TOPICS :
The Heart and Mind
Karma vs Fate
Revelation vs Realisation
Buddhism in the Digital Age
Reflections on Environment and Economics
Ending War, Making Peace
Dying and Rebirth
A Woman’s Place in Buddhism
Awake At Work & Home!
Why Meditate?
LECTURES WITH :
Ven Aggacitta Bhikkhu
Aggacitta Bhikkhu was first ordained in Malaysia in 1978 and received his upasampada (higher ordination) at Mahasi Meditation Centre, Rangoon in 1979. He trained under Sayadaw U Pandita (Panditarama), Sayadaw U Tissara
(Yankin Forest Monastery), and Sayadaw U Acinna (Pa Auk Forest Monastery). He studied advanced Pâli and translation in Thai and Burmese under Sayadaw U Dhammananda at Wat Tamaoh, Thailand. In 2000, he founded Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary, a Theravada monk training centre in Perak, Malaysia.
Ven Bhante Gunaratana
Bhante H Gunaratana is the founding abbot of the Bhavana
Society. Born in rural Sri Lanka, he has been a monk since age 12 and took full ordination at age 20. He has written many books, including the now-classic meditation manual Mindfulness In Plain English and its companion Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness. Before moving to the United States, he spent five years doing missionary work with the Harijanas (Untouchables) of India and ten years in Malaysia. He served as Buddhist chaplain at the American University, Washington DC. His clear, direct teaching style that is reinforced by scholarly learning and built on deep practice is very much appreciated around the world.
Prof Lewis R. Lancaster
Prof Lancaster served as Professor and Director of the PhD programme in Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been active in the field of digital technology as Director of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) as well as a participant in the digitization projects for the Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit Buddhist texts. His personal research is currently directed toward constructing a digital “Atlas of Chinese Religions.” He delivered the Eugene M Burke Lecture, ‘Buddhism in a Global Age of Technology’ in April 2008, that is recommended for viewing on www.youtube.com
Ven Ajahn Brahm
Ajahn Brahm, born in London, came from a working-class background. He won a scholarship to Cambridge, graduating with a Masters in Theoretical Physics. He became disillusioned because he felt that great scientists knew everything about the universe out there, but nothing about their own minds. To deepen his commitment to Buddhism, he decided to go to Thailand because the Thai monks smiled more. He received ordination at 23 and trained with the renowned meditation master Ajahn Chah. He is the abbot of Bodhinyana Buddhist Monastery, Perth – recognised as one of the world’s premier monastic institutions.
In 2006, he was awarded the high ecclesiastical title ‘Tan Chao Khun Phra Visuddhisamvarathera’ on behalf of the King of Thailand by the head of the Thai Sangha, in recognition of his tireless service to Buddhism in Australia and Southeast Asia. He is the author of Opening The Door To Your Heart, translated into 6 languages, and Mindfulness, Bliss & Beyond. Ajahn Brahm uses his unique combination of scholarship, meditation, and a wicked sense of humour to convey Buddhism to wide and varied audience.
Colin Ash
Colin is Senior Fellow & Lecturer in Economics at the University of Reading. He served two years at the Bank of England: model-building, forecasting and advising on macroeconomic policy. His current research interests include happiness and economics. He is a member of the UK Commissioning Panel for the Arts and Humanities/
Economics and Social Science Research Council Programme on Religion and Society. He is Director and Chairman of the English Sangha Trust which is the steward for Amaravati and Chithurst monasteries. He is a Buddhist prison chaplain and a member of the Endorsing Authority for Buddhist Chaplaincy to the UK Armed Forces. He served many years on the Council of the Buddhist Society, London.
Ven Lama Choedak Rinpoche
Born in Tibet, Venerable Lama Choedak Rinpoche escaped the Chinese invasion by travelling to Nepal as a refugee with his family. He has spent 12 years undergoing rigorous monastic training under His Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche: 3.5 of these years were spent in solitary meditation
retreat, sponsored by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Lama Choedak Rinpoche has been teaching in Australia and NZ for over 22 years and is the Spiritual Director of 15 formal centres and countless informal practice and study groups.
Prof Lloyd Geering
Emeritus Prof Lloyd Geering ONZ, PCNZM, CBE is a NZ theologian. He is a Presbyterian minister and serves in Kurow, Dunedin and Wellington. He held the Chair of Old Testament Studies at Emmanuel College, Brisbane and then at Knox College, Dunedin. In 1967 he was charged with “doctrinal error and disturbing the peace and unity of the (Presbyterian) church”. He was acquitted on both counts by the General Assembly of the PCANZ. He was appointed the first Professor of Religious Studies in a secular NZ university at Victoria University, Wellington. He helped develop a superb department dedicated to the study of all religions from a humanist perspective.
Ven Ajahn Brahmali
Ajahn Brahmali, born in Norway in 1964, first became interested in Buddhism and meditation in his early 20s after a visit to Japan. Having completed degrees in engineering and finance, he began his monastic training as an anagarika (keeping the eight precepts) in England. Ajahn Brahmali was ordained as a Bhikkhu in 1996 with Ajahn Brahm as his preceptor. For the past 4 years, he has taught both Pali and the Vinaya (monastic discipline) to the monks and anagarikas at Bodhinyana Monastery.
