Dharma

My journey so far:

I first encountered meditation through the Taoist and Yoga traditions, but did not receive any formal instruction until I joined a basic course in “calm abiding” meditation (śamatha) offered at the chaplaincy of the university where I was completing my doctorate. In 2014 I gave up an academic career in rainforest ecology and took myself to Plum Village in the Dordogne, France. Over the next two years I spent 18 months studying and practicing at Upper Hamlet in Thenac, six months as long-term lay friend, and a year in their aspirancy program training for monastic ordination.

In search of conditions that would allow me to devote myself wholeheartedly to the study of meditation and yoga, with the freedom to explore teachings from a variety of traditions, in 2017 I returned to Australia. On the advice of a teacher there I traveled to India for Vajrayana instruction, and found myself inspired to request full ordination as a monk in the Sakya Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

I received the Bikkhu ordination at Jamchen Lakhang gompa in Boudha, Kathmandu, Nepal. My root teacher is His Holiness the 42nd Sakya Trizin, and I have been fortunate to receive teachings in India from both H.H. the Dalai Lama and H.H. The 42nd Sakya Trizin.

In 2017 I also enrolled in a seven year program of study at The International Buddhist Academy in Kathmandu, Nepal. There I had the good fortune to encounter Bhante Dhammadipa. Bhante’s deep and broad experience across both Theravada and Mahayana approaches I found profoundly inspiring, and I came to consider him my main teacher, attending courses with him again in 2018 and 2019.

On Bhante Dhammadipa’s advice in 2019 I also traveled to Myanmar to study and practice at Pa Auk Tawya, where he also trained and taught. I have had the good fortune to attend Bhante on pilgrimage and retreat in Tibet and India.