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Edward Conze
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/9/20


Edward Conze

Edward Conze, born Eberhard Julius Dietrich Conze (1904–1979), was an eminent scholar of Marxism and Buddhism, known primarily for his commentaries and translations of the Prajñāpāramitā literature.

Biography

Conze's parents, Dr. Ernst Conze (1872–1935) and Adele Louise Charlotte Köttgen (1882–1962), both came from families involved in the textile industry in the region of Langenberg, Germany. Ernst had a doctorate in Law and served in the Foreign Office and later as a judge.[1] Conze was born in London while his father was Vice Consul[2] and thus entitled to British citizenship.

Conze studied in Tübingen, Heidelberg, Kiel, Cologne and Hamburg. In 1928 he published his dissertation, Der Begriff der Metaphysik bei Franciscu Suarez, and was awarded a doctorate in philosophy from Cologne University.[3] He did post-graduate work at several German universities and in 1932 he published Der Satz vom Widerspruch (The Principle of Contradiction) which he considered his master work.[4] Because it was a Marxist work on the theory of dialectical materialism it attracted hostile attention from the Nazis and most copies were publicly burnt in a campaign conducted by the German Student Union in May 1933.[5] In the early 1930s Conze associated with and helped to organize activities for the Communist Party of Germany. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, he fled to Britain.[6][7]

In England, Conze taught German, philosophy, and psychology at evening classes, and later lectured on Buddhism and Prajñāpāramitā at various universities. However, the only permanent academic post he was offered had to be turned down because US immigration officials declined him a work permit on the basis of his past as a Communist.

A midlife crisis in 1941 saw him adopt Buddhism as his religion, having previously been influenced by Theosophy and astrology. He spent a brief period in the New Forest pursuing meditation and an ascetic lifestyle (during which he developed scurvy). At the end of this period he moved to Oxford where he began to work on Sanskrit texts from the Prajñāpāramitā tradition. He continued to work on these texts for the rest of his life.

Conze was married twice: to Dorothea Finkelstein and to Muriel Green. He had one daughter with Dorothea.

In 1979 Conze self-published two volumes of memoirs entitled Memoirs of a Modern Gnostic. Conze produced a third volume which contained material considered to be too inflammatory or libelous to publish while the subjects were alive.[8][9] No copy of the third volume is known to exist. The Memoirs are the principal sources for Conze's biography and reveal much about his personal life and attitudes.

Scholarship

Conze was educated in several German Universities and showed a propensity for languages. He claimed that by twenty-four, he knew fourteen languages.[10]

Conze's first major published work was on the theory of dialectical materialism. This continues to receive attention, with his book The Principle of Contradiction being reprinted in 2016.[11]

Following a mid-life crisis Conze turned to Buddhism and was particularly influenced by D. T. Suzuki. He made his name for his editions and translations of Sanskrit texts of the Buddhist Prajñāpāramitā literature. He published translations of all the principal texts of the genre, including the Aṣṭasāhasrikā (8000 Line), Ratnaguṇasamcayagāthā, Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā (25,000 Line), Vajracchedikā, and Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya. All of these show the explicit influence of Suzuki's Theosophy infused Zen Buddhism.[citation needed]

A glance at a complete bibliography of Conze's oeuvre confirms that he was a man of industry and focus. His contribution to the field of Buddhist Studies, particularly of the Prajñāpāramitā literature, has had a major influence on subsequent generations.

Legacy

In his essay Great Buddhists of the Twentieth Century (Windhorse Publications: 1996), British writer and teacher of Buddhism, and personal friend of Conze's, Sangharakshita writes that "Dr. Conze was a complex figure, and it is not easy to assess his overall significance.... He was a self-confessed élitist, which is usually something people are ashamed of nowadays, but he wasn’t ashamed of it at all.... Nor did he approve of either democracy or feminism, which makes him a veritable ogre of ‘political incorrectness’." Nevertheless, Sangharakshita summarizes Conze's legacy as a scholar of Buddhism as follows:

Dr Conze was one of the great Buddhist translators, comparable with the indefatigable Chinese translators Kumarajiva and Hsuan-tsang of the fifth and seventh centuries respectively. It is especially significant, I think, that as a scholar of Buddhism he also tried to practise it, especially meditation. This was very unusual at the time he started his work, and he was regarded then – in the forties and fifties – as being something of an eccentric. Scholars were not supposed to have any personal involvement in their subject. They were supposed to be ‘objective’. So he was a forerunner of a whole new breed of Western scholars in Buddhism who are actually practising Buddhists.[12]

Ji Yun, Professor of the Buddhist College of Singapore, describes Conze's legacy as follows:

Even to this day, Edward Conze (1904-1979) the German British scholar has to be regarded, not as one of many, but as the most important researcher on Prajñāpāramitā literature. This genius of Buddhist linguist [sic.] and philologist devoted his whole life to the collation, translation and research of Prajñāpāramitā literature in Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese – a language relatively neglected by European scholars before him. Although the research of this prolific writer covers well beyond the Prajñāpāramitā category, his works dedicated solely to this, according to an incomplete count by the Japanese scholar Yuyama Akira 汤山明, include 16 books and 46 articles.... In the history of Prajñāpāramitā research Conze can be regarded as a formidable scholar with no comparison, suprpassing [sic.] all past and perhaps even future researchers in his achievement.[13]

Selected bibliography

For a complete bibliography of Conze's works see the website, Conze Memorial http://www.conze.elbrecht.com/

• 1932. Der Satz vom Widerspruch. Hamburg, 1932.
• 1951. Buddhism: Its Essence and Development.
• 1956. Buddhist meditation. London: Ethical & Religious Classics of East & West.
• 1958. Buddhist Wisdom Books: The Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra. George Allen & Unwin. Second edition 1976.
• 1959. Buddhist Scriptures. Haremondsworth: Penguin Classics.
• 1960. The Prajñāpāramitā Literature. Mouton. Second Edition: [Bibliographica Philogica Buddhica Series Maior I] The Reiyukai Library: 1978
• 1967. Materials for a Dictionary of the Prajñāpāramitā Literature. Tokyo, Suzuki Research Foundation.
• 1973. The Large Sutra of Perfect Wisdom. University of California Press.
• 1973. The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and its Verse Summary. San Francisco: City Lights, 2006.
• 1973. Perfect Wisdom: The Short Prajñāpāramitā Texts. Buddhist Publishing Group.
• 1975. Further Buddhist Studies: Selected Essays. Oxford, Bruno Cassirer

Notes

1. Heine 2016; Langenberger Kulturlexikon.
2. Humphreys 1980, p. 147
3. de Jong 1980, p. 143
4. Conze 1979
5. Heine 2016, xiv
6. Jackson 1981, pp. 103-104
7. Humphreys 1980, p. 147
8. Jackson 1981, p. 102
9. Houston 1980, p.92
10. Conze 1979: I 4
11. Heine 2016
12. Sangharakshita 1996
13. Yun 2017, 9-113

References

• Conze, Edward (1979). Memoirs of a Modern Gnostic. Parts I and II. Privately Published.
• de Jong, J.W. (1980). Edward Conze 1904–1979, Indo-Iranian Journal 22 (2), 143-146. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
• Heine, Holger (2016). 'Aristotle, Marx, Buddha: Edward Conze's Critique of the Principle of Contradiction', in Conze, Edward, The Principle of Contradiction. Lexington Books, pp. xiii–lxiii. First published in German as Der Satz vom Widerspruch. Hamburg, 1932
• Houston, G.W. (1980). Review: The Memoirs of a Modern Gnostic by Edward Conze, The Tibet Journal, 5 (1/2), 91-93. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
• Humphreys, Christmas (1980). Edward Conze, 1904-1979, The Eastern Buddhist (new series), 13 (2), 147-148. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
• Jackson, Roger R. (1981). Review: The Memoirs of a Modern Gnostic, Parts I and II (Edward Conze), Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 4 (2), 102-105
• Langenberger Kulturlexikon: Immaterielles Kulturerbe der UNESCO. http://www.unter-der-muren.de/kulturlexikon.pdf
• Sangharakshita (1996). Great Buddhists of the Twentieth Century, Windhorse Publications
• Yun, Ji . 纪赟 —《心经》疑伪问题再研究, Fuyan Buddhist Studies no. 7 (2012): 115-182. Trans. Chin Shih-Foong, Is the Heart Sūtra an Apocryphal Text? – A Re-examination, Singapore Journal of Buddhist Studies (2017), 4: 9-113.

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Ajahn Amaro [Jeremy Charles Julian Horner]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/9/20


Ajahn Amaro
Ajahn Amaro in Bangkok in June 2019
Personal
Born: Jeremy Charles Julian Horner, 2 September 1956 (age 63), Kent, England
Religion Buddhism
Nationality British/American
School: Theravāda
Lineage: Thai Forest Tradition
Education: Bedford College, London (BSc)
Order: Maha Nikaya
Senior posting
Teacher: Ajahn Chah
Ordination: 1979 (41 years ago)
Previous post: Co-Abbot of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery (1996–2010)
Present post: Abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery (since 2010)
Website: amaravati.org

Ajahn Amaro (born 1956)[1] is a Theravāda Buddhist monk and teacher, and abbot of the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery at the eastern end of the Chiltern Hills in South East England.

Amaravati is a Theravada Buddhist monastery at the eastern end of the Chiltern Hills in South East England. Established in 1984 by Ajahn Sumedho as an extension of Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, the monastery has its roots in the Thai Forest Tradition.

Cittaviveka (Pali: 'discerning mind'), commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, is an English Theravada Buddhist Monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition. It is situated in West Sussex, England in the hamlet of Chithurst between Midhurst and Petersfield. It was established in 1979 in accordance with the aims of the English Sangha Trust, a charity founded in 1956 to support the ordination and training of Buddhist monks (bhikkhus) in the West. The current abbot, since 2014, is Ajahn Karuniko.

The monastery was established by Ajahn Sumedho under the auspices of his teacher, Ajahn Chah of Wat Pah Pong, Ubon, Thailand. Ajahn Chah visited the monastery at its inception as the first branch monastery of Wat Pah Pong to be established outside of Thailand. Although the style of the monastery has been modified to accommodate Western social and cultural mores, it retains close links with Thailand especially monasteries of the Thai Forest Tradition and is supported by an international community of Asians and Westerners.

"Cittaviveka" is a term used in the Pāli scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. The monastery was so named by Ajahn Sumedho, the first abbot (1979–1984) as a suitable word-play on "Chithurst," the hamlet in which its main house is situated. The title "Chithurst Buddhist Monastery" is also commonly used, although the approximately 175 acres/70 hectares of the monastery’s land extend into the adjacent parish.

Subsequent abbots have been Ajahn Ānando (1984–1992), Ajahn Sucitto (1992-2014) and Ajahn Karuniko (2014-). The monastery is supported by donations, and lay people may visit or stay for a period of time as guests free of charge. Teachings are given on a regular basis, generally on weekends.

-- Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, by Wikipedia

It takes inspiration from the teachings of the community's founder, the late Ajahn Chah. Its chief priorities are the training and support of a resident monastic community, and the facilitation for monastic and lay people alike of the practice of the Buddha's teachings.

It is not to be confused with the ancient Amaravati Stupa in India.

-- Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, by Wikipedia

The centre, in practice as much for ordinary people as for monastics, is inspired by the Thai Forest Tradition and the teachings of the late Ajahn Chah.[1] Its chief priorities are the practice and teaching of Buddhist ethics, together with traditional concentration and insight meditation techniques, as an effective way of dissolving suffering.

Chah Subhaddo (Thai: ชา สุภัทโท, known in English as Ajahn Chah, occasionally with honorific titles Luang Por and Phra) also known by his honorific name "Phra Bodhiñāṇathera" (Thai: พระโพธิญาณเถร, Chao Khun Bodhinyana Thera; 17 June 1918 – 16 January 1992) was a Thai Buddhist monk. He was an influential teacher of the Buddhadhamma and a founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition.

Respected and loved in his own country as a man of great wisdom, he was also instrumental in establishing Theravada Buddhism in the West. Beginning in 1979 with the founding of Cittaviveka (commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery) in the United Kingdom, the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah has spread throughout Europe, the United States and the British Commonwealth. The dhamma talks of Ajahn Chah have been recorded, transcribed and translated into several languages.

More than one million people, including the Thai royal family, attended Ajahn Chah's funeral in January 1993 held a year after his death due to the "hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend". He left behind a legacy of dhamma talks, students, and monasteries.

