Clear Mountain Annual Almsgiving Celebration: Finding a Refuge

Saturday, June 28th, 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. To participate in chanting, use this online Chanting Book.

Join the Clear Mountain community from 9:30 am – 2 pm on Sat. June 28th, in celebrating the past three years of a growing community and gathering support for the next phase of the monastery. At the event, we’ll welcome Luang Por Sona, Ayyā Ānandabodhī, Ayyā Suvijjānā, and Ayyā Niyyānika!

Traditionally, Almsgiving Ceremonies (ผ้าป่า “Pah Bah” in Thai) are the primary event initiated and organized by the lay community in support of monasteries. Every year, many in the community spread word of the event among their friends and family, 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, requisites, and financial support for the monastery itself.

“Clear Mountain Annual Almsgiving Celebration: Finding a Refuge”, is being held this year to gather support for the purchase of land and buildings for the future monastery.   

Everyone is welcome to attend and participate in all or any part of the celebration. 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: Welcome, introduction, & guided meditation
10 – 10:45 am: Dhamma talk by visiting monastic
10:45 am – 12:30 pm: Monastics receive food & chant blessing. All share a potluck meal
12:30 – 1:15 pm: Almsgiving Ceremony
1 – 2 pm: Dhamma talk by visiting monastic & closing reflection
2 – 3 pm: Group photo, cleanup, & hobnobbing with new friends!

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
Almsgiving Ceremonies (or ผ้าป่า “Pah Bah” in Thai) are a beautiful and significant way to financially support the monastics and the founding of a monastery. Support gathered at this year’s ceremony 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. In your donation, feel free to note that your donation is made for the Almsgiving 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 lot is crowded, attendees may park at the Episcopal Diocese (1551 10th Ave E.) a block north of Saint Mark’s.  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 Sona
Ajahn Soṇa is the founder and abbot of Birken Monastery. Born in Canada in 1954, Ajahn Soṇa’s background was as a classical guitarist. His encounter with Buddhist wisdom as a young man initiated a spiritual journey that led him to become a lay hermit in the Coast Mountain region of British Columbia for several years. He subsequently ordained as a Theravada monk in 1989 under Bhante Gunaratana at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia, where his first years of training took place. Ajahn. Soṇa further trained for another three plus years at monasteries in the Ajahn Chah tradition in northeast Thailand, especially Wat Pah Nanachat. Upon his return to Canada in 1994 he helped found the original Birken Forest Monastery near Pemberton, BC and, as its spiritual guide. Through several incarnations, he has since led Birken monastery, also known by its Pali name ‘Sītavana’, translated as ‘cool forest grove’, through to its current and final resting place in a secluded, fully off-grid forest location just south of Kamloops, B.C..

Ayyā Ānandabodhī
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. She is the founder of Pārāyana Vihara in Port Townsend, WA.

Ayyā Suvijjānā
Ayya Suvijjānā started with Zen meditation in 1976. After discovering Vipassana in 1998, she visited Abhayagiri where she became a disciple of Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno, eventually becoming a monastic student of Ayya Tathālokā in 2006. Taking full ordination in 2010, she helped establish Dhammadharini before traveling and teaching since 2020. She is the founder of Pārāyana Vihara in Port Townsend, WA.

Ayyā Niyyānika
Ayya Niyyānika is a fully ordained Buddhist monastic in the Theravada tradition. Ayya uses they/them pronouns. They received their initial monastic training within the Dhammadharini community from 2014 through 2019 and then was with the Aloka Vihara community for three years. The past year and a bit have been a time of travel, integration, and deepening in practice. They visited a variety of monastic and lay communities in the West and in Asia, taking time for retreat and study as well as community involvement. They are the founder of Pārāyana Vihara in Port Townsend, WA.

Biographies (Resident Monastics)

Ajahn Kovilo
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 around the world with contemporary masters such as Ajahn Anan, Ajahn Pasanno, and Ajahn Jayasaro. Over these years, he came to believe the tradition represented a faithful embodiment of the original Buddhist path able to yield great fruit even amidst the complexities of modern life. In the summer of 2021, he returned to Seattle to plant the first seeds of Clear Mountain Monastery.

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 around the world with contemporary masters such as Ajahn Anan, Ajahn Pasanno, and Ajahn Jayasaro. Over these years, he came to believe the tradition represented a faithful embodiment of the original Buddhist path able to yield great fruit even amidst the complexities of modern life. In the summer of 2021, he returned to Seattle to plant the first seeds of Clear Mountain Monastery.