In March, desert winds tugged my robes as I walked through the Spring blooms and greeted bunnies and birds looking for their nesting places, some right outside the kuti door. This sign of searching for their new homes signaled the end of Winter Retreat and the start of my own search for a dwelling, one that might grow into being a new monastery.
From the Mojave Desert dwelling at Dhamma Dena Retreat Center, I headed North by bus and train. I got to see some of the length of California over several days. The first stop was an overnight with a lovely Buddhist family near Los Angeles. Chanting and talking Dhamma with the children and parents lifted my heart and the generous offering of meals nourished me for the rest of the journey. Being met with such abundant good care and love of Dhamma was an auspicious start.
Over the last five days of March I visited monastics at Karuna Buddhist Vihara and then at Dhammadharini Monastery. This too was highly nourishing. Although I spent the Winter with amazing people, some of whom were deep practitioners and all aiming for freedom, there is something extra-special and Dhamma aligning being with other monastics.
April 1st, Ayya Suvijjana and I headed together back to Karuna Buddhist Vihara where we are currently being hosted by the community for a few weeks. Ayya Suvijjana and I are now discussing starting a monastery in Western Washington State in the USA. We have been making connections by Zoom, email, and Discord with people in the Pacific Northwest and are getting close to heading North.
The monastery isn’t yet named so, in keeping with the vision we are discussing to focus on bhavana and liberation, we are using the term ‘Samadhi Dwelling’ for now. Once it is named, we will create a website for it. In the meantime, a page on the niyyanika.org site will be used to share about the vision and current steps and needs. See: https://niyyanika.org/aspiring-for-samadhi-dwelling/