-- Ajahn Chah, by Wikipedia

Biography

Ajahn Amaro was born J. C. Horner[2] in Kent. He was educated at Sutton Valence School and Bedford College, University of London. Ajahn means teacher. He is a second cousin of I.B. Horner (1896–1981), late President of the Pali Text Society.[3][4]

Apart from a certain interest in the theories of Rudolf Steiner—to which he had been introduced by Trevor Ravenscroft,[2] Amaro's principal enthusiasms on leaving university were, by his own admission, pretty much those standard-issue among sceptical students of the day: sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.

Having completed his honours degree in psychology and physiology,[2] in 1977 he went to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand on an undefined "open-ended" spiritual search. He somehow found himself in northeast Thailand, at the forest monastery of Wat Pah Nanachat.

Wat Pah Nanachat (Thai: วัดป่านานาชาติ; Bung Wai International Forest Monastery) is a Thai Theravada Buddhist Monastery in northeast Thailand about 15 kilometres from the city of Ubon Rachathani. It was established in 1975 by Ajahn Chah as a training community for non-Thais according to the norms of the Thai Forest Tradition. Resident monks, novices and postulants include a wide range of nationalities. The primary language of communication and instruction is English.

The monastery was founded in response to increasing international interest, particularly from the United Kingdom, in the Theravadin forest tradition of Thailand. The first abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat was Ajahn Sumedho, an American bhikkhu trained by Ajahn Chah at Wat Nong Pah Pong, the mother house of Wat Pah Nanachat.

Luang Por Sumedho or Ajahn Sumedho (Thai: อาจารย์สุเมโธ) (born Robert Karr Jackman, July 27, 1934) is one of the senior Western representatives of the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, UK, from its consecration in 1984 until his retirement in 2010. Luang Por means Venerable Father (หลวงพ่อ), an honorific and term of affection in keeping with Thai custom; ajahn means teacher. A bhikkhu since 1967, Sumedho is considered a seminal figure in the transmission of the Buddha's teachings to the West.

Ajahn Sumedho was born Robert Karr Jackman in Seattle, Washington, in 1934. During the Korean War he served for four years from the age of 18 as a United States navy medic. He then did a BA in Far Eastern studies and graduated in 1963 with an MA in South Asian studies at the University of California, Berkeley. After a year as a Red Cross social worker, Jackman served with the Peace Corps in Borneo from 1964 to 1966 as an English teacher. On break in Singapore, sitting one morning in a sidewalk café, he watched a Buddhist monk walk by and thought to himself, "That looks interesting." In 1966, he became a novice or samanera at Wat Sri Saket in Nong Khai, northeast Thailand. He ordained as a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) in May the following year.

From 1967-77 at Wat Nong Pah Pong, he trained under Ajahn Chah. He has come to be regarded as the latter's most influential Western disciple. In 1975, he helped to establish and became the first abbot of the International Forest Monastery, Wat Pa Nanachat in northeast Thailand founded by Ajahn Chah for training his non-Thai students. In 1977, Ajahn Sumedho accompanied Ajahn Chah on a visit to England. After observing a keen interest in Buddhism among Westerners, Ajahn Chah encouraged Ajahn Sumedho to remain in England for the purpose of establishing a branch monastery in the UK. This became Cittaviveka Forest Monastery in West Sussex.

Ajahn Sumedho was granted authority to ordain others as monks shortly after he established Cittaviveka Forest Monastery. He then established a ten precept ordination lineage for women, "Siladhara".

Until his retirement, Ajahn Sumedho was the abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery near Hemel Hempstead in England, which was established in 1984. Amaravati is part of the network of monasteries and Buddhist centres in the lineage of Ajahn Chah, which now extends across the world, from Thailand, New Zealand and Australia, to Europe, Canada and the United States. Ajahn Sumedho played an instrumental role in building this international monastic community.

Ajahn Sumedho's imminent retirement was announced in February 2010, and he retired in November of that year. His successor is the English monk Ajahn Amaro, hitherto co-abbot of the Abhayagiri branch monastery in California's Redwood Valley. Ajahn Sumedho now dwells as a "free agent" in Thailand.

-- Ajahn Sumedho, by Wikipedia

Today, as a consequence, students of the Thai forest tradition are found in branch monasteries around the world under the collective label of The Forest Sangha. The largest monastery of this network is Amaravati Monastery, about 30 miles north of London. Its abbot was Ajahn Sumedho, who recently relinquished the post to Ajahn Amaro (ex-co-abbot of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California).

Buddhist meditation practice of all types is encouraged at Wat Pananachat, though breathing meditation predominates. In the spirit of Ajahn Chah's teachings, vipassanā, or insight, and samatha, or concentration, are regarded as two sides of a coin rather than two distinct categories. Lay visitors are expected to observe the eight precepts version of sila, or the practice of virtue. For monks, strict adherence to the Vinaya, the 2,500-year-old code of discipline, is not only required but is the distinguishing characteristic of the lineage. For lay visitors, no formal meditation teaching is available beyond Dhamma talks and what may be derived from freely available reading matter, the priority being the formal training of the full-time mendicants.

-- Wat Pah Nanachat, by Wikipedia

Ajahn Chah's charismatic impact and the encouragement of the senior American monk Ajahn Pabhakaro were decisive.

Joseph Kappel lived as a Buddhist monk for 20 years as Bhikkhu Pabhakaro, with Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho in Thailand and Great Britain. His initial interest in Buddhism was inspired by visits to Thailand from Vietnam where he served as a combat helicopter pilot in 1969-70. During his sojourns to Thailand, Joseph was deeply moved by a country and people that were steeped in Buddhist teachings. In short, combat in Vietnam paved the way for him to embrace a way of life that leads us on a path that demonstrates how suffering is created and how to avoid it. In this way, we open our eyes to witness ourselves in others with compassion and understanding.

Since leaving monastic life in 1991, Joseph has taught MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) in Massachusetts’s prisons, received a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University, and worked with college athletes to facilitate “mental fitness” and the inner game. He has also led meditation courses and retreats in numerous settings in the US, and has co-led retreats with Ajahn Amaro at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England. Joseph and his wife Catherine live in Leominster, Massachusetts.

-- Joseph Kappel, by Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives

It changed his life. Having become a lay renunciate, four months later he became a novice and in 1979 he received upasampada from Ajahn Chah and took profession as a Theravadin bhikkhu.[1] He stayed in Thailand for two years. Amaro then went back to England to help Ajahn Sumedho establish Chithurst Monastery in West Sussex.[1] With the blessing of his abbot, in 1983 he moved to Harnham Vihara in Northumberland. He made the entire 830-mile journey on foot, chronicled in his 1984 volume Tudong: The Long Road North.[5][6]

Origins of California's Abhayagiri Monastery


Abhayagiri Monastery

In the early 1990s Amaro made several teaching trips to northern California. Many who attended his meditation retreats became enthusiastic about the possibility of establishing a permanent monastic community in the area.

Amaravati, his mother house back in England, meanwhile received a substantial donation of land in Mendocino County from Chan Master Hsuan Hua, founder of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talmage. The land was allocated to establish a forest retreat. Since for some years Ajahn Sumedho had venerated the Chinese master, both abbots hoped that, among its other virtues, the center would serve as a symbolic bond between the otherwise distinct Theravāda and Mahayana lineages.

Hsuan Hua (Chinese: 宣化; pinyin: Xuānhuà; lit.: 'proclaim and transform'; April 16, 1918 – June 7, 1995), also known as An Tzu and Tu Lun, was a monk of Chan Buddhism and a contributing figure in bringing Chinese Buddhism to the United States in the 20th century.

Hsuan Hua founded several institutions in the US. The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association[1] (DRBA) is a Buddhist organization with chapters in North America, Australia and Asia.

The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (shortened to DRBA, Chinese: 法界佛教總會, PY: Fajie Fuojiao Zonghui, formerly known as the Sino-American Buddhist Association) is an international, non-profit Buddhist organization founded by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua in 1959 to bring the orthodox teachings of the Buddha to the entire world. DRBA has branch monasteries in many countries and cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Vancouver, as well as in Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia.

The Sino-American Buddhist Association was founded in San Francisco, California in 1959. A small temple, the Buddhist Lecture Hall was started. The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua came over from Hong Kong in 1962 by plane, stopping over at Japan and Hawaii before arriving at San Francisco.

From 1962 to 1968 the Venerable Master lectured on the Lotus Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, and the Amitabha Sutra among many other Buddhist sutras and texts. Many of his Dharma talks and line-by-line explanations of sacred Buddhist texts have been published in book form by the Buddhist Text Translation Society, both in the original Chinese and in English translation. See TfM [failed verification]

The Buddhist Text Translation Society (BTTS) is dedicated to making the principles of the Buddhadharma available to Western readers in a form that can be directly applied to practice. Since 1972, the Society has been publishing English translations of sutras, instructional handbooks on meditation and moral conduct, and biographies. Most of the Society’s sutra translations are accompanied by contemporary commentary, based on lectures spoken by Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua.

The accurate and faithful translation of the Buddhist Canon into English and other Western languages is one of the primary objectives of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (DRBA), the parent organization of the Buddhist Text Translation Society. Translators, bilingual reviewers, English editors, and bilingual certifiers are anonymous members of BTTS.

When Buddhism first came to China from India, one of the most important tasks required for its establishment was the translation of the Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Chinese. This work involved a great many people, such as the renowned monk National Master Kumarajiva (fifth century), who led an assembly of over 800 people to work on the translation of the Tripitaka (Buddhist canon) for over a decade. Because of the work of individuals such as these, nearly the entire Buddhist Tripitaka of over a thousand texts exists to the present day in Chinese.

Now the banner of the Buddha’s Teachings is being firmly planted in Western soil, and the same translation work is being done from Chinese into English. Since 1970, the Buddhist Text Translation Society has been making a paramount contribution toward this goal. Aware that the Buddhist Tripitaka is a work of such magnitude that its translation could never be entrusted to a single person, the BTTS, emulating the translation assemblies of ancient times, does not publish a work until it has passed through four committees for primary translation, revision, editing, and certification. The leaders of these committees are Bhikshus (monks) and Bhikshunis (nuns) who have devoted their lives to the study and practice of the Buddha’s teachings. For that reason, all of the works of the BTTS emphasize the application of the Buddha’s teachings in terms of actual practice.

-- About the Buddhist Text Translation Society, by Buddhist Text Translation Society

In June 1968 he began a 96-day intensive Study and Practice Summer Session for students and faculty from the University of Washington in Seattle. After the session had concluded, many of the participants remained in San Francisco to continue their studies with the Venerable Master. In that year five Americans (three Bhikshus, two Bhikshunis) were ordained, marking the beginning of the Sangha in the United States.

In 1970 Gold Mountain Monastery, one of the first Chinese Buddhist temples in the United States was founded in San Francisco, and a Hundred Day Chan Session was begun. Vajra Bodhi Sea, a monthly journal of DRBA about Buddhist topics and teachings, was also founded in 1970.

In 1972 the first Threefold Ordination Ceremony for the transmission of the complete precepts was held at Gold Mountain Monastery.

In 1973 the Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts and Instilling Goodness Elementary School were founded in San Francisco. In the same year, Bhikshus Heng Ju and Heng Yo began a Three Steps One Bow pilgrimage from San Francisco to Seattle to pray for world peace - a hard journey over 1,000 miles. This was the first such pilgrimage in the history of American Buddhism.

The site of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas was purchased in 1974, and in November of that year the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua led a delegation to propagate the Dharma in Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and other places. The delegation lasted for three months, ending on January 12, 1975.

The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association purchased the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas site in 1974 and established an international center there by 1976. In 1979, the Third Threefold Ordination Ceremony at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas was held, in which monks from China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the US transmitted the precepts. It was considered unique, as it represented both the Mahayana and Theravada traditions.

Originally the site housed the Mendocino State Asylum for the Insane (later renamed the Mendocino State Hospital), founded in 1889. There were over seventy large buildings, over two thousand rooms of various sizes, three gymnasiums, a fire station, a swimming pool, a refuse incinerator, fire hydrants, and various other facilities. A paved road wound its way through the complex, lined with tall street lamps and trees planted during the asylum's initial construction. The connections for electricity and pipes for water, heating, and air conditioning were all underground, but centrally controlled.

Considering the natural surroundings to be ideal for cultivation, Hsuan Hua visited the valley three times and negotiated with the seller many times. He wanted to establish a center for propagating the Buddhadharma throughout the world and for introducing the Buddhist teachings, which originated in the East, to the Western world. Hsuan Hua planned to create a major center for world Buddhism, and an international orthodox monastery for the purpose of elevating moral standards and raising people's awareness.

The city comprises 488 acres (197 hectares) of land, of which 80 acres (32 hectares) are developed. The rest of the land includes meadows, orchards, and forests. Large institutional buildings and smaller residential houses are scattered over the west side of the campus. The main Buddha hall, monastic facilities, educational institutes, administrative offices, the main kitchen and dining hall, Jyun Kang Vegetarian Restaurant, and supporting structures are all located in this complex.

