Jan 8 |Loving-kindness Daylong Retreat: A Karuna-Virus Super-Spreader Event

9140 California Avenue Southwest,Seattle WA 98136

08 January, 2022

Description

Develop Your Heart with Monastics Ajahn Kovilo, Tan Nisabho, and Ayya Cittananda Sat. Jan.8th , 9 am - 5 pm, Fauntleroy Church in West Seattle, 9140 California Ave SW (also live-streamed on Clear Mountain's YouTube Channel) We ask that participants be vaccinated or have received a negative Covid-19 test within the previous 72 hours. Thank you for your understanding. In this time of pandemic, isolation, and fear, we must turn increasingly to the sense of connection and spaciousness provided by metta, or goodwill. The Buddha’s teachings on the four brahmavihārās, or “divine abodes”, of loving-kindness, compassion, rejoicing, and equanimity provide a path towards just such strength of heart. However contagious the coronavirus has proven, karuna, the Buddhist term for compassion, is moreso. Ordained in the Thai Forest Tradition, Ajahn Kovilo and Tan Nisabho have trained under senior teachers such as Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Piak, Ajahn Anan, and Ajahn Jayasaro. Ayya Cittananda, who will be joining via Zoom, is a bhikkhuni who began her monastic path in 2006, living in numerous communities before settling down in Karuna Buddhist Vihara in Northern California and taking full ordination in 2018. Ajahn Kovilo and Tan Nisabho are part of the Clear Mountain Monastery Project, an aspiring Thai Forest Monastery in the greater Seattle Area. The schedule, monastic biographies, Covid-19 precautions, and other details may be found below. If you live in the greater Seattle area, you may join the Clear Mountain WhatsApp group to hear about local events, organize rideshares, etc. If you wish to look for or offer a ride to the event, feel free to check out our Rideshare Board. For more information, email [email protected]. Details Schedule Note that the entire retreat, including meditations, will be continually live-streamed on Clear Mountain’s YouTube channel. 9 - 10 am: Brief welcome, Introduction, and Guided Meditation (Ajahn Kovilo and Tan Nisabho on Metta) 10 - 10:30 am: Dhamma talk - (Ajahn Kovilo on Karuna) 10:30 - 11:00 am: Sitting and Walking meditation (30 min walk/sit) 11 am - 12 pm: Meal offering, silent potluck lunch, & clean-up 12 - 12:30 pm: Rest/ free time 12:30 - 1:00 pm: Dhamma talk - (Ayya Cittananda on Mudita via Zoom) 1:00 - 2:00 pm: Group Q&A (All) 2:00 - 3:30 pm: Walking and sitting meditation (30 min walk/sit; 30 min walk/sit; 30 min walk/sit) 3:30 - 4:00 pm: Dhamma Talk - (Tan Nisabho on Equanimity) 4:00 - 4:30 pm: Walking and sitting meditation (30 min walk/sit) 4:30 - 5 pm: Closing comments, and spreading blessings (Ajahn Kovilo and Tan Nisabho) 5 - 6 pm: Informal Teatime, Q&A, clean-up, and general hobnobbing with new friends! Meal Participants should consider eating breakfast before arriving, as only a mid-day meal is scheduled. Clear Mountain retreats are offered freely, and the daily 11 am Potluck meal represents another communal act of generosity. The meal is composed just of what participants bring, and represents an opportunity for all present to support other practitioners through one of simplest and most wholesome of all gifts: food! In keeping with monastic tradition, food is generally first offered to the monastic Sangha, and then shared amongst all present. If you can, bring a dish or two. If not, know that your practice represents the greatest act of dana. Vegetarian and vegan options are helpful in accommodating all diets, but all food is appreciated. Some refrigerator space and a microwave are available on the premises. In order to observe proper safety precautions with regards to the Covid-19 pandemic, food will be served and taken outside with proper safety measures. What to Bring A mask A meditation cushion or (some spare cushions and church chairs are available for sitting at the venue) Water bottle Dish for the potluck meal Your Intention to practice in community! Biographies Ajahn Kovilo Ajahn Kovilo is an Ohio-born monk who, having been introduced to meditation through the Goenka tradition, first entered the monastery in 2006. After receiving full ordination from Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California in 2010, Ajahn Kovilo spent the next decade training at monasteries in the Ajahn Chah tradition in America and Thailand. In 2020, after a year practicing at a Pa Auk Sayadaw monastery, Ajahn Kovilo enrolled at the Dharma Realm Buddhist University in Ukiah, California where he is currently studying Pali and Sanskrit among other courses. Until the end of his formal studies, Ajahn Kovilo will be participating in the growing Clear Mountain Monastery community remotely and during Winter and Summer breaks and will be joining the community in person on a more regular basis thereafter. Tan Nisabho After finishing college in 2012, “Tahn” Nisabho left his native Washington to go forth as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. He received full ordination the following spring under Ajahn Anan, a senior disciple of renowned meditation master, Ajahn Chah, and spent the following years training in forest monasteries throughout Thailand, Australia, and the US. While staying with some of the lineage’s most respected teachers, he grew to believe the Thai Forest Tradition’s balance of communal life with solitary forest dwelling, careful adherence to the monastic precepts, and focus on meditation represented a faithful embodiment of the original Buddhist path. Moreover, his time with contemporary masters such as Ajahn Anan, Ajahn Pasanno, and Ajahn Jayasaro, convinced him that such a path could yield great fruit in the heart even amidst the complexities of modern life. He currently resides in Seattle, WA, as part of the Clear Mountain Monastery Project (https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/). Ayya Cittananda (joining via Zoom) Ayya Cittananda Bhikkhuni started on the monastic path in 2006. After completing a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and working at a hospital as a registered nurse in Texas, she lived as a monastic at a small Pure Land/Chan monastery in Florida for a year before moving to California. She spent two years living and working in Redwood Valley, made daily visits to Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, and sat several long retreats at various monasteries and meditation centers. She spent a year and a half at monasteries with monastics trained in the Ajahn Chah lineage before settling at Karuna Buddhist Vihara and taking bhikkhuni ordination in 2018. Karuna Buddhist Vihara is a small forest hermitage monastery in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Northern California. Covid-19 Pandemic Precautions We ask that attendees be vaccinated or have received a negative Covid test within the previous 72 hours. All attendees are expected to wear masks while inside the building. At the retreat, those from the same household or who have been “podding” in other settings are welcome to sit together without distancing. Otherwise, individuals are expected to maintain six feet of social distancing at all times. Food and drinks cannot be consumed inside the building, and the meal will occur outside - Maybe. They’re still considering this. There may be no way around it though, and people might just have to brave the cold or eat in their cars.. Outside, people are welcome to unmask and eat, but are asked to maintain social distancing as they do so. The aim of Clear Mountain Monastery is the founding of a Buddhist community in the Seattle area.