Our first calendar has been printed. A big thanks to Melinda and Marie. You can pick up a copy at the Wat on your next visit.
2026 Calendar
Tag Archives: Ajahn Dtun
Wat Enew December 2025
MONASTERY REPORT
Comings & Goings
WBD
Monks
- Anagarika Luke became Samanera Satimanto on 21st June 2025.
- Luang Por Tiradhammo will be in Maylaysia and Thailand in December for Ajahn Chah Remembrance Day and LP Chah Memorial Celebrations in Ubon. He will leave 24th December and return around end of January 2026
- Venerable Nanda is expected to arrive 7th December and stay for about 1-2 years. He has spent five rains at Wat Boonyawad. It’s his first time at WBD.
- Ajahn Khemavaro will be visiting the USA in early February.
Wat Buddha Metta (WBM)
- Robes Offering on Sunday 23rd November. Donations from the event will be used to upgrade the track to the sala.
- Ajahn Boh and Ajahn Noi will be traveling to India from 25 February to 6 March 2026.
- During this period, Ajahn Wichian and Ajahn Maha Air from Nigrodharama Forest Monastery in Melbourne will reside at Wat Buddha Metta.
- Ajahn Bom is currently staying at Vimokkharam Hermitage in VIC.
- Ajahn Noi will return to Thailand in March after his visit to India. Ajahn Boh will come back to WBM with Ajahn Dtun in March.
- LP Dtun will bring Phra Praphan from Thailand, who will join Wat Buddha Metta as a resident monk.
Dhammacakka Forest Monastery (DFM)
- Ajahn Sumangalo from Seymour Monastery plans to be at DFM from January for about 1-2 months.
- Venerable Pannya plans to visit around December. He’s awaiting approval for his visa.
Retreats
New Year Retreat 2024-2025 with Ajahn Khemavaro was held in December. The next retreat is the 5-day New Year Retreat (28 Dec–1 Jan). To register, please see below. Easter Retreat dates will be confirmed later.
Potential Visits from Senior Monks
Ajahn Dtun plans to visit Australia in March 2026.
LP Piak also plans to visit WBD in 2026. More details will be available in March/April 2026.
Completed Projects 2025
Abbot’s kuti was finished end of 2024.
Upgrade of Solar Powered System (54 panels, 10 X 2.5 kW Lithium Batteries)
Building Projects for 2026
Earth work around Old Kitchen and Cynthia’s House
Decking and roof renovation for Cynthia House
Decking for Old Kitchen
The Wisdom of Stillness
5-Day New Year Retreat
with Ajahn Khemavaro
Sunday 28th December to Thursday 1st January 2026
To register, click on link:
New Year Retreat Registration
Vesak Weekend Retreat
with Ajahn Khemavaro
Friday 29th to Sunday 31st May 2026
Rains Retreat 2026
30th July to 23rd October
Rains Retreat at the Wat.
To serve and to deepen your practice.
Minimum stay of one month and priority will be given to those who can commit for the entire three months.
Recent Dhamma Talks on YouTube
Good Questions Good Answers
by LP Piak
Understanding the Stages of Samadhi
by LP Piak
Sutta Class 2: Right View: Finding the Roadmap to Life
by Ajahn Tiradhammo
Sutta Class 3: Causality: Finding the Root Cause of Suffering
by Ajahn Tiradhammo
How to be in Love with Life
by Ajahn Khemavaro
The Bliss of Stillness
by Ajahn Khemavaro
Picture Gallery:
Ajahn Dtun at Wat Buddha Metta 2025
Luang Por Piak 2025
A Time to Love
Devotion is from the heart; it’s not a rational thing. You can’t make yourself feel love or devotion just because you like the idea of it. It’s when you’re not attached, when your heart is open, receptive and free, that you begin to experience what pure love is. Loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity—these come from an empty mind; not from a sterile position of annihilating feeling, but from a heart that is not deluded, not blinded by ideas of self or others, or by passions of some kind or other.
When the heart is free from illusions of self, a loving quality arises in the pure joy of being. It’s not expected to last or be permanent. It is not to be made into anything. It’s just the natural way of things. So when you contemplate in that way, that is the way of faith and trust and devotion.
Excerpts from A Time to Love
Volume 3 of The Anthology by Ajahn Sumedho
To register for upcoming retreats, please register at Eventbrite or click on link attached to that retreat. For more info regarding the monastery, visit our website www.wbd.org.au. For further enquiries, please email wbdretreats@gmail.com or call the office at 0409-389-887 between 9 – 12 noon.