-- City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, by Wikipedia

Gold Wheel Monastery was founded in Los Angeles in 1975.

In 1976 the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas completed the second Threefold Ordination Ceremony. Developing Virtue Secondary Schools and Dharma Realm Buddhist University were also founded. The next year Dharma Masters Heng Sure[2] and Heng Chau began a second Three Steps, One Bow pilgrimage from Gold Wheel Monastery to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas.

-- Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, by Wikipedia

The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB) in Ukiah, California, is one of the first Chan Buddhist monasteries in America. Venerable Master Hsuan Hua founded Dharma Realm Buddhist University at CTTB. The Buddhist Text Translation Society works on the phonetics and translation of Buddhist scriptures from Chinese into English, Vietnamese, Spanish, and many other languages.

-- Hsuan Hua, by Wikipedia

Care for what became Abhayagiri was placed in the hands of a group of lay practitioners, the Sanghapala Foundation.[6]

Abhayagiri, or Fearless Mountain in the canonical language of Pali, is a Theravadin Buddhist monastery of the Thai Forest Tradition in Redwood Valley, California. Its chief priorities are the teaching of Buddhist ethics, together with traditional concentration and insight meditation (also known as the Noble Eightfold Path), as an effective way of completely uprooting suffering and discontent.

About 16 miles (26 km) north of Ukiah, the monastery has its origins in the 1980s when the UK-based Ajahn Sumedho, foremost western disciple of the Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, started getting requests to teach in California. Visits by Ajahn Sumedho, as well as other senior monks and nuns, resulted in the Sanghapala Foundation being set up in 1988. The monastery's first 120 acres (0.49 km2) were given to the foundation by the devotees of Chan Master Hsuan Hua, founder of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talmage, before he died in 1995. Currently, the monastery rests on 280 acres (1.1 km2) of mountainous forest land.

Six months after the monastery was settled by Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Pasanno arrived to join him as co-abbot. They served together in this role until July, 2010, when Ajahn Amaro departed to take up the invitation to serve as abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England. Ajahn Pasanno was the sole abbot of Abhayagiri between July, 2010 and July, 2018.[4]

Abhayagiri Monastery developed significantly under Ajahn Pasanno's and Ajahn Amaro's leadership and guidance, along with the support of the monastic and lay community, and more specifically, the Abhayagiri Building Committee. Over 25 kutis, monastic huts, were built in the mountainous monastery forest during their time as co-abbots as well as when Ajahn Pasanno was the lone abbot. In addition, during the early years, the co-abbots converted both current and new buildings into a Dhamma Hall, kitchen, office spaces, a room for disabled visitors, a laundry room and bathrooms/showers for lay women and men, along with monastery infrastructure and extensive creation of forest paths and roads.

The co-abbots also contributed to the building of the Bhikkhu Commons, more affectionately know to the residents as the MUB: Monks' Utility Building, a 1600 square foot complex located in the upper forest of the monastery. The MUB offers monks access to bathrooms, showers, a multipurpose meeting room, a large sewing room, a laundry room, a small kitchenette and a large storage room below. The MUB was dedicated and officially opened on July 4, 2010...

As of July 2018, there were two abbots (co-abbots), a total of 13 fully ordained bhikkhus (Buddhist monks), two samaneras (novices), and 4 anagarikas (postulants) and a long term female monastic resident. Men and women live in separate locations in the monastery following guidelines of formal celibacy. Male residents live in small huts nestled in the forest. Female residents live in a house and a couple of huts on an adjoining property which was separately donated for the purpose of housing women at the monastery. Guest teachers come from forest monasteries in Thailand, England, as well as other countries in Europe and Australia. Visitors come to the monastery regularly for day visits, and can also stay as overnight guests.

The daily schedule, in keeping with tradition, is rigorous. Most residents (monastics and lay visitors) rise well before sunrise. Morning puja begins at 5:00 am and lasts an hour and a half. It includes chanting in both Pali and English, as well as an hour of silent meditation. This is followed by a half-hour chore period and a simple oatmeal breakfast. At 7:30 am, there is a meeting where a short Dhamma reflection is given and work assignments for the morning period are announced. A three-hour work period follows this meeting, ending with a meal around 11:00 am, which has to be consumed before midday. All lay residents follow the 8 precepts which include not eating food after noon until dawn the next day. Around 1:00 pm, after the post-meal cleanup, the schedule is open for individual practice of sitting and walking meditation as well as Dhamma study. It is at this time that monks, in addition to their meditation and study practice, care for their personal requisites like the huts they live in and the robes they wear. One can also walk around the extensive network of trails that wind about the mountainside. At 5:30 pm, tea is served in the kitchen and on most days one of the Ajahns is available in the Dhamma Hall for questions and answers. Tea time is followed by the evening puja beginning at 7:00 pm, which includes chanting in Pali and another hour of silent meditation. Formal Dhamma talks are offered on Saturday evening and lunar observance days during evening puja just after the period for silent meditation. On lunar observance days, which mark the four moon quarters, sitting and walking meditation continue until 3:00 am the next morning, followed by a morning puja.

-- Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, by Wikipedia

Mission: To foster and promote the teachings of the Buddha by supporting a resident community of Buddhist monks.

Program 1: Operate Buddhist monastery where 15 to 20 monastics reside at any one time. Provide training in the Buddhist religion to monastery residents and guests. Hold regular religious services at the monastery. Provide conditions suitable for extended meditation and contemplation for residents and guests of the monastery. Provide teachings by senior monastics throughout Northern California and around the world. Maintain website which includes teachings and recorded talks.

Expenses: $339,987

Revenue: $0

Ruling Year: 1996

Principal Officer: MARK A SPONSELLER

Main Address: 16201 Tomki Rd
Redwood Valley, CA 95470

EIN: 94-3212705

-- Sanghapala Foundation, by guidestar.org

Ajahn Pasanno was appointed founding co-abbot of Abhayagiri with Ajahn Amaro. The latter announced on 8 February 2010 that he would be leaving Abhayagiri and returning to England, having accepted a request from Ajahn Sumedho to succeed him as abbot at Amaravati.[7]

Thai honorific ranks

• 5 December 2015 – Phra Videsabuddhiguṇa (พระวิเทศพุทธิคุณ)[8]
• 28 July 2019 – Phra Raj Buddhivaraguṇa Vipulasasanakiccadara Mahaganissara Pavarasangharama Gamavasi (พระราชพุทธิวรคุณ วิบูลศาสนกิจจาทร มหาคณิสสร บวรสังฆาราม คามวาสี)[9][10]

Bibliography

• Tudong: The Long Road North (1984, English Sangha Trust)
• Silent Rain (1994, Amaravati Publications)
• Words of Calm and Friendship – by Ajahn Pasanno & Ajahn Amaro (1999, Abhayagiri Monastery)
• The Pilgrim Kamanita: A Legendary Romance – by Karl Gjellerup, Ajahn Amaro ed. (1999, Amaravati Publications)
• The Dhamma and the Real World – by Ajahn Pasanno & Ajahn Amaro (2000, Abhayagiri Monastery)
• Broad View, Boundless Heart – by Ajahn Pasanno & Ajahn Amaro (2001, Abhayagiri Monastery)
• Food for the Heart – by Ven. Ajahn Chah; Introduction by Ajahn Amaro (2002, Wisdom Publications)
• Small Boat, Great Mountain: Theravadin Reflections on the Natural Great Perfection (2003, Abhayagiri Monastery)
• Who Will Feed the Mice? (2004, Abhayagiri Monastery)
• The Sound of Silence – by Ven. Ajahn Sumedho; Introduction by Ajahn Amaro (2007, Wisdom Publications)
• Rugged Interdependency (2007, Abhayagiri Monastery)
• Like a River – by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Amaro et al. (2008, Patriya Tansuhaj)
• The Island: An Anthology of the Buddha's Teachings on Nibbāna (2009, Abhayagiri Monastery) – by Ajahn Pasanno & Ajahn Amaro
• Rain on the Nile (2009, Abhayagiri Monastery)
• The Long Road has Many a Turn – by Nick Scott with Ajahn Amaro (2013, Amaravati Publications)


Ajahn Amaro at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in September 2007


Ajahn Amaro in California with Franklyn, organiser of the 2007 Buddhist Bicycle Pilgrimage

References

1. "Ajahn Amaro". Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
2. Talbot, Mary (Winter 1998). "Just Another Thing in the Forest". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
3. "Ajahn Amaro: "Buddhism and Mindfulness in the West: Where are They Headed and What Challenges Do They Face?"". The Ho Center for Buddhist Studies. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
4. Amaro, Ajahn (2014). "I B Horner – Some Biographical Notes" (PDF). Sati Journal. Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. 2 (1): 33–38. ISBN 978-1495260049. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
5. Kiely, Robert, His Holiness the Dalai Lama (1996). The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus. Wisdom Publications. p. 205. ISBN 0-86171-114-9.
6. Seager, Richard Hughes (2000). Buddhism in America. Columbia University Press. p. 155. ISBN 0-231-10868-0.
7. Amaro announces departure from Abayagiri
8. ราชกิจจานุเบกษา, ประกาศสํานักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานสัญญาบัตรตั้งสมณศักดิ์พระสงฆ์ในต่างประเทศ, เล่ม 132, ตอนที่ 33 ข, 4 ธันวาคม 2558, หน้า 56
9. ราชกิจจานุเบกษา, พระบรมราชโองการประกาศ เรื่อง พระราชทานสัญญาบัตรตั้งสมณศักดิ์, เล่ม 136, ตอนที่ 40 ข, 28 กรกฎาคม 2562 , หน้า 13
10. Dibdin, Cara (14 August 2019). "Thai King Bestows High Honor on Western Buddhists". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Retrieved 22 August 2019.

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Ajahn Chah [Phra Bodhiñānathera (Chah Subaddho)] [ Luang Por Chah] [Luang Pu Chah] [Chao Khun Bodhinyana Thera] [Subhaddo]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/9/20


Phra Bodhiñānathera (Chah Subaddho)
Title Phra Bodhiñanathera (1973)[1]
Other names Luang Por Chah, Luang Pu Chah, Ajahn Chah, Chao Khun Bodhinyana Thera[2]
Personal
Born: Chah Chotchuang, 17 June 1918, Ubon, Thailand
Died: 16 January 1992 (aged 73), Ubon, Thailand
Religion: Buddhism
Nationality: Thai
School: Theravada, Maha Nikaya
Other names: Luang Por Chah, Luang Pu Chah, Ajahn Chah,Chao Khun Bodhinyana Thera[2]
Dharma names: Subhaddo
Occupation: Buddhist monk
Senior posting
Teacher: Ven. Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta, Ven. Ajahn Thongrat, Ven. Ajahn Kinaree
Students: Ajahn Brahm, Ajahn Sumedho
Website ajahnchah.org; watnongpahpong.org; watpahnanachat.org

Chah Subhaddo (Thai: ชา สุภัทโท, known in English as Ajahn Chah, occasionally with honorific titles Luang Por and Phra) also known by his honorific name "Phra Bodhiñāṇathera" (Thai: พระโพธิญาณเถร,[1] Chao Khun Bodhinyana Thera;[2] 17 June 1918 – 16 January 1992[3]) was a Thai Buddhist monk. He was an influential teacher of the Buddhadhamma and a founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition.

Respected and loved in his own country as a man of great wisdom, he was also instrumental in establishing Theravada Buddhism in the West. Beginning in 1979 with the founding of Cittaviveka (commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery)[4] in the United Kingdom, the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah has spread throughout Europe, the United States and the British Commonwealth. The dhamma talks of Ajahn Chah have been recorded, transcribed and translated into several languages.

More than one million people, including the Thai royal family, attended Ajahn Chah's funeral in January 1993[5] held a year after his death due to the "hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend".[3] He left behind a legacy of dhamma talks, students, and monasteries.

