For eight days in early October, the lay community gathered at Abhayagiri both in person and virtually to celebrate the completion of the Rains retreat. This carried on the Kathina tradition that has taken place since the time of the Buddha. During this period there were offerings of cloth, food, and supplies that will be useful for the coming year. Some of the offered cloth was then cut, sewn and…

Dear Dhamma Friends and Companions, This is the final reminder of the online Kathina Weekend. October 10 You are welcome to join Luang Por Pasanno for an online daylong retreat hosted by Insight Santa Cruz. Begins at 9am. To join, click “Join Online Meeting” at the top-left of the following page: https://www.insightsantacruz.org/events/a-day-with-ajahn-pasanno-october-10/?occurrence=2020-10-102 Oc…

UPDATE as of 11/8/2020 : Ajahn Ñāṇiko will be substituting for Ajahn Pasanno for the November 14th Dhamma talk. Dharma College is hosting a series of online Wisdom talks with Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Ñāṇiko and Bhikkhu Bodhi. First talk: Living with Wisdom in our Daily Life and how to distinguish between mind and wisdom? Venerable Ajahn Amaro (October 17th, Saturday 10 am-12 pm). Second talk: Deconstruc…

Northern California is experiencing a number of fires which are affecting many people. The nearest fire to Abhayagiri is called the August Complex fire which started in mid-August and burned 875,000 acres. While it has been providing Abhayagiri with a great deal of smoke, as of yet it has not posed any imminent evacuation threat. Nevertheless, many communities in the vicinity have been affected. T…

During the evening of Saturday, August 29th, Anagārika Aaron will ordain as a sāmaṇera, a novice monk. The ceremony will take place in the Reception Hall and will be live streamed. The program will begin with evening puja at 7pm. The ordination ceremony will begin between 8pm and 8:30pm. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, it is not possible for the general public to join us in the Reception Hall…

Abhayagiri will host an Online Upāsikā Day on August 23rd, 1-5pm. Since the last two Upāsikā Days were cancelled, the day will begin with an option to renew one’s committment to the five precepts online. The broad-brush topic for this Online Upāsikā Day is Living in a Changing Society: Dealing with Fear, Stress, and Worry… Cultivating Kindness, Patient Endurance, and Harmony. For a more interactiv…

Up until this year, on the first Tuesday of the month (April through December), one of the senior monks from Abhayagiri would visit Berkeley Buddhist Monastery to lead a tea time Q&A session followed by an evening program of chanting, meditation, and a Dhamma talk. Due to the pandemic, there will be virtual 1st Tuesday meetings for the remainder of 2020. It is important to frequently check the mon…

There will be a live stream of Abhayagiri’s Āsāḷhā Pūjā ceremony. Pūjā begins at 7pm PDT with chanting and meditation, followed by the opportunity to take the 3 refuges and 8 precepts (p. 131 of chanting book Vol 1. Link below) and a Dhamma talk. After the Dhamma talk we will hold our Āsāḷhā Pūjā ceremony and circumambulation. Āsāḷha Pūjā commemorates the Buddha’s first discourse, given to the fiv…

During the 3-month vassa period (July, August, September), the monastic community of Abhayagiri will be studying the bhikkhus rules and protocols (Vinaya). There will be classes about twice per week. Because of these classes, we will not have evening puja on the following dates: July: 8, 10, 15, 16, 22, 24, 30, 31 August: 6, 9, 14, 16, 20, 24, 28, 30 September: 4, 8, 13, 14, 20, 23, 27, 29 These d…

Audio Available from Indian Pilgrimage Ajahn Sucitto and Nick Scott spent six months retracing the Buddha’s footsteps through India. Their two books chronicling the pilgrimage are already on the Abhayagiri website in various formats : Rude Awakenings - Part I - https://www.abhayagiri.org/books/460-rude-awakenings Great Patient One - Part II - https://www.abhayagiri.org/books/461-great-patient-one…