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It is a lonely Sunday afternoon in early February, after about a week of fluffy snow interrupted by cold rain. The monastic community has been on retreat for a month now, and without much activity or coming and going, the ordinariness of life is highlighted. The mind suddenly takes interest in the trickling of a nearby stream, or the hum of a far off airplane. The sun has just broken through the clouds, and vague memories of our last Kathina ceremony flit through the mind: “Yea, I guess that’s where we left off last time.” Now is the time for interest and energy to flow into the next newsletter.

Kathina
Kathina is a robe making ceremony established by the Buddha to maintain harmony within the monastic community and to give laypeople a chance to make a special offering of robe cloth to the Sangha. This takes place any time during the month after the end of the three month Rains Retreat, or vassa (after the full moon of October). This final month of the monsoon season is traditionally known as the robe making season, when bhikkhus would wander in search of cloth for new robes. At least five bhikkhus must have lived together in the same monastery during the vassa for a Kathina to take place.

Over the years, the Kathina has grown into the biggest gift-giving day of the year for the Sangha, and could be likened to a “Buddhist Christmas.” Bolts of robe cloth are offered during a formal ceremony, as well as anything the Sangha needs, from medicines to power tools. According to tradition, the Sangha will choose which among them is suitable to receive the kathina cloth, and a collective effort is made to produce a robe for that bhikkhu before the next dawn. This includes cutting, sewing and dyeing the cloth. This year the kathina robe was given to Tan Jotipālo, who has lived at Abhayagiri since 1998 and has given great service to the monastery over the years.

The 2007 kathina day illustrated the principle of samaggi, or harmony. In the early Page 2 of 7

morning tents were erected, prayer flags were hung, and free distribution Dhamma books and CDs were set out. Friends of the monastery came throughout the morning, brought offerings of food, and the giving of the cloth to the Sangha was done after the meal. A special thanks goes out to this year’s kathina cloth donors: Mahesh Jayasinghe, Regan Urbanick and Krit Leekamjorn. Everyone helped with taking down the tents and cleaning up afterwards, and by five pm the monastery looked as if nothing had happened. The robe was sewn and dyed quickly, and the procedure for the giving of the new robe was finished before 9:30 pm, a rare occurrence.

Community and Teachings
Another ancient tradition that takes place after the vassa is that of wandering to new locations. On November fourth, just a few days after the Kathina festivities, Ajahn Amaro, Tan Jotipālo, Tan Ñāniko and Tan Khemaratana headed together to San Francisco for a three-way dispersal: Ajahn Amaro and Tan Jotipælo to Wisconsin, Tan Ñāniko to India, and Tan Khemaratana returned to Bhāvana Society in West Virginia.

Ajahn Amaro, accompanied by Tan Jotipālo, led a six day retreat at the Christine Center in Wisconsin. The center is located in west central Wisconsin on 120 acres of wooded land, and the retreat was well-attended with about 40 participants. Tan Jotipālo continued on to Arrow River Forest Hermitage in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He is currently enjoying an extended period of practice in the cold and quiet Canadian wilderness. His current duties are limited to clearing snow, chopping firewood and carrying water, so most of the day is open for meditation practice and study of Dhammavinaya.

Tan Ñāniko spent the months of November and December in India, having been generously sponsored by his friend Manu Sahay. Also in December Ajahn Karunadhammo, along with monastic and lay friends, did a pilgrimage in India. Khun Ploen visitted Abhayagiri during kathina time. She invited Debbie to join in with the Indian expedition. It is not possible to fully express the gratitude we feel towards Khun Ploen for organizing this trip, and for Page 3 of 7

the support she gives to the Sangha in general. See more about the India travels in the proceeding articles.

