Ven Lama Choedak Rinpoche
Lama Choedak Rinpoche is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Sakya Losal Choe Dzong (The Tibetan Buddhist Society of Canberra) and many affiliated Centres around Australia. Rinpoche also has a retreat Centre and a growing number of monastic disciples. Lama is the heart son of the highly respected Head of the Tsarpa Lineage - His Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche and has completed numerous years of retreat under his Eminence’s guidance including a 3 ½ year solitary meditation retreat sponsored by His Holiness the Dalai Lama; under the Guidance of His Eminence Chogya Trichen Rinpoche.
His Buddhist training was conducted under the guidance of the most eminent Tibetan masters, including H.E. Chogye Trichen Rinpoche and H.H. the Dalai Lama. He has a postgraduate degree from ANU in Buddhist Texts. He has lived and taught in the West for 18 years and is a very popular international speaker on peace and conscious living. He was given the title “Rinpoche” by His Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche in recognition of his work in the spread of Buddhadharma.In addition to translating key works from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Lama Choedak has established teaching programs for Buddhist centres in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, and is widely appreciated for his direct and clear presentation of Tibetan Buddhism.
Ven Lama Choedak Rinpoche will speak on his experiences presenting Buddhist teachings to Australian audiences.
Alison Ribush
Alison Rubish was born and educated in England. She began studying Buddhism and meditation in 1970, and has visited Buddhist centres and Tibetan communities world wide. She was Director of Tara Institute for six years. She runs Mandala books, distributing Buddhist materials throughout Australia, and is Series Editor for Lothian Books' Buddhist List.and has been on the Board of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition Australia (FPMTA).
Dr Nicholas Ribush (Alison’s brother-in- law)
Was a founding member and long time board member of FPMT and was ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for twelve years. Together with Lama Thubten Yeshe he co-founded Wisdom Publications (Boston USA). In 1996 with Lama Zopa Rinpoche he co-founded the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, which archives, publishes and disseminates works free of charge, and exists solely on private donations.
Alison Ribush will speak on publishing related initiatives in Australia, including Mandala Books and Lothian Books. Dr Nicholas Ribush will speak on the archiving and digitalisation of Buddhist teachings, and the free Books produced by the Lama yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Brian Ashen (Buddhist Council of Victoria)
Brian Ashen is chairperson of the Buddhist Council of Victoria (a state information, resource and representative body) and has represented the Buddhist community on numerous government and community panels, including the National Police Ethnic Advisory Bureau, and the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion. Brian was a recipient of the Commonwealth Centenary Medal in 2003 in recognition of his contribution to the Buddhist community in Victoria.
Brian Ashen will speak on the participation of Buddhist organisations in community and public life in Victoria.
Dr Patricia Sherwood
Prof. Patricia Sherwood was born in Australia in 1955 and educated at the University of Western Australia. She has been a Buddhist for 16 years and is deeply committed to promoting the practices of socially engaged Buddhism in transforming Australian society.
She has initiated a number of community development projects including the founding of a progressive community school, projects for the unemployed, free counseling services for the poor, environmental action projects to protect the forests, campaigns for animal rights and the release of animals facing death, support services for Buddhist refugees in Australia, and the provision of social justice education scholarships for the training of Australian Aboriginal and overseas students from needy communities as counselor.
Dr Sherwood has lectured in Australian Universities for over 25 years in the fields of psychology, social science, cultural studies, religious studies and human services where she has received several awards for excellence in teaching. She is also a trained primary school teacher and voluntarily contributes to the teaching of Buddhism in primary schools in the cultural studies programs.
Dr Sherwood is also a counselor and psychotherapist and has conducted a clinical practice for over 12 years. She is currently developing accredited diplomas in Buddhist psychology and psychotherapy with leading Buddhist mental health practitioners in Australia. She has published widely in the field of the human services, mental health and Buddhism. Her recent book The Buddha is in the Street, socially engaged Buddhism.
Patricia Sherwood will speak on the fusion between western psychology and Buddhist Psychology.
