In mid July of 2013 we began phase 1 of construction to the new Reception Hall. Ideally, starting construction work in April is preferred; starting in July was a bit risky as we feared early fall rains would cause delays and create a messy work environment. Our contractor assured us he could get the job done, so we proceeded. Little did we know rain was not going to be a problem. All of this work…

There are now nearly 1,000 Dhamma talks on the Abhayagiri web page, and the sheer number of talks can be a bit daunting. Recently the volunteers who mail our books told us that prisoners who don’t have access to mp3 players are still requesting audio CDs. Thus we posted a question in the monk’s room: “If you were in prison and had access to only two Abhayagiri Dhamma talks, which would you choose?…

As a gift to our beloved teacher, the Abhayagiri community is improving the access trail to Ajahn Pasanno’s cabin. This improved access will be of great benefit to him. Most of the work is being completed by a mini-excavator, but we need assistance in hauling and spreading gravel for a good surface. Sunday, December 15, we plan to have an all-day work project to do the hauling and spreading of the…

Each fall, Abhayagiri Monastery creates a photo album of the year’s events for Ajahn Pasanno to take on his December visit to Thailand. The album includes photographs of ordinations, festivals, visiting teachers, travel, ongoing construction, and nature. It is available for free as an ebook and can be ordered from Blurb for the cost of printing. The photos in this book can also be viewed in the on…

We finally finished an mp3 CD of the readings and reflections from the 2013 Abhayagiri Winter Retreat. The retreat theme was Dhammānupassanāsatipaṭṭhāna: The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness. It began with a series of introductory talks on meditation by Ajahn Pasanno and continued with Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, and Ajahn Jotipālo reading selections from the Pāli canon and other sources fo…

Much of the this past week was spent preparing for the lower level walkway concrete pour. The crew also built the forms to pour one of the retaining wall, and some hand digging was done to prevent damage to the roots of large oak tree near the building. On Friday both of those pour happened. There will be one more pour happening, hopefully next week. We hope to provide a weekly up-date to the cons…

On Sunday, October 20th, over 300 lay supporters arrived on the Abhayagiri Monastery grounds to celebrate a 2600 year old tradition offering cloth donations and other material requisites to the monks who have stayed at Abhayagiri for the entire 2013 rains residence from July 23rd to October 19th. Along with Ajahn Jayasaro, 15 Thai lay men and women came to support the building of Abhayagiri’s new…

While the foundation for the new Reception Hall is being laid at Abhayagiri Monastery, a stone Buddha image is being carved in Thailand for the main Dhamma Hall and an image of Ajahn Chah is being fashioned for the smaller shrine room on the lower level of this building. During his 2012 visit to Thailand, Ajahn Pasanno searched for a Buddha image that would be suitable for the new building. He was…

We are pleased to announce that Ajahn Jayasaro will attend the Kathina Cermony on Sunday, October 20th. Since the time of the Buddha, this annual ceremony has taken place during the month after the Vassa Retreat, which is the three-month rains retreat season (the monsoon season in Southeast Asia) for the monastic order. It is the time of the year when new robes and other requisites may be offered…

Sometime during the afternoon of the last Sunday of September, a rolling community of bicyclists and supporting volunteers will stream up Tomki Road and arrive at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery. For at least a week before these dusty, lycra-clad pilgrims dismount from their bicycles, the monastic community will have been preparing for their arrival—discussing logistics, setting up canopies, and f…