Three Jewels

On September 25, 2022 a lay teacher and dear friend of Abhayagiri, Cindy “Mettika” Hoffman passed away. Before the pandemic, the monks visited regularly to teach at Mettika’s Three Jewels Dhamma Hall in Fort Bragg. Mettika spent her final weeks at a care facility in the nearby town of Ukiah, which allowed the monastic community to visit her many times. Mettika’s life and her peacefulness during her final weeks were an inspiration to the Abhayagiri community. Mettika has left the Three Jewels property including its lovely Dhamma Hall to the Abhayagiri sangha allowing the possibility of a small branch monastery in Fort Bragg.

Now that the Abhayagiri monastics have inherited the property, Three Jewels has become a little branch of Abhayagiri. There are usually two or three monks residing at Three Jewels along with a steward. There are also frequent visits from various teachers from Abhayagiri and the Ajahn Chah tradition. If you would like to be informed of visiting teachers, please contact us about signing up for the Three Jewels email list. As of December 2024, the current residents are Ajahn Kassapo, Ajahn Thitapañño and Upāsika Kevin.

Visiting Teachers and Other Upcoming Events
In addition to the usual weekly schedule listed below, here are some notable upcoming events:

Monday, Dec. 30 - Ajahn Cunda will be at Three Jewels for the tea time at 5:30pm and the evening program.

Monday evening at the Three Jewels Dhamma Hall:
There is a Monday evening program every Monday. Visiting ajahns from Abhayagiri will be announced on this page and via the Three Jewels email list. Otherwise, the monks currently in residence will be present.

The schedule for Monday evenings is:

5:30pm - Tea time in the Dhamma Hall - An opportunity for questions, answers and discussion with monks and other practitioners. This is a good time to ask questions and discuss Dhamma practice, spiritual practice and meditation.

7pm - Thirty or forty minutes of meditation, offering of Dhamma reflections and an opportunity for questions and comments.

Anyone interested is welcome to participate in the tea time and/or the evening program beginning at 7pm, as well as any of the events below.

Meal
The meal is at 10:45am on Mon., Tues. Wed., Thurs., Sat. and Sunday. Please feel free to join us. If you would like to simply drop off an offering, it may be helpful to know that there is usually one person in the kitchen between 10am and 10:45am. If you are making an offering for the meal, it can be helpful if you call the day before and let us know, but you are also welcome to just turn up unannounced.

Note: Due to the ending of Daylight Savings Time, on Monday, Nov. 4 and onward, the meal will be at 10:45am.

On Fridays, there is usually not a meal offering at Three Jewels.

Note: On rare occasions, there may not be monastics at Three Jewels for the meal. If you wish to make sure that the monks will be present for the meal offering, please call in advance.

If you have any questions about Three Jewels including the meal please contact Three Jewels by:
Email: threejewelscontact@abhayagiri.org
or
Phone #: (707) 813-0842
The phone is usually on between 7am and 8am . Or feel free to leave a message.

Alms round schedule
The usual schedule for alms round is:
Tues., Wed., Thurs. and Saturday - the central Fort Bragg area between 8:45am and 10am
Friday - one of the local areas such as Caspar, Cleone, Mendocino or Westport
Sundays and Mondays - the neighborhood north of Pudding Creek between 8:30am and 10am
Note: This is the usual schedule for alms round but there will be variations. If you would like to make sure that you meet the monks on a particular morning, please call Three Jewels the day before or during the morning between 7am and 8am.
If you have any questions or wish to participate in the alms round, please feel free to contact Three Jewels.

Sutta Discussion Group
Tuesdays at 5:30pm there is a sutta discussion group in the Three Jewels Dhamma Hall. All are welcome to attend any Tuesday discussion group. No preparation is required.

We are currently going through the Sutta Nipāta, focusing on Ajahn Ṭhānissaro’s translation, which is available here:
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/
We started with 1:1 The Snake on page 1 and are continuing to go through further verses.

