Friday Evening Dhamma Talk and Q&A with Ajahn Jayasāro (Online & In-Person with SIMS)

Friday, May 3rd, 6 – 8 pm at University Friends Meeting in the University District, 4001 9th Ave NE. Those unable to attend in-person are also welcome to tune in via Zoom.

Join us for a Dhamma talk followed by questions & answers with Ajahn Jayasāro at University Friends Meeting, on Friday evening, May 3rd, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The event, co-hosted by Seattle Insight Meditation Society and Clear Mountain Monastery represents a growing friendship.

In the spirit of Dhamma, all teachings are offered completely free of charge, though those inspired may give in-person or online to SIMS or Friends of Clear Mountain. For directions and information on what to bring, please visit the event listing on the SIMS website. Those unable to attend in-person are welcome to tune in via Zoom. Welcome! 

Learn More (SIMS Event Listing)

Biographies

Ajahn Jayaāro
Ajahn Jayasāro (Shaun Michael Chiverton) was born on the Isle of Wight, England in 1958. In 1978 he became a disciple of Ajahn Chah, one of Thailand’s most renowned meditation masters. Following his initial five-year monastic training, Ajahn Jayasāro went on an extended solitary retreat and, thereafter, alternated with Ajahn Pasanno between periods of retreat and service to his monastic lineage. From 1997-2002, he served as abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat, the International Forest Monastery.

Since early 2003 Ajahn Jayasāro has been living in a hermitage at the foot of Khao Yai Mountain National Park. The Dhamma teachings and meditation retreats he gives at regular intervals at a nearby retreat center offer inspiration to both lay Buddhists and monastics. Since 2017, Ajahn Jayasāro has invited a select number of monastic disciples to come to live and practice in a handful of solitary huts in the villages surrounding his own hermitage. Every five days, these monastics will join Ajahn Jayasāro at his hermitage for a day of group practice and Dhamma Discussion. Both Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho have had the good fortune of living for year-long stays in these huts.

Ajahn Jayasāro is also a key figure in the movement to integrate Buddhist developmental principles into the Thai education system and serves as the spiritual advisor to Thawsi Elementry School in Bangkok and Panyaprateep High School near his hermitage in Korat. He has written many books on Buddhist themes in both Thai and English, including the landmark biography ‘Stillness Flowing: The Life and Teachings of Ajahn Chah’. To download any of his Dhamma Books, visit: https://www.jayasaro.panyaprateep.org/en/book

Ajahn Kovilo
Ajahn Kovilo is an Ohio-born monk who, having been introduced to meditation through the Goenka tradition, first entered the monastery in 2006. After receiving full ordination from Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California in 2010, Ajahn Kovilo spent the next decade training at monasteries in the Ajahn Chah tradition in America and Thailand. In 2020, after a year practicing at a Pa Auk Sayadaw monastery, Ajahn Kovilo enrolled at the Dharma Realm Buddhist University in Ukiah, California where he is currently studying Pali and Sanskrit among other courses. Until the end of his formal studies, Ajahn Kovilo will be participating in the growing Clear Mountain Monastery community remotely and during Winter and Summer breaks. After finishing his studies, Ajahn Kovilo will join the community in person on a more regular basis.

Ajahn Nisabho
After finishing college in 2012, Ajahn Nisabho left his native Washington to go forth as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. He received full ordination the following spring under Ajahn Anan, a senior disciple of renowned meditation master, Ajahn Chah, and spent the following years training in forest monasteries throughout Thailand, Australia, and the US. While staying with some of the lineage’s most respected teachers, he grew to believe the Thai Forest Tradition’s balance of communal life with solitary forest dwelling, careful adherence to the monastic precepts, and focus on meditation represented a faithful embodiment of the original Buddhist path. Moreover, his time with contemporary masters such as Ajahn Anan, Ajahn Pasanno, and Ajahn Jayasaro, convinced him that such a path could yield great fruit in the heart even amidst the complexities of modern life. He currently resides in Seattle as part of Clear Mountain Monastery’s aspiration.

For news of upcoming retreats and teachings, subscribe to our YouTube channel, Facebook page, Discord Server, or newsletter. If you live in the greater Seattle area, you may join our “Mitta Meetups” Community Calendar and WhatsApp group for locals. Photos of in-person or Zoom attendees may be used in Clear Mountain social posts.