Bodhinyana Buddhist Monastery sits about an hour's drive, roughly 70 kilometres south of Perth, in the hills near Serpentine in Western Australia. Its almost 100 acres of forest on the Darling Ranges have been home to Ajahn Brahm and the monastic community around him for more than three decades. A 2016 video published by BSWA Retreats uses a single ordinary day to show what that long residence looks like from the inside: a morning alms round that echoes the Buddha's own era, a cave built by hand for one teacher, a meditation method that begins with the body rather than the mind, and weekly gatherings that carry the teaching far past the tree line. What follows is a close reading of that day, and of the ideas the monastery uses to explain why a quiet life still matters.
Whatdoesamorninglooklikeataforestmonastery?
The video opens on the land itself. Kangaroos have come out into the morning sun to graze and look around, and the narration makes a point of saying they have lived alongside the monks for so long that they have lost their fear. It is a small detail, but it sets the tone. This is a place where the usual wariness between people and wildlife has been replaced by ordinary coexistence, the sort of trust that only comes from decades of quiet, unhurried presence.
The people arrive next. Visitors number around 30 to 40 on a typical day through the year, rising to 100 to 150 at weekends and as many as 2,000 on special days, such as the start of the annual three-month rains retreat and the period's close. The daily food offerings begin to arrive for a shared lunch, and the community's rhythm takes over. The monastery is not a showpiece. It is a working household that happens to be open to strangers.
Whydomonksstillgooutwithbowlsat10:30everymorning?
At around 10:30 each day, the monks walk the alms round to receive a symbolic offering of rice from lay supporters. The video frames this as a daily opportunity to meet and connect through an act of sharing and kindness. Its historical root is precise: 2,500 years ago, monastics in the Buddha's time went from house to house in Indian villages to receive food, and in parts of Asia the custom continues today.
What matters here is the exchange rather than the food. The giver receives a blessing from the monks, and the offerings are then shared among everyone present. Once the meal ends, the monks make themselves available for questions, counselling, or simply an informal chat. In other words, the practice moves in both directions. Lay people give material support, and the monks give time, attention, and guidance in return.
The monastic discipline around food is just as deliberate. The video explains that Buddhist monastics in this tradition take no solid food after noon until dawn the next morning. Once lunch is over, the arms bowls are washed and dried and then set aside until the following day. The afternoon is for a different kind of nourishment.
When his duties for the day are finished, Ajahn Brahm returns to his cave. The video notes that two skilled and dedicated monks built it for him over an entire year. This is where he lives, meditates, and rests, and the video's own explanation of why the dwelling matters is the most revealing line in the piece:
"The simple and quiet dwelling encourages the mind to become simple and quiet as well and to go within to get back in touch with our real home Stillness and peace." (BSWA Retreats, "Bodhinyana Buddhist Monastery – Coming Home to Stillness & Peace," 2016)
The argument is that environment shapes attention. A room built for simplicity makes simplicity easier to find. The same logic runs through the rest of the grounds. The monastery has 21 individual huts, called kutis, scattered through the forest, and most have a covered walking path for walking meditation. The afternoons, evenings, and early mornings are typically given over to solitude, study, and quiet reflection. Community life is not the opposite of retreat here. It is the frame that makes retreat possible.
The most useful part of the video is its plain instruction. It does not begin with an abstract goal. It begins with the body, because the body is where awareness can most easily land. The steps the narration lays out are concrete, and they are worth taking slowly:
Find a quiet place where you feel at ease, safe, and protected.
Let your awareness rest gently on the body. This alone, the video says, brings you into the present moment.
Notice any tension or tight spots. Do not judge them or try to wish them away. Let them be, and send them as much kindness and warmth as you can.
Treat the body with respect, like a good friend. Once you do, it becomes very pleasant to spend time with it.
As the body relaxes, it quietens, and eventually becomes so relaxed that you can hardly feel it at all.
Apply the same approach to the mind. Feel for tightness, meet it with understanding and kindness, and allow it to loosen and fade.
When the breath arises, do not control it. Just enjoy its company.
