Santi Forest Monastery

If you haven’t been to our Monastery before, today is a perfect day to come and join us in our Vesak celebrations- Vesak being the day the Lord Buddha was born , attained enlightenment and passed away.

The Vesak program will commence from 4:30pm with meditation, Jartaka storries and circum ambulation around the Stupa and other activities throughout the night.

Some wonderful news: there’s going to be a bhikkhuni ordination in Perth this Thursday! Myself and Ayya Sudhamma will be going from Santi to participate. This will be the first bhikkhuni ordination at Dhammasara – the previous bhikkhuni ordination was held at Bodhinyana.

It’s all been organized very swiftly, so all we have is the brief announcement from Dhammasara.

The Dhammasara Nuns’ Monastery is delighted to announce that the “First Bhikkhuni Ordination” will take place at Dhammasara on Thursday, 1st March 2012 in the morning at 8am, before dana.

Candidates : Samaneri Pasada from Santi Forest Monastery, NSW and Samaneri Nissara from Nirodharam Meditation Centre, Thailand.

Both presently staying at Dhammasara Nuns’ Monastery.

This is coming about at short notice due to a brief visit of our Pavatini (Preceptor), Venerable Tathaaloka Bhikkhuni Theri, from USA.

Followed by the dana at Dhammasara.

In the late afternoon, the two one sided Bhikkhunis will present themselves to Bhikkhu Sangha at Bodhinyana Monks Monastery, Serpentine for a brief Sangha Kamma (Ceremony) to confirm the ordination (the afternoon time yet to be determined).

Both events are open to our supporters and friends.

With Metta,

Ven. Nirodha & Ven. Hasapanna

To all our monastery friends, we’d like to inform you of the sad passing away of the father of Tam Ngan. Tam Ngan and her husband Gia Hieu have been some of Santi’s best friends over the years, and many of you have met them and know their great kindness and good-heartedness. We thought you’d like to know. Tam Ngan has gone to Vietnam for the funeral.

Our prayers and good wishes are with their family.

Have you always wanted to be able to read the Buddha’s words in
the(ir) original Pali? Do you need a supportive environment to learn?
Are you intimated by learning a new language? Well here is your
opportunity to achieve your goal.

Over 20 Saturdays Bhante Sujato, Pali Scholar and Abbott of Santi
Forest Monastery has generously offered to be our guide and
introduce the basics of Pali to enable us to read Buddhist suttas.

The design of the course is based on learning Pali by reading Buddhist
suttas. From the first class the aim is for you to begin to read and
gradually comprehend suttas in Pali. By matching our motivation (to
read Suttas) with the challenge of learning a new language the aim is
to create an enjoyable and practical experience. Our goal is for each
participant to gain a sense of accomplishment through reading and
understanding Pali Suttas.

Course Details

Due to the very limited numbers we can accommodate (8 to 10) we would
prefer people who can commit to most and ideally all 20 Saturdays. The
classes will run from Saturday February 25th to Saturday 7th July. (While
classes will run on all Saturdays, Bhante Sujato will not attend all
of them due to prior commitments/availability.) Bhante’s role is to answer
questions and guide students – motivated self-learning is required.
Depending on interest, more / continuing courses will be offered in the future.

About the teacher

As well as being a meditator and teacher, Bhante Sujato is a scholar
of early Buddhism. You can view his body of work (books and essays) here or his blog.

Textbook

You will need to purchase the textbook for the course: Pali – Buddha’s
Language: A complete teach yourself course for beginners in 10 simple
lessons by Kurt Schmidt.

For those whose who feel that their knowledge of grammar needs
refreshing, we recommend “Pali Grammar for Students” by Steven
Collins. This is optional and at your own discretion. Both texts are
available from Amazon website.

Where is it?

Australian Buddhist library in Camperdown.

When is it?

Saturday 9 – 10 am.
Dates: Saturday 25th February – Saturday 7th July 2012.

Cost

By Donation.

Bookings

If you wish to attend please email sam[dot]jerga[at]hotmail[dot]com.
For any further queries, please call 0435 723 264

Due to very limited space successful applications will be
on a strictly first come basis

A dialogue between Stephen Batchelor and Bhante Sujato about the practice of Buddhism and its relevance at the dawn of the new millennium. The discussion will be moderated by Tina Ng.

When is it?
Monday 5th of March 2012, 7-9pm

Where is it?
Redfern Town Hall, 73 Pitt Street, Redfern.

How much is it?
$25

All proceeds will be divided between two charities: The Buddhist Library – Project Cambodia & The Bodhicitta Foundation.

For booking and more detailed information visit Sydney Insight Meditation site.