This year, four of our western monasteries had the good fortune to host Luang Por Liem during a one month trip to America. With him was Luang Por Jundee, Ajahn Sek, Ajahn Moshe and Ajahn Thaniyo. They went to Tisarana Monastery in Ottawa, Canada, then Temple Forest Monastery in New Hampshire, Pacific Hermitage, and Abhayagiri.

For those who have never before heard the names of these monks: Luang Por Jundee has been ordained for 40 years and is the abbot of Wat Ampawan, a monastery located in a beautiful mountain wilderness in Chonburi Province. Ajahn Sek has been ordained for 17 years, and heads up a small jungle hermitage in the Sayoke National Park region, Kanchanaburi Province, near the Burmese border. Ajahn Moshe has been ordained for 15 years and lives in a monastery in Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand. Ajahn Thaniyo is an Australian monk who has been ordained for 10 years and came to translate for and attend to Luang Por Liem.

Luang Por Liem is a very humble monk and an extraordinary example of what can be achieved in the practice. When you first meet him, he appears to be simply a happy old monk who likes to look at plants. Its unlikely that you would figure out that he's the abbot of Wat Pah Pong and looks after the physical and spiritual well-being of over 350 Wat Pah Pong branch monasteries. Below are some highlights of his visit to Abhayagiri.

The group arrived on the evening of Monday, July 6th, after their tour of Portland and Pacific Hermitage. Each day he gave a Dhamma reflection before the meal, and during evening tea answered questions and offered further reflections. Some of these teachings were recorded and are posted on our audio page. He also spent time each day strolling around the Reception Hall construction site, finally commenting that "you'll be able to use it for 100-200 years." On Tuesday, the group visited the giant coastal redwoods west of Abhayagiri, and Luang Por Liem commented that if you were willing to go without food for a week, you could walk on tudong to those redwoods and meditate there for a few days.

On Wednesday, the lunar observance day, Luang Por Jundee had the opportunity to walk the alms round in Ukiah, and gave the evening Dhamma talk. The next day the group was invited to take the meal in Sebastopol, and many of the supporters of Abhayagiri took the opportunity to join in. Luang Por Liem gave some reflections in conjunction with the meal. Afterwards they went for a walk on the Mendocino coast.

On Saturday, July 11th, we decided to have both the meal and the evening puja and Dhamma talk in the new Reception Hall. Luang Por Liem gave a talk before the mealtime. The Abhayagiri community spent the day preparing the meditation hall section of the new building, covering sections of the walls with monk's robes and temporarily closing off some of the window openings with tarps and plexi glass. For the evening, Luang Por Liem led us in some lengthy paritta chanting (protective verses chanted in pali), to generate blessings for the new building. We meditated for a while, and the atmosphere was very peaceful, it was wonderful.

After the meditation, the Abhayagiri community took formal leave of Luang Por Liem, as he was to leave the next morning. The traditional candles, flowers, and incense were offered, and we chanted the verses of asking for forgiveness. Then Luang Por gave the talk, with a brilliant translation by Ajahn Thaniyo.

On Sunday the group left Abhayagiri early in the morning and had the meal at Wat Buddhanusorn in Fremont. After the meal, Luang Por Liem gave a talk, with another surprisingly good translation by Ajahn Thaniyo.

As the group was not returning until the 16th, there was some time to do some sightseeing. That included spending two days in and around Yosemite, and visiting the marine mammal center near the Golden Gate bridge. Then, the group departed for Thailand to prepare for the entering of the annual Rains Retreat.

Many thanks to all the people who made it possible to properly host and look after our great Ajahns! These kind of visits wouldn't happen if it wasn't for the immense amount of support that Abhayagiri receives from the wider community.

"If Luang Por Chah were still alive, he'd be happy with what's happening at Abhayagiri" - Luang Por Jundee

As you can see from the photo below, we have a huge pile of firewood, collected from doing fire clearance around several of our cabins this summer. This firewood needs to be moved to several locations and stacked. If you are looking for a way to support the Abhayagiri community and want to connect to the residents in an informal situation, then you are welcome to come join us every Saturday morning during the month of October, from 7:30 am until 10:30 am.