Early life

Ajahn Chah was born on 17 June 1918 near Ubon Ratchathani in the Isan region of northeast Thailand. His family were subsistence farmers. As is traditional, Ajahn Chah entered the monastery as a novice at the age of nine, where, during a three-year stay, he learned to read and write. The definitive 2017 biography of Ajahn Chah Stillness Flowing [6] states that Ajahn Chah took his novice vows in March 1931 and that his first teacher as a novice was Ajahn Lang. He left the monastery to help his family on the farm, but later returned to monastic life on 16 April 1939, seeking ordination as a Theravadan monk (or bhikkhu).[7] According to the book Food for the Heart: The Collected Writings of Ajahn Chah, he chose to leave the settled monastic life in 1946 and became a wandering ascetic after the death of his father.[7] He walked across Thailand, taking teachings at various monasteries. Among his teachers at this time was Ajahn Mun, a renowned meditation master in the Forest Tradition. Ajahn Chah lived in caves and forests while learning from the meditation monks of the Forest Tradition. A website devoted to Ajahn Chah describes this period of his life:

For the next seven years Ajahn Chah practiced in the style of an ascetic monk in the austere Forest Tradition, spending his time in forests, caves and cremation grounds. He wandered through the countryside in quest of quiet and secluded places for developing meditation. He lived in tiger and cobra infested jungles, using reflections on death to penetrate to the true meaning of life.[7]

Thai forest tradition

During the early part of the twentieth century Theravada Buddhism underwent a revival in Thailand under the leadership of outstanding teachers whose intentions were to raise the standards of Buddhist practise throughout the country. One of these teachers was the Venerable Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta. Ajahn Chah continued Ajahn Mun's high standards of practice when he became a teacher.[8]

The monks of this tradition keep very strictly to the original monastic rule laid down by the Buddha known as the vinaya. The early major schisms in the Buddhist sangha were largely due to disagreements over how strictly the training rules should be applied. Some opted for a degree of flexibility (some would argue liberality), whereas others took a conservative view believing that the rules should be kept just as the Buddha had framed them. The Theravada tradition is the heir to the latter view. An example of the strictness of the discipline might be the rule regarding eating: they uphold the rule to only eat between dawn and noon. In the Thai Forest Tradition, monks and nuns go further and observe the 'one eaters practice', whereby they only eat one meal during the morning. This special practice is one of the thirteen dhutanga, optional ascetic practices permitted by the Buddha that are used on an occasional or regular basis to deepen meditation practice and promote contentment with subsistence. Other examples of these practices are sleeping outside under a tree, or dwelling in secluded forests or graveyards.

Monasteries founded

[x]
Ajahn Chah welcoming as a novice a New Zealander, later to become Ajahn Munindo, abbot of a monastery in the north of England

After years of wandering, Ajahn Chah decided to plant roots in an uninhabited grove near his birthplace. In 1954, Wat Nong Pah Pong monastery was established, where Ajahn Chah could teach his simple, practice-based form of meditation. He attracted a wide variety of disciples, which included, in 1966, the first Westerner, Venerable Ajahn Sumedho.[7] Wat Nong Pah Pong [9] includes over 250 branches throughout Thailand, as well as over 15 associated monasteries and ten lay practice centers around the world.[7]

In 1975, Wat Pah Nanachat (International Forest Monastery) was founded with Ajahn Sumedho as the abbot. Wat Pah Nanachat was the first monastery in Thailand specifically geared towards training English-speaking Westerners in the monastic Vinaya, as well as the first run by a Westerner.

In 1977, Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho were invited to visit the United Kingdom by the English Sangha Trust who wanted to form a residential sangha.[10] 1979 saw the founding of Cittaviveka (commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery due to its location in the small hamlet of Chithurst) with Ajahn Sumedho as its head. Several of Ajahn Chah's Western students have since established monasteries throughout the world.

Later life

By the early 1980s, Ajahn Chah's health was in decline due to diabetes. He was taken to Bangkok for surgery to relieve paralysis caused by the diabetes, but it was to little effect. Ajahn Chah used his ill health as a teaching point, emphasizing that it was "a living example of the impermanence of all things...(and) reminded people to endeavor to find a true refuge within themselves, since he would not be able to teach for very much longer".[7] Ajahn Chah would remain bedridden and ultimately unable to speak for ten years, until his death on January 16, 1992, at the age of 73.[11]

Notable Western students

• Ajahn Sumedho, former abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire England
• Ajahn Viradhammo, abbot of Tisarana Buddhist Monastery in Perth, Ontario, Canada
• Ajahn Khemadhammo, abbot of The Forest Hermitage, Warwickshire, England
• Ajahn Pasanno, abbot of Abhayagiri Monastery, Redwood Valley, California, USA
• Ajahn Amaro, abbot of Amaravati Monastery, Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire England
• Ajahn Brahm, abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery, Western Australia
• Ajahn Jayasaro, author of Stillness Flowing, the biography of Ajahn Chah, and former abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat
• Jack Kornfield, co-founder of Insight Meditation Society, Barre, Massachusetts, USA and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, USA

Bibliography

• Still Flowing Water: Eight Dhamma Talks (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, ed.). Metta Forest Monastery (2007).
• A Still Forest Pool: The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah (Jack Kornfield ed.). Theosophical Publishing House (1985). ISBN 0-8356-0597-3.
• Being Dharma: The Essence of the Buddha's Teachings. Shambahla Press (2001). ISBN 1-57062-808-4.
• Food for the Heart (Ajahn Amaro, ed.). Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2002. ISBN 0-86171-323-0.

References

1. "แจ้งความสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานสัญญาบัตรตั้งสมณศักดิ์", 24 ธันวาคม 2516. ราชกิจจานุเบกษา. ฉบับพิเศษ เล่มที่ 90 ตอนที่ 177, หน้า 8
2. Breiter, Paul (2004). Venerable Father. Paraview Special Editions. p. xi. ISBN 1-931044-81-3.
3. "Ajahn Chah Passes Away". Forest Sangha Newsletter. April 1992. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
4. Website of Chithurst Buddhist Monastery
5. "The State Funeral of Luang Por Chah". Ajahn Sucitto. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
6. Jayasaro, Ajahn (2017). Stillness Flowing: The life and teachings of Ajahn Chah. Panyaprateep Foundation. ISBN 978-616-7930-09-1.
7. "Biography of Ajahn Chah". Wat Nong Pah Pong. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
8. Wat Nong Pah Pong. "A Collection of Dhammatalks by Ajahn Chah". Everything Is Teaching Us. Retrieved 30 December2013.
9. "Website of Wat Nong Pah Pong". Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
10. "Ajahn Sumedho (1934-)". BuddhaNet. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
11. "Ajahn Chah: biography". Forest Sangha. Retrieved March 18, 2016.

External links

• Short biography and picture
• Video: detailed biography of Ajahn Chah
• Website of Wat Nong Pah Pong
• International branch monasteries of Wat Nong Pah Pong
• Ajahn Chah website – in English and other languages, with useful links and info
• PDF ebook: Recollections of Ajahn Chah, by various authors
• Ajahn Pasanno. Recollections of Ajahn Chah, Part 1 First of a series of 3 talks about Ajahn Chah, mp3 format
• Website of the Memorial to Ajahn Chah in Thai

Teachings

• PDF ebook: The Teachings of Ajahn Chah – main collection of Dhamma talks
• Dhamma talks by Ajahn Chah
• MP3 Dhamma talks by Ajahn Chah
• Ajahn Chah's talks in English and other languages
• Dhamma talks in MP3 audio format, with English translation
• Portal of the Ajahn Chah Sangha, including MP3s
• The Memorial to Ajahn Chah: Teachings in English and other languages

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Ajahn Sumedho [Robert Karr Jackman] [Luang Por Sumedho] [Tan Chao Khun Thep Nyanavithet]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/9/20


Ajahn Sumedho
Born: Robert Karr Jackman, July 27, 1934 (age 86), Seattle, Washington, USA
Other names: Luang Por Sumedho, Tan Chao Khun Thep Nyanavithet
Occupation: Buddhist teacher
Title: Ajahn Sumedho
Predecessor: Ajahn Chah

Luang Por Sumedho or Ajahn Sumedho (Thai: อาจารย์สุเมโธ) (born Robert Karr Jackman, July 27, 1934) is one of the senior Western representatives of the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, UK, from its consecration in 1984 until his retirement in 2010. Luang Por means Venerable Father (หลวงพ่อ), an honorific and term of affection in keeping with Thai custom; ajahn means teacher. A bhikkhu since 1967, Sumedho is considered a seminal figure in the transmission of the Buddha's teachings to the West.

Biography

Ajahn Sumedho was born Robert Karr Jackman in Seattle, Washington, in 1934.[1][2] During the Korean War he served for four years from the age of 18 as a United States navy medic. He then did a BA in Far Eastern studies and graduated in 1963 with an MA in South Asian studies at the University of California, Berkeley. After a year as a Red Cross social worker, Jackman served with the Peace Corps in Borneo from 1964 to 1966 as an English teacher. On break in Singapore, sitting one morning in a sidewalk café, he watched a Buddhist monk walk by and thought to himself, "That looks interesting." In 1966, he became a novice or samanera at Wat Sri Saket in Nong Khai, northeast Thailand. He ordained as a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) in May the following year.

From 1967-77 at Wat Nong Pah Pong, he trained under Ajahn Chah. He has come to be regarded as the latter's most influential Western disciple. In 1975, he helped to establish and became the first abbot of the International Forest Monastery, Wat Pa Nanachat in northeast Thailand founded by Ajahn Chah for training his non-Thai students. In 1977, Ajahn Sumedho accompanied Ajahn Chah on a visit to England. After observing a keen interest in Buddhism among Westerners, Ajahn Chah encouraged Ajahn Sumedho to remain in England for the purpose of establishing a branch monastery in the UK. This became Cittaviveka Forest Monastery in West Sussex.

Ajahn Sumedho was granted authority to ordain others as monks shortly after he established Cittaviveka Forest Monastery. He then established a ten precept ordination lineage for women, "Siladhara".

Until his retirement, Ajahn Sumedho was the abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery near Hemel Hempstead in England, which was established in 1984. Amaravati is part of the network of monasteries and Buddhist centres in the lineage of Ajahn Chah, which now extends across the world, from Thailand, New Zealand and Australia, to Europe, Canada and the United States. Ajahn Sumedho played an instrumental role in building this international monastic community.

Ajahn Sumedho's imminent retirement was announced in February 2010, and he retired in November of that year. His successor is the English monk Ajahn Amaro, hitherto co-abbot of the Abhayagiri branch monastery in California's Redwood Valley. Ajahn Sumedho now dwells as a "free agent" in Thailand.

Teachings


Ajahn Sumedho (left) with a visiting Thai monk (Phra Root Chumdermpadetsuk).


Ajahn Sumedho (seated beneath the shrine) in conversation with a bhikkhu, just before Amaravati's daily meal

Ajahn Sumedho is a prominent figure in the Thai Forest Tradition. His teachings are very direct, practical, simple, and down to earth. In his talks and sermons he stresses the quality of immediate intuitive awareness and the integration of this kind of awareness into daily life. Like most teachers in the Forest Tradition, Ajahn Sumedho tends to avoid intellectual abstractions of the Buddhist teachings and focuses almost exclusively on their practical applications, that is, developing awareness and wisdom in daily life. His most consistent advice can be paraphrased as to see things the way that they actually are rather than the way that we want or don't want them to be ("Right now, it's like this..."). He is known for his engaging and witty communication style, in which he challenges his listeners to practice and see for themselves. Students have noted that he engages his hearers with an infectious sense of humor, suffused with much loving kindness, often weaving amusing anecdotes from his experiences as a monk into his talks on meditation practice and how to experience life ("Everything belongs").[3]

Sound of Silence

A meditation technique taught and used by Ajahn Sumedho involves resting in what he calls "the sound of silence".[4] He talks at length about this technique in one of his books titled The Way It Is.[5] Ajahn Sumedho said that he was directly influenced by Edward Salim Michael's book, The Way of Inner Vigilance (republished in 2010 with the new title, The Law of Attention, Nada Yoga and the Way of Inner Vigilance and for which Ajahn Sumedho wrote a preface).

