Ajahn Brahm was born in London in 1951. At age sixteen, after reading books on Buddhism, he began regarding himself as Buddhist, and his interest in Buddhism and meditation flourished while studying theoretical physics at Cambridge University. He was ordained as a monk at age twenty-three and subsequently spent nine years studying and training in the forest meditation tradition under the renowned meditation master Venerable Ajahn Chah. In 1983 he was invited to go to Australia to help establish a forest monastery near Perth. Ajahn Brahm is now the abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery and the spiritual director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia. In 2005 Ajahn Brahm started a project to build a mediation center that provides a suitable environment for laypeople to receive training in meditation. Jhana Grove was inaugurated in April 2009. Since then, a large number of meditation retreats have been held there every year. A highly sought after speaker around the world, Ajahn Brahm attracts thousands to his inventive and insightful talks. He lives in Australia.