Ajahn Brahm in Canada, October 17-23, 2014: Toronto, Montreal and Halifax: 2008

Friday, July 11, 2008

e-mails

My deepest gratitude and eternal blessings to you for inviting me to witness Ajahn Brahm, which was a turning point in my life. He is indeed out of this world. I must confess that it was the first time in 12 years, since my father passed away, that I feel that I no longer have to carry around the self placed guilt over this untimely death.

Thank you Piyal.

Take good care of yourself and looking forward to seeing you soon.

Best wishes,
R.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Comments from Face Book

Gregory sent you a message.

--------------------
Re: Ajahn Brahm

Hi again, Piyal.

Thank-you for information. That website was very helpful for many, including myself. The Ajahn Brahm events were perfectly planned and conducted. I think I saw you at the Ontario Science Centre. The gentleman in your profile picture looks like someone I met at the Toronto Mahavihara. Ajahn Brahm has inspired many. I got a copy signed for my mother. What a wonderful series you helped organize. Thank you very much for your effort and dedication. =)

Theruwan Saranai. =)Sherosha Raj (University of Toronto) wrote

at 11:36pm on June 28th, 2008

A HUGE Thank you to the organizers who inviting Ajahn Brahm to Toronto. I met him for the first time and it has been an honour to meet such a friendly and wise Dhamma teacher who has inspired me more than any other to meditate.
May he attain Nibbana ASAP!

Arijit Das (Montreal, QC) wrote
at 9:56pm on June 28th, 2008

I have attended both of his talk and Teacher Brahm was simply amazing. I Wished I could have stayed longer and attend all of his talks during the visit, unfortunately, I had to get back to Montreal. Ajahn Brahm was great, my wish of hearing him in person just came true, its so much different from listening from youtube or podcast. Brahm's talk, thoughts and wisdom had touched every audience's heart. Piyal , other organizers and volunteers did an amazing job, I personally and sincerely thank them for having Ajahn Brahm in Toronto.

Kevin McGinley wrote
at 10:36pm on June 27th, 2008

So far the Toronto trip has been wonderful. Last night Ajahn gave a great teaching at the Science Centre on the Secret to Happiness. He followed up tonight with a talk on the Power of the Mind. His enthusiam and energy is inspiring. We are so lucky to have him visit Toronto.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

More Pictures from 2008 visit to Toronto....

Monday, June 30, 2008

Ajahn Brahm in Toronto Pictures

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What people had to say..

I loved the retreat. I had a mind altering experience that Sat...

Indy a very big THANK YOU to you and Piyal for giving us the opportunity to learn meditation from such great monk. Everything you both put together was just perfect. Blessings to you both and the kids. Love and regards -j

Hi Piyal
I must congratulate you for last weekend meditation course. You have done a great job. I wouldn' t hesitate to join again next time when Ajahn Brahms returns..

thanks so much there was some 'magic' that

happened to me that Saturday. His words carried

the message...

Dear Piyal ,Indi and the Organizing committee

May you all reap great benefit from this beautiful Bhuddha Dhamma

Always

Metta

Hi Piyal and Indi

Congratulations on the successful organization of the meditation with Ajahn Brahm. I personally had a good experience.

If you are able to arrange monthly meditation sessions I would attend, if I am in Burlington. I now attend meditation sessions on 3 Sundays a month at the temple

Thanks again

Hello Dr Piyal Walpola and Indi Thank you so much for organizing such a big event and giving me a great opportunity to participate. The event was very well planned, you have worked so hard. I really learned alot about meditation and hoping to join the future events too. As I am from Pickering area I would like to know whether you have any events around here.

Thanks again,

May the Triple Gem Bless you both .

Dear Piyal and Indi

Did not want to email you earlier as I presumed you would be inundated with mail after the retreat. Thank you both very much for a wonderful day. It was really a great blessing to see and hear Ajahn Brahm again. Hats off to you for organizing everything so well. It was great to see how the meal time was handled with no chaos in spite of a full house!

