Ajahn Brahm is the popular Buddhist teacher to a growing international audience of people keen to learn meditation and develop a deeper spiritual understanding. He is also the founding father of an emergent Australian forest tradition of Buddhist monasticism focused on being true to the original roots of the Buddha's Teaching of Dhamma and Vinaya.
Early Life
Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera (known to most simply as Ajahn Brahm) was born Peter Betts in London, United Kingdom in August 7, 1951. He came from a working-class background, he went to Latymer Upper School in London and from there won a scholarship to study Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University in the late 1960s. At Cambridge he joined the university’s Buddhist Society and after a few weeks at the age of 18, he saw a monk for the first time. He knew then that was what he wanted to be. After graduating from Cambridge he taught in a high school for one year before travelling to Thailand to become a monk.
Monastic Life
The late Thai meditation master, Ajahn Chah, was the teacher of hundreds of monks, including Ajahn Brahm
Ordained as a monk (bhikkhu) by Somdet Buddhajahn at Wat Saket in Bangkok in 1974, Ajahn Brahm travelled to north-east Thailand in January 1975 and became a student of meditation master Ajahn Chah at Wat Pa Pong. In that same year he became a founding sangha member of Wat Pa Nanachat, a monastery established close by to Wat Pa Pong by Ajahn Chah to cater to the increasing number of Westerners that were coming to ordain and train with him. Ajahn Brahm became the vinaya (code of monastic discipline) master at Wat Pah Nanachat from 1975 until his departure in 1983. His vinaya notes are still authoritative for most Western Buddhist monks in the Theravada tradition.
He was invited to Perth by the Buddhist Society of Western Australia (BSWA) in 1983 along with fellow monk, Ajahn Jagaro. Later that year the BSWA purchased rural land in Serpentine south of Perth. Ajahn Brahm became the co-founding monk and deputy abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in late 1983.
Ajahn Brahm with his first hut at Bodhinyana Monastery
In 1995 Ajahn Brahm became the abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery upon the departure of Ajahn Jagaro. In 2004 Ajahn Brahm was awarded the John Curtin Medal for his vision, leadership and service to the Australian community. In June 2006, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the late king of Thailand, conferred upon Ajahn Brahm the title of Phra Visuddhisamvarathera, the rank of Phra Raja Khana in the ordinary class (Vipassanā or meditation category).
Ajahn Brahm was also appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2019 for his significant service to Buddhism, and to gender equality. Ajahn Brahm was honoured for helping to empower women in Buddhism, including the ordination of the Bhikkhunis in 2009.
Establishing Monasteries and Education Centres
Ajahn Brahm co-founded (with Ajahn Jagaro) Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine. He literally contributed to the building of this monastery as he built most of the structures with his own hands alongside his fellow monastics. Later he would be instrumental in assisting with the establishment of Dhammaloka Buddhist Centre in Nollamara. During this entire period spanning three decades he has been a lead teacher at this centre, and in the broader community.
Ajahn Brahm pictured with Ajahn Jagaro working on plumbing at Bodhinyana Monastery
Drawing on his experience leading the establishment of Bodhinyana Monastery, Ajahn Brahm helped with both the design and fundraising for Dhammasara Nuns’ Monastery in Gidgegannup. Established in 1997 with a single Australian nun, Dhammasara has grown in both its facilities and the sangha (community) of nuns training there. In October 2009 he assisted in the first bhikkhuni ordination in Australia.
From 2006 he led the fundraising and development of Jhana Grove Meditation Retreat Centre, a world class meditation retreat facility with 60 guest rooms which is in use all year around either by the BSWA or other meditation groups. In 2012 Jhana Grove served 1300 retreatants. Places on Ajahn Brahm’s meditation retreats are typically booked out in a matter of minutes due his popularity as a meditation teacher.
In 2013, began building work on “Hermit’s Hill”, an extension of Bodhinyana Monastery. Bodhinyana is the largest Theravadan Buddhist monastery outside of Asia, and there is a long waiting list of men who wish to ordain at Bodhinyana, but cannot be accepted due to the limited accommodation and facilities. Ajahn Brahm is taking the first step to expand opportunities for monastic ordination and practice by expanding Bodhinyana with the purchase of another 100acres of land which is currently having huts built upon it to accommodate future monks.
Authorship
Ajahn Brahm has authored three popular books that are available commercially:
Opening the Door of Your Heart (a.k.a. Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?) – this book has been translated into 24 languages with a variety of titles!
Don’t Worry, Be Grumpy (a.k.a. Good? Bad? Who Knows?), which became a legitimate best seller in Germany, reaching #3 on the charts.
