Tomas Piskacek

I became interested in Buddhism at 16 and started meditating at 18. In 2018, I went to Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary in Malaysia to train as a Theravada monk. I was able to reach the jhanas (profoundly serene and blissful states of meditative concentration) and the formless attainments relatively quickly, and in 2022 I broke through into the cessation of perception and feeling (nirodha samapatti)—the highest meditative attainment described in the early Buddhist scriptures—which I then developed for over two years. I have also practiced in monasteries in Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Singapore, and read the Buddha's discourses in full—the four main Nikayas, along with the principal texts of the fifth.

Before ordaining, I studied economics and worked at McKinsey & Company. I have left formal monasticism and now live in the Czech Republic, where I continue my practice and share what I've learned with others.