Starting the New Year with Dhamma
On January 1st, we will get the new year off to a good start with a daylong offered online and in-person at the KBV Hermitage. Everyone is welcome. We will meditate together and discuss Dhamma themes such as "setting the past to zero" and "being continuously happy in the present moment." The daylong will be from 10am to 4pm with a vegetarian potluck at 11am. Please email us for RSVP and directions.
The Beautiful Rains
During the vassa in Western Australia at Bodhinyana Monastery and the Jhana Grove Retreat Center, there were storms, internally and externally, beautiful storms leading to new growth. It is a tremendous gift to have three months of fully-supported retreat time where people love and respect bhikkhunis. The open schedule allowed the body and mind to find their own rhythm for quiet solitude, deep practice and Dhamma exploration. Ajahn Brahm's weekly Dhamma talks seemed to touch exactly the points arising in my practice and Ajahn Brahmali's weekly sutta lectures opened new vistas of understanding and encouragement. Almost daily, I read from "Stillness Flowing" and "The Art of Disappearing" side-by-side. It was fascinating to see the common threads of Dhamma and practice advice there and to apply them and experience some of the more subtle reaches of the mind. I will always be grateful to Ajahn Brahm for his personal guidance and to Ayya Canda for inviting me and the sweet sense of mutual support that we developed sharing the space. -- Ayya Santussika
Vassa at the Hermitage
It was a busy vassa back in California for Ayya Cittananda and Anagarika Sarana!
Community Work Day
An amazing crew came together in August for a big community work day, clearing downed wood from the major winter storms early in the year. A total of 14 friends came together throughout the day to help protect the hermitage. It was shocking how much we managed to gather and clear before hiring the wood chipping crew to turn all that heavy wildfire fuel load into safe wood chips. We then used the chips as landscaping material around the hermitage. A big anumodana and thank you to everyone who came out, made offerings for the potluck, worked themselves to the bone, and had a great time building community with their generosity!
An amazing crew came together in August for a big community work day, clearing downed wood from the major winter storms early in the year. A total of 14 friends came together throughout the day to help protect the hermitage. It was shocking how much we managed to gather and clear before hiring the wood chipping crew to turn all that heavy wildfire fuel load into safe wood chips. We then used the chips as landscaping material around the hermitage. A big anumodana and thank you to everyone who came out, made offerings for the potluck, worked themselves to the bone, and had a great time building community with their generosity!
An exceptional crew for an exceptional amount of life-and-structure saving work! A couple of other friends aside from those depicted here also came to help out later in the day.
Days like these really add to the sense that the hermitage doesn't belong only to the monastics, but to all of those participating in KBV's activities and Dhamma programs.
There's a community bonfire weekend coming up in February!
If you're sorry you missed the last opportunity for dana and kalyanamitta at the hermitage, there's always another chance! We're planning another community downed wood clearing day in February. We're inviting folks to come out on Saturday, February 10. We plan to gather as much downed wood as we can and have a big bonfire, complete with smores. Folks are welcome to camp in their cars or borrow KBV's tents, or share a kuti overnight.
Days like these really add to the sense that the hermitage doesn't belong only to the monastics, but to all of those participating in KBV's activities and Dhamma programs.
There's a community bonfire weekend coming up in February!
If you're sorry you missed the last opportunity for dana and kalyanamitta at the hermitage, there's always another chance! We're planning another community downed wood clearing day in February. We're inviting folks to come out on Saturday, February 10. We plan to gather as much downed wood as we can and have a big bonfire, complete with smores. Folks are welcome to camp in their cars or borrow KBV's tents, or share a kuti overnight.
Beta camping retreat at the hermitage
Ten retreatants stayed at the hermitage, enjoying meditating out in nature over the long (very chilly!) Labor Day weekend. It was a bit of an experiment to see how many people could stay overnight at the hermitage at one time for a retreat, and it looks like a total of 11 people on the property might have been a bit overly ambitious with the current bathroom facilities. Upcoming camping retreats will likely be kept down a bit in numbers, but everyone seemed to really benefit from the quiet, focused meditation time amongst the deep redwood forest energy. Stay tuned for future opportunities.
 Sitting and walking meditation in front of the outdoor shrine, and at spots overlooking the creek. |  A few retreatants had to leave a bit early, but these were the last meditators standing. |
Experiencing Dhamma through Pilgrimage
So much of the wisdom and experience of Dhamma has come to us from Thailand that we delight in bringing people from KBV to visit some of the great teachers there, as we did in November. We want people to have their own experience of what it is like to meet and interact with people who have walked the path all the way to its end or at least much farther than most people ever imagine is possible. We set out on this year’s pilgrimage with 21 lay practitioners from KBV and 5 women in robes. The 26 of us could not go unnoticed as we visited Krooba Ajahns (the Thai way of referring to masters of Dhamma) and spent time in their monasteries.
