Ven Ajahn Brahm to conduct a meditation retreat for the Sangha
Venerable Ajahn Brahmavamso will conduct a residential meditation retreat exclusively for monks and nuns at Bandarawela from January 21. Around 200 members of the Maha Sangha, including monks and nuns are participating in the ten-day retreat.
The world-renowned meditation teacher has conducted several retreats in Sri Lanka where both the Maha Sangha and the laity participated. Accepting the invitation by the Ajahn Brahm Society in Sri Lanka, he suggested that a retreat for monks and nuns will be most beneficial since they in turn can spread the meditation practice among larger numbers. He stressed that such a retreat is of great value to Sri Lanka with its large community of monks and nuns spread throughout the country.
“Ven Ajahn Brahm has a busy schedule of programmes both at the Bodhinyana Monastery, the forest monastery in Perth, Australia where he resides, as well as his constant visits to other countries,and we are indeed very fortunate to have Ven Ajahn Brahm with us in Sri Lanka,”said a spokesperson of the Ajahn Brahm Society.
The retreat is being held at the Bandarawela resort man- aged by Sri Lanka Tourism which has been working in close cooperation with Ajahn Brahm Society over the past several years. In addition to Ajahn Brahm, one of his senior-most pupils, Ajahn Brahmali has also been conducting meditation programmes at the resort.
The practice of bringing the dana for the participants of retreats is one that the temples together with dayakayas in and around Bandarawela started from the first visit of Ajahn Brahm ten years ago. The temple monks accompanied the dayakas when they brought the dana to ensure that everything went off smoothly. For this retreat too many volunteers have come forward to offer dana. The ‘morning dana’ will be offered by both the Ajahn Brahm Society members and others who wish to offer ‘dana’ to the Ariya Sangha. As in the past, the dawal dana will be offered by the people in Bandarawela and surrounding villages coordinated by the area temples. The support extended by these temples goes a long way to make these retreats a success. Following traditional practice the monks and nuns will go on pindapatha to a nearby location where the dana will be offered.