TEDxOkanaganCollege - Ajahn Sona -Green Monasticism

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TEDxOkanaganCollege - Ajahn Sona -Green Monasticism

Ajahn Sona discusses the interaction with global monastic practices with sustainability matters. The Birken Forest monastery is highlighted.

Born in Canada, Ven. Sona's background as a layperson is in classical guitar performance. His encounter with Buddhist wisdom as a young man initiated a spiritual journey that led him to become a lay hermit for several years. He subsequently ordained as a Theravada monk under Ven.

Gunaratana, at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia, where his first years of training took place. Ven. Sona further trained for over three years at monasteries following Ajahn Chah in northeast Thailand, especially Wat Pah Nanachat. Upon his return to Canada in 1994 he helped found Birken Forest Monastery near Pemberton, BC. As its spiritual guide, Ajahn ("teacher") Sona has led the monastery through each stage of its growth. He established Birken (or, Sitavana, 'cool forest') in its final location south of Kamloops BC in 2001.

For more than forty years inspired by the pioneering dialogues of the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the Zen master Daisetz T. Suzuki Buddhist and Christian monastics have been engaged in interfaith colloquies about the similarities and differences between these two great spiritual traditions.

In 2008, practitioners from Catholicism and various Buddhist traditions met at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, the home of Thomas Merton. The theme was the Buddhist and Catholic response to the environmental crisis. In addition to covering a wide range of Catholic thought, the essays come from both the Theravadan and Mahayana traditions and cover both North American and international monastic orders.

Ajahn Sona attended the Gethsemani 3 Monastic conference in May 2008. The topic of the conference was "Monasticism and the Environment." A book entitled "Green Monasticism" was recently published featuring environmentally-themed essays by the some of the attendees of the conference, including Ajahn Sona.