Currently browsing author

TisaAdmin, Page 12

Tisarana Vesak Celebration 2564

May 26 marked this year’s Vesak Day, the full-moon of May that commemorates the Buddha’s Birth, Enlightenment, and Final Passing (Parinibbana). It is a major, sacred occasion in the annual Buddhist calendar, observed throughout the Buddhist world. With Tisarana situated at some distance from the Asian heartlands of Theravada, our celebrations contained improvised as well as traditional features.

Due to Covid restrictions this year’s gathering was modest in size. Supporters arrived earlier in the week with many flower pots to adorn shrines. Residents and others devoted hours to trimming grass and clearing flower beds. On Vesak itself Luang Por Viradhammo, the Bhikkhus, and resident community received cheerful assistance from day-visitors bringing more gifts. Groups of us busied ourselves arranging flowers and candles. Within a few hours the various shrines had been tidied and beautifully adorned: the large standing Buddha near Tisarana’s entrance; the cast Buddha rupa (eventually bound for the Dhamma Hall); the library-shrine room in the Bhikkhu Vihara; the meditation and eating Sala. Even the small Bodhi tree (gamely struggling with spider mites, alas) was decorated.

The following photos offer glimpses of our Vesak. At different junctures of the evening itself Luang Por read from Ven. Nyanamoli’s The Life of the Buddha, dealing with the Blessed One’s Birth, Enlightenment, and Parinibbana.… Read the rest

Zoom Dhamma session 30 April 2021 – Luang Por Viradhammo

Zoom Dhamma session, and Q&A with Luang Por Viradhammo.

Luang Por reflects on the loss of life due to COVID, around the world, how to be with Sadness. This talk is followed by a Question and answer session from participants.

For more teachings, please visit : https://tisarana.ca/teachings-audio/

… Read the rest

Reflection on Winter Retreat 2021 from Richard

Signs of spring are making themselves felt. The early birds have started arriving, showering us with
their multiple calls and exhibiting their mating dances. The sun now feels quite warm, even on days
where the air is cold. The snow is all gone; the coyote and deer are free to roam unconstrained by their
narrow trails. Hello, I am Richard. I have been a steward at Tisarana for the past two years. Luang por
Viradhammo has invited me to write a blog entry about the winter retreat.
Every year the community at Tisarana works hard to maintain and further establish the monastery,
doing so both on the grounds and in the offices. The winter retreat is thus set aside expressly to provide
an opportunity away from these duties in order to focus on meditation. The winter retreat is quite quiet
both in terms of routine and nature that surrounds us. The pace, with its daily work period, already
begins to slow down as the cold weather arrives. And so, very naturally the monastery settles into the
long wintery quietness of retreat, like the first dusting of snow gently falling to the ground. In order to
relieve the monastic community from their mundane duties yet keeping the monastery functional, a lay
retreat crew is invited to serve on the retreat.… Read the rest

Practicing when your Attention is Like the Weather

Venerable Khemako discusses how calmness and stillness associated with meditation is a means to a higher end, not the end itself. He describes how one’s attention is variable like the weather, and how one can start with a coarse object of meditation and then see whether the mind can observe more details of, for example, the subtleties of the breath. (Dhamma talk recorded at OBS Arnprior retreat on 25 November 2019. Duration 31:34).… Read the rest