Watch a recording of the event:

The Buddha described Satipaṭṭhāna, the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, as the “direct path to realization.” The teaching proposes four timeless frameworks—of the body, feelings, mind, and dhamma-categories—that can lead beings to true freedom of heart.

On May 18, 2025, the BGR community joined together in Dharma learning and practice focusing on the first establishment of mindfulness—the body. Led by Thai Forest monastics and BGR Sangha Council members Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho, this beautiful event offered practitioners both theory and practical guidance in how to use the body as a framework for cultivating clarity of mind and concentration.

We are deeply grateful to these teachers, for sharing their wisdom and insights with our BGR community, and to all of you who joined us in this instructive and illuminating event.

Teachers

Ajahn Kovilo
Ajahn Kovilo is an Ohio-born monk who was introduced to meditation through the Goenka tradition of insight meditation. He first entered the monastery in 2006. After receiving full ordination from Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro at Abhayagiri Monastery in California in 2010, he spent the next decade training at monasteries in the Ajahn Chah tradition in America and Thailand. In 2020, after a year practicing at a Pa Auk Sayadaw monastery, Ajahn Kovilo enrolled at the Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU) to study Pali and to better understand Mahāyāna practices. He graduated from DRBU in 2024 and has now joined the Clear Mountain community in person.

Ajahn Nisabho
After finishing college in 2012, Ajahn Nisabho left his native Washington State to go forth as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. He received full ordination the following spring under Ajahn Anan, a senior disciple of renowned meditation master, Ajahn Chah, and spent the following years training in forest monasteries around the world with contemporary masters such as Ajahn Anan, Ajahn Pasanno, and Ajahn Jayasaro. Over these years, he came to believe the tradition represented a faithful embodiment of the original Buddhist path able to yield great fruit even amidst the complexities of modern life. In the summer of 2021, he returned to Seattle to plant the first seeds of Clear Mountain Monastery.