I registered for the meditation group but I am going to be away in Sri Lanka and from there on a two week pilgrimage to India. Will be back in Toronto only at the end of December. So I will miss the meditation in November and December. Will that be ok?

Wish you both good health and good fortune to continue with your meritorious deeds.

See you in the New Year

With Metta

Dear Indi and Piyal,

It was great experience for both of us doing Meditation and listening to Dhamma in a in manner easy to adapt to for practitioners from this wonderful monk Ajahn Brahm . Thank you very much for giving both of us this opportunity. I

I am sure most of the Dhamma Community will be ever so grateful to both of you for providing all of us this opportunity.

Much merit to you and your family. We will happy to participate in your monthly sittings.

With metta,

N and S

Dear Piyal and Indi,

Thank you very much for the meditation retreat on Saturday. The event was a success and the food was very nice too.

May the Triple Gem Bless you and your family.

Thank you so much for organizing this and giving us the opportunity for this medidation retreat.
You two has gone out of the way and done so much.
Oba dedanata Godak pin.

With meththa
Navina

Thank you and really appreciate your effort in making it a successful event. My blessings to you & your family!

I personally learnt valuable lessons from Ajahn Brahm . Thanks again for the organizing committee as well.

Dear Doctor and Indi,

I am sure you are having a very successful trip with the venerable thero.

Just wanted to say pin sidu wewa dahasak warayak for giving me the opportunity to attend the various programmes organised by you and above all for inviting us to partake in the dhane for the monk. It was indeed a rare opportunity and am ever grateful for that.

Once again thank you and much merit to both of you and the family. You gave many people the gift of the dhamma and that alone is such a meritorious deed.

Hi Piyal and Indira.

Thank you very much for the organizing of wonderful event.

Sriyani

Dear Piyal,

I just want to personally thank you very much for organizing this wonderful weekend with Ajahn Brahm. I was very impressed with the event and am grateful with the efforts that you all put in to make this event memorable. Attending his retreat and two of his other talks made my trip from Boston totally worthwhile with a lot more of memories and Ajahn's teaching to be treasured. I apologize for not coming to introduce myself to you in person as I would like to respect your privacy and noble silence. I look forward to attending more of the events such as this in the future.

Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Ariya

Hi Indi and Piyal,

Just wanted to thank both of you for giving us the opportunity to meet Ajan Braham once again. We are blessed to have him in Toronto. The knowledge and the guidance which he gave is priceless and I am trying once again to meditate for a longer period of time according to the method he showed us yesterday. Please let him know my humble gratitude. Also are all the talks available on his website? Please let me know so that I can tell my interested clients the information.

Thank you both once again for bringing down Ajahn Braham to Canada.

May both of you attain the supreme of nirvana.

With Metta,
Puri

Thank you so much for arrnaging this most wonderful day. It was life altering for me. I am most interested in attending the monthly discussions.

Dear Dr. Walpola and Mrs. Walpola,

This is to thank you and your family for your great efforts to give people this wonderful opportunity of meeting Ajahn Brahm. It was a beautiful experience that cannot be described in mere words. Your kindness is much appreciated.

Thank you again.

May the Noble Triple Gem be with you and your family always!

Best regards,

Madhu

Thank you piyal, it was an amazing talk. the students who attended

(about 50) were soooo impressed. hope he comes back soon-

Tony Toneatto, Ph.D.

I had a great time, life changing experience. And I'm

also looking forward to once Sunday/month group

session, Please keep me posted on that one.

I am happy too.

Thank you so much,

Dear Indi and Piyal,

Thank-you for organizing the retreat .

May you attain Nibbana.

With Metta,

Dear Indi and Piyal,

I am sure most of the Dhamma Community will be ever so grateful to both of you for providing all of us this opportunity.

Much merit to you and your family. We will happy to participate in your monthly sittings.

