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News Updates, Page 5

End of Year Reflections (2021) by Ajahn Pavaro

Another round of seasons at Tisarana. The quiet, open space of the previous winter retreat is long past; subsequent seasons have been filled with regular pujas and Sangha gatherings, daily chores, needed kuti repairs, cabinetry, and numerous planning meetings for our prospective Dhamma Hall. Especially since mid-August (when a public ceremony marked the Hall’s formal site clearing) more folks have arrived for visits. It’s been a pleasure to see people’s full faces again and to share in their appreciation for rejoining the Tisarana Sangha, and one another, in person.

Now it’s December 25th. My day has begun by sitting with the community, as Luang Por Viradhammo leads a meditation session, and responds to questions over Zoom from students in distant Singapore. While listening to Luang Por, from time to time my awareness gathers elsewhere. The theme of my delinquent morning attention? Ingmar Bergman’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Watching the film in lay life for many years on Boxing Day has rendered it, seemingly indelibly, into the mood of the season for me. After all, this is a season redolent with perception and memory, even within our rich Buddhist environment. (As further demonstrations, a festive little tree stands near the food-offering area; today’s meal will include shortbread and fruit cake.)… Read the rest

Timeless Knowing – An Online ‘BUDDHAMAS’ meditation retreat with Luang Por Viradhammo

All are invited to attend another online retreat offered by Luang Por Viradhammo this holiday season, organised by our Dhamma Friends in Asia.

Date: 24 – 26 Dec 2021
Register Now: https://tinyurl.com/LPV-Retreat-2021
Closing Date: 18 Dec (Sat), 6pm (Singapore GMT+8)

:: Retreat Handbook with Programme ::
Please visit BDF website https://www.buddhadhammafoundation.com/lpv-buddhamas-2021 for details.

:: Enquiries ::
For enquiries, please email us at ndr.activity@gmail.com

This online retreat is jointly organised by BuddhaDhamma Foundation and NDR – Nibbana Dhamma Rakkha 护法苑

… Read the rest

Important information for Canadian donations, Financial Year 2021

Dear donors, supporters & friends,

As the calendar year comes to a close, it’s time for us to close our books of accounts and start the process of issuing tax receipts for Canadian donors.

If you are a resident of Canada or if you file taxes in Canada, you are eligible to receive a tax deductible receipt from Tisarana for any donations (cash or in-kind) you may have made in the Financial Year 2021.

Please note that we have received many donations (physically at the monastery and online) which have insufficient donor details. If you have made a donation to Tisarana and feel that you have not communicated your contact details, please email us your official name and full postal address (complete with postal code) to taxreceipts.tisarana@gmail.com. We will then issue tax receipts early next year to that same email address.

Additionally, please note that any online domestic donations received after 5 PM on 31st Dec 2021 will be accounted for in our 2022 books. This means that for any donations received by us via Wire Transfer, PayPal or Interac eTransfer after 5 PM on 31st Dec, 2021, those donors can expect to receive tax receipts in early 2023.

We are extremely grateful for your continued generosity, warmth and support.… Read the rest

In My Teacher’s Footsteps

The podcast, Where Are You Going, has a new audio Buddhist pilgrimage book which you can listen to in weekly instalments. Over this winter Nick Scott will be reading In My Teacher’s Footsteps, the account of how Ajahn Amaro, he and four others followed Luang Poh Sumedho to Mount Kailash in Tibet.

You can start listening here: https://whereareyougoing.podbean.com/

No pilgrimage is harder or more ancient than the journey up and over the Himalayan defile to circle Mount Kailash in Tibet. Ajahn Sumedho wanted to do it as a young American in 1950’s California, but only got the opportunity when he was a famous Buddhist monk, aged 60. Nick Scott trained him in European mountains and here recounts his teacher’s attempts, the dire results, and Nick’s own subsequent pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain, with Ajahn Amaro, which nearly killed him. This is a book about adversity, how to face it and what can be gained. But it’s more than that. It’s about the whole journey: life and how to use it, and its difficulties, to find freedom from suffering.… Read the rest

2021 Kathina Announcement

This year’s monastic Rains Retreat, marking another ‘year in the robes’ for Bhikkhus at Tisarana Buddhist Monastery, will end on October 21st. Traditionally, what follows is a month-long period during which a ‘Kathina cloth’ may be offered by lay supporters. This has long been a beloved event in Buddhist cultures, one arranged in advance by the donors. On the day it is offered, some of this cloth is dyed and sewn by the resident Sangha, and presented to one of the monks before the following dawn.

