A Buddhist forest monastery taking root in New England
Blog of news and announcements from Temple Forest Monastery, a Buddhist forest monastery in Temple, New Hampshire which is a branch of the monastic community of Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho.
As the snowy New Hampshire winter draws nearer, we have been informed of the usefulness (need?) for any monastery car to have all-wheel-drive capability. If anyone happens to be wanting to get rid of (or, possibly, sell) a used AWD largish car that can haul both people and things (e.g. something like a Subaru Forrester) – please feel free to contact the monastery and let us know.
Dear everyone,
Greetings!
First of all, thank you to the various people who have been writing and asking how things are going and how to get involved or visit us as we establish the fledgling monastery this summer. Your interest has been noted and appreciated, even if our response has been delayed until now.
I’m pleased to inform you all that, after wrapping up multifarious things at the monasteries in England, on Tuesday, July 1 I was able to move in to Jessen House, on the property we hope can be purchased for a monastery in Temple, NH. I am accompanied by a young man named Zack Roberts, who will serve as a lay attendant with a view towards eventually becoming an anagarika either here or elsewhere, and so far the two of us have been moving and sorting through things stored in Boston from last year, cleaning etc.
Moving in to Jessen House
Monastic Community
Today Ajahn Karunadhammo from Abhayagiri, who is on a visit to his sister in Massachusetts, will arrive and plan to stay with us until after the meal on Saturday. Tomorrow, July 4, Ven. Saddhammo will arrive in order to stay here for the Vassa period, the three-month ‘Rains Retreat’ that Theravada monks and nuns observe each year. Tan Saddhammo is from Portland, Oregon, and became a monk at Wat Pah Nanachat in Thailand about five years ago. And next Saturday (July 11) we’ll be joined by Ajahn Anando, a friend of mine and one of the senior monks at Amaravati, and who has begun helping me to guide this project. Ajahn Anando will need to return to England after the Vassa, as he helps to care for his elderly parents there, yet he wishes nonetheless to maintain a connection to the budding Temple Forest Monastery with a view to joining me in a role of shared responsibility when conditions permit in the future. Ven. Caganando, whom many of you will remember from last year when he and I lived at the temporary vihara in Allston, is currently looking after the Pacific Hermitage in Washington State, where the abbot, Ajahn Sudanto, is absent as he takes a nearly year-long solitary retreat. Tan Caganando will plan to join us in Temple once Ajahn Sudanto returns to Pacific Hermitage next spring.
Routine
The Vassa this year will begin on Sunday, July 12. That’s when I expect we’ll be somewhat better set up here to begin a more usual monastic routine, with the next week or so still a bit here and there while we get oriented. Although we translate ‘Vassa’ as ‘Rains Retreat’, it’s not necessarily a retreat in the commonly-understood sense, with silence and a group meditation schedule etc.; it’s more a time when the monastic community stays put in one place. Therefore we are happy to receive day visitors and overnight guests here at the monastery (apologies if the announcements about the rental opportunities next door were confusing in this regard). Events at Temple Forest Monastery do not require booking. However, those wishing to stay overnight need to book in advance. All activities at the monastery are free of charge; that is, there is no fee for attending events or for staying overnight. The time to come during the day is around the meal-offering time (11 a.m.) or thereabouts. We should have a schedule similar to last year’s at the vihara: morning and evening pujas with a Dhamma Talk about once a week, probably on Saturday nights. Otherwise anyone is welcome to come for the meal offering any day at 11 a.m. (no booking necessary, though it would be useful to know if you’re coming, especially if you plan to offer food).
We’ll post confirmation of puja times and meal offering info, Dhamma Talks, etc. on the website over the next week or so. But I expect it will be 5 a.m. morning puja, 11 a.m. meal, and 7 p.m. evening puja, with a talk on Saturday nights. After the meal on any day I or another monk should be available for conversation. There will likely be days when we are not at the monastery, so do please check our calendar on the website or call beforehand before making the journey. In the meantime though, from now on anyone is welcome to come for the meal, to help offer or to visit etc. Please call to check that we’ll be here (contact details below).
