About Maggasekha
Maggasekha(Student of the Path) is a Buddhist organization being built by Bhikkhu Jayasara and friends. The main mission of Maggasekha is Dhammaduta(propagation and growth of Dhamma) in the Americas. Long-term plans include the development of a Forest Monastery(s), Retreat Center(s), distribution of free EBT Dhamma teachings, both in print and digital, regular online teachings, as well as Buddhist outreach to the greater culture and population of the various countries of the Americas.
Dhamma Blog
This website is also the Dhamma Blog of Bhante J. On this Blog you will find a variety of dhamma related content from the internet in addition to articles and media created by Bhante J. In an effort to avoid this blog becoming a job rather then a joy, there is no specific posting schedule. It is best to subscribe to the blog via email(found on the right hand side of the website) so you can be contacted anytime Bhante J posts something new.
About Bhikkhu Jayasāra
Bhikkhu Jayasāra, or “Bhante J” as most call him, is an American born Buddhist monastic who ordained under Bhante Gunaratana (Bhante G) at Bhavana Society of West Virginia. He was born in 1978 and raised Catholic. He came to Buddhism in his late 20s and officially took refuge and precepts to become a practicing Buddhist lay disciple on Vesak in 2008. in 2011 He took the Eight Lifetime Precepts with Bhante Gunaratana and was given the name Jayantha.
By this point, the practice had instilled in him a desire to become a monastic. Bhante J began to regularly attend retreats and weekend visits to Bhavana and learned all he could about the monastic life. While searching for the experiences of people on their journey into homelessness, he found little to no print or video documentation that would be of use to him on his own, and so decided to document his journey, both for his benefit and for those who may benefit from this documentation in the future.
It was at this point that the vlog series “A Journey Into Homelessness” on the youtube channel Maggasekha – “Student of the Path” was born. Followed shortly after by Student of the Path Tumblr Blog “jayantha.tumblr.com” . From 2012 to current Bhante J has documented his journey from lay life, to coming to live at Bhavana Society in September of 2014, becoming Anagarika in March of 2015, his Pabbajja(going forth) ordination to become a Sāmaṇera in October of 2015 and most recently his Upasampadā, or higher ordination to Bhikkhu in October of 2016. He is currently past his 5th vassa and is a nomad monk, with no particular permanent place to live.
Bhante shares Dhamma and leads retreats, both online and in person, across America. He specializes in showing how the ancient teachings of the Buddha are practical, pragmatic, and able to be put into practice by people in the modern world, just as he did as a professional person in the world before becoming a monastic to more deeply pursue the path.
“ Bhante J has a special knack for bridging ancient text and western mind, great help for beginner westerners.” – Retreat Evaluation Quote