Clear Mountain Monastery Project
Dharma talks from monastics at Clear Mountain, an aspiring Buddhist Forest monastery in the greater Seattle area. The Forest Tradition represents a return to the simple way of life taught by the Buddha. Monastics aspire to live as the early disciples did: dwelling in the forest, studying the teachings, and devoting themselves to meditation. To learn more, visit https://www.clearmountain.org.
Episodes
Gratitude Retreat Part 1: https://youtu.be/Bs-ymolbjqs
In this second portion of the daylong gratitude retreat given in June of 2026, Bhante Rahula speaks about the essential practice of cultivating gratitude for the blessings in our life, and the blessings we give to others. Such recollections represent a great support in practice, and our lives, and can be cultivated through practical means. Bring a pen and paper! Special thank...
Gratitude Retreat Part 2: https://youtu.be/RJ1mAYVhJ-Y
In this first talk of the daylong gratitude retreat given in June of 2026, Bhante Rahula speaks about how to use practice to take stock of our moment in life, and use it skillfully to cleanse the mind and heart. To learn more, visit www.bhanterahula.com.
Bio
Bhante Rāhula, born in Mexico, has spent the last 22 years in Asia in various periods, where he has practiced and st...
00:00 Intro & THAI Part-1: On Merit, Meditation, Impermanence, and Karma
15:10 ENGLISH TRANSLATION Part-1
24:25 Question: Expressing Gratitude and Asking About Sitting Together
25:24 Ayya Anandabodhi Gratitude and Luang Por Damrong Sucitto Response
29:43 ENGLISH TRANSLATION Part-2
32:38 Question: Requesting a Monastic Blessing
In this talk, Luang Por Damrong Siribadaddho, one of the most senior disciples of Ajahn Chah, t...
In this session, Ajahn Kovilo will be interviewing Ajahn Nyaniko—abbot of Abhayagiri Monastery in California—about the Thai Forest methods of training the heart as found in the teachings of Luang Por Chah, Luang Por Baen, and in his own experience leading a monastic community of sincere seekers. The interview is organized around the teachings and "korwat" (monastic training protocols) found in the book "The Way Forward"...
00:00 Intro and THAI Part-1: On Taking Precepts
07:13 ENGLISH TRANSLATION Part-1
10:28 THAI Part-2: Main Talk
21:47 ENGLISH TRANSLATION Part-2
In this talk, Luang Por Damrong Sucitto, one of the most senior disciples of Ajahn Chah, speaks about the importance of keeping sīla, or virtue, and of finding the deeper truths of the heart through observing the breath.
Bio
Luang Por Damrong Sucitto (หลวงพ่อดำรงค์ สุจิตโต - พระครูภ...
00:00:00 THAI - Luang Por Jandee on Three Types of Drunkenness
00:15:46 ENGLISH TRANSLATION
00:32:40 Q1 - Practicing Right View as a layperson
00:33:31 THAI - Right View
00:34:36 ENGLISH TRANSLATION
00:36:08 THAI - Luang Por Chah on Right View
00:36:44 ENGLISH TRANSLATION
00:37:48 Q2 - Cultivating good health vs. getting drunk on health
00:39:06 THAI - Good Health
00:41:03 ENGLISH TRANSLATION
00:42:38 Q3 - A surprising te...
In this Q&A session, Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho discuss seclusion of body (kāya-viveka) and seclusion of mind (citta-viveka), how to apply the fourth establishment of mindfulness (mindfulness of dhammas) in meditation, ways of dealing with aversion, skillful means of nonviolent communication, and the benefits of retreat versus stays at monasteries.
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Tune in with fellow practitioners for Clear Mountain’s weekly...
In this talk—given on July 4th, 2026—Ajahn Kovilo speaks about dependence (nissaya, paccaya), interdependence (aññāmaññapaccaya), and independence (anissita) in their various Theravāda Buddhist contexts.
Tune in with fellow practitioners for Clear Mountain’s weekly online and hybrid events!
- Wednesday Evening Teaching & Discussion (6:00 – 7:30 pm PT, YouTube then Zoom)
- Saturday Morning Meditation,...
In this session, Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho speak with Kaira Jewel Lingo, teacher, author, and former nun whose work integrates the traditions of Zen and Vipassana with a focus on social, racial, and environmental justice (http://www.kairajewel.com/).
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:38 Discussion on the dichotomy of softness and directness in teaching
00:02:35 Personal history: Growing up in spiritual and international communit...