Ven Bhikkhuni Dhammananda
Bhikkhuni Dhammananda is Thailand’s first bhikkhuni (nun) in the Theravada Buddhist tradition and the abbess of Songdhammakalyani
Monastery. She sought ordination in Sri Lanka in 2001, giving up her worldly life as Assoc Prof Chatsumarn
Kabilsingh PhD, an accomplished Buddhist scholar and university lecturer. The United Nations honoured her as an outstanding Buddhist woman in 2004. She is committed to social justice and socially engaged Buddhist practices and to developing an Order of ordained women in Thailand where such status is neither available nor recognised.
Angie Monksfield
Angie, President of the Buddhist Fellowship, was responsible for spearheading the Global Conference on Buddhism in 2000 in Singapore. She is founder of Brahm Education Centre, Vice-President of the Singapore Computer Society, a member of the Arts Advisory Panel, Ministry for the Communication and Arts. She is the founder of the Soracco Performing Arts Group that has staged two musicals, delivering Dhamma through music and theatre. Formerly an entrepreneur, she is now an IT Vice-President in a major airline company. She is married with two young children.
Ven Bhikkhuni Man Wang
Reverend Man Wang, a bhikkhuni originally from Fo Guang Shan (FGS) Monastery, Taiwan, obtained full ordination and graduated from FGS Tsung Ling University in 1991. She has taught at the FGS monastery in Brisbane, and temples in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. She supervised the construction and completion of the Auckland FGS temple, the largest Buddhist temple in NZ, while teaching and attending to the Buddhist community in the area. Reverend Man Wang has given regular dharma talks on an Asian radio station in Auckland.
Ven Ajahn Chandako
Ajahn Chandako, born in Minnesota USA, was ordained in 1990 in the Thai Forest Tradition in the lineage of Ajahn Chah. On graduating from Carleton College in Religious Studies, he trained in meditation and went to Asia to find a monastery to devote his life to the Dhamma. After practising intensive meditation in Thailand and travelling extensively in Tibet, Nepal and India, he settled at Wat Pah Nanachat. He has translated Unshakeable Peace by Ajahn Chah. He is abbot of Vimutti Monastery, 40 km south of Auckland.
Benny Liow
Benny is the editor of Eastern Horizon, journal of the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia, the founder chairman of the Buddhist Gem Fellowship, and Vice-Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Global Conferences on Buddhism 2002 & 2005. He has published three books: K Sri Dhammananda: A Pictorial Retrospect; K Sri Dhammananda Felicitation: Essays in Honor of His 80th Birthday; 108 Treasures for the Heart: A guide for daily living. He holds a BA Hons Ed degree from Universiti Sains Malaysia and MPA from University of Malaya.
Ven Ayya Sucinta Bhikkhuni,
born in Germany, became an ‘anagarika’ in 1991 at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, England and continued training at the Bhavana Society, West Virginia. She took samaneri ordination with Ven
Dr. H. Gunaratana Mahathera in 1994 and received bhikkhuni ordination in 1998. She spent several years meditating and studying in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. In January 2007 Ayya Sucinta was invited to Australia by
the Buddhist Society of Victoria to establish Sanghamittarama Bhikkhuni Residence, the fi rst monastery for Theravada nuns in Victoria.
Ven Ajahn Tiradhammo,
born in New Westminster, British Columbia in 1949, took his higher ordination at Wat Meung Man, Chiang Mai in 1973 with Ven Tong. In 1975 he moved to study and practise with Ajahn Chah, staying at Wat Pah Pong and Wat Pa Nanachat. He was invited to England in 1982, spending time at Chithurst Monastery and being in charge of Harnham Vihara, Northumberland. He helped establish Dhammapala Monastery near Bern, Switzerland and its new location in Kandersteg. He is abbot of Bodhinyanarama Monastery, Wellington.
Australian nun Tenzin Tsapel
was ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in India, 1985. She is one of the senior nuns from Chenrezig Institute’s nuns community in Queensland, Australia. She studied there with Geshe Tashi Tsering for 16 years completing the Buddhist Studies Programme and tutored two modules of the Lam Rim Chen Mo. She has completed a number
of solitary retreats and taught retreats in Australia and New Zealand in the past 14 years. In June 2007 Ven Tsapel began as the resident teacher at Chandrakirti Centre in Nelson, NZ.
Sensei Amala Wrightson
began Zen practice in 1982 after attending a workshop by the late Roshi Philip Kapleau, founder of the Rochester Zen Center in up-state New York. She became a student of Roshi Bodhin
Kjolhede, and was ordained a Zen priest in 1999 and sanctioned to teach in 2004. After formal koan training, she returned to NZ and opened the Auckland Zen Centre. Her work with the community involves serving as Buddhist chaplain at Auckland University of Technology, helping establish the NZ Buddhist Council, and being a member of the Auckland Interfaith Council
executive.
Organised by :
The objectives of the New Zealand Buddhist Foundation are to:
– increase awareness and understanding about the teachings of the Buddha
– promote spiritual friendships
– foster relationships among the Buddhist community and organisations
– encourage inter-faith dialogue &
– undertake charitable activities for the benefit of all.
In particular, the New Zealand Buddhist Foundation will:
– encourage the teaching, study and practice of the teachings of the Buddha
– support and enable the Sangha (Buddhist male and female monastics) to provide spiritual advice and minister for the well-being of the Buddhist community as a whole
– disseminate resources relating to the teachings of the Buddha
– develop leadership qualities among Buddhists
– assist Buddhist organisations in leadership training and advice
– serve as a reliable source of Buddhist views
– help with communications and publicity for the Buddhist community and organisations &
– undertake charitable and educative projects consistent with Buddhist principles.
– E-mail: NZ Buddhist Foundation
– With the compliments of www.buddhachannel.tv
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