Friends-of-the-monastery gathering
We thought it would be nice to start things off semi-officially with a more organized communal meal offering, on the day after Vassa begins: next Sunday, July 13. So please do feel free to join us for a meal here at 28 Jessen Lane at 11 a.m. (do bring offerings or food to contribute if you’d like – which is traditional – but no need, come all the same). It might be useful to know how many are coming, so drop us an email if you can.
Needs
Some of you have been asking what we need. Indeed, moving in to two empty houses we could use many household things, and there are other items that will be useful longterm. Therefore here is an initial list with various things we either need or would find useful; it will be replicated – and added to – on this website soon.
Dana List:
Amazon Gift Cards (or Gift Cards from other big stores including Lowes, etc.) – In case this is the easiest or preferred method for some of you, we can use Gift Cards to acquire needed items ourselves; this can be very useful for the monastery. Amazon Gift Cards can be emailed to contact@jetagrove.us
Fans – powerful, quiet, portable room air circulators would be much appreciated.
wide brooms
straw mats (for placing on a carpet in order to eat on the floor, protecting the carpet).
electric kettle
tea-making things (tea pots, strainers, etc.)
serving trays
office-sized waste bins
small water pitchers
small kitchen strainer
various furniture and carpets, mattresses – we will try to organize this, so please contact us if you have items you want to donate.
UPDATE (forgot these larger items):
washing machine
dryer
HEPA-filtered vacuum cleaner
Contact Details
This year the monastery will consist of two adjacent rented houses. The monks will stay in one, and overnight guests in the other. Our address and phone number is:
Temple Forest Monastery
28 Jessen Lane
Temple, NH, 03084
tel.: (603) 654-2292
email: contact@jetagrove.us
(In case it’s not clear: Jeta Grove [Jeta Grove Foundation] is the non-profit body created to handle the financial aspects of the monastery project. Therefore donations can be made out to Jeta Grove Foundation. Temple Forest Monastery is the name of the new monastery [not Jeta Grove].)
That’s all for today,
All blessings,
Jayanto Bhikkhu
North Duplex, Derbyshire Ln., Temple, NH, 03084
Update from Jeta Grove:
(PLEASE NOTE: The following rental opportunities would be a separate, private arrangement with the owners, unconnected to staying as a guest at the monastery. It's simply a chance to ‘live next door’.)
Two rental opportunities are being offered by the current owners of the Temple, New Hampshire property that is proposed for a new monastery in Ajahn Chah’s Thai Forest Tradition. After July 1st, the monks will be renting an adjacent property, so there’s the opportunity to be close to the new monastery at this early stage in its development. Here is the owners’ description of the two rental units:
Duplexes for rent on beautiful, peaceful setting on hilltop field facing Pack and N. Pack Monadnock Mountains. Six minute walk to monastery where monks arrive on July 1st. Simple, functional structures, separated from each other by owners’ storage room. Lightly furnished or bring your own. Internet service. Available 1 June 2014 to 31 May 2015. Rent negotiable for 1 week to 12 months. People may share. (Option to help explore possible mindful cohousing elsewhere in neighborhood.) Contact Bruce or Barbara Kantner: 603-654-2523, bruce@tellink.net.
North Duplex: 1,800 sq ft. First floor (linoleum on concrete): entrance + dining room + kitchen (one long room); washer/dryer area; 1/2 bathroom; full bathroom (with tub); living room with outside back door to fields; two bedrooms each with closet; small study. Second floor: one large 24’x24’ room with knee walls.
South Duplex: 1,200 sq ft. First floor (pine & linoleum): large entrance; kitchen; dining room; living room with picture window; small bedroom without closet. Second floor: stair hallway; bedroom; bathroom with shower. Reserved August-December.
Please contact Bruce or Barbara for rental rates and other questions:
Bruce & Barbara Kantner: 603–654–2523, bruce@tellink.net.