We intend to start doing this work, beginning Saturday, October 3^rd.  October 10^th is also an Upasika day, so please consider coming early to help; and stay for the afternoon of teachings. In all of these work mornings, you are welcome to come join us for the 11:00 AM meal and stay for tea at 5:30 pm and evening puja at 7:30 pm followed by a Dhamma talk.

This work is actually not that demanding, and there might also be help needed in the kitchen, so there will be work available for people of all physical abilities.

The last three months of the year, we will have Community all-day Work Days.  Saturday, October 24th we plan to build a shade structure over our water tanks.  Saturday, November 14th will probably be forest work, and Saturday, December 14th we plan to do some maintenance work on the road to Ajahn Pasanno's cabin.

Work Morning Dates:

October 3, 10, 17 Morning work period

7:30 am work meeting

11:00 am meal

5:30 pm tea

7:30 pm evening puja – chanting, meditation, and Dhamma talk

October 24^th will be an All-Day Community Work Day

7:30 am work meeting (8:00 – 10:30 work period)

11:00 am meal

1:00 pm – 4:00 pm work period

4:30 pm tea

7:30 pm evening puja – chanting, meditation, and Dhamma talk

October 31^st might be a work day to help set-up for the Kathina (the next day)

Recently, a hand-drawn picture was the focus of attention at the monk’s office of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

It’s a highly detailed pencil drawing featuring Buddha images, stupas, and a relatively youthful-looking Luang Por Chah and Luang Por Sumedho. It was attracting its share of admiration…but some people wanted to know, “Who drew this?” After some discussion, it was found out that the picture originated in connection with Abhayagiri’s book request program.

Abhayagiri regularly receives requests for free-distribution Dhamma books. The requests are sent via the Internet and by postal mail. Nearly all the requests by postal mail, about five per week, originate from people serving time in correctional facilities across the United States. As of 2013, approximately 1% or over 2.2 million people in the United States are incarcerated and most do not have Internet access.

Tim, one of the volunteers with the book request program, estimates that Abhayagiri receives about two unsolicited pieces of art per year coming from prisoners. “They never come from people who identify as artists or anything like that. They’re just part of the letter for more books, or as a follow-up letter. They never explain it, nor does there seem to be any particular pattern.”

Tim’s partner, Nook, also volunteers with the book request program. “It’s amazing to do this…I’m very honored to do this,” said Nook. “I don’t know how many people think about or are aware of what goes on in prisons.”

Both Tim and Nook started volunteering back in 2012, working under the guidance of the late Iris Landsberg who was the main book request volunteer and had worked in that role for over 10 years. “One day, I saw Iris working alone,” said Nook, “and so I just said, ‘can I help?’ Later I got Tim to help out too.”

Being a book request volunteer requires practice and attention to detail, but Iris made it fun too. “We just liked to laugh a lot and make jokes,” said Nook. “Iris would also do all these dance poses too. She seemed really happy doing the requests.”

Usually the requests from people living in prison are not for specific titles, but are rather more general requests or desiring help with one particular theme or topic.

Tim remembered one individual who expressed that he was in solitary confinement for several years. “I thought about his situation and then put together a package with books by Luang Ta Maha Boowa. He came to mind for his fortitude, stamina, and bravery, which I felt would be needed by anybody in solitary confinement.”

The book volunteers communicate anonymously with the prisoners and take care not to reveal personal information about themselves. Nook also stressed that the volunteers “don’t offer any help or try to teach Dhamma; we just send the books.” But sometimes they offer practical advice when it seems appropriate.

Tim recalled one woman who wished to set up a Buddha altar and was asking the book volunteers for help. Her situation was complicated by the fact that she was living in a small cell along with another inmate. Tim and Nook sent her a picture of a Buddha image and wrote back saying to put it up, along with other objects of inspiration, whenever her cellmate was not around. “She later wrote us back thanking us – she had no idea that it was okay for the altar to be temporary!”

The book requests can also be complicated. Tim explained that there is “a large document that details every book we send, which person it goes to, etc. There are also different rules and regulations for each prison. For example, some prisons only allow soft cover books.”

Nook added, “Almost all the addresses are handwritten and it’s really hard to read them sometimes.”

After a while, Iris had confidence in Tim and Nook and so they started to take over the book mailings. Tim recalled that, “all this happened not too long before her health really started to take a dive and she was diagnosed with cancer.” Iris passed away in February 2014 due to complications resulting from cancer.

