Bhante Sujato left a career as a musician to become a Buddhist monk in 1994. He took higher ordination in Thailand and lived there in forest monasteries and remote hermitages. He spent several years at Bodhinyana Monastery in Western Australia before founding Santi Forest Monastery in New South Wales in 2003. Following Bhante Sujato’s wishes, Santi became a nun’s monastery in 2012, and he returned to live in Bodhinyana. In 2019, Bhante Sujato moved to Sydney to establish Lokanta Vihara (the Monastery at the End of the World) with his long term student, Bhante Akaliko, to explore what it means to follow the Buddha’s teachings in an era of climate change, globalised consumerism, and political turmoil.
Bhante Sujato on meditative states vs. meditative process. Meditation on impermanence guided by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk on a passage from the Madhupiṇḍikasutta (MN18): about the proliferation going on in the mind. Katukurunde Ñānananda: concept and reality. Q+A: choice without a chooser.
from Mantra Hotel. Introduction by Bhante Akāliko: the trapped monkey. Meditation guided by Bhante Akāliko. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato on the Buddha's idea of mantras as a skillful means, a tool to work with the mind, without intrinsic power. Snp 4.14: craving drives thinking. Q+A: resistance to meditation. Fear. Simile of the cat and the elephant.
Honoring Thich Nhat Hannh. Breath meditation explained and guided by Bhante Sujato. Q+A: sīlā, samādhi, paññā as a comprehensive framework for the elements of the path, derived from the Buddha's teaching on the Gradual Training, e.g. in Dīgha Nikāya 2. Breath meditation as opposed to ancient pranayama techniques trying to control the breath. Meditation methods require balance between receiving and doing. Threshold concentration. Weird experiences during meditation.
Bhante Akāliko's Rainbodhi booklet. Thoughts on tradition and its evolution. Bhante Sujato on meditation going against the stream of result based thinking. Breath meditation guided by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk: the 8 parts of the 8fold path. Q+A: right livelihood. Connection lost during Q+A.
Meditation and Dhamma talk on cessation by Bhante Sujato. Cycles of life: cessation is bliss. The ending of things makes new things possible. The story of the long-lived arahant. Q+A: The top ten suttas. Psychic powers.
Meditation on the earth element led by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato on the relationship between humans and environment / earth. Gilgamesh. Climate conference, the cost of change, economy as a system that should support human life instead of vice versa. Q+A: Tibbarāga. Jataka tale of "The Golden Deer". Mulapariyāya Sutta.
Breath meditation by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato on "Dune" by Frank Herbert. AI and consciousness. The Buddha's concept of "subtle materiality" as physical properties of internal experiences (sukhuma vs oḷārika).
Breath meditation led by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato on letting go and finding peace: identify wants, understand suffering, take small and doable steps, experience your progress, gain wisdom.
Joyful meditation on spiritual friendship guided by Bhante Akāliko (during which internet connection was temporarily lost). Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato: how to kiss "Saṃsāra" goodbye?
Meditation guided by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato on desire and contentment, the four Noble Truths, and how meditation can lead to deeper contentment.
