For the latest information on Wat Metta,
please go to the official Wat Metta web site:
Information on Metta Forest Monastery
and Thanissaro Bhikkhu, the Abbot:
The latest edition of this file lives at Access to Insight
at our favorite Web site:
http://accesstoinsight.org/
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METTA FOREST MONASTERY
P.O. Box 1409
Valley Center, CA 92082
(1 hour from San Diego)
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Metta Forest Monastery (Wat Mettavanaram, or "Wat Metta" for short)
is a Thai forest monastery established recently in the rural hills outside
of San Diego. Residential meditation retreats are usually offered on the
Memorial Day, July Fourth, Labor Day, and Columbus Day weekends. Individual
short- or long-term self-retreats may also be made by arrangement with the
Abbot, Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff, an American). If you are interested
in visiting Wat Metta, please write to the Abbot at the above address.
The following article, which appeared in abbreviated form in _Inquiring
Mind_ in 1993 (?) may help give you a flavor of the place.
FROM SAN DIEGO WITH METTA
by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
A new Dhamma center--Metta Forest Monastery--is developing in the mountains
of northern San Diego County. At the moment it consists of a tract of land
with a few temporary buildings, a small community of people and a plan.
The purpose of this article is to notify any meditators who might be interested
in visiting the land, getting to know the people, or giving their input
to the plan and helping to make it a reality.
The place
=========
The land is a 60-acre avocado grove located on a hill surrounded by chaparral,
with Indian land on two sides and a spectacular view of Mt. Palomar to the
east. The location is very secluded and--a rarity for Southern California--the
air is clean and smells of wild rosemary and sage: an ideal place for meditation.
The grove is only ten years old, and so is still relatively wild, with coyotes,
an occasional fox and deer and enough rattlesnakes to make mindfulness mandatory.
The people
==========
The community is a mixture of American, Thai and Laotian Buddhists. This
is also a rarity. Most Buddhist communities in the U.S. are either primarily
for Asians or primarily for Americans, as the aims and expectations of the
two groups can often be incompatible. Metta's hope is that the Dhamma and
Vinaya originally taught by the Buddha, and as free as possible from later
cultural accretions, Asian or American, will provide a common meeting ground
for serious Buddhists of all backgrounds.
The spiritual head of the community is Ven. Ajaan Suwat Suvaco, a Thai monk
with 50 years in the robes. He has lived in the U.S. for the last ten years,
but for the 40 years before that he spent most of his time training in the
forests of Thailand under some of the most respected teachers of the Thai
forest tradition. He himself is very highly regarded by his fellow members
in the tradition.
For those who are unfamiliar with the forest tradition, it started in the
last century as an offshoot of the Dhammayut reform movement lead by Prince
Mongkut (later King Rama IV, of The King and I fame). When Prince Mongkut
was first ordained, he found Thai Buddhism in a shambles caused by the Burmese
sacking of the Thai capital in the late 18th century. In his personal quest
to recover the original Buddhist teachings and to practice strictly in accordance
with them, Prince Mongkut developed a following which eventually became
the Dhammayut Sect.
At first this was largely a scholarly group centered in cities and towns, but towards the end of the last century, two of its members--Ven. Ajaan Sao Kantasilo and Ven. Ajaan Mun Bhuridatto--took it one step closer to the original teachings by going into the forest to practice meditation, since it was in the forest that Buddhism began.
This is a point whose importance is hard to over-emphasize. The goal of
Buddhist meditation has always been to take one beyond the relative truths
of one's cultural conditioning--and ultimately, even beyond the relativities
of time and space--to an absolute truth which can be found only inside,
at the point where mind and body meet. This requires the sort of solitude
that is best achieved when one is alone with nature, able to observe what
is left of one's 'self' when removed from society's norms and concerns.
In light of this fact, the forest tradition has long emphasized the need
for solitary practice--the usual setting is a small hut or cave in the forest,
with one's own seat and path for meditation--and this has become one of
the characteristic features of the tradition.
Another is its wide repertoire of concentration and insight techniques.
The tradition recognizes that different techniques work for different people,
and within a very broad framework, one is encouraged to find the techniques
that work best for one, and to work at them persistently. Among the usual
starting techniques for gaining a solid basis in concentration are breath
meditation (Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, one of the forest masters, developed
a very sophisticated breath meditation technique), buddho recitation and
the contemplation of the elements and parts of the body.
Another characteristic feature of the tradition is its emphasis on high
moral standards, and on using the 13 classical ascetic practices--such as
eating no more than one meal a day--as tools for overcoming one's most basic
attachments.
Over the course of the years Ajaan Sao and Ajaan Mun inspired many others--men
and woman, lay and ordained--to take up the meditative life in the forest
as well, to the point where the forest tradition is now one of the largest
and most respected meditation traditions in Thailand, and has attracted
large numbers of Western followers.
In setting up Metta Forest Monastery, Ajaan Suwat hopes to make the forest
tradition--or, more importantly, the original Dhamma and Vinaya of the Buddha--available
to all Americans who are seriously interested in reaching the goal the Buddha
taught. A number of Thais and Americans are helping him in this endeavor,
including an American monk, Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff), who trained
for 14 years within the forest tradition in Thailand before returning to
help with Metta. Ven. Thanissaro practiced breath meditation under a student
of Ajaan Lee for his first nine years in Thailand, up to his teacher's death
in 1986, and since then he has been teaching meditation in Thailand, Singapore
and now the U.S..
The plan for Metta is to build both a monastery where men may receive full-time
training as bhikkhus, and a center where laypeople can come for individual
short-term or long-term meditation retreats within the balanced pattern
of lay-monastic relationships designed by the Buddha. (An affiliated center
where women may ordain as nuns is tentatively set for a later date.)
The building plans for Metta are still in the hearing stage, and the specific
plans for how the center is to be organized and run are still relatively
fluid. Thus any constructive input is more than welcome. If you are interested
in more information, or would like to help in any way, contact Thanissaro
Bhikkhu, Metta Forest Monastery, P.O. Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082.
May all beings be happy.
* * *
Updated: 4/17/95
Expires: ??
Sources used: Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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