Wat Enews June 2024
Ajahn Tiradhammo in Borobudur
Ajahn Tiradhammo celebrated Vesak in Indonesia in May. He also visited Borobudur for two nights.
Luang Por Piak visited New South Wales and Queensland in April
It was with great pleasure that we hosted Lung Por Piak, Ajahn Sprite, and Ajahn Mudito from 3rd to 11th April. Luang Por gave teachings at WBD, Dhamma Home, and Dhammacakka Forest Monastery in Gatton, Queensland.
Photo Gallery: Luang Por Piak 2024
Ajahn Dtun in Sydney from 12th to 18th March…and a Monastery is Born
It is with much joy and gratitude that we announce Ajahn Dtun has accepted a piece of land on the Mid Coast of New South Wales to be a branch monastery of Wat Boonyawad. The new monastery will be called Wat Buddha Metta. The land is a 1,250 acres of forest just outside of Kempsey NSW. The majority of the property is under a Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement, which helps to conserve habitat for native species and ecosystems. Tan Ajahn said that he plans to bring 2-3 monks with him when he returns in April 2025 to spend the Rains at Wat Buddha Metta.
Photo Gallery: Ajahn Dtun 2024
Upcoming Retreats and Events
Rains Retreat 2024
21st July to 18th October
Monks
Luang Por Tiradhammo
Ajahn Khemavaro
Ajahn Chaiyaporn–TBC
Ajahn Bhuripannyo
Lay people
Anagarika Luke
Annie
Tam
Robes Offering Ceremony
Sunday 3rd November
Activities include: Shared Meal, Auspicious Chanting, and Dhamma Talk 10 – 3 pm.
New Year Retreat
Wisdom of Stillness
5-Day New Year Retreat with Ajahn Khemavaro
Saturday 28th December to Wednesday 1st Jan 2025
Dhamma Talks on YouTube
The World is an Internal Thing
by Luang Por Piak
The Path to Arahantship
by Ajahn Dtun
True Happiness
by Ajahn Dtun
Nourishing Your Mind with Meditation
by Ajahn Dtun
Buddhism and Psychology
by Ajahn Tiradhammo
Putting the Teachings into Practice
by Ajahn Tiradhammo
Growing in Goodness
by Ajahn Khemavaro
True Wisdom
by Ajahn Khemavaro
Intoxications of Youth and Good Health
The Buddha taught that the unenlightened relationship to the agreeable aspects of life such as youth and good health, may be best characterized as a kind of intoxication. We take the good things in life for granted, forget their impermanent nature, and as a result, act, speak and think in ways that cause suffering to ourselves and others.
For this reason the Buddha taught us to constantly remind ourselves:
1. I am subject to old age. I am not exempt from old age.
2. I am subject to illness. I am not exempt from illness.
3. I am subject to death. I am not exempt from death.
4. Sooner or later, I will be separated from everyone and everything dear and agreeable to me.
5. I am the owner of my kamma, heir to my kamma; I have kamma as my origin, kamma as my relative, kamma as my support. I will be the heir of whatever kamma that I do, good or bad.
The strength of resistance we feel towards these reflections is a measure of the strength of the intoxication. It is dwelling on the truth that makes us sober and clear minded.
Excerpt from: From Heart and Hand Vol II by Ajahn Jayasaro
For more teachings of Ajahn Jayasaro, please click here: Teachings by Jayasaro
Empty Space
People want to go to Nibbana but when you tell them that there is nothing there, they begin to have second thoughts. But there’s nothing there, nothing at all! Look at the roof and floor here. Think of the roof as a “becoming” and the floor as a “becoming” too. You can stand on the roof and you can stand on the floor, but in the empty space between the roof and the floor there is no place to stand. Where there is no becoming, that’s where there’s emptiness, and to put it bluntly, we say that Nibbana is this emptiness. People hear this and they back up a bit. They don’t want to go. They’re afraid that they won’t see their children or relatives.
That’s why whenever we bless the laity by saying, “May you have long life, beauty, happiness and strength,” they become very happy. But if you start talking about letting go and emptiness, they don’t want to hear about it. But have you ever seen a very old person with a beautiful complexion or a lot of strength or a lot vitality? No! But we say, “Long life, beauty, happiness and strength,” and they are all pleased. They’re attached to becoming, to the cycle of birth and death. They prefer to stand on the roof or on the floor. Few are they who dare to stand in the empty space between.