The royalties raised from sales of these books goes to the activities of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia. He has also authored numerous other books and essays on meditation and other spiritual topics which are for free distribution, like the popular, “Basic Method of Meditation” aimed at those new to meditation.
Teachings Online
In 2001 Ajahn Brahm gave his blessing to recorded audio talks being posted on a new BSWA website. The popularity of these talks gradually took off. Over time the recording and posting of these teachings evolved with both the demand and new technologies driving change: from podcasting to YouTube to live streaming. Currently, well over a hundred thousand talks are listened to online each month, taking into consideration the downloads from the website , the BSWA YouTube channel, and live streaming audience.
As of 2016, the BuddhistSocietyWA YouTube channel alone has had over 14 million views in ten years, and has more than 80,000 subscribers. The number of people finding the appeal of these teachings online is steadily growing over time.
Leadership
Ajahn Brahm is the Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, WA, (1995 to present) and the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia (1995 to present), the largest Theravadan Buddhist organisation in Australia with thousands of members from over 30 ethnic groups. The BSWA supports Dhammaloka Buddhist Centre in Nollamara (for providing teaching and services to the lay community), Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine for monks, Dhammasara Monastery in Gidgegannup for nuns, and Jhana Grove Meditation Retreat Centre for year round meditation retreats in Serpentine.
In addition to this, he is founding Chair of the Australian Sangha Association from its inception in 2007 to the present. The ASA is an organisation comprising of monks and nuns from the various Buddhist schools (Theravadan, Mahayana and Tibetan) resient in Australia. Its aim is to bring the schools of Buddhism together to foster common understanding, and to represent Buddhist monastics to government and the broader community.
His influence is by no means confined to Western Australia, as he is also Spiritual Advisor to the Buddhist Society of Victoria (1995 to present), and Spiritual Director of Santi Forest Monastery in New South Wales (2000 to 2006, and 2012 to present), which is a monastery for Buddhist nuns.
Monks and nuns from West Australian sangha at a bhikkhuni ordination at Dhammasara
In recent years has led the way for gender equality in religion. He was instrumental in ensuring equal opportunity for Buddhist nuns (bhikkhuni) in the Theravada tradition by supporting full nuns’ ordination. For this courageous act he was persecuted by being expelled from his own lineage. This was very controversial within the international Buddhist community because the lineage of bhikkhunis in Theravadan Buddhism is considered by many to have died out. Such ordinations have been banned in Thailand. Whilst Ajahn Brahm was applauded by many in Australia for taking bold action to establish equal conditions for women entering monastic life in Australia, he was also strongly criticized by many monks in Asia.
In 2014, he was invited to be a speaker at the United Nations Vesak Day (most significant holy day for Buddhists) conference in Vietnam, the title of which was “Buddhism and the UN Millenium Development Goals”. Ajahn Brahm submitted his talk on the topic of “Gender Equality in Buddhism” which was United Nations Millenium Development Goal #3. The talk was accepted, but on the eve of the conference he discovered that his talk had been cancelled. This has led to an international petition to the conference organisers and raised a good deal of debate in the media in Buddhist countries like Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam, bringing reform within Buddhist institutions closer to enable equality of opportunity for women.
Ajahn Brahm has become a renowned Buddhist leader, and like the Dalai Lama often speaks out when there is social injustice and breaches of human rights. For instance, he has spoken out publicly on numerous occasions about the harm done by homophobia, and has been strongly supportive of gay marriage. He has embraced multiculturalism in action through being the leader of a highly diverse community in Perth. He has spoken out about the plight of asylum seekers, and he has taken concrete action to ensure that women have equal status and opportunity (as mentioned above).
Ajahn Brahm teaching in Korea in 2013
Ajahn Brahm is an spiritual ambassador for Australia as he frequently travels the world, especially in Asia where he gives talks to large crowds up to 10,000 strong. He is the Spiritual Patron of the Buddhist Fellowship of Singapore (2000 to present), and Spiritual Patron of the Ehipassiko Foundation of Indonesia (2011 to present). He was the Leader of the Australian delegation to the World Buddhist Summit in 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2014, and the inspiration behind the Brahm Education Centre in Singapore, and the Ajahn Brahm Society in Sri Lanka. He has met with (and been served tea!) by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had an audience with the royal family in Bhutan, and been accorded Royal patronage by the King of Thailand. Everywhere he goes he projects a peaceful and wise presence. In this way he has been building bridges between Australia and other countries, particularly our close neighbours in Asia. This culminated in the BSWA hosting the 4th Global Conference on Buddhism in Perth in 2006, and the 9th Global Conference on Buddhism again in Perth in 2015. These two day conferences draw in thousands of attendees, a large portion from overseas.
