14th July to 10th October

During the Rains Retreat the community at WBD will focus on formal meditation practice, cultivating stillness, compassion, and wisdom. While people are welcome to visit the monastery during the day, we will not be able to accommodate overnight guests.

Emails will be answered between 5-7 days. If it’s urgent please call the office at 0409-389-887 between 11 am and 12 noon. Thank you for your support.

Community List for Rains 20212
Monks
LP Tiradhammo
Ajahn Khemavaro
Venerable Panyannda

Layguests
Megan
Annie
Tommy
Yuliana
Graeme
Serena
Marie

For new talks on YouTube, click below:
WBD Dhamma Talks

Picture Gallery
Vesak 2021

A Road Trip North and … a Monastery is Born
Road Trip Gallery

Robes Offering Ceremony
Sunday 16th October 2022
Activities include: Shared Meal, Auspicious Chanting, and Dhamma Talk
10 – 3 pm. For further enquiries, please email: wbdoffice@gmail.com or call the office at 0409-389-887 between 11 – 12 noon.

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