On November 16th, Ajahn Pasanno left for his travels abroad, starting with a visit to Wat Buddharatanaram in Keller, Texas to join with their kathina ceremony. Ajahn Pasanno then joined with Ajahn Karunadhammo to depart for Thailand, with a plan to do a pilgrimage in India starting in early December. Just two days before travelling from Thailand to India, Ajahn Pasanno suffered an unknown illness and was unable to make the plane trip to India to lead the pilgrimage. Fortunately, Ajahn Cattāmalo, having been to the Holy Places three times, stepped up to lead the group of Thais and Westerners. After the pilgrimage, Ajahn Karunadhammo returned to Thailand to help care for Ajahn Pasanno.

The 2007 Thanksgiving Retreat at the Angela Center was led by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Mettā (a nun from Amaravati Monastery). There were over 50 participants, most of whom were quite well known to the Abhayagiri Sangha while some new faces also appeared. This was the first longer retreat that Ajahn Mettā had lead. Mary Paffard, who founded Yoga Mendocino, was also in attendance as the retreat yoga instructor. The cook for the seventh year running was Paul Eaton, who yet again filled the monks, nuns, and lay practitioner’s bowls with healthy and nourishing food.

The retreat schedule included lively Dhamma discourses, regular interviews and lots of sitting and walking meditation. A special highlight this year was the attendance of Sāmanera Kaccāna’s mother, and Anagārikā Santusikā’s mother as well. The retreat was also joined by Tan Cāgānando and Sāmanera Cunda from Abhayagiri, and Sister Jotipaññā from Chithurst Monastery. As always the retreat was held on a dāna basis and was funded solely on the generosity of the participants. This will have been the tenth Thanksgiving Retreat at the Angela Center.

Come December, Ajahn Sudanto left for a two week visit to Birken Monastery in British Columbia, Canada, then continued on to New Zealand, where he spent the winter at Vimutti Monastery with Ajahn Chandako. Page 4 of 7

Ajahn Chandako has been living in New Zealand for over three years now, almost completely by himself, so very little building has happened in the monastery. Much appreciation to Ajahn Sudanto for going to help build a kuti there.

A monk from Chithurst Monastery in England, Tan Nārado, spent the first couple weeks of December at Abhayagiri. It was his first visit to the US, and he visited local sites like Montgomery Woods, home of some of the tallest redwood trees in the world. Tan Nārado continued on to join the community at Bodhiñānarama Monastery in New Zealand for a one year stay.

On December twelfth, Jackie Miller departed for England to take up training at Amaravati and eventually take ordination as an anagārikā. Jackie has, over the past three years, spent almost a year at Abhayagiri, has been very generous with her time and service and has been a joy to have in the community. She left us with a Dhamma poem by her nephew, Brinn Enders (see end of this article). We wish her all the best in her aspirations to enter the sāmana’s way of life.

Our good friend and local eremitic off-property resident, Jay, entered the hospital on January ninth to have a large tumor in the right side of his mouth surgically removed. The procedure was extensive: the removed tumor had to be replaced with a large flap of skin from his left arm, his lymph glands in the neck were removed, all his teeth were removed, and a tracheotomy was necessary, along with a feeding tube. The monastic and lay community constantly sent out their best wishes and lovingkindness. The surgeries were successful but there is a lot of swelling and a full recovery will take many months. Some radiation therapy will be necessary over the next period of time. Jay returned to us on February fourth in very good spirits, after three weeks in the hospital.

The community warmly welcomes Ajahn Yatiko, who has spent the last 17 years training in Thailand. He had the opportunity to spend the 2007 Page 5 of 7

vassa period in Canada and has come to live at Abhayagiri for an indeterminate period of time. Someone asked him the other day “Do you like this monastery? Isn’t it beautiful?”

He replied, “Yes, very beautiful. I think this is the second most beautiful monastery I’ve lived in, but the first would have to be Dtao Dum.” (Dtao Dum is a remote and rugged forest hermitage in western Thailand, where Ajahn Yatiko was the abbot for the past five years).

