Ayya Suvira

Today is funeral Friday, and the topic is "merit dedication."

The picture is at Uppalavannarama (our local bhikkhuni residence).

The note on the right, which is actually the back of a shopping receipt, has the details of a lady who passed away in Vietnam on December 25 last year. It's pretty common for Buddhists to just hand the monk or nun a note with the name of the people they want merit dedication for & this is what happened here.

Theravada Buddhists believe that if the deceased rejoice with good deeds done on their behalf, they can improve their station. Not every deceased person may need this but there are still a lot of other deceased out there, so good to do it anyway, right?

I didn't have any other context so we will be doing Vietnamese style Theravada chanting for her for 49 days.

May she attain the supreme bliss of nibbana.

Was happy to be interviewed by University of Adelaide law lecturer and activist Dr Joanna Howe about what the Buddha taught on abortion.

Every abortion kills an innocent baby. All Australians- religious or atheist - should be united against this. #bhuddism

Please join us at Phuoc Hue Temple in Sydney for this auspicious event in the presence of the Lord Buddha's relics. Contact organisers for details.

Day 5 of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach. 🕎
My heart was literally aching with pain on the 333 bus going to Bondi today.

The survivors of December 14 who I spoke to at Bondi today were genuinely happy to see visitors and displays of community support. The knot in my heart lifted after having conversations with those present and seeing the sea of tributes. I was truly glad I went and would encourage all Sydneysiders to do the same.

I just wanted to say how much of an absolute pleasure it has been to see Chabad rabbis and volunteers...just being Chabad! As a non-Jew I'm used to their regular campaigns around Hanukkah time but the unwavering joy and enthusiasm hits different in light of the circumstances!

Cabramatta mourns victims of December 14 Bondi terror attack. 💔

😔 🇦🇺 ❤️

We are all shocked and saddened by an attack targeting the Jewish community on December 14, 2025 at Bondi Beach. Please do take this opportunity to express your love and support for Jewish contacts and friends. This is not the Australia that any of us want.

A statement from the NSW Faith Affairs Council and the Multicultural NSW Advisory Board.

I don't share this sort of content much however there is a really important point here. Jing Lee MLC went to great lengths to elaborate on her Buddhist prolife values in SA parliament, before doing a complete backflip to a radical late term pro-abortion stance.

She is clearly in need of serious spiritual direction that she hasn't received. Now people are noticing that she doesn't actually stand for anything at all. She is promoting things that don't exist, like the existence of a "modern Buddhism" that permits late term abortion. To be very clear this is actually far more radical than what the most radical monks I know are ok with, it is likely outside of Buddhism completely.

Guys, don't be like Jing Lee and say you are for life, but when the penny drops, Buddhism is only a word you use when it is convenient for you. It is really important. Jing Lee has betrayed the word "Buddhist" and our community.

You can't claim to be a Buddhist and believe that life begins at conception AND vote for a bill that allows the needless killing of healthy babies after 23 weeks and up until birth #makeitmakesense

Today is funeral Friday so I wanted to share some content that is very close to my own heart, which is death contemplation in Theravada Buddhism.

Theravada Buddhists believe that contemplating our own death & that of others (maranassati) can have psychological and spiritual benefits such as a greater understanding of impermanence (anicca) & should be done daily or as often as possible.

It may be best to have a supportive environment though if a practitioner is doing this in detail for the first time & probably good to be in a good headspace first.

This is from a CD I picked up today called "Peace Beyond Suffering" by Ajahn Achalo that is one example of how to do this. This is fairly typical for this genre but some of the scenarios here are quite specific! But good to think about.

Please join us on December 13, 2025 to hear Ven. Thich Quang Ba's remarkable story.

With international monastics in Sydney.