The Sound of Silence is also the title of one of Ajahn Sumedho's books (published by Wisdom Publications in 2007).[6]

Thai honorific ranks

• 5 December 1992 - Phra Sumedhacarya (พระสุเมธาจารย์)[7]
• 12 August 2004 - Phra Rajasumedhajahn Pisanbhavanakit Mahakanisorn Bovornsangaram Kamavasi (พระราชสุเมธาจารย์ พิศาลภาวนากิจ มหาคณิสสร บวรสังฆาราม คามวาสี)[8]
• 28 July 2019 - Phra Thep Nyanavithet Visethbodhidhammakhun Viboonbhavananusit Mahakanisorn Bovornsangaram Kamavasi (พระเทพญาณวิเทศ วิเศษโพธิธรรมคุณ วิบูลภาวนานุสิฐ มหาคณิสสร บวรสังฆาราม คามวาสี)[9]

See also

• Thai Forest Tradition
• Ajahn Chah

References

1. Ajahn Sumedho on Amaravati's Sangha Page
2. Ajahn Sumedho on Buddhanet
3. "Ajahn Sumedho - teachings". forestsangha.org. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
4. "The Sound of Silence" (PDF). abhayagiri.org. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
5. "The Way It Is". amaravati.org. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
6. "The Sound of Silence". Wisdom Publications. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
7. ราชกิจจานุเบกษา, ประกาศสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานสัญญาบัตรตั้งสมณศักดิ์, เล่ม 109, ตอนที่ 155 ง ฉบับพิเศษ, 5 ธันวาคม 2535, หน้า 17
8. ราชกิจจานุเบกษา, ประกาศสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานสัญญาบัตรตั้งสมณศักดิ์พระสงฆ์ไทยในต่างประเทศ, เล่ม 121, ตอนที่ 17 ข, 15 กันยายน 2547, หน้า 15
9. ราชกิจจานุเบกษา, พระบรมราชโองการประกาศ เรื่อง พระราชทานสัญญาบัตรตั้งสมณศักดิ์, เล่ม 136, ตอนที่ 40 ข, 28 กรกฎาคม 2562 , หน้า 11

External links

• BuddhaNet entry on Ajahn Sumedho
• Biography of Ajahn Sumedho at Amaravati Buddhist monastery.
• Compilation of 108 mp3 talks or reflections given by Luang Por Sumedho from 1978 until 2010.
• Collection of 1,298 mp3 talks or the entire collection of Dhamma talks given by Luang Por Sumedho until 2014.
• Books by Ajahn Sumedho (online, in epub, mobi or pdf format)
• Mp3 talks by Ajahn Sumedho at dharmaseed.org
• Video of interview on YouTube English with Portuguese sub titles.
• Ajahn Sumedho's eBooks in English and other Languages.
• Ajahn Sumedho Interviewed

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Chithurst Buddhist Monastery
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/9/20


Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery
The main building at Chithurst Buddhist monastery
Religion
Affiliation: Thai Forest Tradition
Location: Cittaviveka
Chithurst Buddhist Monastery Chithurst (W. Sussex), Petersfield, Hampshire GU31 5EU, United Kingdom
Architecture
Founder: Venerable Ajahn Sumedho Mahathera
Website: cittaviveka.org

Cittaviveka (Pali: 'discerning mind'), commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, is an English Theravada Buddhist Monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition. It is situated in West Sussex, England in the hamlet of Chithurst between Midhurst and Petersfield. It was established in 1979 in accordance with the aims of the English Sangha Trust, a charity founded in 1956 to support the ordination and training of Buddhist monks (bhikkhus) in the West. The current abbot, since 2014, is Ajahn Karuniko.

The monastery was established by Ajahn Sumedho under the auspices of his teacher, Ajahn Chah of Wat Pah Pong, Ubon, Thailand. Ajahn Chah visited the monastery at its inception as the first branch monastery of Wat Pah Pong to be established outside of Thailand. Although the style of the monastery has been modified to accommodate Western social and cultural mores, it retains close links with Thailand especially monasteries of the Thai Forest Tradition and is supported by an international community of Asians and Westerners.[1][2]

"Cittaviveka" is a term used in the Pāli scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. The monastery was so named by Ajahn Sumedho, the first abbot (1979–1984) as a suitable word-play on "Chithurst," the hamlet in which its main house is situated. The title "Chithurst Buddhist Monastery" is also commonly used, although the approximately 175 acres/70 hectares of the monastery’s land extend into the adjacent parish.

Subsequent abbots have been Ajahn Ānando (1984–1992), Ajahn Sucitto (1992-2014) and Ajahn Karuniko (2014-). The monastery is supported by donations, and lay people may visit or stay for a period of time as guests free of charge. Teachings are given on a regular basis, generally on weekends.[3]

History


Photo from the Dhamma hall at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery

Foundation (1979-1984)

Cittaviveka is a "Forest Monastery" in the lineage of Ajahn Chah, where the emphasis is on training in terms of the precepts and renunciation established by the Vinaya (the Buddhist Monastic Code), and on a communal lifestyle. The monastery is mostly made up of woodland and heath (Hammer Wood) which has a few kutīs (huts [Thai]) for monks and nuns, but communal activities, teaching and guest accommodation are situated in two adjacent houses – Chithurst House (for men) and Āloka Cottage (for women). Hammer Wood was given to the Sangha in 1978-9, an act which precipitated the purchase of the semi-derelict Chithurst House which stood nearby. Later in 1979, another nearby cottage was purchased. This was renamed Āloka Cottage.

A small group of bhikkhus took up residence on 22 June 1979, along with samaneras (novices) and anagārikas ["homeless ones" that is men living under the Eight Precepts.] They were soon joined by four women who took up the training as eight-precept nuns (mae-chee ["spiritual mothers"-Thai]) and who in 1983 became the first four sīladharā, ten-precept nuns.[4] [The term means "those who uphold virtue" in Pāli.] The initial priority of the community was the repair of Chithurst House, which took about five years. Along with this was the reafforestation of Hammer Wood (which had been turned into commercial coppice after the First World War), a project which continues to this day.

In the more specifically monastic aspect of the monastery’s development was the establishment of an ordination precinct (sīma) by Ven. Ānandamaitreya Mahanayaka of Sri Lanka in 3rd. June 1981. This coincided with the conferring of Preceptorship (Upajjhāya) on Ajahn Sumedho. This gave Ajahn Sumedho the authority to grant bhikkhu ordination (upasampadā) and accordingly the first three candidates were ordained on 16 July 1981. Although bhikkhu ordinations had taken place in Britain before, they had taken place on temporary sīmas; the first established sīma was at Chithurst.

Ordinations took place at Cittaviveka on a yearly basis throughout the eighties, including the first sīladharā ordination in 1983, but, as the sīma is just a square on the lawn bounded by stones, when other indoor sīmas were subsequently established at Harnham (Aruna Ratanagiri) and Amaravati, these weatherproof areas were favoured. Cittaviveka will in the future establish a new sīma inside its main meditation hall.

On 1 August 1984, Ajahn Sumedho left Cittaviveka to establish Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire. This was because of a felt need to provide more accommodation for the growing Orders of bhikkhus and sīladharā and also of lay people who wished to study and train under his guidance. Taking half the bhikkhu community and all the sīladharā to Amaravati, he left Ajahn Ānando, one of the original founders, to supervise Cittaviveka as Abbot.

Development (1984-1992)

Teaching meditation retreats for lay people was a key feature of Ajahn Sumedho’s practice, a duty which took him away from the monastery for long periods. Ajahn Ānando also taught retreats, but also put energy into continuing the rebuilding of the monastery and training junior bhikkhus. With much of the major repairs completed by 1984, more attention was given to reafforestation; bhikkhus would also spend time on retreat in the Hammer Wood in tents and tepees or in one of two kutis that had been erected there.

A small group of sīladharā returned to Cittaviveka in 1986, and with changes in personnel, nuns have been a feature of the monastery ever since. During this period, the monastery also became more integrated into the local landscape, with the bhikkhus and sīladharā going out on alms-round on a daily basis.

Later years (1992- )


Ajahn Sucitto, abbot of Chithurst Buddhist monastery 1992-2014.

Ajahn Sucitto, another one of the original founders, became Abbot on 7 June 1992. Work on developing the monastery continued with further kutis in Hammer Wood, and then the construction of a large meditation hall (Dhamma Hall) on the site of a ruined coachhouse in the grounds of Chithurst House (1998–2004). Ajahn Sucitto stepped down in 2014 and Ajahn Karuniko was invited to take over the position of Abbot.

In 2006, the English Sangha Trust purchased another house for nuns, situated opposite to Āloka and now called Rocana Vihāra. The nuns live there largely autonomous from the male monastic community.

Two or three members of the community currently go to the local towns on alms-rounds (pindapāda) for their daily meal on a couple of days of each week. The traditional wayfaring practice (tudong [Thai from Pāli "dhutanga" – "austere") of walking cross-country for several weeks, living on alms and sleeping out is also an established voluntary practice during the warmer months of the year.[5]

Related monasteries in the UK

The monastery is one of the five monasteries in the same tradition, located in England; The others being: Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, Aruna Ratanagiri (Harnham Buddhist Monastery); Hartridge Buddhist Monastery; and The Forest Hermitage (Santidhamma & Bhavanadhamma)

See also

• List of current places of worship in Chichester (district)

External links

• Chithurst Buddhist Monastery Website
• The Story of Cittaviveka
• Portal page for all the branch monasteries of Ajahn Chah

References

1. Much of the information for this article, along with samples of Ajahn Sumedho’s teachings, can be found in the book, "Cittaviveka: teachings from the silent mind". This book and others can be obtained on the Forest Sangha website http://www.forestsangha.org under ‘Publications
2. Ajahn Chah’s Forest Monasteries can visited via http://www.forestsangha.org
3. See the monastery’s website http://www.cittaviveka.org for details.
4. For an account of the establishment of the sīladharā Order see http://fsnewsletter.amaravati.org/html/81/order.htm Archived 17 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
5. For accounts of tudong, see "Walking Dhutanga in Britain" by Bhikkhu Sucitto, Bodhi Leaf/Wheel Publications. Also http://blisteredfeet-blissfulmind.net Archived 3 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine which has a range of tudong stories. "The Long Road North" by Amaro Bhikkhu can be downloaded from http://www.abhayagiri.org Also see "Rude Awakenings" by Ajahn Sucitto and Nick Scott, Wisdom Publications, and its sequel "Great Patient One", both available on the Forest Sangha website http://www.forestsangha.org

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Amaravati Buddhist Monastery
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/9/20

-- The English Sangha Trust: History, by Amaravati.org

Amaravati Buddhist Monastery
A stupa amid the frost of late dawn
Religion
Affiliation: Thai Forest Tradition
Leadership: Ajahn Amaro (abbot)
Location: St Margarets Lane, Great Gaddesden, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England HP1 3BZ, United Kingdom
Founder: disciples of Luang Por Chah [Ajahn Chah]
Completed: 1984
Website: http://www.amaravati.org

Amaravati is a Theravada Buddhist monastery at the eastern end of the Chiltern Hills in South East England. Established in 1984 by Ajahn Sumedho as an extension of Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, the monastery has its roots in the Thai Forest Tradition. It takes inspiration from the teachings of the community's founder, the late Ajahn Chah. Its chief priorities are the training and support of a resident monastic community, and the facilitation for monastic and lay people alike of the practice of the Buddha's teachings.

It is not to be confused with the ancient Amaravati Stupa in India.

Community

The resident community consists of monks (bhikkhus), nuns (siladhara), and male and female postulants who live in accordance with strict traditional codes of celibacy, together with a volunteer support staff and visitors. According to the monastery website, regarding the male monastic community, "Usually, there are between 15 and 25 bhikkhus and samaneras in residence, living a contemplative, celibate, mendicant life according to the Vinaya and Dhamma. [...] The community also consists of anagārikas, or white-robed postulants on the eight precepts, who after a year or two may be given samanera ordination."[1] The monastery's order of siladhara, or ten-precept nuns, dates from 1983; there are 10 or so members and a number of female postulants at Amaravati and at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery in West Sussex.[2]


Inside Amravati Buddhist Monastery

Origins

Amaravati formally opened in 1985, the site having been purchased from Buckinghamshire County Council by the English Sangha Trust the year before. Its configuration of several large huts of Canadian cedar, built in extensive grounds for military purposes during World War II, had formerly been a residential school. A purpose-built temple was officially opened on 4 July 1999 by Princess Galyani Vadhana, sister of the King of Thailand. The monastery's founder and abbot for most of its existence has been Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Chah's foremost disciple in the West. In Autumn 2010 he handed over to the English monk Ajahn Amaro, who for the preceding 15 years had been co-abbot of Abhayagiri Monastery in Redwood Valley, California.[3]


Beyond all coming and going: the Tathagata


Temple of Amaravati Monastery UK seen from within cloister


Main temple building seen from rear car park


Amaravati Monastery Cloister outside wall and temple in background


Main Stupa and trees in bloom at Amaravati Monastery UK

Outreach

Amaravati has sister monasteries in England – in Devon, Northumberland and West Sussex – as well as monasteries in New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland and North America, which were likewise founded by Ajahn Sumedho. These exist among other Western branches of Ajahn Chah's community, in addition to those in Thailand (see list below). A new vihara in Portugal, called Sumedharama, has been founded north west of Lisbon, near Ericeira.[4] Amaravati's retreat centre provides meditation courses for lay people from April to December. A meditation workshop for lay visitors happens each Saturday from 2-4pm, and there are family and other practice and teaching events happening at the monastery regularly.

In accordance with the principle of dāna established by the Buddha, the monastery and the retreat centre are run entirely on donations. Amaravati is near the Hertfordshire village of Great Gaddesden. The nearest towns are Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted. The mediaeval convent of St Margaret's, abolished by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, was for centuries just 400 yards along the lane. Amaravati in the ancient Buddhist language of Pali means "deathless realm."

