It lies in the nature of the monastic annual rhythm, that there exists an alternating interchange between times of seclusion and stillness and times of activity and physical movements. The timespan between our winter retreat and the so called rainy season (vassa) – normally between April and the full moon of July – witnesses quite […]
Time has come for a change of leadership at Dhammapala Monastery. After this year’s Kathina ceremony on the 28th of October I will pass on the abbot’s sceptre to my successor. All in all I’ve spent 22 years in different roles in the monastery at the edge of the forest and the foot of the […]
At the beginning of our active period in 2018 we are reminiscent of the fact, that the current year actually marks the 30th anniversary of Dhammapala in Switzerland. As the longest standing member of the present monastic community I have the felt sense, that only a maximum of 20 years could have possibly passed by […]
It’s been seven years since Luang Por Sumedho last visited Dhammapala – on the occasion of the consecration of the Abhaya-Buddha statue in the monastery garden. It was also in the same year that he passed on his abbot duties and responsibilities at Amaravati Monastery to his successor, Ajahn Amaro, and since then he has […]
From May 22nd until 26th Ajahn Khemasiri attended an International Elders’ Meeting at Amaravati Monastery in England. Such gatherings of the disciples of Ajahn Chah take place approximately every three years. This year it was organized in such a way to also include an additional number of younger monks and nuns. One of the highlights […]
Since more than ten years Dhammapala Monastery has supported – under the supervision of its Trust, the Verein Dhammapala – four aid projects in the poorer Buddhist areas of the world. Two of them are in Myanmar (Better Burmese Healthcare and Metta in Action) and the other two are located in Ladakh/India (Ladhaki Nuns Association […]
At the beginning of this years ‘Rains Retreat’ (Vassa) our resident Thai monk proposed to revive the traditional almsround in two major cities of the Bernese Oberland. In the past some monks had tried to go on almsround after the opening of Dhammapala in 1991, but had given it up soon after. When almsround is […]
After three months of intensive activities on the monastery roof, the work was officially finished on August 26th. We are now shelterd by a completely reconstructed roof, including a copper guttering system and super-insulation. The later should keep more heat inside the house during those severe alpine winters – plus of course considerably reduce our […]
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