Ajahn Metta, Ajahn Sucitto and Ajahn Jayanto at the Insight Meditation Society, April 2014
Dear everyone,
The annual three-month Winter Retreat for the monastic communities at Amaravati and most of the other Western Ajahn Chah branch monasteries finished at the beginning of April, and we have been moving into a more active mode ever since. I accompanied Ajahn Sucitto to Boston on April 10, having been invited to help with his retreat here at the Insight Meditation Society. So, having spent the winter in England, I am writing this first message of what will be an important year for the new New England monastery from Barre, Massachusetts, where the retreat at IMS is coming to an end today. (After writing “We’ll keep you posted. More soon …” on November 28 last year … I suppose ‘soon’ must be appreciated as a relative term – our apologies for the long wait for news.)
The plan is that I will return to the UK next week, finish up my affairs at Amaravati over the following two months, and move back to the US to take up residence with another monk or two at the prospective monastery property that Jeta Grove is renting/hopes to purchase in Temple, NH, from July 1 onwards. Everyone is welcome to drop in once we arrive; despite the sporadic nature of recent posts, by that time we should be providing fairly regularly updated news with more details of how to get involved.
In the meantime, this week Ajahn Sucitto will be giving a talk at a Buddhaparisa event in Lexington, MA on Tuesday (tomorrow) evening – details here. Also, I thought it might be a good opportunity while I’m on this side of the pond to invite any of you who would like to get together at the property in Temple for an afternoon for some meditation and Dhamma dialogue, and to have a chance to be there together and discuss the year ahead. Bruce and Barbara Kantner have graciously allowed us to do so: we’ll use the ‘Meeting House’ which we used for the day-long meditation event we held there last September. There should be an opportunity too to see the property. Further details for these two events are announced below; everyone is welcome to come along.
With metta,
Jayanto Bhikkhu
7–9 p.m. in Lexington, MA
Details and directions on the Buddhaparisa website:
http://buddhaparisa-events.blogspot.com/
2–4 p.m. in Temple, NH
A chance to get together at the property in Temple for some meditation and Dhamma dialogue, as well as to have a chance to be there and discuss the year ahead. There should be an opportunity to see some of the property. All welcome!
Enquiries: (857) 202-0572
Pa Bah Offering Ceremony in Allston, Oct. 27
Dear everyone,
It’s been quite a few weeks now since our activities in New England came to a pause and we wrapped up the temporary vihara in Allston. After a full few final weeks, many goodbyes and with a warm feeling in our hearts, Tan Caganando, John and I went our separate ways, with the plan being for us monks to return next summer to take up residence on part of the property Jeta Grove now hopes to purchase in Temple, New Hampshire.
John set off to visit various people and places before going to Abhayagiri Monastery with the intention to join the monastic community as an anagarika. He’ll spend the Winter Retreat (January, February and March) there as part of the lay support team. He was a great support during his two-month stay with us in Boston, and goes with our best wishes and blessings.
Ven. Caganando returned to the Pacific Hermitage, and has reiterated his wish to be part of the new monastery; however, he will not be able to join us until probably April 2015 – as he has a previous commitment to support the Hermitage by covering for Ajahn Sudanto who will be on personal retreat from next April until then. So, initially I will be returning with at least one, maybe two or three other monks-to-be-determined next year.
Meanwhile I have been back to Amaravati and am now in the midst of various teaching engagements in Malaysia and, soon, Thailand. I must apologize for the fact that we’ve left these bulletins and the website somewhat in need of attention in the weeks since the very uplifting Pa Bah Ceremony held just before we left. Much enthusiasm and interest for the monastery project was expressed, as well as generous donations towards making the vision a reality. Things are well in motion now, and I expect that the Jeta Grove Board will make an announcement or two over the coming weeks to let you know how things stand. Also, we welcome any expression of interest or help – we’ll see what opportunities to gather arise in the coming months during this hiatus while we wait to return in, probably, July. For now, Ajahn Sucitto is currently teaching at the Forest Refuge in Barre, and will be in Boston for an event or two organized by Buddhaparisa – see their website for details.
