Tisarana is primarily a monastery devoted to the training of monks and to familiarize laity in the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravāda Buddhism. You are welcome to visit during the day or join in morning and evening Pūjā. Generally, if you are coming for a day visit, there is no need to let us know in advance. However, if you are expecting to see a particular monk please email us for an appointment. If you would like to join us for the main meal, it would be helpful if you could let us know in advance. People who come for the meal often bring prepared dishes to share. For more information, please contact the kitchen steward. If you are planning to visit please check the schedule below and try to time your visit accordingly. It is best to time your arrival so that you do not arrive in the middle of a scheduled Pūjā (meditation meeting).

Details will vary according to the time of the year, the phases of the moon (see below) and the seasons, but here is a typical days 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 cooked dishes to share if you are joining the potluck. Please contact the kitchen steward.

Tisarana Monastery is primarily devoted to training monastics and lay practitioners. People interested in experiencing life in a Forest Monastery and training alongside monastics are welcome to request overnight accommodation for a minimum of three nights and up to two weeks (commencing with an orientation weekend) as a visitor, sharing in the lifestyle of the monastic community.

Please note that our community is built on a sensitive understanding of relationships and rules, some of which are unusual in Western culture. For this reason, we require new visitors to attend an orientation weekend as part of their initial stay. These events are scheduled once per most months during the Spring, Summer and Fall.

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 people.

In keeping with our tradition, everything at Tisarana Buddhist Monastery is offered free of charge. 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 Guest 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. The monastery wifi and internet are not intended for use by short term visitors. If a visitor is required to make a phone call or check the internet for any valid reason (i.e. for checking/procuring a plane/bus/train tickets or for any emergencies) they may ask permission from the Guest Monk to do so. 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 on monastery property. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate pets.

The Eight Precepts – kept by all residents and visitors

1. To refrain from destroying living creatures (harmlessness: not intentionally taking the life of any living creature)
2. To refrain from taking that which is not given (trustworthiness)
3. To refrain from any kind of intentional sexual behaviour (celibacy)
4. To refrain from inappropriate speech (avoiding false, abusive or malicious speech and idle chatter)
5.To refrain from intoxicating drink and drugs which lead to carelessness (sobriety)
6. To refrain from eating at wrong times (restraint: not eating after midday)
7. To refrain from beautification, entertainment, and adornment (restraint: not seeking distraction, playing radios and music, and dressing modestly)
8. 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. Please do not bring a sleeping bag or blankets.

All new guests are required to attend an orientation weekend as part of their initial stay. Please see the Calendar on the front page of this website and note the dates of the New Guest Orientation Weekends which have vacancies.
All visitors, old and new, are asked to stay a minimum of three nights to a week when staying at the monastery, exceptions can always be made upon request. If you are making an international trip (with the exception of nearby areas), you may ask to stay for two weeks to a month. For those who have previously spent time with our community, it may be possible to arrange for longer stays. Please note, we can accommodate bookings only based on availability.
Please don’t make a reservation unless you can make a firm commitment to follow through. When you cancel a reservation it may mean that someone else was turned away for lack of space. Our cancellation policy requires people to wait one year to make another reservation if they do not show up without notice or if they cancel their current reservation with less than two weeks’ notification from the reservation date (unless they have an emergency which requires them to cancel). This is due to many cancellations and no shows we have had in the past. To book a visit, please fill in the visitor booking form. Bookings can’t be made over the phone, so please use this form.

For people visiting the monastery and unfamiliar with monastery 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 as long as it is unintentional. 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.

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 especially when speaking with monastics.

Bowing: The traditional way of paying respect to a shrine or to a 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 Asian 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. Please avoid drinking or eating during meditations and dhamma talks.

Monks have many rules in their monastic code of discipline that govern the way they interact with people. For this reason, monks will usually maintain a distance when interacting with visitors. 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.”

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. If you need something, you should ask permission from one of the residence stewards. 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.