With metta,

Hi Piyal

I am writing this to express our profound gratitude to you and Indi for sponsoring and organizing Ajan Brahm;s retreat in Mississauga. It was meticulously organized. You and Indi must have spent lot of money on food and other snacks for over 300 people who came for the retreat.. It was amazing one family donating so much for this event. Thank you very much for all your efforts in providing us this opportunity. Ajan Brahm’s discourse, discussion and the evening lecture was greatly admired by all.

It was a great experience. You both deserve our sincere appreciation for being instrumental in bringing Ajan Brahm to Toronto.

We also appreciate your idea to meet once a month at the temple to listen to one Video presentation of Ajan Brahm and to discuss it. Please let us know the dates.

I wanted to thank you personally at the retreat. But you were busy and I decided that it is not the correct time and place to disturb you, even for few minutes.

Lucky (Your class mate at Ananda) and my wife Anoma join me expressing their gratitude to you and Indi for the opportunity given.

Thank you, Piyal Keep up you good Karma building!

With Metta,

Dear Piyal and Indi,

Thank you very much for the meditation retreat on Saturday. The event was a success and the food was very nice too.

May the Triple Gem Bless you and your family.

Please kindly keep me in your distribution, blog or email list.

I am interested in participating. Thank you

I would like to join the Ajahn Brahm group in Toronto. I have followed his teachings on the net for a year, and was present at his one day meditation retreat Saturday in Mississauga. Could you please let me know the location time, and readings of next meeting.

Dear Piyal and Indie,

This is a very inadequate way to show gratitude for the wonderful gift of dhamma you both arranged together with our temple for the rest of us. You did a wonderful job and I am so grateful that I was lucky to be able to play a very small part in it. That was a special privilege.

Everything was so well organized and it was a mighty task to orchestrate. One of the main plusses is that you made use of the West End Temple which is our dhamma home for those of us who are here in Mississauga. It was wonderful to spend a day bathed in the Buddha dhamma. As usual Ajahn Brahms is unique in the way he explains the teachings.

May both of you continue quickly on the path unhindered and reach whatever spiritual goals you have set for yourselves. I look forward to the monthly meetings that are to be held at the Mississauga temple in the near future.

With gratitude,

Thanks for your help.

Piyal,

Thank you so much for your hard work and being an atlas bearing the burden of the entire event.

Even though you had a team but as we say "Yojaks Tatra Durlabha", - an organizer is very difficult to find - and you did very well.

Namo Buddhay,

This was my first visit to Toronto Maha Vihara and felt truly blessed by the exceptional talk delivered by Ajahn Brahm.

Also thanks to Dr. Piyal Walpova, who graciously accepted my request and provided me an opportunity to join the Dhamma Forum.

Information on Voluntary Donations

Donations

Some of you have asked about offering Pirikara (gifts) to Ajahn Brahm as a way of paying respect and gratitude to him. However as you know Ajahn Brahm will not accept or handle money and other gifts.

A large number of participants have already been asking how and where to donate.

Ven. K. Dhammawasa, the Abbot of the temple has said that the Halton Peel Buddhist Society will accept voluntary donations. A donation box will be placed inside the temple and you can ask a volunteer for the location. You can make a cash donation (please write the name and address on an envelop available in the temple) or write a cheque to “Halton Peel Buddhist Society.” For the cheques written and cash donations with contact information you will receive a tax receipt from the temple in due course. Ven. Dhammawasa will send donations to Buddhist society of Western Australia to the monks expenses account and for the use of Jahna Grove Meditation Retreat Center.

Public Talks in Toronto, by Ajahn Brahm

October 17^th: Why practice self-compassion? A public talk at University of Toronto, Room 1050, Earth Sciences Centre, 5 Bancroft Ave, 7-8pm (This talk is sponsored by Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies).

October 18^th: “What is right livelihood?,” A public talk at Halton Peel Buddhist Society, Mississauga, 3133 Cawthra Road, Mississauga, ON. L5A 2X4 Canada, 6-7pm

October 19^th: Brahma-vihara: “Loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy and equanimity,” A public talk, Toronto Mahavihara,4698 Kingston Rd

Scarborough, ON. M1E 2P9, 9-10am

Please note that no registration is necessary for all the public talks. All are welcome. No tickets or passes. It is all free of charge. Seating is on first come, first serve basis. Please try to come early as possible.

