Led by the Abhayagiri Community December 6-15, 2019 at Applegate Retreat Center, Applegate, CA Abhayagiri Monastery in Redwood Valley, California and the Sanghapala Foundation invite you to join Luang Por Pasanno, and others from the Abhayagiri Community for a 10-day retreat in December. We will create a monastery environment during our time together, and we offer you this opportunity to explore the Dhamma in a setting that differs somewhat from a typical meditation retreat. We will all live the monastery life, following the Eight Precepts, taking only what is offered, and attempting to reflect on our every activity as part of our practice. This will include noble silence, morning and evening chanting, sitting and walking meditation, a w...
Posted April 15, 2019

The flowers lining Abhayagiri’s trails opened almost overnight. As late March’s sun burnt off the mountain fog, blue bells of hound’s tongue and red tufts of indian paintbrush began to appear along the monks’ walk to and from the cloister, where they’d spent the previous three months practicing in silence. The end of winter retreat meant a return to a regular routine of working in the forest, caring for monastery buildings, and receiving guests. It meant fifty emails in the guest monk’s inbox from people hoping to visit. It meant a chance for the community to carry the benefits of silent practice into interaction with the world, and the honks of geese migrating north in the evenings. It meant spring. From January until the end ...
Posted April 8, 2019

Beginning on Saturday December 15th, the monastery’s weekly Dhamma Talk and Puja, usually held at 2 pm Sunday afternoon, will be moved back to 7 pm Saturday evening. The monastery hopes that returning the weekly program to its original Saturday evening slot will prove more convenient for those hoping to join the community for the regular teachings, meditation, and chanting. Additionally, the other weekly evening program held on lunar observance days will be moved from 7:30 to 7:00 pm starting on Saturday December 15th, helping those travelling from far away return home earlier and simplifying the monastery’s schedule by ensuring that all such gatherings take place at a uniform time. Please consult our calendar f...
Posted December 3, 2018

You have to make the teaching work, though. Just to worship it, praise it, read it, and analyze it is one thing. There is nothing wrong with that. But the main point of the Buddha’s teaching is the paṭipadā; put it into practice, make it work for you. I can only encourage you; I can’t make the teaching work for you. And of course the Buddha couldn’t either. He just gave a teaching which we had to take and apply to the reality of our own lives. It is a simple teaching based on the common factor of suffering. This is the common bond that we share with all creatures. We all have birth, ...