Excerpt from A Tree in a Forest–A Collection of Ajahn Chah’s Similes
For more teachings of Ajahn Chah, please click here: Teachings in English
Ajahn Dtun to Visit Australia in March
Ajahn Dtun, who is considered to be one of the greatest living Meditation Masters in Thailand, will be visiting Australia from 4th to 24th March
13th and 14th March at Wat Buddha Dhamma
Daily Schedule
9:00 Dana Offering
9:30 Meal Time
10:30 Q & A
For further info, please call the office at 0409 389 887.
Dhamma Talk at Buddhist Library
Sunday 17th March
6 – 8 pm
90-92 Church St Camperdown NSW
For more info, please call Buddhist Library at: 02 9519 6054
or email: blmanager@buddhistlibrary.org.
Ajahn Dtun will be in Victoria from 4th to 11th and 19th to 24th March
He will be staying Nigrodharama Forest Monastery
595 Seymour-Pyalong Rd
Hilldene VIC 3660
Daily Schedule
8:30 Dana Offering
9:00 Meal Time
10:30 Q & A
For further info, please call the Nigrodharama Monastery at 0480 271 789.
The schedule is subject to last minute changes and alterations.
Masks are required for visitors.
Past Teachings of Ajahn Dtun in Australia and US
Ajahn Dtun at BSV
10-Day Retreat in Melbourne 2007
Talks at Wat Buddha Dhamma in 2015
Talks in Melbourne in 2015
Talks at BSV in 2016
Talks in 2019
Talks at Abhayagiri Monastery 2013
Picture Gallery: Boonyawad Kathina
English Talks from YouTube
Stages of Enlightenment and the Mind
What Defines a Good Human Being: From Harming to Helping Others
For additional teachings in Thai or books/CDs, click on the links below:
Website
YouTube Channel
Facebook
The Sacred Equation
At the heart of the Buddha’s teaching is the Noble Eightfold Path, which is divided into the threefold training of sīla, samādhi and paññā, moral virtue, concentration and wisdom. The combination of all three path factors is commonly known as the Middle Way, and it is this very combination which forms a sacred equation that ultimately results in peace, freedom from suffering, liberation and Nibbāna. The three factors are mutually supportive of each other: moral virtue is a foundation for concentration, concentration the foundation for wisdom, and wisdom is the tool that works for one’s deliverance. Removing any one factor from this sacred equation will prevent one from reaching the path that leads to true happiness, Nibbāna.
The main part of this teaching begins with a very simple question which Ajahn Dtun asked a group of laypeople whom he knew to be students of a teacher who emphasizes the practice of ‘watching the mind’. This practice focuses on watching the arising and ceasing of all the objects of the mind’s awareness, with the view that this is the most effective way to give rise to wisdom and thereby cleanse the mind of the mental defilements. Those practising this particular method tend to overlook or underrate the role that concentration plays in the development of wisdom. Over the last 15 years this practice of watching the mind, while by no means new or modern, has attracted a great deal of interest and become very popular in Thailand. However, this new-found popularity has created concern among the more traditional forest masters, who stress that believing that the practice of just watching the mind can free it from the mental defilements is a great mistake. On many occasions over many years, Ajahn Dtun patiently gives advice to steer these practitioners back to the correct path of practice of moral virtue, concentration and wisdom, the Middle Way as taught by the Buddha. He also explains to practitioners that in no way whatsoever can concentration be taken out of the equation.
It is hoped that by reading this teaching the reader will gain a clear view of the complete path of meditation practice, and understand that solely contemplating the mind is not sufficient to free it from the mental defilements. The assumption that the mental defilements arise within the mind, and so must be dealt with solely by contemplating the mind, is true but not altogether correct. It is true that mental defilements do arise within the mind and so must be let go of within the mind, but it is not correct to believe that one can start the work of cleansing the mind at this point. This practice, as Ajahn Dtun clearly shows, is for those already highly advanced on the path to liberation, as they push forward to reach the final stage of enlightenment.
Preface from The Sacred Equation by Ajahn Dtun
Wat Enews July 2023
Comings & Goings
Monks
LP Tiradhammo was in Canada visiting friends and families for six weeks. He returned on 20th July.
