Warm greetings, dear friends, from the quiet and peaceful evening in the
misty forest,
Many of the leaves have fallen here now, lining the paths, as autumn
deepens. Falling pine needles cover my deck each morning, my walking
meditation path light marked in them. With a subtle shift in wind and
difference in the look of the sky, i think that we may not be far from the
first rains coming -- a very big and important event in our simple and
rustic mountain forest hermitage for which we are preparing.
Many of you have been asking me what we will be doing come end of Vassa
this year, as this year we will not be returning to the old location of our
Bodhi House in Fremont, and there has been no news of a new place. End of
Vassa draws near now, less than two weeks away. I write now about our plans.
As you may know, our Dhammadharini location at the old Bodhi House has been
closed since before the Vassa. Bodhi House owner Liz has most kindly
allowed us to store the supplies you all have so kindly gifted us there in
the meantime, adding to her very long list of kind generosities. Come end
of Vassa, we will be moving those things: the library, bedding, bathroom
and kitchen supplies, monastic office and monastic store, etc.
As we do not yet have another monastic residential location to move these
to, we are thinking of moving them into public storage in Santa Rosa, where
we may be able to access them when needed for the hermitage time by time.
We cannot store the things at the hermitage as we do not have a safe place
to keep most of them here where we must be ever diligent with regards
destruction by mold in this often misty and cool redwood forest.
*
*
*November 17th *has been tentatively set for this move of things. You may
be hearing more about this soon from our volunteers coordinating friends
:-).
*Please know that we are open to possibility and suggestion.* It is not
necessarily our wish that your precious donations, for which we are so
grateful, be used on storage, especially considering Dhammadharini has been
running in the red much of this year. Yet we are also most grateful for
the useful things that you have given, and for their potential future use,
and wish to keep them well.
Most kindly, the Vietnamese bhikkhuni Ven Han Tri who founded the Peace
Pagoda in Fremont's Niles District has offered us use of a room there. We
will be following up with her about this possibility, as it may allow one
or two of us to visit Fremont and our friends in the South and East Bay for
short periods time by time. Our Dhammadharini non-profit corporate office
is currently being hosted in another friend's spare room.
This is the life of *pindapata*, the *bhikkha* life, the life of alms.
We receive the greatest and the smallest and everything in between of
useful things, with heart of gratitude and loving kindness, striving to use
the opportunity well for our awakening and development of all wholesome
qualities leading to happiness on the Path.
Not yet having a new monastery location, a good number of our monastics
will be migrating to other climes the end of this vassa. Ayya Sudinna has
already departed and on her way to South Carolina, Ven Pasada will move to
become a resident at Dhammasara Monastery in Australia, Sr Santacari will
go for long meditation retreat in Myanmar, and Ven Suvijjana will be going
for long retreat at the Forest Refuge in Massachusetts.
For those few of us who will remain -- we are most delighted in the gift
and precious opportunity this mountain forest land of our hermitage has
offered us of pure, clear space for quiet meditation retreat. And we look
forward to following up on invitations to develop Friends of the
Hermitage/Kalyanamitta groups in the communities local to our hermitage, to
share in the Dhamma with those around us, as is right for us to do, with
heart of generosity, in the Buddha's Way.
And we look forward to seeing how things unfold as the spirit of generosity
by which we live moves in mysterious ways, as does the fruition of all the
*parami*s, which bring blessings, often when least expecting them, to the
heart that is aware, open and receptive of the opportunity.
For now, we strive to care for one another well, to attend to our practice,
to live the life of the Way.
Wishing all well,
with thoughts of peace and loving kindness,
*Ayya Tathaaloka Bhikkhuni*
*
*
*--*
*Foundation: *www.dhammadharini.net
*Forest Hermitage: *www.aranyabodhi.org
