Events and News
Upcoming Events
2025 Monastic Visit Schedule
These events will be offered online using Zoom meetings, or you can meet with us at the Carrot Common, 348 Danforth Avenue, Room 212 in Toronto. Please click here for more information about participating in our sessions: Join us on...
Read More| Date | Sunday Meeting | Day of Mindfulness | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 7 | Ayya Anuruddha | 10am – 11am | |
| Feb 11 | Jim Bedard | 10am – 12pm | |
| Mar 31 | Ayya Ahimsa | 10am – 11am | |
| Apr 21 | Randall Baker | 10am – 12pm | |
| May 5 | Ayya Medhanandi | 10am – 11am | |
| Jun 9 | Ajahn Kusalo | 10am – 12pm | |
| Jul 7 | Ayya Nimmala | 10 am – 12pm | |
| Aug 11 | Tan Sirimedho | 10am – 11am | |
| Aug 25 | Tan Amarasiri | 10am – 11am | |
| Sep 29 | Ayya Anuruddha | 10am – 11am | |
| Oct 20 | Ajahn Sucitto | TBA | |
| Nov 8 – 9 |
Ayya Medhanandi & Ayya Nimmala |
The Friends (Quaker) House |
|
| Nov 10 | Ayya Medhanandi & Ayya Nimmala |
10am – 12pm |
|
| Dec 8 | Ajahn Pavaro | TBA |
These events will be offered online using Zoom meetings, or you can meet with us at the Carrot Common, 348 Danforth Avenue, Room 212 in Toronto. Please click on this link for more information about joining us in person or online — “Join us on Sundays – In-Person or Online”.
For a Day of Mindfulness, we’ll be providing a new Zoom link closer to the day of the event. If you’ve signed up for email notifications you’ll receive an email when it’s available; otherwise the appropriate link will be available on the website on the day of the event.
We’re looking forward to having you join us.
For more information about these events, please contact us through the website contact form.
This year’s AGM will be held at our regular meeting place in the Carrot Commons, on Sunday, September 29, at 12:15 pm. We’ll have a short break at the end of the morning’s session to pick up a quick lunch to bring back to the meeting.
You’re welcome to join either in-person or online. If joining online, you can use the same Zoom link as the regular Sunday morning sessions.
The agenda for the meeting and other material can be found online at this link. More items will be added or updated as they become available.
Everyone is invited to join the meeting, but only members are able to vote. For more information about membership with TBC, please click here.
If you have any questions about any of the agenda items, we encourage you to ask them ahead of time to help focus the discussion during the meeting. You can leave your questions or comments for the Board in the Contact Us form at the bottom of the home page, or speak to a Board member directly. The Board members are Marjorie (Chair), Michael (Treasurer), Janice, Lynn, Eleanor, Jody and Tim.
We hope to see you there!
TBC is happy to announce that Tan Amarasiri will be visiting Toronto in late August and will be joining us in-person Sunday morning on August 25. He will be offering a dhamma talk and afterwards there will be an opportunity to share lunch together.
Amarasiri Bhikkhu (formerly Siddarth Deepak) was born and raised in Chennai, India. His education and career led him to live in many parts of the world. Venerable Amarasiri moved to Toronto in 2009 and attended a Vipassana retreat in the Goenka Tradition where he was inspired by the teachings and practice of Theravada Buddhism. On his very first visit to Tisarana, his interaction with Ajahn Viradhammo impacted Ven. Amarasiri to commit to Theravadin Monastic life. He subsequently took Anagarika precepts on the 29th of November 2016, Samanera Precepts on 20th September 2017 and was accepted into the Bhikkhu Sangha on September 16, 2018, with Luang Por Viradhammo as Preceptor.
Tan Amarasiri will be also leading a two day retreat with the Ambedkar Mission Buddhist Community August 23-24. More information is available here.
Teaching at TBC
Date: Sunday, August 25, 2024
Schedule (Please note that we are starting at 9:30, rather than our usual 10:00 start time):
9:30
10:15
11:15
11:30
12:00
12:45
Introduction and Meditation
Dhamma Talk and Q&A
Online session ends
In-person only:
Dana offering
Informal discussion
Program ends
If you are staying for lunch, please bring your own lunch or purchase one from a take-out restaurant nearby.
Venue: Carrot Commons Building, 348 Danforth Avenue, Room 212, Toronto, Ontario. The entrance to the building is on Danforth Avenue, west of the door to the Book City bookstore. The Chester subway is right around the corner to the east on Chester Avenue.
Accessibility: There is a stairlift that goes up the side of the stairs. Unfortunately, there is no elevator. Washrooms are available on the second floor.
Cost: by donation.
Registration: The session will be offered in-person and online. Because there is a limit on the number of people the room can accommodate, we are asking people who would like to attend in-person to register ahead of time. If you are joining online there is no need to register.
Register for Tan Amarasiri’s Visit
Attending Online:
If you are unable to join in-person, we are happy to provide an online option using Zoom. To join our Zoom Meeting, click on this link:
TBC Online Zoom Session
If prompted, use this password: 883290
If you haven’t done so already, you may be prompted to install the Zoom application. When the application is finished installing, you will join an online room where our session takes place. You can then click on join with audio and camera.
