Photos from Samanera ordination
Ordination of Christopher, Lancelot and William, 20 July 2019
Samanera Ordination & Luang Por Sumedho’s 85th Birthday
Samanera Ordination
At 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 20, Anagarika Christopher (center), Anagarika Lancelot (left) & Anagarika William (right) will take novice ordination (Pabbajjha) and become samaneras under the preceptorship of Ajahn Vīradhammo. All are welcome to attend.
There will be a meal offering that day at 11:30 a.m. Shortly after the meal and cleanup, the ordination ceremony will start. All are welcome to attend the dana (meal) – do feel free to bring a dish to share with everyone. If you don’t plan on attending the dana, then please plan to be at the monastery by 1:15 p.m.
The ceremony will be followed by a Dhamma talk given by Luang Por Sumedho. All of this will take place in our large outdoor tent at the monastery. Everyone is requested to take their seats by 1.25 p.m. at the latest.
Luang Por Sumedho’s 85th Birthday
On the 27th of July 2019, Luang Por Suemdho will celebrate his 85th birthday with the Tisarana Community. After the dana meal offering at 11:30 a.m., the community will gather into the main tent at 1:30 p.m. starting the ceremony by asking for forgiveness.
The monastic community will then offer special chanting for good health and Luang Por Sumedho will give a Dhamma talk.… Read the rest
Spring Work Bee #2 – July 7th
Join us for our second spring Work Bee on July 7th at 8:30 am to help prepare Tisarana for Luang Por Sumedho’s upcoming visit.
We are sprucing Tisarana up for Luang Por Sumedho’s arrival to Tisarana on the 11th with his attendant Ajahn Asoko. We’ll be planting trees, gardening, landscaping and doing grounds maintenance. The shared potluck meal will begin at 11:30 am, and after the meal we’ll continue working until 4:30 pm or later. Things to bring:
- willing hands
- possibly a dish for the meal
- partial shade flowers that deer don’t like to eat
Luang Por Sumedho’s visit to Tisarana
We are delighted to announce the upcoming visit of Luang Por Sumedho and his attendant Ajhan Asoko this coming July.
We will have the good fortune of hosting Luang Por and Aj. Asoko who arrive on the 11th of July and depart on the 3rd of August.
Given Luang Por’s health, he will not be available for interviews or teaching events. He has graciously accepted to offer a dhamma talk on the occasion of his 85th birthday on the 27th of July. We are indeed blessed to be part of this auspicious & momentous occasion. More details about the event to follow.
Luang Por Sumedho may also give a Dhamma talk on the 20th of July as our three Anagarikas take Samanera (Novice) precepts. This depends on his health and energy levels so stay tuned for another update.… Read the rest
Spring Work Bee – May 25th
Work Bee on May 25th for Luang Por Sumedho’s upcoming visit:
Join us for a work bee on Saturday, May 25th, beginning at 8:30 am. We are giving Tisarana a good spring cleaning in preparation for Luang Por Sumedho’s visit. We’ll be planting trees, landscaping and doing grounds maintenance. The shared meal will begin at 11:30 am. Our usual public meditation and Dhamma talk will begin at 1:00 pm, and those who would like to can continue working instead until 4:30 pm or later. Please fill in your name and email here to let us know you are coming.
Also, we are having a second work bee on Sunday July 7th to finish off our preparations for Luang Por’s arrival, stay tuned!… Read the rest
Ajahn Candasiri’s Schedule
Ajahn Candasiri will be in Canada and the US for a few weeks and she’ll be giving some teachings in Ontario:
One of Tisarana’s longstanding friends in the Ajahn Chah tradition is the nun Ajahn Candasiri, who ordained as a Sīladhārā with Ajahn Sumedho in 1983. You can see a brief biography of her here.
The Ajahn in visiting North America this year and will spend a few days at Tisarana. We’ve scheduled her to give the Vesak Dhamma talk on 18 May.
Other scheduled public Dhamma talks by Ajahn Candasiri that we have heard about include:
- Thursday Evening, 09 May at Ottawa Buddhist Society
- Wednesday afternoon and evening 22 May at TBC in Toronto
Ajahn Candasiri for Visākha 2019
A Special Dhamma talk on a Special Day
Visākha Puja or simply ‘Vesak’ is a traditional Buddhist holiday observed on the first full moon in May. It commemorates three important events: The Buddha’s birth, his enlightenment, and his passing away.
Tisarana’s 2019 Vesak celebration will be held on Saturday, 18 May. The event will start around 10:45 with taking the five precepts, a blessing and a rice pindabhat, followed by a meal offering. In the afternoon around 1:30PM there will be a short sitting meditation and then a special Dhamma talk offered by our friend and visiting nun, Ajahn Candasiri of Amaravati monastery in England. (More on Ajahn Candasiri’s teaching schedule here)
If you’ve never been to a Vesak celebration before, well, you’re in for a treat. Think of a big pot-luck communal meal with a couple hundred like-minded friends and strangers all happily participating, followed by an inspiring Dhamma reflection.
If you are bringing any food for the potluck, please arrive by 10.30 AM at the latest. The meal will be offered by 11.15 and the sit will commence at 1.30 PM.
All are welcome!
Photo Book 2018 print copies
Order a hard copy of last year’s photo book.
We’re planning to place an order for several more hard copies of the 2018 Photo Book. You can see and download an on-line version of the book here.
If you would like to purchase one or more copies of the book in printed form (approximately $82 before discounts) you can ‘ride along’ our planned order. Please fill out this form and submit it by 01 May to add your name to the bulk order. Once we have all responses we can get a firm price and our office volunteer will contact you about payment and shipping.
… Read the rest
Ajahn Vajiro Saturday
Special Saturday Speaker
We have had the good fortune to host Ajahn Vajiro, a 40-vassa English monk and the abbot of Mosteiro Budista Sumedhārāma, Portugal, for a week’s stay here at Tisarana.
This Saturday, 06 April 2019, Ajahn Vajiro will be offering the Dhamma talk for our regular Saturday program. The program starts at 1:30Pm in the Tisarana Dhamma hall. All are welcome!
New Training for New Guests
Taking more time for first timers
As Tisarana has grown and become more popular we have noticed an increase in sincere guests who never get to properly understand the monastery or how it works. We think this is because there’s so much going on during the “work year”, and we haven’t set ourselves up to properly orient guests who may have very little prior exposure to monastic traditions.
To address that issue we are implementing a new 3-day training program for new guests. We have cleverly named this the “New Guest Orientation Weekend“. Catchy, eh?
The schedule for these trainings can be seen on our Calendar. The first one is scheduled for next weekend, starting 05 April.
The program is meant to thoroughly orient new guests to every important aspect of Tisarana, our lineage from Ajahn Chah, key monastic regulations, the economic, social, and spiritual functions of the monastery, along with such practicalities such as how to bow properly, or where to sit in the Sala, or where are the good hiking trails. The program will be delivered by our own resident community, including our main steward, Niraso, along with the guest monk, the senior monks, and the junior monastics.… Read the rest