This high standing for Ajahn Brahm has raised the profile of Buddhism in Australia and given the local community a greater sense of confidence. There are many people who’ve migrated to Perth to live under his spiritual guidance. Ajahn Brahm is at the centre of a growing community developing a uniquely Australian Buddhist identity.
Community Service
For 31 years Ajahn Brahm has been serving the community by offering wise advice and compassion to anyone who comes to him, regardless of the race, gender, religious belief, or social status. He always focuses on serving the person or people in front of him at any one time, be that a person with terminal cancer, someone suffering from depression, a prisoner, someone dealing with marital problems, a dedicated meditator, or anybody at all without any discrimination. His aim in life is to teach people how to be happy and overcome their suffering in life. From humble beginnings to teaching hundreds of thousands of people each month, either in person or online, the popularity of his talks today attest to the effectiveness of the practical advice that he offers, delivered with humour and kindness. Since coming to reside in Australia Ajahn Brahm has contributed extensive service to the wider community through:
Ajahn Brahm blessing a marriage in Perth, 1989
counselling people suffering from depression, suicidal thoughts, marriage problems, and various other mental, emotional and social problems;
prison visits to teach meditation and counsel prisoners, and having trained others to do the same;
visiting cancer support associations to help people deal positively with the emotional stress of a potentially life threatening illness;
school visits to talk about meditation and how to be happy;
representing the Buddhist community at inter-religious forums, including annually at the Commonwealth Day service at St. George’s Cathedral in Perth;
being a keynote speaker at professional conferences such as the 2015 World Computer Conference in South Korea, the Davos Connection Leadership Conference in Hayman Island, and various International Human Resource Conferences.
Ajahn Brahm has rendered extensive service to the growing Buddhist community in Perth and Western Australia through providing such services as funerals, hospital visits, including counselling those with terminal illnesses, wedding blessings, counselling services, presiding in the role of celebrant at important occasions in the Buddhist calendar.
Media Appearances
Ajahn Brahm has frequently appeared in the media both in Australia and overseas. Some of the Australian media appearances include:
Front cover and article in the West Weekend magazine
He has also made prime time television appearances to national audiences in Australia, Singapore, Canada, South Korea, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Ajahn Brahm doing a TV interview in Korea 2013.
Ajahn Brahm’s Impact
Ajahn Brahm at a book signing in Indonesia, 2010.
Ajahn Brahm continues to inspire, and according to his own words, “most people retire when they turn 70, but a monk’s working life doesn’t start until 70, so I’ve barely started”. His life’s work is to teach people the path to inner contentment and peace through developing virtues like compassion, wisdom and mindfulness. No one can say for sure how his desire to help people develop their spiritual qualities will manifest, but at the present time Ajahn Brahm continues:
to maintain an extensive touring schedule both inside and outside of Australia;
to give regular talks in Perth at both the Dhammaloka Buddhist Centre (which are recorded and posted online) and upon invitation to various groups’ and conferences;
to ordain and train monks at Bodhinyana. Currently there are 24 monks resident with at least as many on the waiting list to get in.
And despite all that he has given and continues to give, he lives simply in a small hut in the forest, has no money or bank account, and enjoys nothing more than a cup of tea and sitting in meditation.
Phra VisuddhisamvaratheraAM (Thai: พระวิสุทธิสังวรเถร), known as Ajahn Brahmavaṃso, or simply Ajahn Brahm (born Peter Betts[1] on 7 August 1951), is a British-born Buddhist monk. Ordained in 1974, he trained in the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravada Buddhism under his teacher Ajahn Chah. Currently, Ajahn Brahm is the abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, Western Australia, as well as an adviser or patron of various Buddhist organizations in Australia, Singapore, and the UK.
After practicing for nine years as a monk, Ajahn Brahm was sent to Perth by Ajahn Chah in 1983 to assist Ajahn Jagaro in teaching duties.[4] Initially, they both lived in an old house on Magnolia Street, in the suburb of North Perth, but in late 1983, they purchased 97 acres (393,000 m²) of rural and forested land in the hills of Serpentine, south of Perth.[1] The land was to become Bodhinyana Monastery (named after their teacher, Ajahn Chah Bodhinyana). Bodhinyana was to become the first dedicated Buddhist monastery of the Thai Theravada lineage in the Southern Hemisphere and is today the largest community of Buddhist monks in Australia.[citation needed] Initially, there were no buildings on the land and as there were only a few Buddhists in Perth at this time, and little funding, the monks themselves began building to save money. Ajahn Brahm learnt plumbing and bricklaying and built many of the current buildings himself.