Ajahn Brahm in Toronto, October 18, 2014: One day Meditataion Retreat, Preliminary Program

(Registration is now full)

08:00 - 09:00 A.M: Sign in

09:00 - 09:45 A.M: Instructions on meditation

09:45 - 10:00 A.M: Questions on meditation

10:00 - 11:00 A.M: Sitting meditation

11.00 - 12:00 P.M: Lunch

12:00 - 1:00 P.M: Rest

01:00 - 2:00: Walking Meditation/Interviews (need to sign in)

02:00 - 3:00 P.M: Group Sitting Meditation

03:00 - 03:30 P.M: Rest/Tea Break

03:30 - 04:30 P.M: Group Sitting Meditation

04:30 - 05:00 P.M: Rest/Walking Meditation

05:00 - 06:00 P.M: Interviews (need to sign in)

06:00 - 07:00 P.M: Public Talk: "What is right livelihood?

(Please note that no registration is necessary for the public talk)

07:00 - 07:30 P.M: Q&A

07:30 – 08:00 P.M. Book signing

08.00 – 09.00 P.M. Book signing

Place: 3133 Cawthra Road, Mississauga, ON, L5A 2X4 Canada info@westendbuddhist.com (905) 891-8412 (905) 566-9741 http://www.westendbuddhist.org/

2012 Toronto visit comments...

It was quite a success, we had close to 300 people and at least 60 of my students were there, many of them shared with me how impressed they were with the talk. Thanks for arranging it.

Tony Toneatto, PhD., CPsych.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Director, Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health Minor Program
New College, University of Toronto

I thoroughly enjoyed the November 8th talk.

Ajahn Brahm is a gift, no doubt about it.

He really is theMonk with Spunk!

Thank you Piyal and Indie for organizing such a

wonderful event. :-)

Linda Cousins

Dear Piyal,

We would like to express our appreciation to you and all of the volunteer who had helped to make the retreat a successful.

We had benefited so much from the retreat. Van could not attend but she had made herself a mini retreat at home and now could listen to all the talk you recorded.

Again thank you very much, may all the merit you have acquired will lead you to the true happiness.

With much metta

Dung & Van

Dear Piyal and Indi,
It is no secret that all who attended the retreat thanked both of you and also gave their blessings. It would not be fitting if we did not. Thus my wife and I wish to take this opportunity to say MUCH MERIT TO YOU for getting down this wonderful teacher. Once I completed the retreat I felt though a huge crane lifted me out of the mud which I was in. I learnt very much about the present moment silent keeping aside the steps of Ana Pana sathi. I believe the beginning is there.
I always was dreaming of getting him down for a good meditation session and as he said he laid the foundation. Above all the pleasant smile of his shows how happy he is.
Finally, much merit to both of you for that wonderful meditation session that you organised. I am sure the merits are huge and cannot be quantified.
Thank you very much for taking that photo and sending it to me.
With metta,
N and R
SABBA DANAM DHAMMA DANAM JINATHI

Dear Piyal,
First of all let me take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the hard work you put into organizing this retreat, amidst your hectic life, fulfilling duties as a doctor and a householder.
I have been meditating for many years on and off trying many methods. There have been good times and bad times.
On many occasions I am so anxious to get up from the lotus position due to pain and discomfort in my body.
When I sat with Ajahn Brahm on the 6th of November and when he taught us to be kind and compassionate to ourselves first for the first time in my life I experienced the beautiful breath and wanted to be with my breath, not even wanting to get up for lunch.
Since Ajahn left I have been practicing what I learnt and is enjoying my journey with the beautiful breath, happily, calmly and compassionately.
My immense gratitude to Ajahn Brahm from the bottom of my heart for visiting us in Toronto and to you Piyal for taking the time and trouble to organize this retreat making sure you find a place for everyone, without disappointing anybody. May you have the strength to walk the path towards Nirvana in this very life for all the immense good karma you accumulated by organizing this retreat where so many benefitted.
May the blessings of the Noble Triple Gem always be with you and your family

...

