“Finding a Home” Robe Offering Ceremony: Supporting Clear Mountain & Welcoming Our Teachers!

Saturday, June 17th, 9:30 am – 2 pm at St. Mark’s Cathedral’s Bloedel Hall (enter through back of cathedral), 1245 10th Ave E. Those unable to attend in-person are also welcome to tune in via Zoom or YouTube livestream. You may spread the word by downloading and sending the flyers below!

You may spread the word by sharing the event link or downloading and sending out the flyers below!
English Flyer Thai Flyer (ภาษาไทย US)Thai Flyer (ภาษาไทย Thailand)

Join the Clear Mountain community from 9:30 am – 2 pm on Sat. June 17th, in celebrating the past two years of a growing community, gathering support for the next phase of the monastery, and welcoming Luang Por Pasanno, founder of Abhayagiri Buddhist monastery, Ayyā Anandabodhi, founder of Āloka Vihāra Forest Monastery, as well as Ayyā Santussikā and Ayyā Cittānandā, founders of Karuna Buddhist Vihara.

Traditionally, Kathina and Robe Offering Ceremonies (ผ้าป่า “Pah Bah” in Thai) are the primary events initiated and organized by the lay community in support of monasteries. Every year, many in the community come forward as “sponsors” to champion the event among their friends and family, spreading the word and getting the wider community excited and engaged. We come together in celebration and support of the monastics, their practice and their service to the community by offering food, cloth, and other requisites. Clear Mountain’s 2023 Robe Offering Ceremony, “Finding a Home”, is being held this year to gather support for the purchase of land and buildings for the future monastery.  You can find a more detailed description of robe offering ceremonies here. To learn more, step forward as a sponsor, or help as a volunteer, you may contact Ladawan Kongkarat at [email protected]. 

Everyone is welcome to attend and participate in all or any part of the Robe Offering festival. Feel free to offer food at the potluck, and participate in the joyful feast! Those unable to attend in-person are welcome to tune in via Zoom or YouTube livestream. Welcome!

Schedule
9:00 – 9:30 am: People arriving & settling in
9:30 – 10 am: Brief welcome, introduction, & guided meditation.
10 – 10:45 am: Dhamma Talk by Luang Por Pasanno
10:45 am – 12:30 pm: Potluck Meal
12:30 – 1:15 pm: Robe Offering Ceremony
1:15 – 2 pm: Dhamma Talk by Ayyā Anandabodhi, Ayyā Santussika, & Closing

What to Bring
– A cushion to sit on if you want, though chairs will be available as well, and your love of practice!
– An optional potluck dish to share.

Donations
Robe Offering Ceremonies (or ผ้าป่า “Pah Bah” in Thai) are a beautiful and significant way to financially help the monastics meet their material needs and/or fund special projects for Clear Mountain. Support gathered at this year’s ceremony, “Finding a Home”, will go towards Clear Mountain’s Land and Building fund, and support the monastery’s future development. Those who wish to contribute to Clear Mountain’s future home by donating to the Land & Building Fund may do so by visiting www.friendsofclearmountain.org, the website of Clear Mountain’s steward organization. Please try to note that the donation is made for the Robe Offering Ceremony.

Parking
Those driving may enter the campus at the north between the cathedral and the St. Nicholas Building – the location of the Gage Academy and Seattle Amistad School. They may then drive all the way to the back of the cathedral. Parking is free for Clear Mountain attendees even though signs in the lot indicate payment is required. If the “carriage gateway” behind the St. Nicholas building is open, participants are encouraged to park there. We encourage the use of public transportation when convenient, and the Seattle bus #49 stops at the corner of 10th Ave. and E Galer, just north of the meeting place.

