Bhikkhu Balado was born in 1960 in Austria. After commercial school and army service he worked in accounting for some years. Then studied social work and worked most of the time in the field of addiction therapy.
In 1992 he attended a zen sesshin (retreat) led by the Jesuit Father Gebhard Kohler, where he learned the practice of sitting in stillness and appreciated the simple structure of formal meditation with the focus on the body-mind. Two years later he turned his interest to the teachings of the Buddha and joined sesshins with Fumon Nakagawa Roshi.
In 2006, he took a 4-month-sabbatical in Thailand with the aim to deepen the meditative practice monthly on 10-day-retreats. He was particularly affected by the teachings on the five hindrances which brought a new understanding to the practice of meditation with regard to experiences of distress in daily life. And the teachings on anapanasati also became a substantial support as a way of coping with distress and developing an anchor for the body-mind. It was at this time, that the vision of a simple life as a monk first crossed his mind, but the household life still seemed gratifying enough.
In 2014, after another time-limited work contract, he decided to take up the ‘homeless life’ and become an anagārika. His anagārika precept ceremony was held at Amaravati on 2 May 2015. He then received the pabbajjā or novice ‘going forth’ on 20 May 2016, and full acceptance into the Bhikkhu-Sangha on 2 July 2017, with Ajahn Amaro acting as preceptor.
Since beginning of July he is spending a year of training abroad in the monastic Sangha at Dhammapala.