Dr. Rob
Founder & Director
A former monk ordained in the Thai Forrest Dhammayut tradition in Thailand in 2018, Dr. Rob as he is now known online, began his spiritual journey in 2014 at a Zen Buddhist Meditation Center in New Mexico at the age of 20 years old. These early years were marked by intensive meditation training and deep immersion into Buddhist teachings. In 2018, he made a significant move to Thailand to ordain as a Bhikkhu at Wat Phra Dara Philom Forrest monastery in Chiang Mai, further deepening his commitment to Buddhism.
Dr. Rob is currently under the guidance of Sayadaw Ashin Ottamathara and serves as a Dharma Teacher, focusing on alleviating others’ suffering through meditation and community. His experiences across various monasteries worldwide as a monk and now a yogi have forged strong connections within the Buddhist community, leading him to create a platform for sharing resources and encouraging others to join this path of tranquility and joy.
Dr. Rob’s commitment to helping others through his unique style of teaching the Dharma has never been stronger in the age of fast-food social media. With an emphasis on teachings highlighting childism, colonialism and speciesism, Dr. Rob will continue to push boundaries by challenging ways of thinking through the Buddhist ethos.
Thabarwa Centre
Our Mission
Sharing, Caring, Helping, Protection and Cooperation by Mindfulness and Right Understanding.
Our Vision
The vision of Thabarwa Centre is to provide opportunities for everyone to do a wide range of good deeds on a regular basis.
Thabarwa Is a Place for Everyone
Thabarwa Centre, headed by Venerable Sayadaw Ashin Ottamathara, is a meditation and dhamma centre cum non-profit humanitarian organization working for a noble cause around the world. It is established with unlimited access for general benefit and is fulfilling the most crucial needs of the society continually, persistently, dedicatedly, one by one.
Our centres open 24 hours a day, seven days a week without recess. It is the sanctuary which is fulfilling the requirements of the multitude and the world (loka) round-the-clock without attachment and craving.
Though Thabarwa functions for common welfare, that is not the main objective. The main objective is propagate the Pariyatti and Patipatti Sasana ... to enable the yogis to enhance their power of right understanding by listening to dhamma teachings, practicing vipassana insight meditation and performing good deeds as much as possible with non-grasping, detachment and mindfulness.
About Sayadaw Ashin Ottamathara
Venerable Sayadaw Ashin Ottamathara is one of the world’s foremost meditation teachers from Myanmar. He was born on the full moon day of October 26, 1969. He attended Yangon University and graduated in 1992 with an honors degree in English. Venerable opened his own small convenience store which grew to have several locations and 200 staff members. Later, however, he encountered difficulties with the business. These troubles led him to join a meditation retreat as suggested by a friend. Venerable started to practice vipassana insight meditation in the tradition of Mogok Sayadaw. Later he also joined a retreat of S.N. Goenka. He began to use his apartment as a dhamma distribution center for free dhamma books and CD’s of famous Burmese monks, which he edited for improved sound quality. This became the Wisdom Sharing Foundation known as “From Avijja to Vijja” (From Ignorance to Wisdom), with several distribution locations throughout Myanmar.
In 2002, on the full moon day of October, Venerable officially abandoned his layperson life to ordain as a monk. He was appointed by the Abbot of Devasagara Monastery in Yangon as a vipassana meditation teacher and began teaching to help others realize the ultimate truth of nature. Venerable established the first Thabarwa Center in 2007. In 2014 Sayadaw established the Dhamma Hospital where elderly and patients can live, receive free medical care, practice meditation and hear dhamma teaching together. Doctors, nurses and volunteers donate their time and skills to help those in need. There are now three multi-story Dhamma Hospitals in the main center and many small dhamma hospitals throughout Myanmar and Thailand.
Sayadaw has opened over 100 Thabarwa Centers around the world, as well as several Goodwill Villages where homeless families can receive homes. Other Thabarwa projects include schools for children, orphanages, refuges for pregnant women, single mothers and their babies, and animal sanctuaries. In 2022 he began working for peace in Myanmar as the country suffered from civil war. As a monk and meditation teacher Sayadaw will continue to use his understanding for the benefit of all living beings.