Zoom Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82909114254?pwd=Sm1RVWxYdWp0aldibENoOHJscTQvQT09
Meeting ID: 829 0911 4254 / Passcode: 917562

Zoom Link for Remote Participants

Biographies
Luang Por Pasanno
Ajahn Pasanno took ordination in Thailand in 1974 with Venerable Phra Khru Ñāṇasirivatana as preceptor. During his first year as a monk he was taken by his teacher to meet Ajahn Chah, with whom he asked to be allowed to stay and train. One of the early residents of Wat Pah Nanachat, Ajahn Pasanno became its abbot in his ninth year. During his incumbency, Wat Pah Nanachat developed considerably, both in physical size and reputation. Spending 24 years living in Thailand, Ajahn Pasanno became a well-known and highly respected monk and Dhamma teacher. He moved to California on New Year’s Eve of 1997 to share the abbotship of Abhayagiri with Ajahn Amaro. In 2010 Ajahn Amaro accepted an invitation to serve as abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England, leaving Ajahn Pasanno to serve as sole abbot of Abhayagiri for the next eight years. In spring of 2018, Ajahn Pasanno stepped back from the role of abbot, leaving the monastery for a year-long retreat abroad. After returning from his sabbatical, Ajahn Pasanno now serves as an anchor of wisdom and guidance for the community. Abhayagiri is now under the active leadership of Ajahn Ñāṇiko, who Ajahn Pasanno requested to serve as abbot.

Ayyā Anandabodhi
Ayya Anandabodhi was born and raised at the foot of the sacred Preseli Mountains in Wales, UK. They first encountered the Buddha’s teaching in her early teens while reading a book on Buddhism. Reading the Four Noble Truths was life-changing and from that moment they experienced a deep confidence in the Buddha’s insight, and a wish to understand his teachings more deeply. At the age of 24, Ayya Anandabodhi began monastic training at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England. Seventeen years later, in 2009, they moved to the USA with a wish to create more opportunities for women monastics. In 2011 they took full Bhikkhuni Ordination, joining the worldwide revival of the Theravada Bhikkhuni Order. Ayya Anandabodhi’s practice and teaching are guided by early Buddhist scriptures, living in community, and through nature’s pure and immediate Dhamma.

Ajahn Kovilo
Ajahn Kovilo is an Ohio-born monk who, having been introduced to meditation through the Goenka tradition, first entered the monastery in 2006. After receiving full ordination from Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California in 2010, Ajahn Kovilo spent the next decade training at monasteries in the Ajahn Chah tradition in America and Thailand. In 2020, after a year practicing at a Pa Auk Sayadaw monastery, Ajahn Kovilo enrolled at the Dharma Realm Buddhist University in Ukiah, California where he is currently studying Pali and Sanskrit among other courses. Until the end of his formal studies, Ajahn Kovilo will be participating in the growing Clear Mountain Monastery community remotely and during Winter and Summer breaks. After finishing his studies, Ajahn Kovilo will join the community in person on a more regular basis.

Ayyā Santussikā
Ayya Santussikā entered monastic life as an anagarika (eight-precept nun) in 2005, then ordained as a samaneri in 2010 and a bhikkhunī in 2012 at Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara in Los Angeles. She has trained in large and small communities of nuns, including Amaravati and Chithurst monasteries of the Ajahn Chah tradition in England, and is one of the founders of Karuna Buddhist Vihara in Boulder Creek, CA, where she leads the community with Ayya Cittānandā.

Ajahn Nisabho
After finishing college in 2012, Ajahn Nisabho left his native Washington to go forth as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. He received full ordination the following spring under Ajahn Anan, a senior disciple of renowned meditation master, Ajahn Chah, and spent the following years training in forest monasteries throughout Thailand, Australia, and the US. While staying with some of the lineage’s most respected teachers, he grew to believe the Thai Forest Tradition’s balance of communal life with solitary forest dwelling, careful adherence to the monastic precepts, and focus on meditation represented a faithful embodiment of the original Buddhist path. Moreover, his time with contemporary masters such as Ajahn Anan, Ajahn Pasanno, and Ajahn Jayasaro, convinced him that such a path could yield great fruit in the heart even amidst the complexities of modern life. He currently resides in Seattle as part of Clear Mountain Monastery’s aspiration.

Ayyā Cittānandā
After being inspired in 2005 by a college philosophy class, Ayya Cittānandā lived as a monastic at a small Chan monastery in Florida until moving to California, where she worked for two years while making daily visits to Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery. In 2013, she began looking for a place to ordain, spending time at numerous monasteries before taking the anagarika precepts at Karuna Buddhist Vihara in 2015, samaneri ordination in 2016, and bhikkhunī ordination in 2018.

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