Michael Wells (Buddhist Council of Victoria)
Michael Wells is a long time member and office holder of the Buddhist Society of Victoria and a member of the Buddhist Council of Victoria. Michael has had many years of professional experience working with prisoners, homeless persons and persons with disability. More recently he has applied some of these skills to the provision of chaplaincy services to prisoners.
Michael Wells will speak on the delivery of a Buddhist chaplaincy in the Victorian prison system.
Ven Thich Phuoc Tan
Venerable Thich Phuoc Tan has been Abbot of Quang Mingh Temple in Braybrook, Melbourne since 1997. He came to Australia in 1981 as a refugee. Late in that same year he took Seminary Precepts with the Most Venerable Thich Phuoc Hue at his temple in Sydney. In 1990 he was sent to France where he received his full ordination Bikkshu precepts in Lyon. Venerable Thich Phuoc Tan guides the Quang Minh Temple in the provision of a range of community services, including care for the elderly, a Buddhist Sunday School, training for unemployed, and cultural activities.
Ven Thich Phuoc Tan will speak on Buddhism and youth in the Vietnamese community in Melbourne.
Ven Ajahn Sujato
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 and remote hermitages in Thailand, he spent three years in Bodhinyana Monastery (Perth) as secretary of Ajahn Brahmavamso, 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 and insight. He now resides at Citta Bhavana Hermitage, Bundanoon.
Ven Ajahn Sujato will speak on the basis for a Buddhist contribution to peace in "Just a Little Peace".
Jill Jameson (Buddhist Peace Network)
Jill Jameson is a community development facilitator in conflict resolution and international development. She is a guiding member of the Buddhist Peace Network in Melbourne, active in rallying protest against government policy on terrorism and Iraq. Jill is committed to grassroots activism on a number of fronts, most recently support for asylum seekers and refugees, as well as anti-war activism. Her work draws strength from all Buddhist meditation and wisdom traditions.
Jill Jameson will speak on the relevance of Buddhism for social and political activism in Australia.
Prof. Padmasiri De Silva
Padmasiri de Silva was formerly Professor and Head of the Philosophy and Psychology Department, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and is currently a Research Fellow at Monash University. He also held visiting positions at the National University of Singapore, University of Pittsburgh, Visiting ISLE Professor in USA and University of Waikato. Prof. de Silva has a deep interest in Buddhist ethics and has written on Buddhism and peace, Buddhism and society, Buddhism and moral dilemmas, human rights and environmental ethics, and Buddhism and the work ethic. His publications include Environmental Philosophy and Ethics in Buddhism, Buddhist and Freudian Psychology, An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology and Twin Peaks: Compassion and Insight.
Prof Padmasiri De Silva will speak on "Buddhist ethics in a time of terror and crisis: exploring a culture of non-violence".
Dr. Ranjith Hettiarachi (Buddhist Foundation of Australia)
Chairman of the Buddhist Foundation (Victoria) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Dr. Hettiarachi has many years experience of community leadership and support for Buddhist teachers and practitioners. He has a particular interest in promoting the scientific understanding of the Buddha's teachings and the benefits of Buddhist practice for health and well-being. He has been universally congratulated for his role as Convenor for the hugely successful "Australasian Buddhist Convention Conference" in Melbourne in 2002. It was the first event of its kind in Australia, bringing together many contemporary teachers to address the theme of "Pathway to a Peaceful Mind," and was attended by a full house over the entire two days.
Dr Ranjith Hettiarachi will speak on the benefits of Buddhist practice in creating a healthy community.
Petrea King
Petrea King N.D., D.R.M., D.B.M., Dip Cl. Hyp., I.Y.T.A. Petrea King is a well-known author, counsellor, respected speaker and group facilitator. She has practiced many forms of meditation since the age of seventeen and is qualified as a naturopath, herbalist, hypnotherapist, yoga and meditation teacher. In 1983 Petrea was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia and was not expected to live. Meditation and the integration of past traumatic experiences became paramount in her recovery, much of which was spent in a monastery near Assissi in Italy. Since then, Petrea has counselled individually or through residential programs more than 50,000 people living with life-challenging illnesses, grief, loss, trauma and tragedy. Petrea sees crisis as a catalyst for spiritual growth and understanding and as an opportunity for healing and peace.
