Dear Friends and Supporters of Vimokkharam,

 

I am happy to be back after 2 weeks in Thailand, and looking forward to the month ahead.

 

Firstly, as many of you already know, Ian Anderson has come back to live at the hermitage. In a former phase of his life, he was better known as (Ajahn) Ian Ariyesako and was the founding abbot of this temple. I spent 2 years as a young monk with him here 22 years ago, and things have come around full circle in that regard ;-) It is great to have him back again, and he has settled in and appreciates the conditions for practise and the support here.

 

Ajahn Dtun will be arriving in Melbourne late on the 4th of March, and will be spending time in Melbourne from the 4th-12th and then again from the 18th-24th. On Friday March 8th, he will give an evening talk at the BSV, and then on the following Saturday the 9th, he will preside over a robe-offering ceremony at Nigrodharama Forest Monastery in Seymour. I plan to join the Sangha for that event in Seymour, so please note that Vimokkharam will be closed to visitors on Saturday March 9th.

 

We hope to see Ajahn Dtun at Vimokkharam at some point during his visit, but a program has not been worked out yet. Please stay tuned.

 

In order to help prepare for Ajahn Dtun and some other visiting monks this month, we will be holding an extra working bee this Sunday March 3rd from about 11am-1pm. We need some help weeding, cleaning, and transporting some hard rubbish down to the road. As always, anyone is welcome to join for all or part of the time, and to participate in the communal meal offering at 10am.

 

There will be some other senior monks coming to visit us in late March and in April, but I will save the details for a subsequent update!

 

Very best wishes,

Ajahn Hāsapañño