The annual commemoration of Ajahn Chah at Wat Pah Pong in Thailand took place on January 16th. It has been 16 years since Luang Por’s death, and the day happened to correspond with the lunar observance day at Abhayagiri (the 15th in the US overlaps with the 16th in Thailand). Ajahn Ānandabodhi and Ajahn Santacitta joined us for the all-night vigil, with Ajahn Ānandabodhi offering some Dhamma reflections. Meanwhile across the globe, Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karunadhammo, and hundreds of other monastics and laypeople joined the circumambulation of the Ajahn Chah monument at Wat Pah Pong, which houses Luang Por’s coral-like bone relics.

Winter Retreat
The monastic community began their winter retreat on January third, with three weeks of all-day group practice. Normally we try to not have people coming and going during this time, but with Ajahn Yatiko arriving on January 11th, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karunadhammo stuck in Thailand until January 21st, and Jay in hospital, some movement was unavoidable.

During the month of January the weather was cold, with periods of snow, which provided a quiet atmosphere for the group practice. Ajahn Amaro read teachings each morning, beginning with Bhikkhu Bodhi’s “Noble Eightfold Path.” Next he read the new Ajahn Sumedho book, “The Sound of Silence.” The daily teachings and the absence of work and duties for three months gives Abhayagiri monastics the opportunity to truly focus on the path of serenity and insight.

Near the end of January the schedule opened up more, with free afternoons to be used for sitting and walking meditation up at one’s hut in the forest. This gives Page 6 of 7

the opportunity for people to use nature to calm the mind. Sometimes people would spend an afternoon just sitting somewhere off the trail in the forest. As February came about, along with cold, sunny days, readings from Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro’s upcoming book “The Island,” a compilation of the Buddha’s teachings on Nibbāna, were given. What joy, to contemplate the “stilling of all formations, cessation, Nibbāna” in the forest quietude.

The all night sits on the lunar quarters, and the Saturday night talks continued during the winter retreat. Also much appreciation goes out to the 2008 support crew who have taken over duties from the monastics during this time. When there is a lack of duties, one notices the support we get all year long: Pamela Kirby looking after the library and constantly transcribing and editing things for the monastery, Kamlah and Tina bringing huge offerings of food on a regular basis, and others who are so devoted to giving offerings that there is a tendency to take it all for granted.

Sīladhāra News
With the Sīladhāras looking to start a branch monastery for nuns in the US, they are becoming more of a presence at Abhayagiri. In November Ajahn Mettā and Sister Jotipaññā paid us a visit. In January Ajahn Ānandabodhi and Ajahn Santacitta joined us for the commemoration of the 16th anniversary of Ajahn Chah’s passing away.

Sīladhāras led the February and March “First Tuesday” gatherings at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery. During these gatherings there is an informal tea and discussion period in the late afternoon, followed by evening pþja and Dhamma reflections. During the February gathering, the tea time gave people a chance to ask about the development of the new nuns’ community in the US. There was a good crowd and lots of enthusiasm. In the evening, rather than giving talk on Dhamma the nuns anwer questions about Dhamma practice.

Development
In October and November a small firewood shed was built near the sauna, allowing us to clean up the whole sauna/solar shed area. This is a possible site for our next large Page 7 of 7

building, the “Monk’s Utility Building,” and the first step to surveying the site was cleaning up the scattered piles of firewood. The November and December community work days were used to split and stack firewood, finish off random painting projects, and do a general cleanup of the monastery before the winter retreat. Continued appreciation arises for the immense generosity of the laypeople who come to help with the community work days.

As for the coming year, there is a plan to build a third elder’s cabin to provide a place for visiting senior monks and elders to stay. The cabin will be located at the end of the road up in the forest. This site is very accessible and gas, electric, and water have already been run to the location. The first two elder’s cabins were built near this area in 2006.

Another standard size monk’s cabin will be constructed in the forest near our ordination platform.

Also the entire year will be dovoted to making plans for the “Monk’s Utility Building,” deciding upon things like location, whether to make it one building or two, size and logistics. The actual construction might take place in 2009 or 2010.