Petrea established the Quest for Life Foundation in 1990 and the Petrea King Quest for Life Centre at Bundanoon in 1998.It is in this thirty-bed guesthouse, set in nine tranquil acres of gardens, that the residential programs, counselling and other services are conducted. It is in this venue that Petrea and a team of health professionals now conduct residential programs. She also lectures and conducts programs in other states of Australia.More than 50,000 people have passed through her programs or sought counselling with her.Petrea has received the Advance Australia Award and the Centenary Medal For her contribution to the community.
Petrea has written four books,Quest for Life ~ A handbook for people with life-threatening illness, Spirited Women ~ Journeys with breast cancer and Sometimes Hearts Have to Break ~ 25 inspirational stories of healing and peace Your Life Matters is due for release in September 2004. Petrea has also made many relaxation and meditation CD's and tapes, published many articles and is a regular guest on Tony Delroy's NightLife.
Petrea King will speak on the importance to health of awareness through meditation in "Your Life Matters".
Ven. Chi Kwang Sunim (The Seon (Zen) Centre)
Chikwang-Sunim is the Abbess of The Seon (Zen) Centre; A Traditionally trained Bhikshuni living in South Korean Temples for 19 years. A founding member Wat Buddha Dharma, The Buddhist Library in Sydney, The Lotus Lantern International Buddhist Centre in Seoul and Chonghye SA Seon Centre now located in Kinglake. Chikwang-Sunim teaches Seon both in Australia and abroad and is very active in interfaith dialogue. Along with her development of the new Seon Centre and overseas commitments, she is involved in the educating, fund raising and growth of the first Buddhist Palliative Care Centre in South Korea.
Ven Chi
Kwang Sunim will speak on the understanding of aging, sickness and death as
treasures from a Buddhist perspective and the sharing of such treasures when
giving help to those in need.
Ven Pannyavaro
Venerable Pannyavaro is an Australian Buddhist monk who has devoted his life to the meditational aspects of the Buddha's teachings. During his meditation training he practiced under several meditation masters in Sri Lanka and Burma including Venerable Sayadaw U Janaka of Chanmyay Meditation Centre, Rangoon, who is the foremost disciple of the renowned Burmese meditation master, the late Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw.
Pannyavaro was involved in the beginnings of a number of the very early Buddhist
communities in Australia. He later received full ordination at Wat Borvornivet
in Bangkok under Venerable PhrNyanasamvarva, the Sangha Raja of Thailand.
For the past twenty-five years, he has from time to time studied and practiced
meditation in most of the major Theravada Buddhist countries, including long
periods of intensive practise of Satipatthana-Vipassana meditation at the Mahasi
Sayadaw centres in Burma.
As a Western meditation teacher, Ven. Pannyavaro naturally empathizes with the concerns and needs of meditators in their own culture. His long training and life experience combine to bring a practical in-depth approach to the teaching of insight (vipassana)meditation in contemporary life.
Pannyavaro is the resident teacher with the Buddha Dharma Education Association
at its Centre at Surry Hills in Sydney and gives retreats from time to time
at the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre, Medlow Bath.
If you would like to develop your meditation practice further with this teacher,
please free to contact Buddha Dharma Education at the contact information below.
In this way you'll received information on meditation classes, workshops and
longer retreats.
Ven Pannyavaro will speak on Buddhist Information, Education and Resources on the Internet.
Judith Macdonald and Allys Andrews (Buddhist Council of Victoria)
Judith Macdonald has been a student of Buddhism for many years and a long-term member of the Buddhist Society of Victoria. Currently she is convening the Buddhist Education in Victorian Schools Project of the Buddhist Council of Victoria Inc. She was a teacher in the secondary and TAFE sectors for over 25 years and a policy advisor and project manager on equal educational opportunities in the Victorian Education Department for 7 years.
