Last 2019 PFoD Visit | Hillsboro Visit | Ajahn to Winter at Hermitage | Comings & Goings
November Events
NOVEMBER 15 & 16 — Portland Friends of the Dhamma: Join the monks on Friday night and/or Saturday morning. Details at PFoD website.
NOVEMBER 17 — Hillsboro Meditation Hall: The monks will visit 9 am – 1 pm. Email for information.
TUESDAY NIGHT SITS — Community Meditation continues, every Tuesday night at Yoga Samadhi, White Salmon, WA. Cushions & chairs available. – Silent Meditation, 5:15-6:15 pm. Be ready to sit at 5:15 pm and stay until 6:15 pm. For experienced meditators. – Meditation and Dhamma Talk, 6:30-8:00 pm, all levels.
Ajahn Sudanto to Stay at Hermitage This Winter
Ajahn Sudanto will spend the entire Winter Retreat at the Hermitage this year. That’s a change. For the past several years, he’s spent at least part of the winter at Birken Forest Monastery. Ajahn Sudanto will be joined by Ajahn Sek and Tan Khantiko.
Comings and Goings
Ajahn Sudanto and Tan Khantiko will remain at the Hermitage through winter.
Tan Gunaviro will leave in late winter and return to Abhayagiri.
Ajahn Sek will arrive from Abhayagiri in late November and stay through winter.
Winter Retreat begins December 1 and lasts through the end of March.
The monks need help splitting and stacking a large pile of wood. At this last work party of the year, we’ll use a gas-powered wood splitter to deal with large pieces, but about half of the wood is small enough to stack without splitting.
The work party is from 1 – 3 PM, both Saturday and Sunday, at the Hermitage. It’s a big pile of wood this year, so it would be helpful to have 10 – 12 people each day.
You’re welcome to join in the potluck meal on Saturday. Please arrive for that by 10:30 AM, and please let our meal dana coordinator know you’re coming. Sanghata, the lay board for the Hermitage, is meeting at the Hermitage on Sunday and providing the meal that day.
The “Woodchucker’s Ball” at the Hermitage is not about fancy gowns and ballroom dancing. Instead, please plan on wearing work clothes and sturdy gloves to help stack wood. No dancing required!
October’s Garden Party is usually the last work party of each year, and it’s an important one. Important enough to warrant two days instead of one, and important enough that Ajahn Sudanto likes to give it it’s own name, “The Woodchucker’s Ball.”
There will be plenty of cutting, splitting, stacking and chucking (?) of wood. The monks rely on a wood stove to heat the main building, so this work is a very critical task. Please consider helping out with the wood gathering or several other lighter tasks to prepare the Hermitage for winter.
You can
come for any part or all of the activities.
Information: contact the hermitage
Potluck Meal* — Arrive at 10:30 am (please tell dana coordinator if you’re participating) Work Party — About 1:00 – 3:00 pm Tea, Chat, Relax — Until 4:00 pm
*On Sunday, October 6, Sanghata will provide the meal for the monks. Sanghata, Board of Stewards for the Hermitage, will hold a meeting at the Hermitage for several hours that day.
PFoD Visit Oct. 18 – 20 Includes Walk to Feed the Hungry & Sunday Sila
The regular Friday night and Saturday morning monastic visit with Portland Friends of the Dhamma will extend also to Sunday and include two additional events: Walk to Feed the Hungry (Saturday) and Sunday Sila.
Friday — Casual tea (5:30 – 6:30 pm) and meditation / Dhamma talk (7 – 9 pm) Saturday — Meal offering (11:00 – noon), then Walk to Feed the Hungry (noon – 1 pm) Sunday — Sunday Sila meditation and Dhamma talk (10:00 – 11:30 am)
Visiting monks from Temple and Abhayagiri Monasteries at the 2019 Pah Bah.
This year’s Pah Bah was another lovely gathering on Saturday for a half-day of meditation and the Sunday meal offering and Pah Bah ceremony. Luang Por Pasanno led the retreat and ceremony, and a total of 13 monastics shared in the event.
We’ll include a more details and photos in an upcoming web post. To make sure you receive email updates or mailings, please fill out the “PACIFIC HERMITAGE LIST SIGN-UP”.
Sanghata, the board of stewards for the Pacific Hermitage, thanks everyone for their incredible generosity.
The Pah Bah (literally “forest cloth”) offering is an event organized by lay people to gather together to offer cloth, appreciate the monks’ dedication, and to request teachings on the Dhamma. It offers an opportunity for all to gather together as a Buddhist community in the traditional season of providing monks’ requisites and celebrating their role as bearers of the Dhamma.
Sept 7 Garden Party | Sept. 20 PFoD | Sept. 21 & 22: Retreat & Pah Bah (see update in Pah Bah article below)
Garden Party is September 7
Come to the Hermitage to share in a potluck meal and help finish yard work and preparations for our monastic Pah Bah guests. You can come for any part or all of the activities. Information: contact the hermitage
Potluck Meal — Arrive at 10:30 am (please tell dana coordinator if you’re participating) Work Party — About 1:00 – 3:00 pm Tea, Chat, Relax — Until 4:00 pm
Note: Bingen is having it’s Huckleberry Festival that weekend and traffic through Bingen on Hwy. 14 may be disrupted for a bit that morning by the festival parade. If you take Dock Grade Road from Hwy. 14 to White Salmon, you’ll avoid the parade.
Annual Pah Bah: Join us September 21 & 22
The big news for September is always the Pah Bah weekend, including a half-day meditation retreat on Saturday and the Pah Bah meal offering and traditional ceremony on Sunday. Details and schedule here. Twelve monks will join be here for the weekend, including Luang Por Pasanno, Ajahn Jayanto, Ajahn Karunadhammo, Ajahn Sek and Ajahn Caganando. Information: pahbah@sanghata.net
UPDATE: There will be a Children’s/Family Area downstairs during Sunday’s Pah Bah ceremony. No adult supervision or organized programs are planned, but there will be books, toys and games.
Friday Night at PFoD on September 20
The Pacific Hermitage monks will be joined by Luang Por Pasanno, Ajahn Jayanto, and several other visiting monastics from Abhayagiri and Temple Forest Monastery for their regular visit to Portland Friends of the Dhamma. Information at PFoD website. Note: Friday only. Saturday activities are cancelled, due to the Pah Bah retreat.
Water System Upgrades Underway
There has been quite a bit of trenching and laying of conduit over the past few weeks. The Hermitage water system is getting an upgrade. The new system will improve water flow to the existing building and landscaping, increase water storage capacity, allow for a back-up system and provide water for the future Abbot’s kuti and Retreat House.
North American Abbots Meeting September 4 – 11
Ajahn Sudanto will be away September 4-11, attending what is now a regular annual event. This gathering of abbots or senior monks from North American monasteries is hosted at a different monastery in the U.S. or Canada each year. This year it will be at Arrow River Forest Hermitage in Northern Ontario, Canada.