Our first week was spent at Wat Subtawee, the monastery of Luang Por Ganha. Our pilgrims were prepared to dive in deep, showing up for everything happening: teachings, chanting, meditation, alms round, chore periods and activities no one anticipated, like a mini-tudong (a long walk in the forest, complete with elephant footprints). Luang Por Ganha emphasizes happiness, generosity and selflessness and our group really took those teachings to heart. They treated each other and everyone with such kindness and generosity that the residents at Wat Sub were moved to express high praise of them.
The kindness and generosity continued as we visited four more Krooba Ajahns during our second week of pilgrimage. We were kindly welcomed by Ajahn Sopha, Ajahn Anun, Ajahn Suchart and Ajahn Piak. Each meeting gave our pilgrims the opportunity to ask questions and experience how different master teachers offer the Dhamma and how the Dhamma and Vinaya are lived at different monasteries.
Our pilgrims are still telling us about how this experience has changed their lives and we see that they are still supporting each other on the pilgrimage WhatsApp group. We couldn’t be more delighted and we look forward to future pilgrimages, so dedicated members of the KBV community who would like to come along will have that opportunity.
Our first week was spent at Wat Subtawee, the monastery of Luang Por Ganha. Our pilgrims were prepared to dive in deep, showing up for everything happening: teachings, chanting, meditation, alms round, chore periods and activities no one anticipated, like a mini-tudong (a long walk in the forest, complete with elephant footprints). Luang Por Ganha emphasizes happiness, generosity and selflessness and our group really took those teachings to heart. They treated each other and everyone with such kindness and generosity that the residents at Wat Sub were moved to express high praise of them.
The kindness and generosity continued as we visited four more Krooba Ajahns during our second week of pilgrimage. We were kindly welcomed by Ajahn Sopha, Ajahn Anun, Ajahn Suchart and Ajahn Piak. Each meeting gave our pilgrims the opportunity to ask questions and experience how different master teachers offer the Dhamma and how the Dhamma and Vinaya are lived at different monasteries.
Our pilgrims are still telling us about how this experience has changed their lives and we see that they are still supporting each other on the pilgrimage WhatsApp group. We couldn’t be more delighted and we look forward to future pilgrimages, so dedicated members of the KBV community who would like to come along will have that opportunity.
Anagarika Sarana's Disrobing Ceremony &
Bon Voyage Gathering
Anagarika Sarana enjoying the Gulf of Thailand November 2023, while on the KBV monastery pilgrimage. As much as we'll all miss our sweet, kind, wise, Anagarika Sarana, she's onto a new phase of her life. As well-grounded as she is in the Dhamma, it's time for her to spend a few years out in the world experiencing what it's like to live on her own, giving her the opportunity to learn and grow in ways she wouldn't be able to at a monastery. She plans to move to Guadalajara, Mexico and find a job in the public service sector. To support her practice, she plans to keep in close contact with the KBV bhikkhunis, and to regularly participate in programs at Pannabhumi Dhammasala on the outskirts of Guadalajara (lead by Bhante Rahula). Hopefully we'll see her back at KBV in not too long a time, after this stage of her development.
Your last chance to catch Anagarika Sarana live and in person will be at the end of the "How Do I Apply the Dhamma to THIS?!?!" program on December 16. Her disrobing ceremony will be at 10am, followed by an opportunity for folks to offer well-wishes and favorite memories. She plans on cooking up a Mexican meal for whoever would like to join us for lunch at the meditation center in Sunnyvale at 11am (and of course you're welcome to bring a dish to share as well, if you like). Please RSVP if you plan on coming so she can plan on amounts.
Your last chance to catch Anagarika Sarana live and in person will be at the end of the "How Do I Apply the Dhamma to THIS?!?!" program on December 16. Her disrobing ceremony will be at 10am, followed by an opportunity for folks to offer well-wishes and favorite memories. She plans on cooking up a Mexican meal for whoever would like to join us for lunch at the meditation center in Sunnyvale at 11am (and of course you're welcome to bring a dish to share as well, if you like). Please RSVP if you plan on coming so she can plan on amounts.
In conclusion...
Even though Anagarika Sarana is taking this time away, she'll still be part of the community, and all of you are part of this community, near or far. So please stay in touch, and know that you do have good friends on the path.
With much metta,
Ayya Santussika and Ayya Cittananda
With much metta,
Ayya Santussika and Ayya Cittananda