About Our Guiding Teacher

Bhante Vimalaramsi has walked a fascinating and, at times, arduous path since starting meditation practice 30 years ago. Beginning in California in 1974, and continuing through Hawaii, San Jose, San Francisco, Thailand, Burma, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Before leaving Asia , he was a teacher for Advanced meditation students in a very large monastery in Kuala Lumpur. Bhante returned to the United States in 1998 to teach meditation to Americans with the intention of one day starting a Meditation Center and Monastery for Monks, Nuns and lay followers to follow the Noble Path. He is presently working to establish such a meditation school and retreat center in the Ozark mountains- known as Jeta's Grove and "Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center"-- in Mid-America near to Ironton, Missouri. Dhamma Sukha means "Teachings of Happiness".

Bhante wrote the book "The Anapanasati Sutta: A Practical Guide to Mindfulness of Breathing and Tranquil Wisdom Meditation (At this time we hope to be able to locate a publisher who will help us to reprint this book in a second Edition, with an additional 30-40 pages of information and to make it available in bookstores to the entire public at large. Thus far it has been available only in the free arena where lay followers continue to pay for the individual printings.)

Our goal is to publish a commercial version which will help raise operating funds for the center. We are hoping the universe provides us with a benefactor for this project. The original text, which was free, is still available online and has been widely circulating in many countries around the world through several printings by various Buddhist publishers and groups. The book is now in four languages that we know of so far. Hundreds of thousands of persons visit the locations of this book online each year. Much networking has gone on as a result of this book spreading of its own accord and now appearing in 4 languages. Indeed, it would seem, that this book has a life of it's own and is growing ahead of the center where an intensive study can be done with the teacher.

You can read more about Bhante's background and his credentials.