The Forest Monastery News website may remain somewhat out of date on some pages for another few weeks I’m afraid, but should slowly shape up, and include some of the many wonderful images of the events this past vassa, as well as of the beautifully suitable property in Temple we hope will be able to be purchased. We’ll keep you posted. More soon …
With metta,
Jayanto Bhikkhu
Ajahn Jayanto and Tan Caganando on the property in Temple, NH
Luang Por Viradhammo, abbot of Tisarana Monastery, will be with us at Boston Vihara from Saturday evening puja through the Pa Bah on Sunday and the Moon Day Puja that evening. Do come along if you wish to hear his Talks and meet him. This is his first visit to Boston.
Dear everyone,
The last two weeks have been full for us here at the vihara, where besides the regular routine we’ve had talks and workshops at CIMC and Northeastern University and in Arlington, Concord, Gloucester, Brattleboro VT and Hanover NH. We were happy to meet new friends in all these places, particularly those associated with Vermont Insight and Valley Insight, who, all being well, may become our Dhamma neighbors to the north and west – since we now hope to return to New England next year to the previously mentioned property in Temple, NH.
As the weather turns and the air becomes crisp and clear, so too our way forward is becoming clearer. Our searches this summer for a site for a potential monastery turned up nothing nearly as suitable, all factors considered, as this quite special farm-cum-forest in Temple. Jeta Grove has been speaking with the owners, Bruce and Barbara Kantner, about possible ways forward, and we have asked the Elders’ Council in Europe (the communal decision-making body for Ajahn Sumedho’s branch monasteries) for permission to proceed. As there is not enough money for a purchase at this point, we may look to begin by renting. We will keep you posted.
For any of you wishing to see the property and walk the land the Kantners have invited us and those interested in the project for a day to gather at the property on Saturday Oct. 26, when everyone’s welcome to come and see the site. (In fact they are very welcoming generally of visits at other times too – if you’d like to visit the property at a different time, contact us and we can help arrange this.) This will also be an opportunity to meet Ajahn Viradhammo, who will be driving down from his monastery in Ontario. He will join us for the day in Temple, and will be there for the meal and time we walk the land together, before we all travel down to Allston where he will take part and give a Dhamma Talk at the Offering Ceremony the next day.
It’s been inspiring to witness the arising of interest and opportunity here during these past months. Please do join us on these occasions, and for any other events here at the vihara or elsewhere during our last few weeks in Boston.
All blessings,
Jayanto Bhikkhu
Sunday Workshop, The Arlington Center
The Kataññuta Group based in Malaysia has very generously sent us five palettes of free-distribution Dhamma books. Here Anagarika John and a neighbor help receive the shipment.
St. Luke’s & St. Margaret’s Church
The schedule for the Pa Bah (Offering Ceremony) has been determined. Everyone is very welcome to join us for the whole or part of the event. People will be bringing food to offer and share – feel free to join in with this and bring some food along (anything is fine; it’s the offering that’s the point).
The day will begin at 10 a.m. with some introductory remarks, then with the monks chanting Parittas from around 10.15. At 10.30 the food will be formally offered and people will be invited to fill plates with rice and arrange themselves to offer it into the monks’ bowls as they walk on ‘almsround’ within the indoor space. After the monks chant a blessing everyone will be invited to share a meal. At noon the formal Pa Bah ceremony will begin, with a chance to take the Five Precepts, and then lay supporters will offer robes to the monks (people may offer donations towards the prospective monastery, though the monks do not receive money – there will be ways to do this managed by Jeta Grove and the Pa Bah sponsors). At around 12.15 Ajahn Viradhammo will offer a Dhamma Talk, and he and Ajahn Jayanto and Ven. Caganando will be available for conversation afterwards.
Schedule:
10 a.m. – Arrive, Introductory Remarks
10.15 a.m. – Paritta Chanting
10.30 a.m. – Prepare Food Offering
10.45 a.m. – Almsround
11 a.m. – Meal
12 p.m. – Five Precepts & Pa Bah Ceremony
12.15 p.m. – Dhamma Talk by Luang Por Viradhammo
1.30 p.m. – Finish & Clean Up
Where: St. Luke’s & St. Margaret’s Church: 5 St. Luke’s Rd, Allston, MA, 02134
When: 10 a.m.–1.30 p.m.
