Visiting
Thank you for your interest in visiting Tisarana Monastery. We accept overnight visitors during the “work year”, May-December. Click on one of the links in the table of contents or scroll down to read the entire document. All overnight visitors to Tisarana are required to have listened to the visitor recording or to have read the information in the ‘Daily Schedule’ section as well as all of the information under the ‘Staying as an Overnight Visitor’ heading.
Contents
General Information: Day Visits | Daily Schedule: a) Sunday Public Meditation b) Lunar Observance Day
Staying As An Overnight Visitor: Considerations | Overnight Visitor Guidelines: a) The Eight Precepts b) Personal Items to Bring | Making a Booking
Standards of Monastic Etiquette: Mindfulness and Composure | Body Language | Relating to the Monastic Community | Relating to the Monastery
Recording for Overnight Visitors
Click on the play button below to listen to the guest recording.
[powerpress url=”http://files.tisarana.ca/wordpress_static/site/GuestRecording.mp3″]
General Information
Day Visits
Daily Schedule
| 5:00am | Morning Pūjā – chanting and meditation* |
| 6:30am | Chores – mostly domestic |
| 7:15am | Light Breakfast |
| 8:00am | Meal preparation and general work period |
| 11:00am | The main meal, eaten in silence (the last meal of the day for guests and monastics) |
| 7:00pm | Evening Pūjā – chanting and meditation (followed by a Dhamma talk on Lunar Observance Days)* |
*There is no early morning group meditation on the Lunar Observance Day or the following morning.
*There is no evening group meditation the day before the Lunar Observance Day or the day after the Lunar Observance Day.
*The community usually meditates until midnight on the Lunar Observance Day.
There is a public meditation and Dhamma talk held every Sunday at 9.30am. There is some chanting followed by meditation and a Dhamma talk. You are welcome to join us for a potluck meal at 11:30am. Please consider bringing something to share if possible. The daily schedule is the same as other days, with exception to the 9.30 am meditation and Dhamma talk.
As was the tradition in the time of the Buddha, the monastery follows a lunar calendar. Our Observance Days are scheduled around the four moon quarters. On these days the morning schedule is open setting aside more time for contemplation and personal practice. The evening meditation practice, beginning at 7:00 pm, may be extended until midnight. Check the calendar to see the schedule of lunar days held at this monastery.
Staying As An Overnight Visitor
Considerations
Guidelines for Overnight Visits
Visitors participate both in the routine of the monastery as well as in the activities of the community. They are expected to participate in all aspects of the monastery schedule. Standards of behaviour for laypeople visiting Tisarana are governed by the Eight Precepts. These include eating only before mid day and avoiding sensual physical contact between men and women.
In keeping with our tradition, there is no charge for anything at Tisarana Buddhist Monastery. We are supported entirely by voluntary donations in the form of food and other material requisites, money, and work. While there is no obligatory charge to stay here, visitors may consider how they might contribute to the needs of the monastery in relation to virtues of generosity, gratitude, and kindness – important qualities which support the practice of mental cultivation.
Visitors are temporarily part of the resident community and it is not considered appropriate to come and go without notice or engage in external business during their stay. This would include leaving the monastery in one’s own vehicle without prior permission from the Office Monk. To help keep the monastery a haven of quiet and solitude, visitors staying for two weeks or less are not permitted to use their own or the monastery’s telephones, computers, or email for any external business or for entertainment. Emergencies are always an exception to this rule. There is no public wi-fi or internet service available for short term visitors at the monastery. If a visitor is required to call on a phone or check the internet for the purpose of leaving the monastery (i.e. for checking/procuring a plane/bus/train ticket) they may ask permission from the Office Monk to do so. If possible, we ask that visitors take care of all business and travel arrangements before coming to the monastery. All of this helps to ensure a peaceful, contemplative stay.
Please note: we cannot accommodate special diets and we ask all visitors receive whatever food is offered each day. Visitors are expected to refrain from smoking during their visit to the monastery. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate pets.