Sometimes prisoners send stories and updates about their practice, or things going on in their community. Some keep in communication for many years.

Nook remembered one individual who, when he was being released, left all his books back in prison except one. “He kept The Island because he said it was the best book.”

Some people complete their incarceration sentence and continue to send requests for more materials. Tim remembered one man who was serving a 24-year sentence and had been requesting books from Abhayagiri for the last eight years of that sentence. “As he was leaving the prison, he was told that he couldn’t take his bag of Dhamma books as it was against the prison policy to take too many bags, so he had to leave the bags of books behind. So after he was released from prison, he sent us a request, but this time for CDs, not books. The reason he wanted CDs was because he never heard a Dhamma talk before and wanted to hear one for the first time.”

Forest Practice Month

The senior monks at Abhayagiri were meeting recently, discussing several important jobs that need attention. One project is trail maintenance. The 2.5 mile long “Loop Trail” has been in existence for over 10 years and has had many repairs and improvements done to it, but in many places the trail surface is getting unevenly worn. Another important job is creating fire breaks / defensible space around all our buildings, structures, and roads.

An interesting proposal is to do something similar to what the community at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery does in England. They do a practice called Forest Work Month, where several people volunteer to take on a project for three or four weeks. These volunteers would work alongside several of the monastic community members. It could be set up so the entire crew would live (sleep, eat, work and practice meditation) in the forest, but this would depend on the individuals and the weather conditions. This practice would not require any great skills in forestry practice, but a willingness to work 6 – 7 hours a day, adhere to the eight precepts, have some familiarity with the monastic lifestyle and an on-going meditation practice are essential.

We are thinking of trying something like this starting in mid-April 2016. The current idea is to do two, ten day work periods. People could come for one or both periods. The first session we are planning to work along side the monks of Mt Tabor monastery (our Christian neighbors to the north). We share a dirt road along the ridge and the section of the road that is on Abhayagiri's property is in much need of maintenance, mainly clearing dead brush and slightly widening the path. Father Damien the abbot at Mt Tabor, has several volunteers lined up to help (they are retired fire fighters from Sonoma County) and several of the monks from their community will join in the work too.

The second work period possibly will be working on the Loop Trail.

Part of this practice will focus of daily reflections, teachings, group sittings and time for solitude. One idea is to take a theme like the 10 perfections and use one of the perfections each day.

If this type of practice sounds interesting to you, please write to the monastery for details at: vihara@abhayagiri.org please write in the subject box: Forest Practice

http://www.monksofmttabor.com/

The Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery welcomed the arrival of the new Buddha image that will eventually grace the new reception hall. The Buddha image arrived auspiciously on a wan phra (observance day). The shipping truck did experience some difficulty in trying to navigate the narrow and steep Tomki Road, which leads to our upper parking lot. Due mostly to generous help from some neighbors, we were able to get the delivery truck safely to the monastery and unloaded.

Along with the Abhayagiri Buddha image, we also received the new Buddha image for the Portland Friends of the Dhamma, a life size fiberglass image of Ajahn Chah, a medium sized wooden Buddha image, over a hundred boxes of smaller Buddha images, plus close to a hundred boxes of books.

We at Abhayagiri are incredibly grateful. Many people in Thailand helped, in so many ways, to make these offerings possible. We would also like to express our anumodana to Ajahn Achalo for overseeing the creation of the Buddha image, and for his skill and meticulous care in creating the perfect Buddha image for our new reception hall.

We have created a web gallery showing the arrival of the Buddha image and the setting of it up in the temporary shrine. You can view this galley by using this link:

"Sometimes the lights all shining on me...other times I can barely see..."  a great Grateful Dead lyric, thank you Robert Hunter...and one I think about all the time.  A few weeks ago I made pictures that felt good at the moment of their making and this week as I selected and finished them the feeling was still there.  Seemed like the light was all shining on me.

One of the ways I know I'm in my zone is when I keep finding different ways to see the same thing and that was happening at the Abhayagiri Monastery in Redwood Valley, CA.  I only spent a few hours there but every minute felt good - I kept seeing more....

That's what I love about shooting icons.  They don't change - or at least not very fast.  The light changes of course but what mainly changes is me.  What I bring to it, what is revealed when I'm patient, what is really there but I don't always see.  The eyes are always looking but perception is a sometime thing...and that's another song.

