Pacific Hermitage

Tan Jotimanto has left the Hermitage and will spend the second vassa at the Sumedhārāma Monastery in Portugal.  Ajahn Sudanto will be the sole monk at the Hermitage for the vassa, so it is best to have meal offerings in groups with a male present.

Since April, there have been a lot of guests and events, as well as a fair amount of traveling for Ajahn Sudanto (including three weeks away hiking in July). Ajahn’s main focus now is on various monastery projects, maintenance, and improvements at the Hermitage.

It’s Almost Time for the Pah Bah

We are looking forward to the Pah Bah events the weekend of September 19^th & 20^th, and the schedule is shown below.  Nine monastics are expected to attend, including Luang Por Pasanno, Ajahn Karunadhammo, Tan Suddhiko, and others from Abhayagiri Monastery, as well as Ajahns Kovilo and Nisabho from Clear Mountain Monastery.  Proceeds from the Pah Bah will go toward the new Monks Retreat House, which we hope to be funded and built in advance of the Hermitage’s 20^th anniversary in 2030.  For more details, click here. (Note that if you are donating to the retreat house, please type “Monks Retreat House” in the comment.)

This year, there is a special event added to Saturday’s events.  The shrine for the new Buddha Rupa has been set up, almost exactly where it will be when the Monks Retreat House is built.  At the end of the meditation event at 6:00 PM, we will gather at the Hermitage at the new shrine. We will do blessing chants and recite the Dhammacakkapavatana Sutta – which the new Buddha rupa depicts – on the site of the future Retreat House.  What a meaningful way to conclude the weekend! 

As in recent years, events will be held at the  Underwood Community Center, 951 School House Rd in Underwood, Washington (except the Saturday evening Buddharupa dedication event). 

Saturday, Sept. 19
Meditation Retreat: 1:00 to 5:00 PM

Buddharupa Dedication:  6:00 PM at the Hermitage

Sunday, Sept. 20
Meal Offering: 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Pah Bah Ceremony & Dhamma Reflections: 1:00 to 3:00 PM

September Garden Party

September 5^th will be our second to last garden party for the year, and an important one.  In preparation for the Pah Bah, we will set up campsites and tidy the gardens and grounds: planting, pruning, weeding, raking, and grass trimming, plus pond maintenance. This is a great opportunity to connect with the community and Ajahn Sudanto. The weather has been fantastic and no special skills are needed; we hope to see you there. 

The schedule is as usual, with the meal offering at 11:00 AM (come by 10:30 if you are bringing something for the meal), garden work occurring 1:00 – 3:00 PM, followed by tea with Ajahn.

Ongoing Events

Tuesday evenings at Columbia Gorge Yoga (formerly Yoga Samadhi) continue as always, with a one-hour silent meditation sit at 5:15 PM, followed by one hour meditation and Dhamma discussion at 6:30 PM.

There are three organized, group meal offerings each month that all are welcome to join. 

• There are two meal gatherings organized by the Portland Friends of the Dhamma (PFoD) Upasika group:  The 1^st Tuesday and the 3^rd Saturday of each month. 
• The Gorge sangha meal offering group is on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month.

Feel free to reach out to the dana coordinator (dana@pacifichermitage.org) for information or to join (or just come 😊), or to PFoD.

As previously announced, we will be celebrating Asalha Puja at the Pacific Hermitage on Saturday, August 1st. This day marks the Buddha’s first sermon at Deer Park, where he set the wheel of the Dhamma in motion. The schedule is from 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM, you can find full details here.

Following the celebration, we will go right into the Garden Party, shortly after 1:00 PM. The focus will be on cleaning up the area where we will enshrine the new Buddha Rupa. The materials for the Shrine have arrived and construction will begin soon, so it would be great to have the area prepared. Anumodana for your generosity!

UPDATE: Thank you all for your help today.

Thanks to the help of everyone gathered for the Asalha Puja Garden Party today, the site for the new Buddha shrine is clear and ready for construction to start next week.

When traveling in Thailand last year, Ajahn Sudanto was gifted a beautiful new Buddha Rupa for the Monks’ Retreat House that is planned for the Hermitage. The image depicts the Buddha’s first teaching at Deer Park, and the statue is a replica of a renowned piece of Indian art from about 500 CE (more details here in this web post).

It is particularly meaningful that this extraordinary Buddha image offered is the twin of the one at Wat Pah Boonlorm, an Ajahn Chah lineage monastery in Thailand. And it is timely that the offering was made specifically for the new Monks’ Retreat House to be built at the Hermitage. Architectural Plans have been completed, and everything is in place to move forward with this important project as soon as sufficient funds have been raised. And now the beautiful new Buddha Rupa has arrived!