Two features of this method deserve attention. The first is the refusal to fight. Tension is not an enemy to be cleared out by force. It is something to be met with the same warmth a friend would offer. The second is the sequence. Body comes first, then mind, then breath. The instruction assumes that a mind kept busy with tightness in the chest or shoulders will struggle to settle, and that relaxing the physical field makes the mental one easier to enter. The narration describes meditation as a practice that demands patience and a gently held commitment, but also as a rewarding, refreshing, and freeing experience once the mind settles and becomes still.
The video shows that the forest is not a closed world. On Tuesday evenings, one of the monastics travels to Armadale to teach a local meditation group that meets weekly at the hospital's community centre (around the 8-minute mark of the video). The group has been running for more than 29 years. The format is simple: general advice, meditation instruction, a few jokes, and a shared sitting. The meetings are free, everyone is welcome, and the session ends with time for questions and discussion.
On Wednesday evenings (around 11 minutes in), the dhamma hall at the heart of the monastery becomes a place of teaching. Monastics and resident guests gather to hear a talk or a reading from the Buddhist scriptures called suttas. Every fortnight, the monks recite the monastic rules there, followed by a community meeting. The hall is also used for ordination ceremonies, weddings, and other functions, and anyone can come in simply to sit quietly and meditate.
Weekends carry the teaching further still. On Friday nights, a senior monk or nun of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia gives talks and teaches meditation at Dhammaloka, the society's city centre in North Perth. The video says about 400 people usually turn up to meditate and listen, and many more join by live stream or later through YouTube. That reach is the reason this 2016 film exists at all.
The video closes with a question addressed to the viewer: how much peace, joy, and freedom do you feel inside now, coming to the end of the meditation? The narration's answer is that the cultivation of stillness, kindness, peace, happiness, and humour makes a tremendous difference in people's lives. It also describes the monks as people who slow down, make peace with whatever is arising, and let things stop. The video calls this "the secret of his energy and happiness," a claim that connects the austere schedule of the forest to something more generous and lighter than austerity.
The image the video leaves behind is the one in its title. Stillness, in this framing, is not an absence or a retreat from life. It is a return. As the narration puts it, once the mind settles, the experience "feels like finally arriving and coming home."
Wheretogofromhere
Watch the full video from BSWA Retreats for the footage of the monastery's land, huts, and dhamma hall, which is more affecting than any summary. Then try the body-first method on your own: sit somewhere you feel safe, let your attention rest on the body, meet any tightness with kindness, and let the breath be the breath. If you live near Perth, the video's own schedule points to where you can sit with others, from the Tuesday group in Armadale to the Friday evenings in North Perth. The forest is far away for most people, but the instruction it teaches is not.
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Transcript
[0:16] [Music]
[0:34] bana Buddhist Monastery is located about
[0:36] 1 hour's drive or approximately 70 km
[0:40] south of Perth in the Hills near
[0:43] Serpentine in Western
[0:45] [Music]
[0:48] Australia here we are welcome to our
[0:51] forest
[0:54] Monastery an almost 100 acres Forest
[0:57] property on the darling ranges
[1:04] this is where aan Brown and the other
[1:06] Buddhist monks of our community have
[1:08] been living and practicing for over
[1:11] three
[1:17] decades the presence of practitioners
[1:20] over so many years has given this place
[1:22] its very special vibe
[1:32] the day has just begun the resident
[1:35] monks and lay people are getting ready
[1:37] to receive the day
[1:42] visitors the main area of the monastery
[1:45] consists of the dining and kitchen
[1:47] building with a covered
[1:54] patio the Abbott's Hut and the dumah
[1:57] hole
[2:05] [Music]