(Parking in Allston should be free on this day, as it’s a Sunday.)
Pond at Derbyshire Farm in Temple, NH
Everyone interested in the potential new monastery is invited to join Ajahn Jayanto, Tan Caganando and special guest Luang Por Viradhammo (abbot of Tisarana Monastery) to see the farm and forest that make up the site in Temple, NH, where – all going well – they hope to be able to make a start at establishing a monastery by living there next year. The very supportive owners, Bruce and Barbara Kantner, will be our hosts. Please bring a packed lunch, perhaps with some to share. We will eat together from 11–12, then wander the large site including some of the forest in the early afternoon. The monks hope to head back to Boston around mid-afternoon. All are welcome. (Rides may be available from Boston – please let us know if you need a ride or have space in your vehicle to offer one.)
When:
Saturday, October 26
10–11 a.m. Arrive
11 a.m. Meal for the monks (bring packed lunches)
12 p.m. Walk the property together (bring good shoes)
3 p.m. Depart
Where:
32 Derbyshire Ln, Temple, New Hampshire, 03084
With Luang Por Viradhammo and the Tisarana monastic community
Dear Everyone,
We have settled back in to the Allston vihara after returning from a week-long visit to our nearest branch monastery, Tisarana, in Ontario, Canada. As I prepare to head out on our morning almsround to Allston, I reflect on how much has unfolded during these past months and how appreciative Tan Caganando, John and I feel for the warm welcome – and welcome change of pace – we were so generously given by the abbot, Luang Por Viradhammo, and the resident community at Tisarana.
Tan Caganando and I were particularly grateful to be staying in kutis (huts or cabins) in a quiet natural setting, having been living in our unusual-for-for-us city digs since mid-July. Ajahn (or Luang Por, as we are beginning to call the more senior elders in our maturing Western branch monasteries) Viradhammo celebrated the day effectively marking his 40th vassa (years as a monk) just as we were leaving. Witnessing the blessings arising for the communities within and around his monastery, with a growing monks’ community and visitors engaging in various ways, many of us feel a powerful gratitude to those able to enter and stay in the monastic life for so long. We were also fortunate to spend a delightful afternoon and evening meditation at the nearby Sati Saraniya monastery where Ayya Medhanandi, now a bhikkhuni and a nun in the robes for around 25 years has similarly established a field of blessings for all – particularly her fledgling nuns’ community.
We were grateful too to Luang Por Viradhammo (who has been involved in the establishment of five monasteries over the years) for helping us think things through regarding where we are in our own process of monastery-beginning here in New England. As you may know, we have been searching for available properties suitable for a forest monastery for much of the past two months. That search was hastened by the fact that a quite wonderful property was shown to us shortly after we arrived in late July: as it seemed an excellent prospect, we realized we’d better investigate other options if we were to make an informed decision so soon about pursuing any prospective site. This is the property in Temple, NH, where we held the day-long retreat on Sep. 21. The owners, Bruce and Barbara Kantner, have been extremely generous in their wish to support the arising of a monastery quite possibly on their land, and Bruce even offered to drive the three of us up from the vihara to Tisarana for the week and back, which I had suggested might give him a sense of what monasteries in our tradition are like. LP Viradhammo was especially helpful in helping us all consider the whole picture and how we might proceed.
He has also accepted our invitation to join us in Boston at the end of the month for the end-of-the-vassa alms-giving ceremony, called a ‘Pa Bah’ in Thai, which supporters in Boston have asked if they can sponsor. This will take place on Sunday, October 27 at St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s church in Allston, and is a traditional ceremony/festival that is held in lieu of a ‘Kathina Ceremony’ – where a Kathina traditionally requires at least five bhikkhus to have spent the vassa together. We being just two (Tan Caganando and myself) a Pa Bah will be held instead. We’ll be blessed to have Luang Por Viradhammo join us for this special event, offer a Dhamma Talk and be generally available on the day. We believe it’s the first time he’s been to the Boston area. Please put it in your calendars – everyone is very welcome!
