Stays

Paññāgiri offers an opportunity to deepen your understanding of Buddhism in an environment that fosters peaceful reflection. Visitors come from all over. They stay for a day, a weekend, or longer, perhaps to bring an offering, to learn to meditate, or for a time of refuge from the stresses of the world.

During your stay at Paññāgiri, you may also find opportunities to speak with an experienced monk. Guests are welcome to use the hall and library and take advantage of opportunities to experience the teachings while working alongside members of the Sangha in the kitchen, gardens, workshop, office, or on any maintenance tasks.

Guests are expected to observe the Eight Precepts and participate in community activities during their stay.

Becoming part of the daily routine of the Sangha

Any spiritual path has its rigors and rewards, both internal and external. Paññāgirī can be both very peaceful and very busy, with a diverse mix of visitors coming and going, from a few hours to a day to three months.

Community harmony is a key theme: it fosters sensitivity, reflection, and attunement to the bigger picture of what is happening around us. Working together in community with kindness, mutual respect, and integrity can be challenging, but it can facilitate a genuine integration of the teachings into our lives.

While you are here, we encourage you to be mindful of the shared space you are in, for your own benefit and the benefit of others.

Dhamma materials in book form are available at Paññāgirī for free distribution, especially the teachings of masters from the Thai Forest Tradition.

Eight Precepts

As the foundation of our communal life, all who stay in the community take on some level of precepts. Monastics follow 227 precepts. These can serve as guidelines for reflection, bringing a deeper awareness to our relationship with each other and with material things, and thus becoming a foundation for liberating understanding. They also provide a shared basis of trust in how we live together.

All our guests are expected to behave respectfully toward members of the community as well as other guests, maintaining an atmosphere of peace and trust.

Those who spend the night at the monastery are expected to observe the Eight Precepts:

1. Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi

I take the training to refrain from taking the life of any living creature.

2. Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi

I take the training to refrain from taking what is not given to me.

3. Abrahmacariyā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi

I undertake the training of abstaining from all intentional sexual activity.

4. Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi

I undertake the training of abstaining from lying.

5. Surāmeraya-majja-pamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi

I undertake the training of abstaining from intoxicating beverages and drugs that lead to carelessness.

6. Vikālabhojanā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi

I undertake the practice of abstaining from eating at inappropriate times.

6. Vikālabhojanā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi

I take the training of abstaining from eating at inappropriate periods.

7. Nacca-gīta-vādita-visūkadassanā mālā-gandha-vilepana-dhāraṇa-maṇḍana-vibhūsanaṭṭhānā
veramaṇī sikkhāpadam samādiyāmi

I take the training to abstain from entertainment, beautification and adornment.

8. Uccāsayana-mahāsayanā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi

I’m training myself to avoid sleeping in high or luxurious places.