2016 MONASTIC THANKSGIVING RETREAT ATTENTION: Registration for the 2016 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat has closed. Led by Luang Por Pasanno and the Abhayagiri Community November 18-27, 2016 at Angela Center, Santa Rosa, CA Abhayagiri Monastery in Redwood Valley, California and the Sanghapala Foundation invite you to join Luang Por Pasanno and the Abhayagiri Community for a 10-day retreat over the T…
On June 22, 2016, Luang Por Pasanno and Ajahn Jayanto, the abbot of the Temple Forest Monastery in New Hampshire, attended and shared their reflections on Buddhism and its role in peace and conflict resolution. This event was hosted by Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and co-sponsored by the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, D.C. You can read more about…
On May 20, 2016, Luang Por Pasanno gave a talk at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. You can watch the talk here, starting at time 42:50: You can also watch the same talk recorded by an audience member posted on Youtube here:
On June 4th, 2016, many people gathered at Abhayagiri to meet old friends, celebrate and share reflections on the past 20 years. The audio and photos from the day are now available. 20th Anniversary Audio and Photos Note: We were honored to have Somkid, a professional photographer from Thailand, come and take a number of photographs that weekend. We will be showcasing more of her photos, including…
The Abhayagiri community took the opportunity of our 20th anniversary celebration to create a memorial for the late Ruth Denison. The plaque on a beautifully created wooden urn simply reads: “A beloved pioneer of Buddhism in the West who guided many with her compassion, wisdom and clarity.” There were many exchanges between Ruth and Abhayagiri over the years, with the monks visiting her meditation…
Sunday, June 5th: Ordination Ceremony for Sāmaṇera Kondañño, Sāmaṇera Jāgaro and Anagārika Armand. All are welcome to attend the formal ceremony in which the Sāmaṇera Kondañño and Sāmaṇera Jāgaro will enter the monastic Saṅgha as bhikkhus and Anagārika Armand will take the brown robes of a novice. The ceremony will take place at the ordination platform. We plan to hold the ceremony around 1 pm. Pl…
Come celebrate 20 years of Abhayagiri. The first monastery in the United States to be established by followers of Ajahn Chah, Abhayagiri was founded in 1996 in the mountainous forests of Mendocino County, California. The origins of the monastery can be traced to Northern California visits in the early 1980s by Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Chah’s senior western disciple. In 1995, Venerable Master Hsüan Hua…
We are pleased to announce that Ajahn Amaro has returned to the United States through June of 2016. He starts at the Pacific Hermitage arriving May 26. Please check the Pacific Hermitage website for more information. He then will arrive at Abhayagiri by June 1. Although we have no capacity for overnight guests at this time, all are welcome to come to Abhayagiri as day visitors. Scheduled Events Ju…
Forest Practice Earlier in the year we reported that we were hoping to do an event based on a practice they do at Chithurst Monastery called Forest Month. We decided to only do a week, and call it Forest Practice. It was billed as a period of time to focus on a work project while having a lot of emphasis on Dhamma practice. We also were planning to work with our Christian neighbors at Mt Tabor. Fo…
The Ukiah Daily Journal has recently published a story about Abhayagiri and its upcoming 20th anniversary. Here is a small excerpt: > Riding on dirt roads through forested woodlands, standing in the back of a pickup truck with Ajahn Pasanno, the gentle and unassuming abbot of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in Redwood Valley, he points out the small cabins constructed over the past 20 years that ser…
