Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

I've been here for a little more than two weeks and so far I like this country. We are going in almsround everyday. To my surprise people have actually put food in our bowls. This is not somekind of a Thai community here but a normal aussie neighborhood.

Great news, Bhante!

Great bit of land Venerable, it looks ideal.
And you have a good website already set up, and a facebook page.
http://bodhisaddha.wix.com/home
http://www.facebook.com/bodhisaddha

May I come visit and help out late next year? I'll bring a tent. I'll write you a letter closer to the time.
How are the sangha housed at present? The photos look like there are more bhikkhus than will fit in that house.

Bhante, I'm glad to hear that the local community are so willing to support the Sangha!

James,

James the Giant wrote:And you have a good website already set up, and a facebook page.
http://bodhisaddha.wix.com/home

I think that this website is hardly any good. And I have already voiced my opinion on this matter. The monastery is still very new and the website reflects that.

May I come visit and help out late next year? I'll bring a tent. I'll write you a letter closer to the time.

So far we have been turning people away because there really is not that much here. But there are people staying sometimes. I can recommend you staying in here on the basis that I know you from here. But it is not my call.

How are the sangha housed at present? The photos look like there are more bhikkhus than will fit in that house.

There are two of us staying fulltime at the moment. Me and a monk from the US. We have few rooms in the house. I set up a camp under a giant eucalyptus tree. It feels more spacious there

Is this supposed to be a new official branch of Ajahn Chah in Australia? Who would take on the burden of responsibility to look after it and send monks there?

gavesako wrote:Is this supposed to be a new official branch of Ajahn Chah in Australia? Who would take on the burden of responsibility to look after it and send monks there?

Namaste Venerable,

I think your questions reflect the difficulties a new monastery like this has to face. And there seems to be even more difficulties outside Thailand.

This monastery is at least connected with Ajahn Anan and Wat Marp Jan. Ajahn has been here before they got the land. Monks from WMJ have already been here, few of us full time.

I don't know what is going to be the future of this monastery. It is very new.

Well, good luck, but don't forget that:

The end of the world is here
Luang Por Sumedho

http://www.fsnewsletter.amaravati.org/h ... _world.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

gavesako wrote:Well, good luck, but don't forget that:

The end of the world is here
Luang Por Sumedho

http://www.fsnewsletter.amaravati.org/h ... _world.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Namaste,

Yes, I think I've read this before. It's a good talk.

"I came into monastic life very idealistic about Buddhism, monastic life and the Thai forest tradition. But every convention has disappointed me in some way or another. This is the nature of conditions, isn’t it? They’re all disappointing."

I've seen this in my years in Thailand. I'm far less idealistic about Thai forest tradition and Buddhism than I used to be. I fell better because of that

I've been talking about going to Australia in an earlier thread:

http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 57#p217153" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chao Khun Samai came to visit us today. I thought that meaby he will go straight out to see how the construction is going on. Instead, he sat down with us monks and gave a good talk.

Chao Khun said that more than finished and beautiful buildings, he likes to see good practice of Dhamma going on. He said that there's more and more construction going on in monasteries these days.

I almost felt like he was siding with me in trying to slow down construction and focus instead on individual meditation. Or perhaps that's just the way it should be.

Wishing you all the best in the new monastery! I hope it will bring lots of goodness to many people's lifes.

I'm now at another monastery called Santi. I requested to stay for awhile. Recently, Santi has become a nuns monastery. This is a new type of situation for me.

Thanavuddho wrote:I'm now at another monastery called Santi. I requested to stay for awhile. Recently, Santi has become a nuns monastery. This is a new type of situation for me.

I thought Santi was delightful.

Not sure how long I can stay here. I've already learned alot from here. Some of the Thai Buddhist customs, that I was so weary about, are not present in here.

Because I left without permission, I meaby have to return my monks certificate to Thailand. I don't know if I will ever get it back.