We do apologise for the delay of the Winter issue of the Enlightened Times but the printers have promised that they will be ready by Wednesday 8th July.


Thus, we hope that you will be able to help with the folding & labelling of the Newsletters at Dhammaloka on Wednesday 8th July at 6.00pm.
See you beaut volunteers!

Normal Schedule During Rains:

The Armadale Meditation Group will hold its weekly Tuesday meditation & talk session at the Community Health, Armadale Hospital from 7.00pm - 8.30pm.

A range of lay speakers are on the programmes during the Rains.
The first speaker is Pauline Shield, known as the "Metta Queen", who spoke during the Rains at Nollamara last year.

She will do another session on 18th August too.
Contact Christiena Bluett - (08) 93907137 for more info.

The Rains Retreat or Vassa is a quiet time when the monks & nuns spend less time doing duties and more formal meditation.
The official start to Vassa is 8th July and ends on 4th October.

The entry to the Rains Ceremony at:
Bodhinyana Monastery is on Sunday 5th July 09

Visitors are welcome to wish the monks well for their retreat at this ceremony and Dana.
Please arrive at the monastery by 9.30 am.

The End of Rains or Kathina Ceremony will be on 11th October 09.
Please check BSWA website for more details closer to the dates.

Friday nights activities continue at Dhammaloka during the Rains with visiting teachers from other Buddhist traditions & organisations.
Details will be regularly updated on the website.

7.00pm - 7.20pm Chanting
7.30pm - 8.00pm Guided Sitting Meditation
8.00pm - 9.00pm Dhamma Talk by Ajahn Brahm

Ajahn Brahm will give the second last Dhamma Talk before he goes into Rains Retreat from 11th July 09 for almost 3 months.
He will give the final Dhamma Talk next Friday 10th July.

Please be on time for a prompt start at 7.30pm for meditation.

If you are new, look out for people wearing colourful sashes ... they are there to welcome you & answer any questions & show you around so you feel relaxed & know what to do & where to go.

Ven. Sujato, Abbot of Santi Forest Monastery, will be one of the panellists on The Multi-faith Panel organised by :

MITRA BUDDHIST CONFERENCE 09
Date : Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th July
Venue: Great Hall of University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Time : 9.00am - 5.00pm (both days)

Visit conference.mitra.org.au to see full programme & other details.

Bookings for Full Memberships of BSWA (or equivalent - see below *) for the November 9 Day Retreat, to be held from 13th - 22nd November at Jhana Grove Retreat Centre, will open on:

FRIDAY 21ST AUGUST - 12 WEEKS BEFOREHAND

Note that if you are not a Full Member of BSWA & wish to become one beforehand, any new application will need to be endorsed by Ajahn Brahm or Ajahn Vayama and received by 11 July 09, in order to be approved in time by the BSWA Committee.

Please check : http://www.bswa.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=658 for more information.

(*Equivalent Status is also given to the Buddhist Fellowship Singapore, Buddhist Gem Fellowship K.L., Mahindarama Pali School Penang, Trengganu Buddhist Association.)

Bookings for all other applicants will open on Friday 28th August - 11 weeks beforehand.

Why a Bhikkhuni Seminar? At BSWA? By Ajahn Vayama

"At Dhammasara we are currently 10 precept nuns, which means we are of the same status in the sangha as a novice monk. For official & formal transactions of the sangha, a novice monk or nun is not considered to be a full member of the sangha. When we started Dhammasara in 1998 it wasn't possible for nuns of the theravada tradition to take ordination beyond the status of novice. Since that time modern scholarship & a change in attitudes around gender issues has led to a successful movement to make higher ordination possible for nuns in the theravadan tradition. A higher ordained nun is called a bhikkhuni & has the equivalent status in the sangha to a bhikkhu - a full member of the sangha. A bhikkhuni keeps 311 rules - 304 rules relating to personal conduct & the remaining 7 rules relating to ways of settling disputes in the sangha.