[2:08] the kangaroos have also come out to warm
[2:10] themselves in the morning sun to eat
[2:13] some grass and to see what is going
[2:20] on they have been living alongside the
[2:23] peaceful Buddhist renuncian for such a
[2:25] long time now that they have lost their
[2:28] fear
[2:33] the daily food offerings to the
[2:34] community and for a shared lunch are
[2:37] starting to
[2:41] arrive there is usually about 30 to 40
[2:44] visitors all year round about 100 to 150
[2:48] on the weekends and up to 2,000 on the
[2:51] special days of celebrations such as the
[2:54] entry to the annual 3 month range
[2:56] Retreat and to ca day at the end of The
[2:59] Retreat period
[3:00] [Music]
[3:03] at around 10:30 every day the monks go
[3:05] on arms round to receive the symbolic
[3:08] offering of rice from the lay
[3:10] supporters this is a daily opportunity
[3:12] to meet and connect through an act of
[3:14] sharing and
[3:16] kindness in the Buddha's time 2,500
[3:19] years ago the monastics would go from
[3:22] house to house in the Indian villages to
[3:25] receive Food
[3:26] offerings in parts of Asia this custom
[3:29] is still being
[3:43] to after a Blessing by the monks the
[3:46] brought food offerings are shared with
[3:57] everyone when the meal is finished the
[3:59] sen monks make themselves available to
[4:02] answer questions give counseling or just
[4:04] for an informal
[4:08] chat that's very good dad go
[4:13] [Music]
[4:18] swimming once ajan brah does not have
[4:21] any other duties to perform he heads
[4:23] back to his cave two skilled and
[4:26] dedicated monks build it especially for
[4:28] him over an entire
[4:34] year this is where he lives meditates
[4:38] and
[4:42] rests the simple and quiet dwelling
[4:45] encourages the mind to become simple and
[4:47] quiet as well and to go within to get
[4:51] back in touch with our real home
[4:54] Stillness and peace
[5:00] in meditation we let the body and mind
[5:02] arrive in the present moment and by
[5:05] listening to their needs with an open
[5:07] heart and through caring for them we let
[5:10] them get deeply
[5:26] relaxed Buddhist monastics in our
[5:28] tradition do not eat any solid food
[5:31] after Sol noon for the rest of the day
[5:33] and night until dawn the next
[5:39] morning so once the arms bowls are
[5:41] washed and dried after lunch they'll not
[5:44] be used until the next
[5:50] day after the meal the monks walk to
[5:53] their simple Huts called coutis bana
[5:57] Monastery has 21 of them scattered
[5:59] throughout through out the
[6:01] forest most of them have a covered
[6:04] Walking path to practice walking
[6:09] meditation the afternoons and evenings
[6:12] as well as the early mornings at the
[6:14] monastery are usually spent in
[6:16] solitude this time is especially set
[6:19] aside for meditation study and quiet
[6:26] reflection so how do you meditate you
[6:29] might ask
[6:31] find a quiet place where you feel at
[6:33] ease safe and
[6:36] protected allow your awareness to gently
[6:39] rest on your body first of all this will
[6:42] automatically bring you into the present
[6:44] moment feel if there is any tensions or
[6:47] tight spots in it don't judge them or
[6:50] wish them away rather allow them to be
[6:54] relaxing their presence and send them as
[6:57] much kindness and warmth as you can
[7:03] once you treat your body with respect
[7:05] and kindness like a good friend it will
[7:08] become very pleasant to spend time with
[7:11] it when the body relaxes it also
[7:15] quietens down and it eventually becomes
[7:18] so relaxed in the EAS that you can
[7:21] hardly feel it if at
[7:26] all the same approach is then applied to
[7:29] your mental world
[7:31] feel if there is any tension or
[7:32] tightness in your mind and meet it with
[7:35] understanding and kindness gently allow
[7:38] it to loosen and fade
[7:43] away and once the breath arises please
[7:47] don't control it just enjoy its
[7:58] company on Tuesday evenings one of our
[8:01] monastics goes to Armadale to teach the
[8:03] local meditation group they're meeting
[8:06] at the hospital's Community Center once
[8:09] a
[8:10] week after talk with some general advice
[8:13] and meditation
[8:14] instructions and also jokes imagine brah
[8:17] is running the
[8:19] class they meditate together
[8:37] these meetings have been running for