The Monks Retreat House is important because currently there are no suitable accommodations to house esteemed elders in our tradition such as Luang Por Pasanno, Luang Por Sucitto, visiting Thai senior Ajahns, or others in that generation of senior monastics. Once the Retreat House is built, we will be able to invite these elders to spend extended periods of time with us right here in White Salmon.

We are hoping to have the project largely funded by 2027 so it may be completed by our 20^th anniversary in 2030.  While it is a bold goal, the immense value to the community and impact on the Sangha makes us hopeful we can achieve it.

For anyone who is interested in contributing, you can donate through the Sanghata organization that supports the monks.  You can designate the funds for the project by putting “Monks Retreat House” in the comment. Anumodana!

And on a Separate Note…Join us for the July Garden Party on July 4th

The July Garden Party will be held on Saturday, July 4th. As usual, the day begins with the meal at 11:00 AM (please join at 10:30 if you are bringing a dish), and work on the land begins after meal cleanup. Tea and Dhamma discussion starts around 3:00 PM.

Asalha Puja Celebration on August 1st (plus Garden Party)

Asalha Puja

Join in a community meal offering and celebration of Asalha Puja at the Pacific Hermitage. All are welcome! 

Asalha Puja is one of the three major Buddhist holidays, and is sometimes called Dhamma Day. We will celebrate on Saturday, August 1st in the traditional way: Gathering at the monastery, offering a meal, taking the five precepts together, and talking on Dhamma with the monastics in residence.

The Asalha Puja celebration is scheduled from 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM. Following that, we will begin the August Garden Party!

• Arrive by 10:30 AM.
• If you like, you can bring a meal or dish to share, already prepared and ready to go on the table when you arrive.
• We will offer the meal by 11:00, eat, and clean up.
• Around 12:00, there will be time for chanting, taking precepts, Dhamma conversation, and other activities as Ajahn Sudanto determines.
• Families are welcome! There’s a big field, a small pond, and walking trails for kids to enjoy.
• The celebration should wrap up around 1:00 PM.
• The Garden Party will begin afterward, just after 1:00.
• Tea and Dhamma discussion will be from 3:00 – 4:00.

Asalha Puja celebrates the Buddha’s first sermon at Deer Park, where he set the wheel of the Dhamma in motion. 

Ajahn Nyaniko to Visit the Hermitage on July 20 & 21

Ajahn Nyaniko, Abbot of Abhayagiri Monastery, will visit the Hermitage on July 20th & 21st, departing on the 22nd. We will have the opportunity talk Dhamma with him at Yoga Samadhi on the 21st. We are very happy to welcome Ajahn Nyaniko back to the Northwest!

Ajahn’s Travels

As previously noted, Ajahn Sudanto will be traveling much of June and July, joined for part of that time by Tan Jotimanto.  Ajahn is scheduled to depart the Hermitage on June 17, traveling first to Seattle to join the Clear Mountain Monastery Pah Bah Celebration on June 19^th.  From there, he will head to Abhayagiri for a week to participate in their 30^th Anniversary events. 

In July, Ajahn Sudanto will be hiking the last bit of the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington that he hasn’t hiked yet, beginning on July 11^th.  He will be returning to the Hermitage by the end of the month.

Yoga Samadhi Note

While Ajahn is traveling, the Tuesday evening program will be led by Jessica Swanson on June 23rd; by Tan Jotimanto on July 14th; and by Ajahn Nyaniko on July 21st.

Tan Jotimanto to Walk Alms Round in Oregon City

From Cagasiri:

Tan Jotimanto will be visiting his hometown of Oregon City at the end of June, and walking for alms most mornings from June 24th through July 9th.

His route follows Molalla Avenue south, starting at Grocery Outlet around 9:45-10:00 AM, and ending at Thai Chef around 11:00 AM. If you’d like to offer food, we’re coordinating a gathering point at the Fred Meyer (1839 Molalla Ave, Oregon City) around 10:45 AM, where the Venerable will stand for about 10 minutes receiving food offerings.

I’ve put together a page with his route map, a meal offering sign-up calendar, and some basic information for anyone new to offering alms to monastics. You can find it all here.