Ajahn Khemavaro, Bhante Siriratano, and Venerable Bhuripannyo visited Dhammacakka Forest Monastery in Queensland from 14th to 17th July.
Photo Gallery: Gatton 2023
Ajahn Khemavaro was in Vietnam from 21st to 30th June. He visited Huyen Khong Son Thuong Monastery in Hue, Buu Long Temple in Ho Chi Minh City, and Vien Khong Monastery in Ba Ria. Dan and Venerable Pannyananda also joined him for the trip.
Photo Gallery: Vietnam 2023
Ajahn Khemavaro was in Texas visiting families from 9th to 27th May. He led a 3-Day Meditation Workshop at Giac Dao Buddhist Meditation Centre, outside of Houston. Ajahn also visited Sitagu Buddha Vihara in Austin Texas.
Ajahn Khemavaro and a group of lay supporters visited Ajahn Santutthi in Perth from 26th April to 2nd May.
Bhantes Siriratano and Saccadhammo arrived from Indonesia 2nd May. Bhante Siri is planning to spend the Rains Retreat at the Wat and Bhante Sacca returned to Indonesia on 1st June.
Venerable Bhuripannyo came from South Adelaide on 2nd May for a six weeks visit. He plans to spend the Rains Retreat at WBD.
Ajahn Dtun at Seymour Forest Monastery 12th to 27th March
Ajahn Khemavaro and a large delegation of lay supporters from WBD participated in the Installation Buddha Relics in the main Buddha Statue at Seymour Forest Monastery.
Upcoming Retreats and Events
Rains Retreat 2023
1st August to 30th October
Monks
Luang Por Tiradhammo
Ajahn Khemavaro
Bhante Siriratano
Ajahn Chaiyaporn
Venerable Bhuripannyo
Venerable Caranadhammo
Venerable Sammavaca-TBC
Lay people
Annie
Megan
Bryce
Araliya
Lotus
Kathina Ceremony
Sunday 5th November
Activities include: Shared Meal, Auspicious Chanting, and Dhamma Talk 10 – 3 pm.
Wisdom of Stillness
4-Day New Year Retreat with Ajahn Khemavaro
Friday 29th December to Monday 1st Jan 2024
Activities
• Around 40 attended the 4-day Easter Retreat with Ajahn Khemavaro in April.
• The monks went on alms round in Cabramatta on 21st January, 19th April, and 10th June.
Current Building Projects
Laundry Shed finished in December 2022
New Workshop—To be by December 2023
New Dome Kuti installed July 2023
New Solar Batteries for Granny Flat
Increased power capacity for kitchen with additional solar batteries
Electricity upgrade for Yurt
Potential Building Projects for 2024
Roof repair and lighting reconnection for Dorm
Sink and toilet for Kyle House
Decking and roof renovation for Cynthia House
Decking, window, and roof restoration for Family House
Decking for Old Kitchen
Bathroom upgrade for Yurt
Recent Dhamma Talks on YouTube
Stages of Awakening
by Ajahn Dtun
Sutta Study #12 Nibbana: Liberation from Suffering and Samsara
by Ajahn Tiradhammo
The Way to Ultimate Happiness
by Ajahn Tiradhammo
Unique Moments
by Ajahn Jayasaro
Wisdom of Silence Retreat: Introduction Talk
by Ajahn Khemavaro
True Wisdom
by Ajahn Khemavaro
Intoxications of Youth and Good Health
The Buddha taught that the unenlightened relationship to the agreeable aspects of life such as youth and good health, may be best characterized as a kind of intoxication. We take the good things in life for granted, forget their impermanent nature, and as a result, act, speak and think in ways that cause suffering to ourselves and others.
For this reason the Buddha taught us to constantly remind ourselves:
1. I am subject to old age. I am not exempt from old age.
2. I am subject to illness. I am not exempt from illness.
3. I am subject to death. I am not exempt from death.
4. Sooner or later, I will be separated from everyone and everything dear and agreeable to me.
5. I am the owner of my kamma, heir to my kamma; I have kamma as my origin, kamma as my relative, kamma as my support. I will be the heir of whatever kamma that I do, good or bad.
The strength of resistance we feel towards these reflections is a measure of the strength of the intoxication. It is dwelling on the truth that makes us sober and clear minded.
Excerpt from: From Heart and Hand Vol II by Ajahn Jayasaro
For more teachings of Ajahn Jayasaro, please click here: Teachings by Jayasaro