Clear Mountain Monastery Project

In this session, Ajahn Kovilo speaks about bringing loving-awareness and creativity to one's practice of the Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection:

1) "I am of the nature to age. I have not gone beyond aging."

2) "I am of the nature to sicken. I have not gone beyond sickness."

3) "I am of the nature to die. I have not gone beyond dying."

4) "All that is mine, beloved and pleasing, will become otherwise, will become separated from me."

5) "I am the owner of my kamma, heir to my kamma, born of my kamma, related through my kamma, abide supported by my kamma. Whatever kamma I shall do, for good or for ill, of that, I will be the heir."

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 series of five talks given on June 20 for Clear Mountain's fourth annual Almsgiving Ceremony, we hear from 5 monastics:

00:00:00 - Ayya Niyyānika on how practice begins now, rather than when the monastery is finished;

00:02:45 - Ajahn Pandit on the story of Anaruddha, and the relentlessness of worldly life;

00:09:38 Ajahn Cunda on the wisdom of finishing work internally every day;

00:13:43 Bhante Rāhula on the joy of seeing the four Buddhist communities gathered together;

00:19:15 Maechee Paññāsiri on how a monastery is a mirror for our own minds.

Ayya Niyyānika's:

Ayya Niyyānika trained for eight years in California bhikkhunī communities before traveling throughout the West and Asia to deepen their understanding of renunciation, Saṅgha, and global Buddhist practice. Now part of Passaddhi Vihara in the Pacific Northwest, they center their monastic practice on embodiment rooted in kindness and wise compassion.

Ajahn Pandit's:

Ajahn Pandit is a British monk and founder of the Little Bangkok Sangha. Ordained in Thailand in 1996, he holds degrees in psychology and Buddhist Studies from Mahā Chulalongkorn University.

Ajahn Cunda:

Raised in Chicago, Ajahn Cunda moved to California and ordained as a bhikkhu at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in 2008, training there for over eight years under Luang Por Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. After practicing widely at various international forest monasteries across Canada, Australia, England, and Italy, he returned to Abhayagiri in 2022 and will begin a one-year retreat at Birken Monastery in this July.

Bhante Rāhula:

Born in Mexico, Bhante Rāhula ordained in Myanmar under Sayadaw Dr. Nandamālābhivaṃsa and spent over two decades in Asia studying scripture and meditation under prominent masters, including a course at Harvard University in 2019. He now runs the Mexican Buddhist Center (Paññābhūmi) to spread the Buddha's teachings in the region while actively leading addiction recovery and youth prevention programs.

Maechee Paññāsiri:

Born and raised in Shanghai, Maechee Paññāsirī worked as a writer, creative director, and yoga teacher before fulfilling a lifelong spiritual quest by ordaining in Thailand under Ven. Ajahn Jayasāro in 2020. She currently resides at a nuns' hermitage near Khao Yai, Thailand, where she practices in the Ajahn Chah forest tradition and teaches Clear Mountain community members via Zoom.

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 Steve James, meditation teacher & host of the Guru Viking Podcast (https://www.guruviking.com/).

00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:01:32 Formative faith moments and vocation

00:06:18 Life on an English canal boat

00:08:40 The rhythm of travel and interviewing

00:10:59 Interviewing the same guest over time

00:14:20 Most moving and luminous conversations

00:17:21 Handling negative reactivity in conversation

00:22:24 Balancing internal and external awareness

00:23:50 Advice for engaging with teachers and mentors

00:29:50 Finding beauty in people on different paths

00:34:45 Questions that bring out conversational depth

00:41:06 Personal frameworks for organizing experience

00:48:15 Belief alignments and the "pie chart" of faith

00:55:30 Personal relationship to the Buddha

00:59:44 Navigating dual vs. non-dual teachings

Steve James' Biography:

Steve James is an international educator specializing in somatic practices, meditation, and contemplative inquiry. Through public workshops and private consultancy, he facilitates deep explorations into mystic traditions and relational dynamics. He is the creator of the Movement Koan Method and the host of the Guru Viking Podcast, a platform through which he interviews a wide range of Buddhist and non-Buddhist spiritual teachers and adepts, and through which we first came to know of Steve. To learn more about Steve, visit https://www.guruviking.com/ or tune in to his YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GuruViking

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 talk given on June 20 on the occasion of Clear Mountain's fourth annual Almsgiving Ceremony, Ajahn Sudanto—abbot of The Pacific Hermitage in White Salmon, WA—speaks about moving past the initial "romantic phase" of spiritual life into a resilient commitment. Celebrating Clear Mountain Monastery's new land, he warns that longing for flawless conditions is a delusion, reminding us that true practice requires anchoring faith with determination, rising above liking and disliking to weather the inevitable ups and downs of the journey. For more information about Ajahn Sudanto and the Pacific Hermitage, visit: https://pacifichermitage.org/

Ajahn Sudanto's bio:

Born in Portland, Oregon in 1968, Ajahn Sudanto discovered Buddhism while earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Oregon, sparking an open-ended spiritual journey through India and Southeast Asia. He eventually traveled to Thailand for intensive study and meditation at Wat Pah Nanachat, where he took full ordination as a bhikkhu in 1994 under Ajahn Pasanno. After five years of training within the Ajahn Chah forest tradition, he relocated to California to live and train with the emerging sangha at Abhayagiri Monastery. Following a successful summer retreat in the Columbia River Gorge in 2007, the Abhayagiri community tasked him with leading the establishment of the Pacific Hermitage in White Salmon, Washington, in 2010. Later, he took a year-long sabbatical spanning 2021 and early 2022, which he spent residing at Abhayagiri and Birken Forest Monastery in British Columbia before returning to his teaching duties.

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 talk given on June 20 on the occasion of Clear Mountain's fourth annual Almsgiving Ceremony, Ayya Ānandabodhi—abbess of Pārāyana Vihara in Port Townsend, WA—speaks about the joy of spiritual community, the danger of letting an untethered mind wander into modern-day 'hell realms,' and how to anchor ourselves in the present moment through the dual foundations of ethical living (sīla) and somatic awareness of the breath. For more information about Ayya Ānandabodhī or Pārāyana Vihara, visit: https://parayanavihara.org/

Ayya Ānandabodhī's bio:

Ayya Ānandabodhī 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.

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!