Retreat Centre

The monastery includes a retreat centre offering monastic and lay retreats most of the year.

Long Term Plans

In 2013, plans were unveiled, to update the buildings to a more eco-friendly design, replacing some of the old wooden buildings. So far the following have been completed

• Aroga Kuti: Nursing cottage for elderly monks, completed in Nov 2017.
• Heartwood House: Increased accommodation for the Nuns community.
• Re-Building of the nuns residence at Amaravati.

See also

• Buddhism in the West
• Buddhism in the United Kingdom
• Buddhism in Europe
• Aruna Ratanagiri
• Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, UK
• Wat Pah Pong, Thailand
• Wat Pah Nanachat, Thailand
• Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, USA
• Bodhinyana Monastery, Australia

References

1. Amaravati website Archived 19 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine
2. Amaravati website Archived 11 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
3. Amaravati website Archived 26 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine
4. Sumedharama Website

External links

• Official website
• Amaravati on Vimeo
• Forest Sangha website
• Forest Sangha newsletter

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City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/9/20


City of Ten Thousand Buddhas 萬佛聖城
The mountain gate to the city
Religion
Affiliation: Chan Buddhism
Ownership: Dharma Realm Buddhist Association
Location: 4951 Bodhi Way, Ukiah, California, United States
Style: Kirkbride Plan

1848 lithograph of the Kirkbride design of the Trenton State Hospital

The Kirkbride Plan was a system of mental asylum design advocated by Philadelphia psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride (1809–1883) in the mid-19th century. The asylums built in the Kirkbride design, often referred to as Kirkbride Buildings (or simply Kirkbrides), were constructed during the mid-to-late-19th century in the United States. The structural features of the hospitals as designated by Dr. Kirkbride were contingent on his theories regarding the healing of the mentally ill, in which environment and exposure to natural light and air circulation were crucial. The hospitals built according to the Kirkbride Plan would adopt various architectural styles, but had in common the "bat wing" style floor plan, housing numerous wings that sprawl outward from the center.

The first hospital designed under the Kirkbride Plan was the Trenton State Hospital in Trenton, New Jersey, constructed in 1848. Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century, numerous psychiatric hospitals were designed under the Kirkbride Plan across the United States. By the twentieth century, popularity of the design had waned, largely due to the economic pressures of maintaining the immense facilities, as well as contestation of Dr. Kirkbride's theories amongst the medical community.

Numerous Kirkbride structures still exist today, though many have been demolished or partially-demolished and repurposed. At least 30 of the original Kirkbride buildings have been registered with the National Register of Historic Places in the United States, either directly or through their location on hospital campuses or in historic districts.

-- Kirkbride Plan, by Wikipedia

Founder: Hsuan Hua
Date established: 1974; 46 years ago
Groundbreaking: 1925[1]
Completed: 1933[1]
Construction cost: $331,545[1]
Direction of façade: South
Site area: 700 acres (280 hectares)
Elevation: 627 ft (191 m)[2]
Website: http://www.cttbusa.org


Aerial view of the city

The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (traditional Chinese: 萬佛聖城; ; pinyin: Wànfó Shèngchéng; Vietnamese: Chùa Vạn Phật Thánh Thành) is an international Buddhist community and monastery founded by Hsuan Hua, an important figure in Western Buddhism. It is one of the first Chan Buddhist temples in the United States, and one of the largest Buddhist communities in the Western Hemisphere.

The city is situated in Talmage, California, a rural community in southeastern Mendocino County about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Ukiah and 110 miles (180 km) north of San Francisco. It was one of the first Buddhist monasteries built in the United States. The temple follows the Guiyang school of Chan Buddhism, one of the Five Houses of Chan. The city is noted for its close adherence to the vinaya, the austere, traditional Buddhist monastic code.

History

The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association purchased the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas site in 1974 and established an international center there by 1976.[3] In 1979, the Third Threefold Ordination Ceremony at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas was held, in which monks from China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the US transmitted the precepts. It was considered unique, as it represented both the Mahayana and Theravada traditions.[4][5]

Originally the site housed the Mendocino State Asylum for the Insane (later renamed the Mendocino State Hospital), founded in 1889. There were over seventy large buildings, over two thousand rooms of various sizes, three gymnasiums, a fire station, a swimming pool, a refuse incinerator, fire hydrants, and various other facilities. A paved road wound its way through the complex, lined with tall street lamps and trees planted during the asylum's initial construction. The connections for electricity and pipes for water, heating, and air conditioning were all underground, but centrally controlled.

Considering the natural surroundings to be ideal for cultivation, Hsuan Hua visited the valley three times and negotiated with the seller many times. He wanted to establish a center for propagating the Buddhadharma throughout the world and for introducing the Buddhist teachings, which originated in the East, to the Western world. Hsuan Hua planned to create a major center for world Buddhism, and an international orthodox monastery for the purpose of elevating moral standards and raising people's awareness.

The city comprises 488 acres (197 hectares) of land, of which 80 acres (32 hectares) are developed. The rest of the land includes meadows, orchards, and forests. Large institutional buildings and smaller residential houses are scattered over the west side of the campus. The main Buddha hall, monastic facilities, educational institutes, administrative offices, the main kitchen and dining hall, Jyun Kang Vegetarian Restaurant, and supporting structures are all located in this complex.

In 2009, the walls of the Long Life Hall suffered structural damage caused by an electrical fire. However, no major damage occurred to the altar, artwork or statues inside the hall.[6]

Notable structures

The Jeweled Hall of 10,000 Buddhas
• The Jeweled Hall of 10,000 Buddhas: Finished in 1982, the hall is adorned with streamers, banners, lamps and has in the center a 20-foot (6 m) statue of a thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara (a bodhisattva popularly known as Guanyin in Chinese and Chenrezik in Tibetan). Rows of yellow bowing cushions line the red carpet. Walls are adorned with 10,000 images of the Buddha, molded by Hsuan Hua.[7]
• Hall of No Words: This is where Hsuan Hua often held classes for his disciples in the early years of the city. The abbot's quarters, where Hsuan Hua dwelled, were on the second floor. This was also where Hsuan Hua lay in state during the 49-day mourning period. Now, it is a memorial hall that contains relics of the Buddha, Hsu Yun, and Hsuan Hua. It is closed to the public and opened on special days.
• Dharma Realm Buddhist University: DRBU was established in 1976 by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, who devoted his life to education in developing the human character. The University offers two degree programs: Bachelor of Liberal Arts[8] and Master of Arts in Buddhist Classics.[9] In 2018, it became accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.[10]
• Jyun Kang Vegetarian Restaurant: The university cafeteria, which serves only vegan food. The goal is to serve healthful nutritious food full of the good karma of non-harming.
• Tathāgata (Rulai) Monastery: The dorm rooms for monks (left home persons) and male lay persons persuaded toward the monastic lifestyle.
• Great Compassion Courtyard: Dorm rooms for guests and visitors.
• Bell and Drum House: Houses the instruments that are played daily to ready monastics for daily practice.
• Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts: This facility was active in the early years of the city as a center for translation and as a residence hall for nuns and laywomen. The Institute has since moved to Burlingame, California.[11]
• Tower of Blessings: Hsuan Hua allocated the Tower of Blessings as a home for the elderly monastics residing in the city.
• Wonderful Words Hall: Site for daily gatherings to listen to Hsuan Hua's taped lectures in the 10,000 Buddhas Hall.
• Five Contemplations Dining Hall: Completed in 1982, it is where the monastics and resident lay community follow the formal monastic style in taking their lunch meal. Only purely vegetarian food is served here, and the hall can seat over 3,000 people.
• Instilling Goodness Elementary and Developing Virtue Secondary Schools: The elementary (kindergarten through 6th grade) and secondary (7th grade through 12th grade) schools were founded by Hsuan Hua in 1976. The schools are divided into two divisions, Boys and Girls, and teach such classes as meditation, yoga, Buddhism, and World Religions. Many foreign and non-local students also reside on campus in school dorms for the duration of the school year (excepting winter, spring, and summer vacations). As of spring 2006, there were about 130 students in both divisions.
• Organic Farm: A ten-acre CCOF-certified organic farm, whose produce supplements the meals in the dining hall.


The Five Contemplations Dining Hall, with a forty-foot-high painting of thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara

Traditions

Two practices distinguish the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas from many other Chinese Buddhist monasteries: the monastics always wear the long sashes that are worn outside the kāṣāya or monastic clothing, and they eat only one meal a day, always before noon.

At night most of them sit up and rest, rather than lying down to sleep. Monastics at the city do not have any social lives, nor do men and women intermingle. Whereas many ordinary Chinese monks go out to perform rituals for events such as weddings or funerals, none of these monks do so. Some monastics even choose to maintain a vow of silence, for varying periods of time. They wear a tag saying "No Talking" and do not speak with anyone.

There are monks and nuns who maintain the precept of not owning personal wealth and not touching money, thus eliminating the thought of money and increasing their purity of mind. Master Hsuan Hua often reminded his disciples:[12][13]

In cultivation, we have to stick to our principles! We can't forget our principles. Our principles are our goal. Once we recognize our goal, forward we go! We've got to be brave and vigorous. We can't retreat. As long as we are vigorous and not lax in ordinary times, we could become enlightened any minute or any second. So by no means should we let ourselves be confused by thoughts, and miss the opportunity to get enlightened.

— Venerable Master Hsuan Hua

Atmosphere

The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is a strict Buddhist monastery adhering to the traditional Asian monastic culture although it is located in a liberal area of California. While the traditionalists are more drawn to the spiritual and devotional side of Buddhism, Westerners are often more interested in meditation. Some of the boarding school children are Westerners from the local community who want their children to grow up in a community-oriented place, while some of the children come from Taiwan and China, and even from European countries, such as France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, where parents think highly of Hsuan Hua.[14]

The monastery houses both male and female Sangha, students from the boarding school, and is open to the public. However, males and females have separate campuses, with gender-neutral buildings in the middle of the campus. In contrast, many monasteries in China, Taiwan, and the West house only monks or only nuns (but not both), and are closed to the public.

Guiding principles and customs

Hsuan Hua set up the six principles for all monastics and lay practitioners to follow as guidelines for spiritual development. These principles were "not to fight nor be greedy, not to seek nor be selfish, not to pursue personal advantage, and not to lie."

Since spiritual development is a full-time endeavor, certain rules and customs are followed in the community, including:

• Different sections of the campus are designated for men or women, and generally the genders do not commingle. This is particularly noticeable at ceremonies and meals, where men and women separate into different sections.
• Out of respect to the lifestyle of the monastics, modest clothing is worn by the laity at all times.
• Smoking, drug use, and the consumption of meat products and alcoholic beverages are prohibited.

Other notable customs:

• Unlike in many temples found in Asia, no incense is ever offered personally by any of the lay practitioners and guests. Hsuan Hua believed that it was superstitious to insist on personally offering incense to the Buddhas and pointed out that high-quality incense is expensive while poor-quality incense can ruin the walls and statues. Instead, a single stick of incense is offered by a monastic for the entire assembly, and then all practitioners would simply bow and pay respects.

Wildlife


One of the city's many peacocks

Many animals roam the grounds of the City, including peafowl, deer, squirrels, and other species. The peacocks are generally quite accustomed to the presence of people and are tame. The peacocks pose a large problem on the farm, so countermeasures have been taken against them, including covering the plants, moving the peacocks to a walnut farm, and planting extra food based on the assumption that a significant fraction will be eaten or damaged by peacocks. During special Dharma Assemblies, a Liberating of Life ceremony is held, in which many animals – especially pheasants and chukar partridges – bought from hunting preserves, are set free.

Daily schedule

Morning schedule

4:00 AM - 5:00 AM: Morning Recitation
5:00 AM - 6:00 AM: Universal Bowing
6:00 AM - 7:00 AM: Meditation / Self-study
6:15 AM - 6:45 AM: Breakfast
7:00 AM - 8:00 AM: Avatamsaka Sutra recitation (in Chinese)
8:00 AM - 10:30 AM: Classes, study or work
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM: Meal Offering / Lunch

Evening schedule

6:30 PM - 7:30 PM: Evening Recitation
7:30 PM - 9:40 PM: Lecture / Closing recitation

"Largest in Western Hemisphere" claim

Hsi Lai Temple, associated with Fo Guang Shan and located in Hacienda Heights in Southern California, has claimed since 1988 that they are the largest Buddhist temple in the Western Hemisphere. However, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas has over 80 acres (32 hectares) of developed land on a total of 488 acres (197 hectares) compared to Hsi Lai's dense temple complex on 15 acres (6.1 hectares). Therefore it is unclear which is the largest, as there is a significant difference between the structure and location of the two Buddhist organizations.