Dear Organizing Committe

I am greatly appreciative of the professionalism of the organizing committee and thank you all very much for the email notifications in this regard. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend to the meditation retreat because I became ill and didn’t want to disturb the stillness all other devotees or participants.

However I attended and enjoyed to his talk at Mahavihara in Scarborough. This was my second opportunity to listen to him thanks to Dr. Walpola. He was very practical, jovial and adorable person.

Thank you very much

Anand Kumar

Dear Piyal, Indie & team,

Its with much gratitude that I write this e-mail to thank you for organizing the retreat with Ajahn Brahm. It was such a blessing to have a Ajahn over here in Toronto and to have his guidance.

May the good kamma that you and your team accumulated by organizing this event help you in your own search of Truth !

Metta

Indi and Piyal

my deepest gratitude for

all the planning and hard work for the 3 day meditation

retreat in

Toronto.

I travelled from New York City

to attend. It was the experience

of a lifetime.

I learned so much about life and have many new tools to use in my meditation practice. The temple in Mississauga is beautiful and everyone there is so kind.

I wish that I lived closer so I could visit more often. Thank you to everyone who helped in organizing

this life

changing retreat.

Amanda

1:29pm Nov 12

Indi and Piyal,

you are amazing Sangha builders. (We say this in Thich Nhat Hanh's community - we sometimes use Sangha to

refer to the whole family of

monastics and laypeople,

because we are building

together- we can only build

together!) Really wonderful

and when it is so well done, it becomes

infectious and we just want to

help you and participate

"Mindfulness, bliss and beyond in three days" - A meditation retreat, November 6-8, 2012

Toronto - Buddhist monk Ajahn Brahm will be in Toronto in November, 2012. There will be a three day meditation retreat in Mississauga and a public talk in Toronto. The retreat will be held at the new West end Buddhist Cultural center from Novemver 6th- 8th, 2012. The Public talk will be held at Toronto Mahavihara on November the 8th. The details about the program will be posted here soon. Registration for mediation retreat is required. We will post a link for registration in this blog as soon as possible. All are welcome to attend the talks and no registration is necessary. Please stay tuned.

The final program

6th November 2012

08:00 -09:00 A.M: Sign in

09.00 - 09.45 A.M: Instructions on meditation

09.45 - 10.00 A.M: Questions on meditation

10.00 - 11.00 A.M: Group Sitting meditation

11.00 - 12.00 P.M: Lunch

12:00 - 02:00 P.M: Rest/Walking Meditation

02:00 - 3:00 P.M: Group Sitting Meditation

03:00 - 03:30 P.M: Rest/Tea Break

03:30 - 04:30 P.M: Group Sitting Meditation

04:30-05:00 P.M: Rest/ Tea Break

05.00 - 06.00 P.M: Interviews

06.00 - 07.00 P.M: Public Talk: "Samatha and Vipassana meditation practices: Are these two different methods or two aspects of the same technique?"

7th November 2012

09.00 - 09.45 A.M: Instructions on meditation

09.45 - 10.00 A.M: Questions on meditation

10.00 - 11.00 A.M: Group Sitting meditation

11.00 - 12.00 P.M: Lunch

12:00 - 02:00 P.M: Rest/Walking Meditation

02:00 - 3:00 P.M: Group Sitting Meditation

03:00 - 03:30 P.M: Rest/Tea Break

03:30 - 04:30 P.M: Group Sitting Meditation

07.00 - 08.00 P.M: PublicTalk: "Buddhism and Science"

At the University of Toronto, William Doo Auditorium, 45 Willcocks St., Toronto, M5S 5C7. Organized by New College, University of Toronto: Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health Program. This talk is sponsored by Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies.

