Dear Friends,
Warm greetings!
As we enter our winter retreat, Jan 15 – March 18, there are a few things we would like to let you know.
We have created a new WhatsApp group.
The wish for this group is to help keep the Parayana Vihara community informed and foster connection in the Dhamma. For now, this space will be available mostly to the local community. Members are encouraged to use this space to organize meetups or activities, and the Vihara will also post important updates and needs that arise. We are very grateful to Indrayani, who has offered to help get this platform up and running and serve as Administrator. Here’s a link to join!
Sundays at the Vihara
We will be open on Sunday, Jan 18 & 25, and March 8 & 15, from 1:00 – 2:30 pm. This gathering will be held in Noble Silence with meditation, chanting and a Dhamma teaching being offered. Our Library will be open 2:30 – 4:00 pm on those dates.
We will be closed for the rest of the weeks, except to receive meal offerings.
Meal offerings
The meal dana calendar is open and your offerings are a welcome support during our retreat. One of the resident bhikkhunis will be available to receive your offering and to chant an anumodana blessing. We will not be available to talk during the retreat. If you wish to support through offering a meal, you can sign up here.
The Winter Retreat
This is a precious time for the resident monastics to deepen our practice and study of the Dhamma. We will go into retreat at the vihara where we live, keeping Noble Silence and having some times of meditating together and times of solitary practice. A friend of the vihara has offered a separate space for us to have solitary retreats, which is a great blessing.
We know some of you will miss coming to the vihara while we are in retreat. We encourage you to take care of your Dhamma practice. You can keep in touch with each other through the new WhatsApp group and perhaps meet up for practice together.
Each day, we will be sharing the blessings of our practice with you and for the benefit of all beings!
With much metta,
Ayya Anandabodhi