Our Teachers
Thích Trúc Thông Pháp
My name is Thích Trúc Thông Pháp. In the Vietnamese tradition all monks are called Thầy, a warm familial term meaning teacher. People address me as Thầy, pronounced “Tay”. I am a bhikṣu (fully ordained monk) in a Vietnamese meditation tradition. My teacher is the Most Venerable Thầy Thích Thanh Từ, a meditation master in the Trúc Lâm (Bamboo Forest) school.
I was born in 1952 and I originate from Port Adelaide. I lived in Tasmania for six and a half years between June 2010 and February 2017, returning to my native South Australia on February 8th 2017. I have been living in a small hermitage in the Adelaide Hills with my two dogs, Joey and Lucy, but we will soon move 200 kilometres north to the Southern Flinders Ranges to live with a small community of Anglican religious brothers and sisters.
I have a B Ed (Primary) and have taught at pre-school, junior primary, primary and secondary levels of education. I also have a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences (Counselling) and a Diploma in Psychosynthesis. I was the Buddhist representative chaplain at the University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay campus, for four years prior to which I worked as the Buddhist chaplain at Oasis, the multifaith chaplaincy centre at Flinders University, SA.
In Tasmania I also worked over five years offering Contemplative Care in the Whittle Palliative Care Unit, with Hospice Volunteers of Southern Tasmania and privately through referrals in the community. I spent a year as the project officer of Spiritual Care Australia - Tasmania Branch and I am one of the founders of Buddhist Contemplative Care Tasmania. I tend to refer to Pastoral Care as Contemplative Care because the archetype of the shepherd (“pastor”) has little meaning for Buddhists. Contemplative Care refers to the compassionate, spiritual care that is rooted in our contemplative practice.
I am an Acting Level 2 supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education within SANTACPE and the secretary of that organisation, the resident monk with the Monday Night Meditation Group in the northern suburbs of Adelaide and I help my sister-in-law support my brother who has Vascular Dementia. I grew up within the Christian church having been a novice monk in an Anglican Benedictine community and so I am bilingual, speaking Buddhist and Christian. I have had a forty year commitment to Buddhist - Christian dialogue. I am (slowly) studying Logotherapy and find the person and work of Viktor Frankl inspiring.
I was born in 1952 and I originate from Port Adelaide. I lived in Tasmania for six and a half years between June 2010 and February 2017, returning to my native South Australia on February 8th 2017. I have been living in a small hermitage in the Adelaide Hills with my two dogs, Joey and Lucy, but we will soon move 200 kilometres north to the Southern Flinders Ranges to live with a small community of Anglican religious brothers and sisters.
I have a B Ed (Primary) and have taught at pre-school, junior primary, primary and secondary levels of education. I also have a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences (Counselling) and a Diploma in Psychosynthesis. I was the Buddhist representative chaplain at the University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay campus, for four years prior to which I worked as the Buddhist chaplain at Oasis, the multifaith chaplaincy centre at Flinders University, SA.
In Tasmania I also worked over five years offering Contemplative Care in the Whittle Palliative Care Unit, with Hospice Volunteers of Southern Tasmania and privately through referrals in the community. I spent a year as the project officer of Spiritual Care Australia - Tasmania Branch and I am one of the founders of Buddhist Contemplative Care Tasmania. I tend to refer to Pastoral Care as Contemplative Care because the archetype of the shepherd (“pastor”) has little meaning for Buddhists. Contemplative Care refers to the compassionate, spiritual care that is rooted in our contemplative practice.
I am an Acting Level 2 supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education within SANTACPE and the secretary of that organisation, the resident monk with the Monday Night Meditation Group in the northern suburbs of Adelaide and I help my sister-in-law support my brother who has Vascular Dementia. I grew up within the Christian church having been a novice monk in an Anglican Benedictine community and so I am bilingual, speaking Buddhist and Christian. I have had a forty year commitment to Buddhist - Christian dialogue. I am (slowly) studying Logotherapy and find the person and work of Viktor Frankl inspiring.