The Eight Precepts – kept by all residents and visitors
- To refrain from destroying living creatures (harmlessness: not intentionally taking the life of any living creature)
- To refrain from taking that which is not given (trustworthiness)
- To refrain from any kind of intentional sexual behaviour (celibacy)
- To refrain from incorrect speech (avoiding false, abusive or malicious speech and idle chatter)
- To refrain from intoxicating drink and drugs which lead to carelessness (sobriety)
- To refrain from eating at wrong times (restraint: not eating after midday)
- To refrain from beautification, entertainment, and adornment (restraint: not seeking distraction, playing radios and music, and dressing modestly)
- To refrain from lying on a high or luxurious sleeping place (alertness: refraining from overindulgence in sleep)
Personal items to bring: toiletries, flashlight, alarm clock, sturdy shoes, sandals, long sleeve shirts and trousers outdoor clothes (for walks) and work clothing (warm clothing in the winter months). Clothing must be appropriate to Asian sensibilities. For short stays, please bring your own sheets, pillow case, and towel if convenient. Please do not bring a sleeping bag or blankets.
Making a booking
Standards of Monastic Etiquette
Mindfulness and Composure
Buddhist monasteries have certain social conventions and body language meant to convey a sense of composure, grace, and respect. For people visiting the monastery and unfamiliar with the etiquette, it can often feel intimidating: “I think there is a way I am supposed to behave, but I don’t know what it is!” Most important is a well-intentioned attitude. No one will be offended by the absence of precise etiquette on your behalf. General courtesy and respect go a long way and are the basis for many of the forms of etiquette we use in the monastery. As well as promoting harmony and grace within the community, the forms of etiquette we use are also a means of training oneself in mindfulness and circumspection in everyday social interactions.
Body Language
Añjali: The most commonly used expression of body language in the monastery is the añjali. The hands are held palm-to-palm in front of the heart and are sometimes raised to the lowered forehead. It is a gesture of respect that can be used as a greeting, a goodbye, a thank-you or when speaking with one of the monastics.
Bowing: The traditional way of paying respect to a shrine or to a senior monk is to bow. This is best learned by following the example of others. As with many traditional practices, it is more a ‘movement of faith’ rather than a rigid rule and is taken up accordingly. In the monastery, we pay respect to the shrine when entering or leaving the meditation hall and to the senior monk at the end of the morning and evening meditations.
Sitting: In Thai culture, it is traditionally considered impolite to point one’s feet at either the shrine or at the monks when one is sitting. Also, lying down or stretching out is considered inappropriate in public spaces. During meditation or a Dhamma talk, care should be taken to move and shift positions quietly.
Relating to the Monastic Community
Monks have many rules in their monastic code of discipline that affect the way they relate to people. In particular, it is a serious offence for an ordained monastic to have sensual physical contact with a person of the opposite sex. Partly for this reason, monks will greet people with an añjali rather than shaking hands or embracing. There is also a stipulation that there must be another conscientious male present whenever a monk is spending time with a woman in a private place. This is to prevent unfortunate situations from occurring as well as to prevent harmful gossip and misunderstanding.
As alms-mendicants, monks are prohibited from engaging in activities that could provide for their own material livelihood. This includes handling money, cultivating crops, and working the land or storing food. As a result everything that accrues to the monastic community is the result of an offering from a generous person. Anything a monk consumes, except water, must actually be offered to them directly. They cannot help themselves to food unless it has been given to them.
In addressing a monk, it is considered impolite to refer to them directly by name without an appropriate form of address. The abbot or any monastic who has been ordained for more than ten years is usually addressed as “Ajahn” (i.e. Ajahn Vīradhammo). “Ajahn” is a Thai word, from the Pāli word “Ācariya,” and means “teacher.” Monks who have been ordained for less than ten years may be addressed as “Tan” (i.e. Tan Amarasiri), which means “venerable” in Thai. To make things easier any monk can be addressed as “Bhante” (pronounced BUN-tay) which is from Pāli, the original language of the Buddhist scriptures and means “venerable sir.”
Relating to the Monastery
Sangha life is a life of community. Everything in the monastery belongs to the Sangha, the ordained disciples of the Buddha, both present and future. The individual members of the Sangha and its guests are the caretakers charged with the responsibility of safeguarding, protecting, and maintaining the monastery for the use of the Buddha’s disciples today and tomorrow. One should remove one’s shoes before entering any monastery building. For dwellings, the standard is to try to leave it cleaner than when you arrived. An overall attitude of care and respect for monastery property is the rule.
Items in the kitchen and in the storeroom are also the property of the Sangha. Even the monastics may not help themselves to things without permission. If you need something, you should ask permission of the office monk (the monk in charge of visitors’ stays). To help oneself to food, personal items (except library books or items for free distribution) without permission would go against the spirit of monastic life.