All blessings,
Jayanto Bhikkhu
Our friends Tu and Ni at the Brown Sugar Restaurant wish to invite all of the friends and supporters of the forest monastery project – and anyone who would like to come – to join us for a celebration and alms-giving ceremony to mark the end of the three-month ‘Rains Retreat’ period – and the end of the period the monks will be here this year in Boston. This will be an opportunity to say goodbye to Ajahn Jayanto and Tan Caganando and Anagarika John, as the monks will be returning to their monasteries a few days later. Their hope is to return next year to begin to establish a new monastery – this will be an occasion to hear more about this and how to support the effort for those interested.
We will be honored to have Luang Por Viradhammo, abbot of Tisarana Monastery in Canada, as our senior guest for the day. Ajahn Viradhammo is one of the most senior Western disciples of Ajahn Chah, and a respected teacher in the monastic community. He will offer a Dhamma Talk (time to be announced) and be available after the proceedings for those who wish to meet him. Stay tuned, we’ll have more details on the schedule for the day to be announced soon.
Everyone is welcome – please join us!
Where: St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s Church, 5 St. Luke’s Rd., Allston, Boston, MA 02134
When: Sunday, October 27, 10 a.m. – 1.30 p.m.
(Specific details on the schedule for the day coming soon)
Aside from the regular schedule of pujas, Moon Day talks and Sunday workshops, there are some upcoming events listed on the new Events Calendar on this website:
Click for a ‘calendar view’ of upcoming events
Click for a ‘list view’ of upcoming events (better for small screens)
Ven. Caganando, Ajahn Jayanto and Jeff Miller in August
Dear Everyone,
Warm greetings from Boston Vihara, where as the traditional reflection has it, “the days have been relentlessly passing” – that is, with our now established routine of pujas, almsrounds, meal offerings and various teaching events. As always, you are welcome to join us for any of these events any time.
Except for the next week. All events are cancelled during this coming week (from Sep. 23–29), as we will be visiting Ajahn Viradhammo and the monks at Tisarana Monastery (and no doubt also paying a visit to Ayya Medhanandi and the nuns at Sati Saraniya Hermitage), the nearest branch monastery of our community, in Perth, Ontario.
As many of you will know, after six weeks of faithful and diligent service helping Ven. Caganando and I as a temporary anagarika (novice/attendant), Jeff Miller flew home to Sebastopol CA at the beginning of the month. Jeff helped enormously in keeping things at the vihara ship shape, and engendering a welcoming atmosphere to all who came during his time here. We wish him all the very best in his practice and life back in California.
Jeff has been ably replaced by John Nishinaga, another California resident who, having worked for a couple of years in Boston has been living at different monasteries for much of the pat year, including having spent the last two months at Abhayagiri before arriving here. Like Jeff, John had asked to take the Eight Precepts as a ‘temporary’ anagarika for the two months he will be here (the usual commitment for anagarikas in our communities being for one year), and shortly after he arrived John undertook the training involved in a traditional ceremony here at the vihara.
John Nishinaga taking the Eight Precepts
We’re working on updating the website and there are a few more events in the pipeline, so we’ll try to send out another message sometime this week with that information. In the meantime, the three of us here at the vihara wish you all the blessings associated with the work of bringing the Dhamma into our lives.
With Metta,
Jayanto Bhikkhu
We are looking for volunteers to help store boxes of free-distribution Dhamma books for approx. one year. Generous supporters in Asia have been kind enough to produce and ship thousands of Dhamma books which can be available for distribution in our temporary vihara and, hopefully, the future monastery over the coming years. As the monks will be leaving at the end of October – to return sometime in the middle of next year – they need help storing all these books.
If you have room in a (relatively dry) basement or attic etc. and think you can take a few boxes, please let us know. Over 200 boxes will arrive in about two weeks, and we are gathering names of volunteers to coordinate it all.
Email : contact@jetagrove.us
or call : 617-510-8051
We are also looking for people with good backs who might be free to help us move these boxes. Feel free to get in touch if you’d like to lend a hand (date to be determined).