Zoom telephone numbers for Canada, if connecting by phone:
(Meeting ID: 741 749 355, Password: 883290)+1 204 272 7920
+1 438 809 7799
+1 587 328 1099
+1 647 374 4685
+1 647 558 0588
+1 778 907 2071
We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
ORGANISED BY AMBEDKAR MISSION BUDDHIST COMMUNITY AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATION BY VEN. AMARASIRI
Friday, August 23 – 7PM to 8:30 PM; Saturday, August 24
328 PASSMORE AVE UNIT # 20
SCARBOROUGH, ONTARIO M1V 5J5
PHONE: Nithya (416)-948-7342 Usha Heer (416)-871-9843 Suriayani (416)-878-1253
Ven. Amarasiri
Amarasiri Bhikkhu was born and raised in Chennai, India. His education and career led him to live in many parts of the world. Ven. Amarasiri moved to Toronto in 2009 and attended a Vipassana retreat in the Goenka Tradition where he was inspired by the teachings and practice of Theravada Buddhism. On his very first visit to Tisarana, his interaction with Luang Por Viradhammo impacted Ven. Amarasiri to commit to the Theravadin Monastic life. He subsequently took Anagarika precepts in November 2016, Samanera Precepts in September 2017 and was accepted into the Bhikkhu
Sangha in September 2018 with Luang Por Viradhammo as Preceptor.
Program Schedule:
Event: Meditation and Full Moon Day Puja
Dates: Friday, August 23 – 7PM to 8:30 PM; Saturday, August 24 – Full Moon Day Puja
Schedule – August 23
Opening chants
Guided Meditation
Dhamma Talk followed by Q&A
Closing chants
Schedule – August 24
8:30 – 9:15 AM – Opening Chants, Observing 5 Precepts, Short Talk
9:15 – 10 AM – Guided Meditation
10 – 10:15 AM – Break
10:15 – 11 AM – Silent Meditation
11 AM – 1 PM – Lunch Break
1 – 1:45 PM – Chanting followed by meditation
1:45 – 2 PM – Break
2 – 3 PM – Dhamma Talk followed by Q&A
3-PM – Closing Chants
7 – 8:30 PM – Full Moon Day Puja
Register for this event: https://forms.gle/X1xtUnE6FTBbtci17
TBC is happy to announce that Ajahn Kusalo will be visiting Toronto in early June and will be joining us in-person Sunday morning on June 9. He will be offering a dhamma talk and afterwards there will be an opportunity to share lunch together.
Ajahn Kusalo was born in 1952 and grew up in Auckland, New Zealand. A chequered pattern of study and work, mostly in the building industry, eventually resulted in qualification as a Quantity Surveyor. However, a general disinterest in worldly gain led to many years of wandering throughout Australasia. Around 1980 he met Ajahn Jagaro in Perth, Australia and joined retreats led by Ajahn Sumedho who visited there for two consecutive years.
Because he was still married, with one son, it was not until 1990 that he was able to join Ajahn Viradhammo in Bodhinyanarama Monastery, Wellington, New Zealand. He took bhikkhu ordination in 1992 and remained there until 1994 when there was an invitation to join Ajahn Sumedho in England. Six years at Amaravati Monastery led to a couple of years in Wales which was a precursor to two years of wandering around Europe. Part of this time was a three-week trip to Canada that eventually resulted in his living there for eight years from 2004 to 2012, the last five of those being spent developing Tisarana Buddhist Monastery near Perth, Ontario
In 2011 a short visit to New Zealand resulted in Ajahn Kusalo moving back to his home monastery in 2012 where he successfully served as abbot until 2024. He is now retired and travelling throughout Asia, England, Ontario and the U.S.A.
Teaching at TBC
Date: Sunday, June 9, 2024
Time: Teaching, 10 am to 11:45, followed by lunch from 12 to 2 pm. If you are staying for lunch, please bring your own lunch or purchase one from a take-out restaurant nearby.
Venue: Carrot Commons Building, 348 Danforth Avenue, Room 212, Toronto, Ontario. The entrance to the building is on Danforth Avenue, west of the door to the Book City bookstore. The Chester subway is right around the corner to the east on Chester Avenue.
Accessibility: There is a stairlift that goes up the side of the stairs. Unfortunately, there is no elevator. Washrooms are available on the second floor.
Cost: by donation.
Registration: The session will be offered in-person and online. Because there is a limit on the number of people the room can accommodate, we are asking people who would like to attend in-person to register ahead of time. If you are joining online there is no need to register.
Attending Online:
If you are unable to join in-person, we are happy to provide an online option using Zoom. To join our Zoom Meeting, click on this link:
TBC Online Zoom Session
If prompted, use this password: 883290
If you haven’t done so already, you may be prompted to install the Zoom application. When the application is finished installing, you will join an online room where our session takes place. You can then click on join with audio and camera.
