Finnbarr Kennedy

Finnbarr Kennedy lived for twenty-one years as a monk of the Thai Forest lineage of Theravada Buddhism, training under the meditation master Luangpu Sangwan Khemako of Wat Thung Samakkhi Tham; his monastic name was Bhikkhu Dhammasaro. After leaving monastic life he settled as a hermit among the vineyards of western Hungary, not far from Lake Balaton, where he looks after the small Brightheart Meditation Center. Retreatants lodge in guesthouses nearby, or pitch a tent on the land, and come together to sit in a yurt meditation hall, with walks through the vines and the neighbouring woods as part of the day.

His teaching rests on mindfulness and metta, the practice of loving-kindness, which he offers as a way to clear and open the heart. He leads live guided sittings on YouTube three times a day on Central European Time and shares recorded meditations and readings of his verse on Insight Timer. He is the author of The Timeless Heart, a book of forty-four illustrated contemplative poems. All of his guidance is given on a donation basis, and he lives on what students choose to offer.