Please join us for a day-long retreat at a lovely secluded farm on the slopes of North Pack Monadnock Mountain in Temple, New Hampshire. Ajahn Jayanto will lead a day of meditation practice, with alternating 45-minute periods of sitting and walking meditation, instructional talks and chances for questions and discussion. All levels of experience are welcome.
The farm is pleasant 1 1/2-hour drive from Boston (near Peterborough, NH) – and is one we are considering as a potential site for a monastery. There will accordingly be time for those who wish to stay on afterwards to see a bit more of the property. There are about 20–25 places in the meditation space we will use and they are filling up already, so please contact Bruce Kantner at the address below to register as soon as you know you’d like to attend.
(Please note that as this is not a meditation center, amenities will be simple. Use of the facilities of a nearby house, and of a port-a-loo will be available. We will practice in a stand-alone meditation cabin which resides in a tree-lined field.)
Rides from Boston may be able to be shared – please contact us if you’d like to come but would need a ride.
Hope to see you there!
This is an update on the schedule for the continuing Sunday meditation workshops in Arlington.
Aside from the two consecutive Sundays of Sep. 29 and Oct. 6, when they are not taking place, the workshops will continue to be held from 2–5 p.m. each Sunday from now through to (and including) Oct. 20.
There are two Sundays when our usual venue, the TS Center at 21 Maple Street in Arlington, will not be available. On Sep. 22 and Oct. 13 we will instead hold the workshops a few blocks away at The Arlington Center, at 369 Mass Ave in Arlington (directions here >).
Hope to see you there!
On Monday and Tuesday, Ajahn Jayanto will give a talk and lead a meditation, with an opportunity for questions and discussion, at Harvard Divinity School. The events are sponsored respectively by the HDS Buddhist Ministry Initiative, and Harvard Buddhist Community. They are public events, and anyone interested is welcome to attend:
1)
Harvard Divinity School Buddhist Ministry Initiative
Buddhist Ministry Colloquium Series
Renunciation and Making Peace:
Giving Up the World to Save It
2)
Guided Meditation and discussion
Things have been going well this past month, and have been busy enough that we have somewhat neglected to update the website. We'll try to correct that, and should be posting an update on events past and future over the coming days. Please stay tuned!
Along with the evening pujas which take place every night from 7– 8 p.m. (unless the monks are away) , there are also weekly Dhamma Talks offered by Ajahn Jayanto on the ‘Moon Days’ after the usual 7 p.m. chanting and meditation, usually between 8 and 8.45 p.m. Everyone’s very welcome. These dates change according to the traditional lunar calendar – please check the Events Calendar; they are also listed below. You can also find the moon day calendar on this website, or download a PDF of the 2013 moon days here:
Tomorrow, Wednesday Aug. 14, Ajahn Jayanto will offer a Dhamma Talk after the meditation as part of the evening puja. All are welcome.
Almsround in Allston
As the monks have settled in to life at the vihara, they’ve established a routine of going on almsround in Allston or Cambridge each morning between 9 and 11 a.m., returning to the vihara to eat the meal there at 11 or just after. You are welcome to join them at the vihara (or meet them on almsround) any day, bringing a small offering of food if you wish, and joining them for the meal. It would be helpful – though not necessary – to let them know by email or phone beforehand that you intend to come, particularly because on some days they may be away.
You can also offer to provide a whole meal for the two monks and Jeff (the almsround can be modified or foregone for that day). Contact them to ask what and when might work best.
While some days may differ, a routine has developed where most Mondays the monks will walk to Harvard Square and be in that area, standing or walking slowly, between about 9.30 and 10.30 a.m. before walking back.
Similarly on most Fridays, the monks will walk along Western Ave. to Central Square, Cambridge. They will likely be in the Central Square area, standing or walking slowly, between about 9.45 and 10.15 a.m. before walking back.
On most Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays the monks walk from the vihara to Brighton Ave., and along Brighton to Harvard and Commonwealth Aves., ending up at the Brown Sugar Café on Commonwealth at around 10.15 a.m.