Mother of three children, Allys Andrews has been studying Buddhism for 25 years and has been connected with Tara Institute, a Tibetan Buddhist Centre in the Gelugpa tradition since 1980. Allys teaches introduction to Buddhist Meditation at Tara Institute, leads weekend courses and teaches secondary students of religious studies in independent, private and Catholic schools around Melbourne. In 2002, Allys coordinated the “Dialogue with the Dalai Lama” forum for 9000 Victorian secondary students. Most recently she has co-organized the Melbourne leg of the Australian tour of Tibetan nuns from Kathmandu.
Judith Macdonald and Allys Andrews will speak on Buddhism and Education: Caring for Our Children and the Future.
Luu Tuong Quang (SBS Australia)
In 1975 Quang Luu (AO, BA, LLB(Saigon), LLB(ANU)) risked his life to flee Vietnam in a bamboo fishing basket only 1.5 metres wide. He survived and joined his family in Australia. In Vietnam he had served as a diplomat and in the highest levels of government. He started his new life in Australia by returning to law studies, and became the first Vietnamese-born barrister admitted to the Bar. He has been the Head of SBS radio since 1989, and was honoured as an officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 2002 for service to multicultural broadcasting and to the community. He was named `Australian Achiever of the Year 2002' by the Prime Minister, the Hon John Howard.
Luu Tuong Quang will speak on the place of Buddhism and communications in multicultural Australia.
Ven Ajahn Brahmavamso
Ajahn Brahmavamso (known to all as Ajahn Brahm) was born in London in 1951. He came from a working - class background, but won a scholarship to Cambridge, graduating with a Masters in Theoretical Physics.He became disillusioned because he felt that these great scientists knew everything about the universe out there, but nothing about their own minds. Having been interested in Buddhism since age 17, he wished to deepen his commitment, and decided to go to Thailand because the Thai monks smiled more.
At the age of 23 he received ordination and trained for several years with the renowned meditation master Ajahn Chah. In 1983, he was invited to Perth by the Buddhist Society of Western Australia. He is now the abbot of Bodhinyana Buddhist Monastery, which is recognized internationally as one of the world’s premier monastic institutions. He is also one of the patrons of Bodhikusuma Buddhist and Meditation Centre.
Ajahn Brahm uses his unique combination of scholarship, meditation, and a wicked
sense of humour to convey Buddhism to wide and varied audience
Ven Ajahn Brahmavamso will speak on The Buddhist Society of Western Australia - a case study.
Ven Ajahn Vayama (Dhammasara Nuns' Monastery)
Sangha in the Ajahn Vayama is an Australian Ten-Precept nun. She was ordained in 1985 in Sri Lanka where she spent the first ten years of her monastic life. Before her return to Australia she spent a year with the community of Ven. Ajahn Sumedho in England. In 1998 the Buddhist Society of WA invited her to take up the position of abbot of Dhammasara Nuns Monastery in Western Australia, which is to be is to be the first monastery in Australia for female Theravadin forest tradition. She presently has on, anagarika under her training and facilities are being built to accommodate more women interested in opting for the life of a nun.
Ven Sister Ajahn Vayama will speak on the importance of maintaining a women's perspective in planting the foundations of Australian Buddhism in "You Really Were Listening to Me!"
Ven Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche (Kagyu Evam Buddhist Institute)
President and Spiritual Director of KEBI, Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche has undertaken rigorous scholastic and meditative training under various Tibetan Kagyu and Nyingma masters m India. He has been a resident of Australia since 1980, establishing Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute in 1982 in order to present the teachings and practices of the Kagyu tradition. Traleg Rinpoche has also undertaken extensive post-graduate studies in Western philosophy, psychology and world religions. and has invited a wide range of international scholars to teach at KEBI's annual Buddhist Summer School. Rinpoche also travels and teaches extensively in the USA, SE Asia and Europe conducting lectures and courses. His most recent books are Essence of Buddhism and Luminous Bliss: Self Realisation through Meditation.
Ven Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche will speak on maintaining authenticity as Buddhism is adapted to the Australian context.
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