For many reasons – both ancient and altogether contemporary – Kathina is a truly auspicious day of the annual monastic calendar, and one in which gratitude and blessings abound.

This year’s Kathina is being offered by the Royal Thai Embassy, Ottawa, on October 31st.

Covid protocols currently in place for outdoor public gatherings are restricted to 25 people. Therefore our formal Kathina ceremony on the 31st  will be restricted to the Embassy staff and their families. 

However, in what remains of the Kathina month (until Nov 21, 2021), groups of 25 people or less are invited to join the Tisarana community for the meal and to make offerings if they wish. Those seeking to do so are requested to please email the Tisarana Office in advance, to ensure that groups don’t exceed the maximum number.… Read the rest

Site Clearing Ceremony for Tisarana Dhamma Hall – August 15

In addition to the normal routines and business of the monastery, over the past seven years considerable energy has been directed towards envisioning, designing, contracting and planning to build a Dhamma Hall at Tisarana. With each passing month, now, these plans are coming closer to completion. And so, to honour this quickening pace, on August 15th the Tisarana community gathered to prepare the physical site – with chanting, with words of acknowledgement and appreciation. 

The event enabled Luang Por Viradhammo and the assembled community to share blessings, as well as design plans, with a large group of supporters from the Ottawa region and beyond. It’s an understatement to say it was much needed, given that this was the first generous gathering of people we’ve had in over a year-and-a-half. So wonderful to see people taking in the atmosphere of the monastery, and friends being reunited again, in person! 

The ceremony took place in Tisarana’s new event tent, set more or less in the middle of the eventual Hall. Things began with Tan Sirimedho outlining the history of this property and the surrounding region, then giving some specific idea about the design of the prospective Dhamma Hall. The Hall’s outlines had been neatly spray-painted on the grass. … Read the rest

Date Change for the Annual General Meeting for the Year 2020

PLEASE NOTE that the Date of AGM has been changed to: Sunday, September 5, 2021.

Place: Tisarana Buddhist Monastery – 1356 Powers Road, Perth, Ontario K7H 3C5

Time: 130pm (EDT)

The Directors of the Board of Tisarana Buddhist Monastery cordially invite all members of good standing to attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled to be held on the date above.

Sincerely,

Tilak Gunawardhane
Secretary to the Board

August 22, 2021… Read the rest

New Dhamma Hall Site Clearing Ceremony, Sunday August 15th.

We are going to have a site clearing ceremony for the New Dhamma Hall on Sunday, August 15th starting at 1pm. An outline of the new Hall will be laid out on the ground which we will all circumambulate with social distancing, and then the Sangha will chant parittas so as to to bless the site and the trees that will have to be cut down to make room for the new Hall. Once finished, we can begin clearing the land to get ready for the start of construction this coming spring of 2022.

All are invited to this important ceremony for the New Dhamma Hall, which is coming about after many years of inspiring generosity and planning. Due to lingering Covid concerns there won’t be a shared meal before the ceremony but feel free to bring your own meal and enjoy the monastery grounds. See you then.… Read the rest

Notice of the Annual General Meeting for the Year 2020

Date of AGM: Sunday the August 29, 2021.

Place: Tisarana Buddhist Monastery – 1356 Powers Road, Perth, Ontario K7H 3C5

Time: 130pm (EDT)

The Directors of the Board of Tisarana Buddhist Monastery cordially invite all members of good standing to attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled to be held on Sunday, August 29, 2021 at 1.30 PM. 

Sincerely,

Tilak Gunawardhane
Secretary to the Board

July 21, 2021… Read the rest

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