Tradition 02 · Tradition Partners
Following the ancient teachings of the Buddha, Theravāda Buddhism emphasises the cultivation of Sīla, Samatha, and Vipassanā — the purification of virtue and mind, and the development of wisdom. Through mindfulness, concentration, and insight, the practitioner gradually quietens the fluctuations of the mind, cultivating deeper insight and wisdom.
Tradition Partner 01 / 03
Myanmar
Tradition & Research
The Pa-Auk Tawya tradition, guided by the Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw, follows the Visuddhimagga, the classical meditation manual that systematizes the Buddha’s teaching into precise, sequential stages, guiding practitioners through the jhāna absorptions using classical objects of concentration before turning attention toward insight. It remains one of the most rigorous of the living Theravāda lineages — placing this tradition among the deepest documented in contemplative science.
The Pa-Auk tradition is one of several Theravāda lineages All Here studies as part of its ongoing meditation research. Teachers from the Pa-Auk tradition travelled to Geneva at All Here’s invitation, where their meditation was recorded by EEG — a rare opening of this famously exacting practice to scientific observation, and an ongoing dialogue exchanging perspectives on practice, well-being, and mind-body connection.
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Tradition Partner 02 / 03
Thailand
Tradition & Research
Where practice is life itself — one of Buddhism’s most demanding contemplative environments, where walking meditation, monastic rhythm, and inner silence structure every hour. Practice is not added to life here; it is life.
The Thai Forest Tradition traces its modern revival to the beginning of the twentieth century, when the monk Ajahn Sao Kantasilo established this kammaṭṭhāna tradition, and his student Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta carried it forward, returning Thai Theravāda Buddhism to its ascetic roots — wandering, forest-dwelling practice governed by strict monastic discipline.
The lineage later reached the West largely through the students of Ajahn Chah, one of Ajahn Mun’s most influential successors.
All Here’s Dr. Chuong Ngo stayed with forest monks, immersing in their daily rhythm — long walking meditation through the rainforest, joining the morning alms round through the village, and taking part in the New Year celebration — while recording EEG data in the field. When the team shared the brainwave patterns and signals, the monks immediately related them to their own inner experience and years of training, moving effortlessly between practice language and scientific language.
Tradition Partner 03 / 03
United Kingdom — Retreat Conducted in Wales
Tradition & Research
The Samatha Trust safeguards a lay tradition of Yogāvacara meditation, more widely known as Theravāda jhāna practice — a lineage largely eclipsed in Thailand itself following a wave of reforms in the 1950s, but carried intact to Britain by the monk-turned-teacher Nai Boonman, who has trained practitioners in London and Cambridge since 1964.
All Here joined a Samatha Trust retreat in rural Wales, led by Dr. Paul Dennison, alongside Nai Boonman himself, then 93 years old, recording EEG data through the advanced jhāna states this lineage is built to cultivate. Early findings showed practitioners entering profound states of absorption quickly, marked by increasing infraslow wave power alongside suppression of alpha activity — building on Dennison's own pioneering research into meditation's neural signatures.
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