In this interview, Ahahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho speak with early Google engineer and author Chade-Meng Tan (https://chademeng.com/). He is also the founder of Buddhism.net (https://buddhism.net/).
00:01:21 Meng's early life and path to Buddhism
00:06:21 Integrating Buddhist inspiration into Google
00:16:15 Scaling transformation and transcendence in society
00:23:15 The accessibility of joy and its training methods
00:32:42...
In this session, Ajahn Kovilo speaks about bringing loving-awareness and creativity to one's practice of the Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection:
1) "I am of the nature to age. I have not gone beyond aging."
2) "I am of the nature to sicken. I have not gone beyond sickness."
3) "I am of the nature to die. I have not gone beyond dying."
4) "All that is mine, beloved and pleasing, will become otherwise, will become separated ...
In this series of five talks given on June 20 for Clear Mountain's fourth annual Almsgiving Ceremony, we hear from 5 monastics:
00:00:00 - Ayya Niyyānika on how practice begins now, rather than when the monastery is finished;
00:02:45 - Ajahn Pandit on the story of Anaruddha, and the relentlessness of worldly life;
00:09:38 Ajahn Cunda on the wisdom of finishing work internally every day;
00:13:43 Bhante Rāhula on the joy of se...
In this session, Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho interview Steve James, meditation teacher & host of the Guru Viking Podcast (https://www.guruviking.com/).
00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:01:32 Formative faith moments and vocation
00:06:18 Life on an English canal boat
00:08:40 The rhythm of travel and interviewing
00:10:59 Interviewing the same guest over time
00:14:20 Most moving and luminous conversations
00:17:21...
In this talk given on June 20 on the occasion of Clear Mountain's fourth annual Almsgiving Ceremony, Ajahn Sudanto—abbot of The Pacific Hermitage in White Salmon, WA—speaks about moving past the initial "romantic phase" of spiritual life into a resilient commitment. Celebrating Clear Mountain Monastery's new land, he warns that longing for flawless conditions is a delusion, reminding us that true practice requires ancho...
In this talk given on June 20 on the occasion of Clear Mountain's fourth annual Almsgiving Ceremony, Ayya Ānandabodhi—abbess of Pārāyana Vihara in Port Townsend, WA—speaks about the joy of spiritual community, the danger of letting an untethered mind wander into modern-day 'hell realms,' and how to anchor ourselves in the present moment through the dual foundations of ethical living (sīla) and somatic awareness of the b...
In this session, Ajahn Cunda—Abhayagiri-ordained senior monk and good friend of Ajahns Kovilo and Nisabho—speaks about cultivation as a garden and a tool kit ... and how to use a shovel and washing machine!
Ajahn Cunda's Bio:
Ajahn Cunda was raised in a warm and loving family in the Northern suburbs of Chicago and moved to California in 1996. His interest in Buddhism began in high school, continued in college, led hi...
In this interview, Ajahn Nisabho speaks with Amanda Knox, who was falsely convicted of murder in 2009, about her journey to find meaning in prison and forgiveness afterwards. The conversation delves into Amanda's practice of meditation, loving-kindness (metta), and advice for those struggling to forgive.
Bio
Amanda Knox is an exoneree, journalist, public speaker, author of the New York Times best-selling memoir, Waiting to Be He...
In this three-way talk, Ajahn Kovilo, Ajahn Nisabho, and Maechee Paññasiri speak about the Three Characteristics/Perceptions (tilakkhaṇa), or perceptions:
00:00:00 Introduction & Ajahn Kovilo on Dukkhatā - Pain/Suffering/Unsatisfactoriness
00:11:58 Maechee Paññāsiri on Anattatā - Not-Self
00:27:51 Ajahn Nisabho on Aniccatā - Impermanence
00:43:14 Questions and Answers
By contemplating these skillfully, one can bring the h...
In this session, Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho interview Paul Harrison, professor of religious studies at Stanford University (https://religiousstudies.stanford.edu/people/paul-harrison).
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:23 Balancing academic scholarship and personal spiritual practice
00:04:09 Exploring the spiritual dimension of studying Buddhist texts
00:05:55 How early Mahayana Buddhism emerged
00:08:56 The timeline and settin...
In this talk, Maechee Paññasiri, visiting from Thailand, speaks about the urgency and profundity of the path of practice, and how the mundane moments of life, such as washing a robe, can catalyze the deepest insights. By purifying our sila (virtue) and relying on spiritual friends, we can see what stains remain in the heart and devote ourselves to their purification. When we understand the truth of mortality, only one task remains:...
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