her love of wandering in more remote places with living and working in the city. |
|
Venerable Xing Wei has been a student of Buddhism and Ch'an disciple for over a decade. He is a senior disciple in the Da Xiang Guo Si Shaolin Ju Shi Lin and of the one of the tradition's two Jing Gongs (Guardian Protector). Xing Wei is the Dharma teacher and master instructor of meditative and martial tools in the ACT. |
|
Venerable Thubten Gyaltsen (Freeman Trebilcock) is 19 years old and has been a Tibetan Buddhist Monk since the age of twelve. He is currently in his second year of studying Arts/Psychology at the University of Ballarat. In the future his aim is to combine concepts from both Western Psychology and Buddhism to help individuals better understand their own minds.
On June 8th he was one of the key speakers at the Multi-faith Youth Forum ‘Dialogue with the Dalai Lama’, as well as producing a documentary for the event. The event was held at Rod Laver Arena in front of 10,000 Secondary School students from across Victoria.
Recently he has been working with other young people to set up the international peace organization, Loving Kindness Peaceful Youth. LKPY takes the view that individual inner peace is the basis of global peace, and thus strongly emphasizes the power of individuals in changing the world. |
|
|