At Dhammasara we have always kept a level of sila similar to that of a bhikkhuni but not as a result of formal ordination. Now we are interested in formalising our position within the sangha & this seminar is an opportunity for us to inform you of our aspirations & to answer any specific questions you may have about this.

We can explain to you why this is important to us personally as 10 precept nuns, and hopefully to you as members of the lay community. Ajahn Sujato will speak about it from the legalistic vinaya perspective, from the view of modern scholarship, and from the global perspective.

We hope this seminar gives you the opportunity to be well informed & to feel positive about being part of a process which we hope will establish bhikkhuni ordination in the Theravada tradition for women in Australia.

Through the quality of your generous ongoing material & spiritual support we are able to approach bhikkhuni ordination confident that we can successfully uphold the standard of sila that goes with it. Higher ordination would allow us to be full members of the sangha for the purpose of official & formal sangha transactions within the sangha of bhikkhunis, and in relation to the bhikkhus - the monks - and would empower us to be able to live according to the rules & traditions that were laid down specifically for women by Lord Buddha 2,600 years ago. We view the opportunity to take higher ordination as a very precious & positive move for both ourselves & for the whole of the Theravadan Buddhist community world-wide. But in order to evolve in this direction we need to know you as the lay community are happy to support this move."

By Ajahn Vayama

Membership of BSWA has reached 1,033 across 19 countries.
This tops the 1,000 mark for the first time.

Thank you to everyone who has joined or renewed - your membership helps spread the Dharma worldwide.

It is easy to join & renew online at:
http://www.dhammaloka.org.au/zencart/index.php?main.page=index&cPath=68

FAQsabout the types of memberships are answered at:
http://www.bswa.org/modules/xoopsfaq/index.php?cat_id=7

Bhikkhuni Ordination for Nuns in the Theravada Tradition Seminar

Ajahn Sujato, the Abbot of Santi Monastery, NSW, will be in Perth on 19th & 20th June 2009 for a seminar and information session on Bhikkuni ordination for nuns in the Theravada tradition.

Friday 19th June 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm

Ajahn Sujato will be at Dhammaloka hall to give the Friday night talk on the topic: "General Talk on the Bhikkhuni Ordination."

Saturday 20th June 2pm - 5pm

Ajahn Sujato will conduct the seminar. Ajahn Vayama and the nuns from Dhammasara Monastery will be present.

2pm - 3pm Dhammaloka Hall
General Introduction about Bhikkhuni Ordination

3pm - 4pm Dhammaloka Reception
Tea Break and Informal discussion at Reception area for the Seminar. (Please note that the normal Saturday Meditation class is held in Dhammaloka hall during this time by Ajahn Dhiravamso.)

4.15pm - 5pm Dhammaloka Hall
Bhikkhuni seminar continues culminating with 'Questions & Answers'
after the normal Meditation class has finished.


Ajahn Sujato (Anthony Best) is an Australian Buddhist Monk. In 1994 he left his music career to take higher ordination in Thailand in the forest lineage of Ajahn Chah. As well as living for several years in forest monasteries & remote hermitages in Thailand, he spent 3 yrs. in Bodhinyana Monastery as secretary to Ajahn Brahm and over a year in a cave in Malaysia.

He has combined his love of meditation with study of the Buddha's Teachings, and in 2001 published his first book, "A Swift Pair of Messengers", a compilation of Sutta passages on the theme of tranquillity & insight.

JHANA GROVE RETREAT CENTRE - FINAL BILL

Ajahn Brahm has received the final bill for Jhana Grove Retreat Centre from the contractor & discovered that we are still short of $60,000.

Thus, if you are ready for the Tax-man with your 2008/2009 Tax Assessment, why not help out with this "Final Bill" before the Financial Year End???

Any amount is welcome ... but you have only 19 days left to the 30th June 09 Financial Year end!!! ... to donate to this urgent BUT worthy cause!!!
But donations will be most welcome even after that date to pay for this bill.

Many thanks for your generosity.
With mega metta to all.