Zoom telephone numbers for Canada, if connecting by phone:
(Meeting ID: 741 749 355, Password: 883290)+1 204 272 7920
+1 438 809 7799
+1 587 328 1099
+1 647 374 4685
+1 647 558 0588
+1 778 907 2071
We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
Ajahn Kusalo will also be visiting Satipanna and the Toronto Mindfulness Community during his visit to Toronto. More information is available on their websites.
What's New
Announcements, web site updates, and general news of interest to TBC members
TBC is reviewing how we make decisions in our community and is looking for input from current and past members.
Every year people at TBC make decisions about how we want our group to operate. We have Annual General Meetings and periodic Community Meetings. Those involved in running an activity make decisions about it, and some activities have Leads to help manage them. Last year a Steering Committee was established at the AGM to help guide our group between AGM’s.
The purpose of this survey is to get input from TBC participants about how you would like to see decisions made in our community, and to help clarify how the Steering Committee can support this. We will use this information to put together a decision-making model that will be presented for review and approval at a future Community Meeting.
If you’ve attended TBC in the past or are attending now, we would be grateful if you could spend 5 to 10 minutes completing the linked survey below.
Thanks from the TBC Steering Committee!
To complete the survey, click this link:
Video recordings of dhamma talks from recent Days of Mindfulness with Ajahn Viradhammo are now available for viewing on the website:
As well, here are recent recordings of teachings from Monastics at our Sunday sessions
- Ayya Medhanandi – May 24, 2020
- Venerable Khemako – July 26, 2020
Dear Friends,
Due to the on going Covid-19 pandemic, we have decided to temporarily cancel our in-person Sunday meditation meetings until further notice.
We hope that you will join us in our online sessions in the meantime, and continue to meditate on your own. More information about our online sessions is available here.
To support your practice, there are various Dhamma talks on our Resources page.
Metta,
TBC Board
We’ve added two new writings by Buddhist teachers on Climate Change on our Resources page:
Buddha-Nature, Human Nature: A book by Ajahn Sucitto about our environment and the effects that Buddhism has had and can have upon it.
A Task for Mindfulness: Facing Climate Change: A paper by Bhikkhu Anālayo presenting a Buddhist perspective on Climate Change
Ajahn Sucitto’s book is available in other formats on the Forest Sangha website.
The Theravada Buddhist Community has found a new meeting place in the Peregrine Room at the St. George Hotel, located at 280 Bloor St. West in downtown Toronto.
Our first meditation session at our new location will be on Sunday, August 25, 2019, at 10:15 a.m.
The Peregrine Room is located on the main floor. From the main doors, go past the Front Desk and follow the corridor past the restaurant. At the end of the corridor the Peregrine Room is on the left and the washrooms are on the right. The room is wheelchair accessible.
We feel very fortunate to have secured a wonderful new location so close to the St. George Subway station. There also is plenty of parking in the area including on Huron St.
We look forward to seeing you at our new location!
Beginning this Sunday, January 13, our Sunday morning sessions will start at 10:15 and run until 12:00 noon.
Venerable Khemako’s talks recorded during his November, 2018 visit to TBC are now available on our Resources page. These include:
Friday evening talk
Title: The Buddha’s alternative
Venerable Khemako discusses Dukkha in everyday life and how the typical worldy way of responding to it is inherently unsatisfactory. He then explains how the mind gets entangled in the 5 Khandas in its desire for happiness, but that the result is a kind of mirage. There is a description of the Buddha’s alternative to this grasping – a path that allows one to see how the mind creates its own suffering.
Saturday morning
Title: Questions and Answers
Venerable Khemako answers questions on the following topics: how to develop peace through receptivity and curiosity; How to combine the peacefulness of meditation practice with the busyness of life; How to face recurrent fears; Explaining anatta / not self; the usefulness of the 8-fold path to train the mind
Saturday afternoon
Title: How to best use our precious life
Venerable Khemako reflects on the rarity of being born human and being able to practice and reflect on the dhamma. He also discusses how to prioritize practice in everyday life. He then explains the way meditation can help in the development of insight.
Sunday morning
Title: Samsara and politics
Venerable Khemako discusses how desire for becoming leads to forming an identity, which leads to opinions, including political opinions. The metaphor he provides regarding political opinions in the human realm are that they are like sunspots. Sunspots necessarily have both positive and negative ions – you cannot have one without the other. In the same way, polarization of political opinions and movements are by their nature unsettled, incomplete, and dynamic. He also makes the point that our opinions are due to causes and conditions, and therefore not a fixed part of one’s identity. The solution to the mind’s tendency to reify political opinions is to cultivate wise reflection through the 8-fold path.
Our current meeting place, The Centre on Dupont Street, has been sold and we’ve had to look for a new location for our Sunday morning sessions. We’re very fortunate to have found a wonderful new spot close by on Prince Arthur Avenue near Bloor and St. George.
Starting in December, we’ll be meeting at the Xiaolan Health Centre at 88 Prince Arthur Avenue.
Ajahn Viradhammo’s talks recorded during his April, 2018 visit to TBC and SIMT are now available on our Resources page.