8th November 2012

09.00 - 09.45 A.M: Instructions on meditation

09.45 - 10.00 A.M: Questions on meditation

10.00 - 11.00 A.M: Group Sitting meditation

11.00 - 12.00 P.M: Lunch

12:00 - 02:00 P.M: Rest/Walking Meditation

02:00 - 3:00 P.M: Group Sitting Meditation

03:00 - 03:30 P.M: Rest/Tea Break

03:30 - 04:15 P.M: Group Sitting Meditation

04:15 - 04:30 P.M: Closing

07.00 - 08.00 P.M: Public talk: "The Right View: What is it and how can we get there?"

At theToronto Mahavihara, 4698 Kingston RoadScarborough, Ontario M1E 2P9, Canada

Please note: Ajahn Brahm will be participating in most sessions. However we will allow him to rest as much as he needs to catch up with the jet lag (12hour time difference) as he is coming to Toronto directly from Western Australia, via USA. We also have to consider that he will have to give a public talk each evening after the retreat and he is leaving on the 9th morning to Las Vegas for another retreat.

Renowned Buddhist Monk Ajahn Brahm reveals 2,500 year old “Secret” to happiness

Toronto - Buddhist Monk Ajahn Brahm will bring his humour and insight to Toronto, June 26th, 2008 and discuss a not so well kept “secret” of Buddhists.

“I believe there is a longing by people living in this fast-paced world today to find peace and happiness,” says Ajahn Brahm. “As a result, we are seeing a rise in people searching for a greater meaning to life.

Buddhists know the “secret” to happiness is no secret at all. It is an idea that has been around for over 2,500 years. Happiness lies from within and how you internalize and view the world with all of its chaos and uncertainties is the true ‘secret’ to happiness.”

Ajahn Brahm is the author of two books on Buddhism. The first book was “Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties.” This book became an instant hit among the readers in North America, which was introduced during his last visit to Canada, three years ago. His latest book is “Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator's Handbook.” Well known Buddhist author Glenn Wallis says that “readers seeking a sure guide to ‘bliss better than sex’ will find it in this wonderful book.” Ajahn Brahm will be introducing this new book to North American readers in June.

Ajahn Brahm, born in working-class London in 1951, won a scholarship to study Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University, where he obtained a Masters Degree. He became interested in Buddhism in his teen years, and after obtaining his degree and pursuing teaching, he decided to go to Thailand and deepen his commitment.

Ajahn Brahm was ordained at age 23. He uses his humorous story telling and teaching experience to educate people about Buddhist teachings.

“The idea that you can achieve peace from within, despite the constant deluge of negative thought we are surrounded by today is central to Buddhist philosophy of tolerance and harmony, “says Ajahn Brahm.

Ajahn Brahm will be the guest speaker at Ontario Science Centre in Toronto on June 26th, 2008 at 7pm.

Ajahn Brahm in Canada, October 17-23, 2014: Toronto, Montreal and Halifax

Ajahn Brahm In Canada, October 2014

Friday, July 11, 2008

e-mails

Monday, July 7, 2008

Comments from Face Book

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

More Pictures from 2008 visit to Toronto....

Monday, June 30, 2008

Ajahn Brahm in Toronto Pictures

What people had to say..

Information on Voluntary Donations

Public Talks in Toronto

Women and Gender Equality in Theravada Buddhism

CONVERSATIONS ON CONSCIOUSNESS

Public Talks in Toronto, by Ajahn Brahm

Registration for the one day meditataion retreat is now closed

Ajahn Brahm's Meditation Group in Toronto

Hotels around the one day meditation retreat center

Ajahn Brahm in Toronto, October 18, 2014: One day Meditataion Retreat, Preliminary Program

The Toronto Program

New Flash:Ajahn Brahm's 2014 Canadian Visit

A Program Update...

A news update...

2012 Toronto visit comments...

Ajahn Brahm

"Mindfulness, bliss and beyond in three days" - A meditation retreat, November 6-8, 2012

The final program

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