See Also

• Buddhism in the United States

References

1. "Mendocino State Hospital - Asylum Projects". http://www.asylumprojects.org. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
2. "Talmage". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. 1981-01-19. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
3. In Memory of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. Buddhist Text Translation Society. 1995. p. 26. ISBN 9780881395518.
4. "Footsteps of an Ascetic Monk". City of 10,000 Buddhas. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
5. "A Year-By-Year Record Of The Life Of Venerable Master Hua And The Activities Of Dharma Realm Buddhist Association". Dharma Realm Buddhist Association. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
6. "Fire at City of 10,000 Buddhas". Ukiah Daily Journal. 2009-01-28. Archived from the original on 2017-04-27. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
7. "Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas". City of 10,000 Buddhas. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
8. "Undergraduate Program". Dharma Realm Buddhist University. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
9. "Graduate Program". Dharma Realm Buddhist University. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
10. "Dharma Realm Buddhist University". WASC Senior College and University Commission.
11. "About Us". Buddhist Text Translation Society. Archived from the original on 2016-10-14. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
12. "History & Background". City of 10,000 Buddhas. Archived from the original on 2019-03-13. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
13. "The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas at Wonderful Enlightenment Mountain - In Memory of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua". Dharma Realm Buddhist Association. Archived from the original on 2019-09-22. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
14. "Education: Teaching People to Love the Country, Love the Family, and Cherish Life". City of 10,000 Buddhas. Retrieved 2019-09-22.

External links

• Official website

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Dharma Realm Buddhist Association
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/10/20


The DRBA logo


The mountain gate to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, the headquarters of DRBA.

The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (shortened to DRBA, Chinese: 法界佛教總會, PY: Fajie Fuojiao Zonghui, formerly known as the Sino-American Buddhist Association) is an international, non-profit Buddhist organization founded by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua in 1959 to bring the orthodox teachings of the Buddha to the entire world. DRBA has branch monasteries in many countries and cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Vancouver, as well as in Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia.

History

The Sino-American Buddhist Association was founded in San Francisco, California in 1959. A small temple, the Buddhist Lecture Hall was started. The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua came over from Hong Kong in 1962 by plane, stopping over at Japan and Hawaii before arriving at San Francisco.

From 1962 to 1968 the Venerable Master lectured on the Lotus Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, and the Amitabha Sutra among many other Buddhist sutras and texts. Many of his Dharma talks and line-by-line explanations of sacred Buddhist texts have been published in book form by the Buddhist Text Translation Society, both in the original Chinese and in English translation.[1]‹See TfM›[failed verification]

In June 1968 he began a 96-day intensive Study and Practice Summer Session for students and faculty from the University of Washington in Seattle. After the session had concluded, many of the participants remained in San Francisco to continue their studies with the Venerable Master. In that year five Americans (three Bhikshus, two Bhikshunis) were ordained, marking the beginning of the Sangha in the United States.

In 1970 Gold Mountain Monastery, one of the first Chinese Buddhist temples in the United States was founded in San Francisco, and a Hundred Day Chan Session was begun. Vajra Bodhi Sea, a monthly journal of DRBA about Buddhist topics and teachings, was also founded in 1970.

In 1972 the first Threefold Ordination Ceremony for the transmission of the complete precepts was held at Gold Mountain Monastery.

In 1973 the Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts and Instilling Goodness Elementary School were founded in San Francisco. In the same year, Bhikshus Heng Ju and Heng Yo began a Three Steps One Bow pilgrimage from San Francisco to Seattle to pray for world peace - a hard journey over 1,000 miles. This was the first such pilgrimage in the history of American Buddhism.

The site of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas was purchased in 1974, and in November of that year the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua led a delegation to propagate the Dharma in Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and other places. The delegation lasted for three months, ending on January 12, 1975.

Gold Wheel Monastery was founded in Los Angeles in 1975.

In 1976 the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas completed the second Threefold Ordination Ceremony. Developing Virtue Secondary Schools and Dharma Realm Buddhist University were also founded. The next year Dharma Masters Heng Sure[2] and Heng Chau began a second Three Steps, One Bow pilgrimage from Gold Wheel Monastery to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas.

Branch Monasteries

Note that this is only a partial list of all branch monasteries of DRBA.

United States

• The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas 萬佛聖城 - Talmage, CA[3]
• The City of the Dharma Realm 法界聖城 - West Sacramento, CA
• Gold Mountain Monastery 金山聖寺 - San Francisco, CA
• Institute for World Religions & Berkeley Buddhist Monastery 法界宗教研究院 - Berkeley, CA
• The International Translation Institute 國際譯經學院 - Burlingame, CA
• Gold Wheel Monastery 金輪聖寺 - Los Angeles, CA
• Long Beach Monastery 長提聖寺 - Long Beach, CA
• Blessings, Prosperity & Longevity Monastery 福祿壽聖寺 - Long Beach, CA
• Gold Sage Monastery 金聖寺 - San Jose, CA
• Gold Summit Monastery 金峰聖寺 - Seattle, WA
• Avatamsaka Vihara 華嚴精舍 - Bethesda, MD

Canada


Gold Buddha Monastery in Vancouver.

• Avatamsaka Monastery 華嚴聖寺 - Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• Gold Buddha Monastery 金佛聖寺 - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Malaysia

• Dharma Realm Guan Yin Sagely Monastery 法界觀音聖寺 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Prajna Guan Yin Sagely Monastery 般若觀音聖寺 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Lotus Vihara 蓮華精舍 - Selangor, Malaysia
• Fa Yuan Sageley Monastery 法緣聖寺 - Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia
• Malaysia Dharma Realm Buddhist Association - Penang Branch 馬來西亞法界佛教總會檳城分會- Penang, Malaysia

Hong Kong

• Cixing Monastery 慈興寺
• Buddhist Lecture Hall 佛教講堂

Taiwan

• Dharma Realm Buddhist Books Distribution Society 法界佛教印經會 - Taipei, Taiwan
• Amitabha Monastery 彌陀聖寺 - Hualien, Taiwan
• Dharma Realm Monastery 法界聖寺 - Liugui, Taiwan

Australia

• Gold Coast Dharma Realm 金岸法界 - Gold Coast, Australia

See also

• Hsuan Hua
• Buddhism in America
• Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States

References

1. "Buddhist Text Translation Society". Retrieved 10 September 2014.
2. Heng Sure
3. "City of 10,000 Buddhas". Retrieved 10 September 2014.

External links

• Dharma Realm Buddhist Association
• Dharma Realm Buddhist University
• Buddhist Text Translation Society
• Dharma Realm Buddhist Young Adults
• DRBA

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Hsuan Hua [An Tzu] [Tu Lun]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/10/20


Hsuan Hua 宣化
Hsuan Hua in Ukiah, California

Title Chan Master, Founder and abbot of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, President of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, Rector of the Dharma Realm Buddhist University, the ninth patriarch of guiyang school.

Personal
Born: Bai Yushu, April 16, 1918, Jilin, China
Died: June 7, 1995 (aged 77), Los Angeles, United States
Religion: Chan Buddhism
Nationality: Chinese
School: Guyiang School
Lineage: 9th generation
Dharma names: An Tzu; Tu Lun
Senior posting
Teacher: Hsu Yun
Students: Heng Sure, Heng Lyu, Heng Chau, Heng Lai


Venerable Hsuan Hua meditating in the lotus position. Hong Kong, 1953.

Hsuan Hua (Chinese: 宣化; pinyin: Xuānhuà; lit.: 'proclaim and transform'; April 16, 1918 – June 7, 1995), also known as An Tzu and Tu Lun, was a monk of Chan Buddhism and a contributing figure in bringing Chinese Buddhism to the United States in the 20th century.

Hsuan Hua founded several institutions in the US. The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association[1] (DRBA) is a Buddhist organization with chapters in North America, Australia and Asia. The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB) in Ukiah, California, is one of the first Chan Buddhist monasteries in America. Venerable Master Hsuan Hua founded Dharma Realm Buddhist University at CTTB. The Buddhist Text Translation Society works on the phonetics and translation of Buddhist scriptures from Chinese into English, Vietnamese, Spanish, and many other languages.

Early life

Hsuan Hua, a native of Shuangcheng County of Jilin (now Wuchang District, Harbin, Heilongjiang), was born Bai Yushu (白玉書) on April 16, 1918. His parents were devout Buddhists. At an early age, Hua became a vegetarian like his mother, and decided to become a Buddhist monk.

At the age of 15, he took refuge in the Three Jewels under the Venerable Chang Zhi. That same year he began to attend school and studied texts of various Chinese schools of thought, and the fields of medicine, astrology, and physiology. At 19 years of age, Hua became a monastic, under the Dharma name An Tzu. (安慈)

Bringing Chinese Buddhism to the United States

In 1959, Hsuan Hua sought to bring Chinese Buddhism to the West.[2] He instructed his disciples in America to establish a Buddhist association, initially known as The Buddhist Lecture Hall, which was renamed the Sino-American Buddhist Association before taking its present name: the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association.

Hsuan Hua traveled to Australia in 1961 and taught there for one year, returning to Hong Kong in 1962. That same year, at the invitation of American Buddhists, he traveled to the United States; his intent was to "come to America to create Patriarchs, to create Buddhas, to create Bodhisattvas".[3]

San Francisco

Hsuan Hua resided in San Francisco, where he built a lecture hall. Hsuan Hua began to attract young Americans who were interested in meditation. He conducted daily meditation sessions and frequent Sutra lectures.

At that time, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred between the United States and the Soviet Union, and Hsuan Hua embarked on a fasting period for thirty-five days to pray for an end to the hostilities and for world peace. In 1967, Hsuan Hua moved the Buddhist Lecture Hall back to Chinatown, locating it in the Tianhou Temple.

First American Sangha

In 1968, Hsuan Hua held a Shurangama Study and Practice Summer Session. Over thirty students from the University of Washington in Seattle came to study the Buddha’s teachings. After the session was concluded, five young Americans (Bhikṣu Heng Chyan, Heng Jing, and Heng Shou, and Bhikṣuṇīs Heng Yin and Heng Ch'ih) requested permission to take full ordination.

Venerable Hsuan Hua lectured on the entire Śūraṅgama Sūtra in 1968 while he was in the United States. These lectures were recorded in an eight-part series of books containing the sutra and a traditionally rigorous form of commentary that addresses each passage. It was again lectured by the original translator monks and nuns of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas at Dharma Realm Buddhist University in the summer of 2003.

Vision of American Buddhism

With the founding of his American Sangha, Hsuan Hua embarked on his personal vision for Buddhism in the United States:

• Bringing the true and proper teachings of the Buddha to the West and establishing a proper monastic community of the fully ordained Sangha here
• Organizing and supporting the translation of the entire Buddhist canon into English and other Western languages[4][5]
• Promoting wholesome education through the establishment of schools and universities

Hosting ordination ceremonies

Because of the increasing numbers of people who wished to become monks and nuns under Hsuan Hua's guidance, in 1972 he decided to hold ordination ceremonies at Gold Mountain Dhyana Monastery. Two monks and one nun received ordination. Subsequent ordination platforms have been held at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in 1976, 1979, 1982, 1989, 1991, and 1992, and progressively larger numbers of people have received full ordination. Over two hundred people from countries all over the world were ordained under him.

Theravada and Mahayana traditions

Having traveled to Thailand and Burma in his youth to investigate the Southern Tradition of Buddhism, Hsuan Hua wanted to bridge what he perceived as a rift between the Northern (Mahayana) and Southern (Theravada) traditions. In an address to Ajahn Sumedho and the monastic community at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery on October 6, 1990, Hsuan Hua stated:[6]

In Buddhism, we should unite the Southern and Northern traditions. From now on, we won't refer to Mahayana or Theravada. Mahayana is the "Northern Tradition" and Theravada is the "Southern Tradition." [...] Both the Southern and the Northern Traditions' members are disciples of the Buddha, we are the Buddha's descendants. As such, we should do what Buddhists ought to do. [...] No matter the Southern or the Northern Tradition, both share the common purpose of helping living beings bring forth the Bodhi-mind, to put an end to birth and death, and to leave suffering and attain bliss.

On the occasion of the opening ceremony for the Dharma Realm Buddhist University, Hsuan Hua presented Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda of the Theravada tradition with an honorary Ph.D. He also donated a major piece of the land that would become Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, a Theravada Buddhist monastery in the Thai Forest tradition of Ajahn Chah, located in Redwood Valley, California.

Hsuan Hua would also invite Bhikkhus from both traditions to jointly conduct the High Ordination.

Chinese and American Buddhism

From July 18 to the 24th of 1987, Hsuan Hua hosted the Water, Land, and Air Repentance Dharma Assembly, a centuries-old ritual often seen as the "king of dharma services" in Chinese Buddhism, at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and invited over seventy Buddhists from mainland China to attend. This was the first time the service was known to have been held in North America.

