A Fulfilled Intention

I had a wish when I came back to the West as a new bhikkhu: to meet the world, and to make friends with a truly global scope of my life as a monk. 

That wish – in the end, almost an itching need – to connect with a monastic community and saṅgha beyond borders, and beyond particular lineages and nationalities, pushed me all the way to Australia and a completely new continent. Finally, after five years in different small vihāras, beginning in Myanmar, then Norway, Germany, and now Australia, the world now feels genuinely open and accessible, perhaps even more understandable!

Slowly, from the reluctant and somewhat daunting decision to leave my little secure and stable monastic world behind in Karen State, Myanmar, to the first nervous and sometimes even embarrassing trials in Norway and Germany, I managed to adapt to the more nuanced and thoroughly disciplined life as a monk in the Thai Forest and Ajahn Chah tradition. I’m far from fully skilled or learned. That, if anything, I’ve come to understand and even become somewhat intrigued by (assuring me and keeping me in the robes, and as a curious explorer seeking more truth and wisdom). But at least I’ve got enough experience and support now, to dare to really try it out, to keep finding my way through the labyrinth and see where it wants to lead me, with no thoughts of turning back…

Dhammagiri Forest Hermitage, the starting point here in Australia, where I began this more inclusive and truly global journey of discovery, had quite a bit in store for me in all its simplicity. With supporters and visitors from nearly twenty different countries during my eight months there, I couldn’t have gotten a better introduction to the thriving Buddha-Dhamma in the New World. Here I made some new friendships that helped me realize new facets of what it means to be a monk, a Dhamma follower, and to take refuge in the Triple Gem. I discovered a 150-year-old Bodhi tree growing in a botanical garden… and new roots of Dhamma that will soon take me to both New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Fortunately, as this outer exploration gathers its own momentum and familiarity, an inner world is also finding greater steadiness. It still feels like a rediscovery though, of a somewhat familiar terrain from my three years of seclusion during the time of covid, lockdowns, military coup, and civil war in Myanmar. I'm still searching for a truly suitable place to continue this heartfelt retreat and intensive meditation practice for an extended period of time, a place where I may be able to continue deeper and feel safe enough to do so, now with some of the missing pieces from that period. Those missing pieces were mainly, I guess, the difficulty of connecting with people in a shared language, and the absence of more close and inspiring monk companions (at least one!) with whom I could really share this time and practice in seclusion.

It all seems to be leading up to something: a sincerity and urgency that I once felt but somehow lost when I returned to the West and had to open myself to the world again – though this opening has brought with it splendid and wondrous results, and many possibilities for future inner travel, perhaps even for a whole life, dare I say, in the end. 

With mettā,
Jayadhamma Bhikkhu

2nd December, 2025
Bodhisaddha Forest Monastery,
Wilton, New South Wales, Australia