So goes the universe. Expansions and contractions here, Mae Chii Jai is coming back, as is Sumana, the ex-novice from Thailand, to ordain again. Our new well is progressing nicely, we’ve been using it for a couple of weeks already, the water was tested and is fit for human consumption.…
Everybody left, and then three new meditators came. So, now we have me, Pauli from Finland, Harish from USA, and Peter from Canada. Pauli will finish his first course tomorrow, Peter and Harish are just slogging through the beginning stages; everyone has expressed the shock at how different it is…
The best way to live is without ever putting down an anchor anywhere at any time. Then the whole of reality is your ocean, over which your voyage can finally posses real and universal meaning. It is the anchors we put down that limit us to space, time, and circumstance.…
Still no resolution on the visa situation, besides the unwelcome one of having our students return to their home countries before getting visas to ordain. Another try (our fourth) next Monday. Went to see Bhante Anoma yesterday, a nice visit, though short. He may be visiting soon to bring doors…
Today is the new year, or tomorrow is, depending who we listen to… Friday the 13th too. The-yogi-formerly-known-as-Jens arrived this week, and has taken up the role of groundskeeper; he and Manju have begun work on one of the more slippery forest paths and took measurements for the new kuti…
So, things are coming together in keeping the organization running; there is some coordination going on between the non-profit and the monastery, which should see the monastery regain its ability to finance the meditation centre. A budget is now up at the Org.Sirimangalo site, for anyone who is interested, though…
The bhikkhuni and the samanera finally got residence visas, after a tense showdown with an immigration official. It seems like we were just shuffled along from one person to another until finally we arrived at this man who basically told us he wasn’t prepared to issue the visa. After a…
So, in preparation for the book project, I thought to find a way to organize the questions and answers on our ask forum into a single file. The result is an actual e-book made up of the best answers to all the questions on the site, and can be downloaded…
December has been a busy month on all fronts; after the novice ordination, there was the robe dying, robe-wearing instruction, etc. Then we started an off-line Pali class, which has been fruitful – for me at least, learning a bit more about how to teach Pali… not sure if this…
Today the slab went up on the two new rooms – it looked like it would never be finished when on alms round we had to crawl under a massive coconut tree that had taken out the power lines last night. But, we have a great group of workers who…