Ajahn Brahm
In 1994, Ajahn Jagaro took a sabbatical leave from Western Australia and disrobed a year later. Left in charge, Ajahn Brahm took on the role and was soon being invited to provide his teachings in other parts of Australia and Southeast Asia. He has been a speaker at the International Buddhist Summit in Phnom Penh in 2002 and at three Global Conferences on Buddhism.[citation needed] He also dedicates time and attention to the sick and dying, those in prison or ill with cancer, people wanting to learn to meditate, and also to his Sangha of monks at Bodhinyana.[citation needed] Ajahn Brahm has also been influential in establishing Dhammasara Nuns' Monastery at Gidgegannup in the hills northeast of Perth to be a wholly independent monastery, which is jointly administered by Ayya Nirodha and Venerable Hasapañña.[citation needed]
On 22 October 2009, Ajahn Brahm, along with Bhante Sujato, facilitated an ordination ceremony for bhikkhunis, where four female Buddhists, Venerable Ajahn Vayama, and Venerables Nirodha, Seri, and Hasapañña, were ordained into the Western Theravada Bhikkhuni Sangha, with Venerable Tathālokā Bhikkhunī serving as Bhikkhunī Preceptor.[5][6] The ordination ceremony took place at Ajahn Brahm's Bodhinyana Monastery at Serpentine, Australia. Although bhikkhuni[7] ordinations had taken place in California and Sri Lanka, this was the first in the Thai Forest Tradition and proved highly controversial in Thailand. There is no consensus in the wider tradition that bhikkhuni ordinations could be valid, having last been performed in Thailand over 1,000 years ago, though the matter has been under active discussion for some time. Ajahn Brahm claims that there is no valid historical basis for denying ordination to bhikkunis.[citation needed]
I thought too when I was a young monk in Thailand that the problem was a legal problem, that the bhikkhuni order couldn't be revived. But having investigated and studied, I've found out that many of the obstacles we thought were there aren't there at all. Someone like Bhikkhu Bodhi [a respected Theravada scholar–monk] has researched the Pali Vinaya and his paper is one of the most eloquent I've seen—fair, balanced, comes out on the side of "It's possible, why don't we do this?"[8]
For his actions of 22 October 2009, on 1 November 2009, at a meeting of senior members of the Thai forest monastic Sangha in the Ajahn Chah lineage, held at Wat Pah Pong, Ubon Ratchathani, Brahm was removed from the Ajahn Chah Forest Sangha lineage and is no longer associated with the main monastery in Thailand, Wat Pah Pong, nor with any of the other Western Forest Sangha branch monasteries of the Ajahn Chah tradition.[9]
In October 2015, Ajahn Brahm asked Venerable Candā of Dhammasara Nun's Monastery, Perth, to take steps towards establishing a monastery in the UK. In response to this, Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project was born. Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project aims to promote the teachings and practices of early Buddhism by establishing a Bhikkhuni presence in the UK. Its long-term aspiration is to develop a monastery with a harmonious and meditative atmosphere, for women who wish to train towards full ordination.[10][11]
"The reason I'm going over to the UK is [because] . . . I have a sense of responsibility to the place of my birth. It was a very wonderful society and inculcated many values in me. One of those values was fairness, where people are given equity. I came from a poor background, it was disadvantaged, but because of the fairness of the system I could, through the means of scholarships, go to a very good high school, and from [there] to a very good university. I was given a chance, and I see in the UK right now, women in Theravada Buddhism are not given a chance; because of their birth they are not permitted to take full ordination in Theravada Buddhism, which, personally, because of my upbringing, [I think] is unacceptable. And also because of my upbringing, I always say, 'Don't just complain about things, do something!' And it happens at this time in my monastic life that I am able to do things. I have many disciples and some of those disciples want to give some of their money for a good cause. So the next project . . . is to try and get a nice start for the bhikkhuni sangha in the UK . . . [where] a good nun like Bhikkhuni Candā has a place to stay and a place to teach. At the moment she has nowhere, really, absolutely nowhere to stay! So the requisite of lodgings is primary.
"The main guidance [for bhikkhunis] . . . is the Buddha—you take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the sangha [as a whole] . . . [in] the guidelines of simplicity, frugality, kindness, compassion, and mindfulness, [which] are part of the Vinaya training. When it comes to other training, I'll say in this interview, I have full confidence in Venerable Candā to be a leader. She doesn't have that confidence in herself yet, but I do. It's a case of, you take these people, put them in the deep end of the water, and my goodness, they swim! And no one is more surprised than they themselves that they can keep their heads above water.
