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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

Kathina Wish List 2020

At the request of our caring supporters, here is a list of suggested items that would be useful for Tisarana that could be offered during the Kathina season this year. If you plan to offer an item please cross it out using strikethrough (example) so that it can be removed from the list.

2020 Kathina Wish List

As usual, our main priority is to build a New Dhamma Hall. If you would like to contribute towards this effort as part of a Kathina offering please visit the Financial Contributions page.

If you have any questions please contact office@tisarana.ca… 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

… 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:

… Read the rest

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!


… Read the rest

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

Development Plans for Tisarana’s new Dhamma hall.

As our community grows and expands, the need for a larger space dedicated to meditation, silence and teaching has become apparent. To address this need, a building sub-committee, headed by Ajahn V and Adam Mackenzie Smith, our architect, was formed. Over the past year, the building committee has made significant progress developing plans for a new Dhamma hall.

As a result, we have seen design plans and a new model displayed in the house. Taking this further, we have now added a new page on our website detailing our vision to help bring these plans to fruition. Please click here to view the page about our development plans.

Our architect and the building committee have envisaged that the new hall will hold 150 people (expandable to accommodate up to 200) with much needed washroom facilities during large events. This hall will also be connected to the other buildings, providing easy access.

We invite you to visit our website for more details, to take the virtual tour and view our interactive site plan. We are grateful for all the encouragement and support received from our community, both local and overseas. Do enjoy our new Dhamma hall web-page and feel free to participate in any way you may wish to support this project.… Read the rest