[8:39] over 29 years now everyone is welcome to
[8:43] come along and join in free of charge
[8:46] and there is also some time set aside at
[8:48] the end of each session for questions
[8:51] and
[8:52] discussions when a brah is back at
[8:54] bodana Monastery and get some time off
[8:57] he really knows how to use it wisely
[9:15] he slows
[9:17] [Music]
[9:25] down he makes peace with whatever is
[9:30] [Music]
[9:36] Rising he's kind and gentle with
[9:41] [Music]
[9:44] it he lets girl
[9:47] [Music]
[9:49] renounces and
[9:51] then allows everything to stop
[10:03] this is the secret of his energy and
[10:06] happiness
[10:27] meditation the task of training and
[10:29] taming the Mind requires a lot of
[10:32] practice and patience as well as a
[10:35] gently held commitment and
[10:44] perseverance once it does settle and
[10:47] become still and peaceful though it is a
[10:50] very rewarding refreshing and freeing
[10:56] experience it feels like finally
[10:59] arriving
[11:00] and coming
[11:06] home our dumah hole the heart of the
[11:09] monastery is where the monastic
[11:11] community and the resident guests meet
[11:13] on Wednesday evenings to listen to a d
[11:16] talk or to attend the reading from the
[11:18] Buddhist scriptures called
[11:27] sutas our beus to fully monks recite
[11:31] monastic rules in here every fortnite
[11:34] followed by a community meeting it is
[11:37] also used for ordination ceremonies
[11:40] weddings and other
[11:44] functions and of course to Simply come
[11:48] and sit quietly to
[11:55] meditate on the weekends one of our
[11:58] senior monks or nuns of the the Buddhist
[12:00] Society of Western Australia goes to
[12:02] damal Loa our city center in North Perth
[12:05] to give talks and to teach meditation
[12:08] there is usually about 400 people who
[12:10] turn up on a Friday night to meditate
[12:13] and to listen to the teachings many more
[12:16] are either joining in Via live streaming
[12:18] over the Internet or accessing the
[12:20] teachings on YouTube later on how do you
[12:23] feel
[12:25] now coming
[12:27] close to the end of the
[12:32] meditation just to
[12:34] know how much
[12:37] peace how much
[12:40] joy how much Freedom you feel
[12:47] inside the cultivation of Stillness
[12:51] kindness peace happiness and humor
[12:54] really make a tremendous difference in
[12:56] people's lives they are grateful for the
[12:59] tireless work that a brah and the other
[13:02] monastics of the Buddhist Society of
[13:03] Western Australia selflessly offer to
[13:06] them thank you for listening
BR
Artist
BSWA Retreats 2011-15 & Media
Watch more from BSWA Retreats 2011-15 & Media on YouTube.
The monastery is in the hills near Serpentine in Western Australia, about an hour's drive or roughly 70 kilometres south of Perth. It occupies almost 100 acres of forest on the Darling Ranges. Ajahn Brahm and the monastic community have lived and practised there for over three decades.
Each day at around 10:30, the monks walk to receive a symbolic offering of rice from lay supporters. The practice follows the custom from 2,500 years ago, when monastics went house to house in Indian villages for food. Afterwards the offerings are shared, and the monks make time for questions, counselling, or informal conversation.
Find a quiet, safe place and let your awareness rest on the body, which brings you into the present moment. Notice any tension without judging it, and send it kindness until it loosens. Once the body relaxes, apply the same approach to the mind, and when the breath arises, simply enjoy its company without controlling it.
According to the monastery's 2016 video, Buddhist monastics in this tradition do not eat any solid food after noon until dawn the next day. The arms bowls are washed and dried after lunch and not used again until the following day.
Yes. The video describes a free Tuesday evening meditation group in Armadale that has run for over 29 years, open to everyone. On Wednesday evenings the monastery's dhamma hall hosts talks and scripture readings, and on Friday nights a monk or nun teaches at the society's city centre in North Perth, where about 400 people usually attend.
The video explains that the kangaroos have lived alongside the peaceful monks for such a long time that they have lost their fear. They come out in the morning sun to graze, a sign of the long, quiet coexistence on the grounds.