"This monastery is going to happen . . . it's just a matter of time. . . . [The bhikkhuni sangha] is the fourth leg of the chair of Buddhism, this is what the Buddha kept on saying. After he became enlightened under the banyan tree, Mara came to him and said, 'Okay, you're enlightened, I admit it. Now don't go teaching, it's just too burdensome. Just enter parinibbana now, just disappear'. The Buddha said, 'No, I will not enter parinibbana. I will not leave this life until I have established the bhikkhu sangha, bhikkhuni sangha, laymen, and laywomen Buddhists: the four pillars of Buddhism'. Forty-five years later, at the Capala Shrine, Mara came again and said, 'You've done it! There are lots and lots of bhikkhunis enlightened, lots of bhikkhus enlightened, great laymen and laywomen Buddhists . . . so keep your promise', and [the Buddha] said, 'Okay, in three months, I'll enter parinibbana'.
What those two passages from the suttas demonstrate is that it was the Buddha's mission; it was why he taught—to establish those four pillars of the sangha. We have lost one, so every Buddhist who has faith in the Buddha should actually help the Buddha re-establish the bhikkhuni sangha. It was his mission, [but] because of history his mission has been thwarted".[12]
Ajahn Brahm has openly spoken about his support towards same-sex marriage. At a conference in Singapore in 2014, he said he was very proud to have been able to perform a same-sex marriage blessing for a couple in Norway, and stressed that Buddhist teachings do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.[13][14]
In 2015, during the Rohingya refugee crisis, the Buddhist Society of Western Australia donated money to support displaced orphans in Bangladesh. Speaking at the ceremony, Ajahn Brahm said:
No matter what race or religion you are, we always look after one another. All religions are brothers and sisters, so we care for one another. So may violence and mistrust disappear and kindness and love and helping one another prevail.[15]
In an effort to reclaim the "mindfulness" practice from being overrun by secular industries and a recent claim that it is not owned by Buddhism, Ajahn Brahm clarifies that mindfulness is a practice within the rest of the supporting factors of Buddhism (the Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right motivation, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right endeavor, right mindfulness, and right stillness). According to the monk, mindfulness is part of a great training called Buddhism, and to actually take away mindfulness from Buddhism is unhelpful, inaccurate, and deceiving—mindfulness is a cultural heritage of Buddhism. Practicing mindfulness without wisdom and compassion is not enough. Therefore, drawing from the Pāli Suttas,[16] Ajahn Brahm created the term "Kindfulness", meaning mindfulness combined with wisdom and compassion—mindfulness combined with knowing the ethical and moral compassionate consequences of the reactions to what is happening (a.k.a. satisampajañña).[17]
Whilst still a junior monk, Ajahn Brahm was asked to undertake the compilation of an English-language guide to the Buddhist monastic code—the vinaya.[18] Currently, Brahm is the Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, Western Australia,[19] the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia, Spiritual Adviser to the Buddhist Society of Victoria, Spiritual Adviser to the Buddhist Society of South Australia, Spiritual Patron of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore and most recently, Spiritual Adviser to the Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project in the UK.[20] He returned to the office of Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia on 22 April 2018, after briefly resigning in March, following a contentious vote by members of the BSWA during their annual general meeting.[21]
In October 2004, Ajahn Brahm was awarded the John Curtin medal for his vision, leadership, and service to the Australian community, by Curtin University.[22]
Under the auspices of the Diamond Jubilee of King Rama IX, Bhumibol Adulyadej, in June 2006, Ajahn Brahm was given the title of Phra Visuddhisamvarathera.[23]
On 5 September 2019, Ajahn Brahm was awarded the Order of Australia, General Division medal, for services to Buddhism and gender equality. The investiture was performed at Government House Western Australia.[24]
Opening the Door of Your Heart: and Other Buddhist Tales of Happiness. Also published as Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties. Wisdom Publications. ISBN978-0861712786 (2005)
Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator's Handbook. Wisdom Publications. ISBN0-86171-275-7 (2006)
The Art of Disappearing: Buddha's Path to Lasting Joy. Wisdom Publications. ISBN0-86171-668-X (2011)
Don't Worry, Be Grumpy: Inspiring Stories for Making the Most of Each Moment. Also published as Good? Bad? Who Knows?. Wisdom Publications. ISBN978-1614291671 (2014)
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