There are also 1 or 2 free translations of the Sutta Nipāta on Sutta Central:
https://suttacentral.net/pitaka/sutta/minor/kn/snp?lang=en

Tuesdays Evenings
The usual schedule for Tuesdays is:
4:45pm-5:30pm - Sitting meditation in the Dhamma Hall (Please feel free to arrive earlier if you wish)
5:30pm - Tea break
5:45pm-6:45pm - Sutta Discussion Group
7pm-8:15pm - Chanting, then sitting meditation
8:25pm-9pm - Listen to a recording of a Dhamma talk
The times are approximate and will vary based on how long the sutta discussion group lasts. Please feel free to join us for any of this schedule.

Quiet Meditation
If you are interested in quiet meditation in the Dhamma Hall, good times and days to do that are:
Mon. & Tues. - 4:30pm-5:30pm
Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat. and Sun. - 7pm-8pm

Evening Chanting and Meditation at 7pm
Tuesday through Sunday there is often silent meditation from 7pm to 8pm in the Dhamma Hall, followed by some brief chanting. Sometimes there may not be anyone present, but you are still welcome to sit quietly on your own.

Previous Dhamma Talks at Three Jewels
On the Abhayagiri website you can find Luang Por Pasanno’s Dhamma talk at Three Jewels on Monday, Sept. 25. That Monday marked the one year anniversary of Mettika’s passing away
https://www.abhayagiri.org/talks/8290-mettikas-memorial-ajahn-pasanno-at-3-jewels-ft-bragg-92523

Ajahn Amaro’s Dhamma talk on at Three Jewels can be downloaded via the below link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b5HXW2N6UrSm4ZYm9raQUTouY2q4DhZ2/view?usp=drive_link

Three Jewels Work Afternoon
It is usually the first Sunday of the month, except there will not be a Three Jewels work afternoon during January, February and March. If you wish to participate we will generally start around 12:30pm and work until 3pm. Please feel free to join us for the meal at 11am. There are plenty of work opportunities on the property such as line trimming, gardening, weeding, pruning, etc.

In general, if you would like to help us maintain the property or to volunteer in other ways, please let us know.

Contact
You may contact Three Jewels at this phone number: (707) 813-0842. The phone is usually on between 7am and 8am. If no one picks up, please leave a message.
Or email: threejewelscontact@abhayagiri.org
If you would like to be on the Three Jewels email list, please let us know via email. The email list is primarily used to announce visiting teachers and other upcoming events.

Directions to Three Jewels
Three Jewels is located at 31791 Johnson Lane, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. It is located on the north end of Fort Bragg. It lies east of Highway 1, which is named Main Street inside the town. The following directions assume that you are on Highway 1/Main Street.

Turn onto Pudding Creek Road, which is opposite a beach and trestle bridge on the ocean. You will be heading east (away from the ocean). Pudding Creek runs alongside the road on your right.
Proceed 1 mile, continuing past the stop sign at John Hyman Road.
Turn left (north) onto Petaluma Avenue. Take it easy! Though paved, tree roots have created unmarked speed bumps along this stretch. Be prepared to navigate them by changing lanes. Proceed about ¼ mile to the intersection with Johnson Lane.
Turn right (east) onto Johnson Lane. After a few hundred feet you will arrive at 31791 on the right (south) side marked with the Three Jewels sign.
Turn right into the driveway and park.

Walk down the path on the right (west) end of the building as you face it rather than through the gate. The entrance to the Meditation Hall is the righthand wing of the building, the end opposite from the garage.

Support
If you wish to support Three Jewels, there are a variety of ways to do so. Examples include helping out in the kitchen, offering food to monks on alms round, helping with transportation, volunteering to help maintain the property, or asking if there are any donations that would be useful. If you would like more information, please feel free to contact Three Jewels.

Three Jewels is part of Abhayagiri and is supported by Abhayagiri’s steward, the Sanghapala Foundation. This page provides information on ways to make a financial donation to the Sanghapala Foundation:
https://www.abhayagiri.org/support/donations

Dana Wish List Items
Below are items that would be useful. Please feel free to contact Three Jewels if you would like to know more items that would be useful.

Hand sanitizer, for example: https://www.amazon.com/Germ-X-Advanced-Hand-Sanitizer-Aloe/dp/B0D14Y9N4C
Quantity: Up to 100 fl oz total would be useful.

Please note: We do not require any particular brand.