I find myself exploring at the place that art and religion come together, and that often means photographing icons.

All icons are focusing devices. They help us turn away from the everyday and towards our deeper self. When I gaze at an icon it is not necessarily to see its specific religious qualities, but rather to glimpse the intentions of its maker and its universal quality, its desire to take you out of yourself, to create wonder.

I think it means something more to see all these faces together in the same space, virtual or on the wall. While each image seen alone represents the attributes of a single icon, seen together they are recontextualized and perhaps the universal sacred impulse they embody becomes more visible. I believe it means something more to see all these faces together than separately.

People ask why I’ve put so much work into this project. Here’s a story I think explains. I was in Berlin, making pictures in a beautiful old church which is now a museum. It was an autumn afternoon and the light was slanting in through the high windows. Because it's a museum the statues of the angels had been moved from their usual places high up in the air, down closer to eye level. I was wandering among the angels, looking at their faces when suddenly the great organ in the loft started making music. The organist had come to rehearse for a concert the next day. The music and the beauty of the surroundings and the light all combined to create rich and powerful feelings that opened my heart. For the next half hour I was "in…….church", making pictures while transfixed with feeling. The short answer to “why” I make these pictures is because I find it rewarding to do so.

Forest Practice – update

Ajahn Jotipalo recently visited Chithurst Buddhist Monastery in England.  He met with the grounds keeper who oversees a practice called Forest Practice, where several people volunteer to take on a project for ten days or up to four weeks.  These volunteers work alongside several of the monastic community members, while doing some vital work for the health of the forest.  This practice can be set up so the entire crew would live (sleep, eat, work and practice meditation) in the forest, but this depends on the individuals and the weather conditions.  This practice would not require any great skills in forestry practice, but a willingness to work 5 – 7 hours a day.  Also adherence to the eight precepts, having some familiarity with the monastic lifestyle and an on-going meditation practice are essential.

We are planning to do a version of Forest Practice period from April 30 - May 7,  2016 (Saturday - Saturday).  The current idea is to work along side the monks of Mt Tabor monastery (our Christian neighbors to the north).  We share a dirt road along the ridge and the section of the road that is on Abhayagiri's property is in much need of maintenance.  The main job will be clearing dead brush and slightly widening the path, to help create a firebreak and improved access to this beautiful part of the monastery .  Father Damien the abbot at Mt Tabor, has several volunteers lined up to help (they are retired fire fighters from Sonoma County) and several of the monks from their community will join in the work.  Already four lay Buddhist are planning to come for the project.  There is space for 4 - 5 more people to be part of this practice.

Part of this practice will focus on daily reflections, teachings, group sittings and time for solitude.  One idea is to take a theme like the 10 perfections and use one of the perfections each day. At Chithurst they also take one or two afternoons and do some kind of educational program.  We are considering doing this, and maybe also a trip to visit a redwood forest or the coast.

If this type pf practice sounds interesting to you, please write to Ajahn Jotipalo using this contact form. or email: retreat2016@abhayagiri.org   Please mention the term "Forest Practice - Ajahn Jotipalo" in your message.

Below is a link to Mt Tabor's Web site:

http://www.monksofmttabor.com/

10:00 AM -- Monks on almsround (Please, only dry goods, but not canned products as these can damage the monk's bowl)

10:30 AM  --  Meal offering and ceremonial washing of a Buddha image

1:00 PM  --  Ceremonial washing of Ajahns' hands, Paritta chanting, Dhamma talk, and holy water blessing

Please plan on carpooling if possible as parking is limited.  Please also be here well in advance of the 10:00 AM meal.

• 8:00-10:30am: Informal tours, slideshows of monastery, & meeting old friends and board members, past and present
• 10:30am: Gather for meal offering
• 1:00-5:00pm: Reflections from monastic guests

On Sunday, April 10, the Thai New Year celebration (Songkran) ceremony was held here at Abhayagiri. Many people came out that day to share in the meal offering, take the 3 refuges and 5 precepts and participate in the water pouring ceremony. 

Some of the lay supporters provided the following videos and pictures of the event to share with everybody. Please enjoy.              

Videos

Photos

View in Gallery...