Multiple people are welcome to offer on the same day, and if the calendar looks full, come anyway. Sadhu! – Cagasiri

Offering Alms in July

For most of July, there will be one monk at the Hermitage:

July 1st – 10th: Ajahn Sudanto

July 11th – 20th: Tan Jotimanto

July 21st – 22nd: Ajahn Nyaniko & Tan Jotimanto

July 23rd – July 28th: Tan Jotimanto

There are still openings on the meal dana calendar for July, for anyone who would like to offer.

Monks Return from Another Successful Retreat at Birken

The annual Pacific Hermitage retreats at Birken were again successful and beneficial.  Two separate groups of about 12 people each attended the two retreat periods in May. This year’s theme was dependent origination, and Ajahn Sona gave very thorough and interesting explanations of the topic.  As usual, the talks will be available on the Birken YouTube channel at some future date.

Ajahn Sudanto and Tan Jotimanto are scheduled to return to the Hermitage this Sunday, May 24^th.  Alms round, meal offerings, and Tuesdays at Yoga Samadhi resume as normal as of May 25^th.

Special Events & Guests

Vesakha Puja

Join in a community meal offering and celebration of Vesakha Puja at the Pacific Hermitage. All are welcome! 

Vesakha Puja (sometimes called Buddha Day) will be observed on Saturday, May 30th in the traditional way: Gathering at the monastery, offering a meal, taking the five precepts together, and talking on Dhamma with the monastics in residence.

The schedule for the day is from 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM, as follows:

• Arrive by 10:30 AM.
• If you like, you can bring a meal or dish to share, already prepared and ready to go on the table when you arrive.
• We will offer the meal by 11:00, eat, and clean up.
• Around 12:00, there will be time for chanting, taking precepts, Dhamma conversation, and other activities as Ajahn Sudanto determines.
• Families are welcome! There’s a big field, a small pond, and walking trails for kids to enjoy.
• The event should wrap up around 1:30 PM.

Vesakha Puja celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and passing into parinibbana of the Buddha.  Luang Por Pasanno offered this talk on the Vesakha Puja 2024, if you want to discover more.

Ajahn Cunda To Visit the Northwest

Ajahn Cunda will be visiting the Hermitage from June 2nd – 10th. We will have a number of opportunities to visit with him and talk Dhamma while he is here, including:

• At Yoga Samadhi on June 2nd and 9th
• At Portland Friends of the Dhamma the weekend of June 6th & 7th. You can find details of those events here (the 6th) and here (the 7th).

Ajahn Cunda plans to spend a year at Birken Monastery in Canada beginning in July, so we are excited to be able to spend time before he departs.

MaeChee Paññasiri Events

We are very happy that MaeChee Paññasiri will be visiting the Pacific Northwest from mid-May through mid-June. Sister Paññasiri is a Chinese-born Thai Forest nun in the Ajahn Chah tradition, with Tan Ajahn Jayasaro as her preceptor.

She will be visiting the Pacific Hermitage the morning of Friday, June 12th for alms round and the meal. That evening, she will be at Portland Friends of the Dhamma for an evening of Dhamma beginning at 5:30 PM. You can find out more about the PFoD event here.

For more details about her schedule while in the Northwest, scan this code:

Travels

Ajahn Sudanto will be traveling much of June and July, joined for part of that time by Tan Jotimanto.  Ajahn will depart the Hermitage on June 17, traveling first to Seattle to join the Clear Mountain Monastery Pah Bah Celebration on June 19^th.  From there, he will head to Abhayagiri for a week to participate in their 30^th Anniversary events.  It is quite joyful to see the Hermitage monks join in these celebrations with their monastic brothers.

In July, Ajahn Sudanto will be hiking the last bit of the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington that he hasn’t hiked yet, beginning on July 11^th.  He will be returning to the Hermitage by the end of the month.

Note that Tan Jotimanto will be at the Hermitage alone in July, and there are still openings for meal offerings during the month.

The June Garden Party

Our second Garden Party of the year will be held on Saturday, June 6^th.  At this time of year, there is always much to do in the garden and on the grounds.  As always, come for any part of the day you are able to, and join the community in this kind act of generosity.  And with Ajahn Sudanto away for much of June and July, the June Garden Party is a great chance to spend some time with him visiting and talking Dhamma.

The schedule for the day is as usual:

Meal Offering: 11:00 AM. Feel free to bring a dish for the potluck style meal offering (please arrive by 10:30 if you’re bringing food).

Garden Work: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM. Please also feel free to bring any extra garden tools for the day, and dress in your ‘garden clothes.’

Tea: 3:00 pm – 4:00 PM.