About

Pārāyana Vihāra is a Buddhist monastery and a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Bhikkhuni Sangha, sharing the Buddha’s teachings, and encouraging the embodiment of the path.

We are a community of female monastics practicing the Buddha’s teachings of ethics, meditation and wisdom, inspired by the potential to transform old patterns of holding and entanglement, and to realize the heart’s release. Having times of solitude and quiet practice is integral to deepening insight and understanding. Sharing the Dhamma in community also supports a meaningful life.  

As Theravada Buddhist monastics, we are renunciants, but we are not recluses. The Buddha required that nuns and monks be totally dependent on the lay community for their physical support. Monks and nuns cannot handle money and can only eat or drink that which is offered to them (water being the exception). For those who support the monastic community, this opportunity to give, provides occasions for generosity and a joyful and direct participation in the spiritual life. The monastic community offers spiritual guidance by teaching Dhamma and through their example as dedicated monastics upholding the values of ethics, renunciation, and the cultivation of wisdom and compassion. In this way, we support and enrich one another along the path.

Pārāyana means “The Way to the Beyond” and points to the way of awakening that is present here and now, beyond wanting and not wanting. This name came as a gift from Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi as we began to set up our vihara (monastic residence) in Washington. Pārāyana references the last chapter in the Sutta Nipata, one of the oldest collections of teachings, “The Chapter on the Way to the Beyond”. 

For more about:

• Resident community
• Our History
• Photo Gallery
• Board of Directors