On November 6, 1990, Hsuan Hua sent his disciples to Beijing to bring the Dragon Treasury (Chinese: 龍藏; pinyin: lóngzáng) edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon back to CTTB, furthering his goal of bringing Buddhism to the US.

Death

On June 7, 1995, Hsuan Hua died in Los Angeles at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. His sudden passing came as a shock to most of his disciples.

Funeral

Hsuan Hua's funeral lasted from June 8 to July 29. On June 17, Hsuan Hua's body was taken from southern to northern California, returning to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. All major services during the funeral were presided over by Venerable Ming Yang, abbot of Longhua Temple in Shanghai and a longtime friend of Hsuan Hua's.

On July 28, monks from both Theravada and Mahayana traditions hosted a memorial ceremony and cremation. More than two thousand followers from the United States, Canada, and various Asian and European countries, came to CTTB to take part in the funeral service. Letters of condolences from Buddhist monks and dignitaries, including from President Bush, were read during the memorial service.

A day after the cremation, July 29, Hsuan Hua's ashes were scattered in the air above the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas by two disciples, Heng Sure and Heng Chau, one of Master Hua's first disciples, from a hot air balloon.

After the funeral, memorial services commemorating Hsuan Hua's life were held in various parts of the world, including Taiwan, China, and Canada. His śarīra (relics) were distributed to many of his temples, disciples and followers.

See also

• Buddhism in the United States
• Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
• Buddhism in the West

References

1. DRBA Founder's Bio Archived 2008-01-13 at the Wayback Machine
2. Epstein, Ronald (1995). "The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua Brings the Dharma to the West." In Memory of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, Volume One. Burlingame, CA:Buddhist Text Translation Society, pp. 59-68. Reprinted in The Flower Adornment Sutra, Chapter One, Part One “The Wondrous Adornment of the Rulers of the Worlds; A Commentary by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. Burlingame, CA: Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2004, pp. 274-286.
3. Prebish, Charles (1995). "Ethics and Integration in American Buddhism". Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Vol. 2, 1995.
4. Epstein, Ronald (1969). “The Heart Sūtra and the Commentary of Tripiṭaka Master Hsüan Hua.” Master’ Thesis, University of Washington.
5. Epstein, Ronald (1975). “The Śūraṅgama-sūtra with Tripiṭaka Master Hsüan-hua’s Commentary An Elementary Explanation of Its General Meaning: A Preliminary Study and Partial Translation.” Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California at Berkeley.
6. Hsuan Hua. The Shurangama Sutra with Commentary, Volume 7. 2003. p. 261

External links

• Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua

[admin]

Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/10/20


Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery
View from the Bhikkhu Commons
(Monks' Utility Building, or MUB)
(Photo by Reginald White)
Religion
Affiliation: Thai Forest Tradition
Location: Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, 16201 Tomki Road Redwood Valley, CA 95470, United States
Completed: 2018
Website: http://www.abhayagiri.org/


Buddha statue at Abhayagiri

Abhayagiri, or Fearless Mountain in the canonical language of Pali, is a Theravadin Buddhist monastery of the Thai Forest Tradition in Redwood Valley, California. Its chief priorities are the teaching of Buddhist ethics, together with traditional concentration and insight meditation (also known as the Noble Eightfold Path), as an effective way of completely uprooting suffering and discontent.

Origins & Development

About 16 miles (26 km) north of Ukiah, the monastery has its origins in the 1980s when the UK-based Ajahn Sumedho, foremost western disciple of the Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, started getting requests to teach in California. Visits by Ajahn Sumedho, as well as other senior monks and nuns, resulted in the Sanghapala Foundation being set up in 1988. The monastery's first 120 acres (0.49 km2) were given to the foundation by the devotees of Chan Master Hsuan Hua, founder of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talmage, before he died in 1995.[1] Currently, the monastery rests on 280 acres (1.1 km2) of mountainous forest land.[2]

Six months after the monastery was settled by Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Pasanno arrived to join him as co-abbot. They served together in this role until July, 2010, when Ajahn Amaro departed to take up the invitation to serve as abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England.[3] Ajahn Pasanno was the sole abbot of Abhayagiri between July, 2010 and July, 2018.[4]

Abhayagiri Monastery developed significantly under Ajahn Pasanno's and Ajahn Amaro's leadership and guidance, along with the support of the monastic and lay community, and more specifically, the Abhayagiri Building Committee. Over 25 kutis, monastic huts, were built in the mountainous monastery forest during their time as co-abbots as well as when Ajahn Pasanno was the lone abbot. In addition, during the early years, the co-abbots converted both current and new buildings into a Dhamma Hall, kitchen, office spaces, a room for disabled visitors, a laundry room and bathrooms/showers for lay women and men, along with monastery infrastructure and extensive creation of forest paths and roads.

The co-abbots also contributed to the building of the Bhikkhu Commons, more affectionately know to the residents as the MUB: Monks' Utility Building, a 1600 square foot complex located in the upper forest of the monastery. The MUB offers monks access to bathrooms, showers, a multipurpose meeting room, a large sewing room, a laundry room, a small kitchenette and a large storage room below. The MUB was dedicated and officially opened on July 4, 2010.

After Ajahn Amaro's departure to England in July, 2010 building a new Reception Hall was the next major undertaking of Ajahn Pasanno and the Abhayagiri Community. This took more than three years of planning and 4 years of building and would be a two-story complex with over 3000 square feet of covered outdoor decks and 6000 square feet of internal space. The internal space included a spacious meditation hall, a larger, commercial style kitchen, a library, a food storage room, guest rooms, a child care room, multiple bathrooms, showers for laymen, a laundry room, a small shrine room/reliquary, and a large storage room. Major landscaping was also accomplished. The Reception Hall building broke ground in July, 2013 and ended all construction on June 30, 2018 with the cloister area inauguration.[5][6]

Also in 2010, Ajahn Pasanno supported the establishment of the Pacific Hermitage, a branch of Abhayagiri Monastery, founded in the Columbia River Gorge along a forested stretch in White Salmon, Washington. Through Ajahn Pasanno's encouragement, Ajahn Sudanto lead the effort to establish the Pacific Hermitage.[7] Three years after its founding, the hermitage was offered a purchased property on the outskirts of White Salmon where it is presently located. Three monks typically stay in residence at the Hermitage, year round.

The October 2017 Northern California wildfires threatened Abhayagiri[8] but it survived undamaged.

At the end of Ajahn Pasanno's tenure as abbot, July 11, 2018, he departed for a year sabbatical leaving the monastery to co-abbots Ajahn Karunadhammo and Ajahn Nyaniko for the foreseeable future.[9] Ajahn Pasanno plans to reside at Abhayagiri after his sabbatical, but will not be taking up the role of abbot when he returns.

Lifestyle


Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, and Ajahn Ñāniko walking in Ukiah, accepting offerings of alms food. Full Moon Observance Day, September 2013 (Photo by Brian Carniello)

As of July 2018, there were two abbots (co-abbots), a total of 13 fully ordained bhikkhus (Buddhist monks), two samaneras (novices), and 4 anagarikas (postulants) and a long term female monastic resident.[10] Men and women live in separate locations in the monastery following guidelines of formal celibacy. Male residents live in small huts nestled in the forest. Female residents live in a house and a couple of huts on an adjoining property which was separately donated for the purpose of housing women at the monastery. Guest teachers come from forest monasteries in Thailand, England, as well as other countries in Europe and Australia. Visitors come to the monastery regularly for day visits,[11] and can also stay as overnight guests.[12]


Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, Asalha Puja 2014

The daily schedule, in keeping with tradition, is rigorous.[13] Most residents (monastics and lay visitors) rise well before sunrise. Morning puja begins at 5:00 am and lasts an hour and a half. It includes chanting in both Pali and English,[14] as well as an hour of silent meditation. This is followed by a half-hour chore period and a simple oatmeal breakfast. At 7:30 am, there is a meeting where a short Dhamma reflection is given and work assignments for the morning period are announced. A three-hour work period follows this meeting, ending with a meal around 11:00 am, which has to be consumed before midday. All lay residents follow the 8 precepts which include not eating food after noon until dawn the next day. Around 1:00 pm, after the post-meal cleanup, the schedule is open for individual practice of sitting and walking meditation as well as Dhamma study. It is at this time that monks, in addition to their meditation and study practice, care for their personal requisites like the huts they live in and the robes they wear. One can also walk around the extensive network of trails that wind about the mountainside. At 5:30 pm, tea is served in the kitchen and on most days one of the Ajahns is available in the Dhamma Hall for questions and answers. Tea time is followed by the evening puja beginning at 7:00 pm, which includes chanting in Pali and another hour of silent meditation.[15] Formal Dhamma talks are offered on Saturday evening and lunar observance days during evening puja just after the period for silent meditation. On lunar observance days, which mark the four moon quarters, sitting and walking meditation continue until 3:00 am the next morning, followed by a morning puja.

Special lunar observance days at Abhayagiri include Asalha Puja, which commemorates the first teaching given by the Buddha after he attained enlightenment and the first time another being attained stream-entry as a result of the Buddha’s teaching. The next day is the beginning of vassa (Thai: พรรษา), the three-month Rains Retreat where monks are required to stay at a single residence for the duration of this time (they can leave for 6 days at time under specific circumstances). Vassa is followed by Kathina, a festival in which the laity expresses gratitude to monks and offers to the monastic community gifts of cloth and supplies that will be useful for the coming year. The cloth is then cut, sewn and dyed by the monks to make a robe on that day to offer to one of the Saṅgha. Other days that the monastic community at Abhayagiri sets aside each year for special commemoration include Ajahn Chah’s birthday (June 17), Vesakha Puja (usually the first full moon of May), and Magha Puja (usually on a full moon in late February/ early March).

Programs & Teaching in the Community


Abhayagiri monastery

Abhayagiri offers a variety of programs and teachings throughout the year. The Upāsikā Program was created for laypeople in order to assist individual practice, enhance spiritual training, and deepen both the intellectual and experiential understanding of Dhamma. Upāsikā Days are held throughout the year at the monastery and are open both to those who have made a formal commitment to the program and to those who may simply wish to attend for the day. Each year’s commitment ceremony takes place in the spring. There is a different theme for the teachings that are offered on each Upāsikā Day.[16]

Members of the Abhayagiri Saṅgha regularly travel from Abhayagiri throughout the year to offer teachings in the immediate area and other parts of the country. Once a month, they offer teachings at Yoga Mendocino (Ukiah, California),[17] at the Three Jewels Meditation Hall (Fort Bragg, California),[18] and at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery,[19] and they offer teachings at least once throughout the year at Portland Friends of the Dhamma (Oregon),[20] Spirit Rock Meditation Center,[21] Insight Santa Cruz,[22] and the Common Ground Meditation Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota).[23]

See also

• Ajahn Amaro
• Ajahn Pasanno
• Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, UK
• Bodhinyana Monastery, Australia
• Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, UK
• Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery, Canada
• Index of Buddhism-related articles
• Wat Pah Nanachat, Thailand

References

1. Talbot, Mary (Winter 1998). "Just Another Thing in the Forest". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Retrieved September 10,2019.
2. "Origins of Abhayagiri", Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.
3. "Ajahn Amaro Biography" Archived 2014-07-29 at the Wayback Machine, Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. Retrieved on 19 September 2013.
4. "Monasteries in the lineage of Ajahn Chah", Forest Sangha. Retrieved on 19 September 2013.
5. "Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery - About - Construction". http://www.abhayagiri.org. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
6. "Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery - News - 254 Cloister Area Inauguration A Big Success". http://www.abhayagiri.org. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
7. " The Pacific Hermitage: About Us" Archived 2014-11-01 at the Wayback Machine.
8. Atwood, Haleigh (October 13, 2017). "California wildfires threaten Buddhist centers and monasteries". Lion's Roar. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
9. "Abhayagiri news 248 Luang Por Pasannos birthday and taking leave celebration". http://www.abhayagiri.org. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
10. "Residents", Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.
11. "Day Visits", Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.
12. "Overnight Stays", Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.
13. "Daily Schedule", Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.
14. "Chanting Book", Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.
15. "Chanting Book", Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.
16. "Upasika Program", Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.
17. "Yoga Mendocino (Ukiah, California)"
18. "Three Jewels Meditation Hall (Fort Bragg, California)"
19. "Berkeley Buddhist Monastery"
20. "Portland Friends of the Dhamma"
21. "Spirit Rock Meditation Center"
22. "Insight Santa Cruz"
23. "Common Ground Meditation Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota)"

External links

• Abhayagiri official website: offers free audio, books & newsletter
• Forest Sangha website
• On-line Pali Language Course