Smaller Vehicle? We have TEN Perfections! The New Year in Ten Pāramis | Ajahn Kovilo & Ajahn Nisabho

It's very nice to be here with everybody
this morning and the first Saturday of
the year. you chose to came come to a
Buddhist meditation thing. Way to go.
That's great.
And we do really there's a big spectrum
of people who come to our gatherings.
There are people who've been Buddhists
their whole lives. There have been
people there are people who don't
consider themselves Buddhist at all, but
are just curious. There are people who
meditate for hours every single day. And
there are people who struggle to even
sit for five minutes and to keep the
mind still.
So that sit that we had, it's a little
bit shorter than we usually do. It was
about 10 or 12 minutes. And if you're
new to meditation, that might be a good
place to start just to see if you can
start up a daily practice of 10 or 12
minutes
>> and then you can build up from there if
you'd like. And if you're new to
That's funny.
Yeah, sitting isn't easy for everybody.
If you if you sat through that and you
thought it was agonizing, it was just
way too long, then keep practicing cuz
eventually you'll feel like it was too
short. And if you felt like it was too
short, then you can join us on Zoom. We
sit for 4 hours every day. We've got 4
hours of Zoom meditation every weekday.
And starting next week on Thursday,
we're going to crank it up. 7 hours of
Zoom meditation every day. Oneita's I'm
going on a meditation retreat after
that. So Wanita is going to host it for
7 hours a day and then over the course
of the next 3 months cuz we're going on
winter retreat. We're going to keep
cranking it up eventually hopefully to
10 hours a day. And if you hear that and
you're like that's insane, that's
impossible. then join and you'll get to
see Wanita's smiling face and you'll get
to see me nodding in and out. But um
yeah, occasions for meditation. Um so
today uh we thought we'd talk about a
theme which is a really good theme for a
new year and it is the 10 parm which are
up on this board. So who here has heard
of the 10 parm or parita spiritual
perfections? Okay, quite a number of
people uh which is great. So Ajan Nisbo
and I are going to split the time and
try to talk a little bit about each one
of these. It's a great Buddhist
framework and we wrote it up on the
board so that you can try to memorize
this. So people about um I think it was
15 years ago people could remember
things like and before that as well. So,
we wrote it up on the board so you can
just be trying to memorize this list for
the whole time we're talking and
afterwards. It's a great list. It's a
way to structure your life. You can pay
attention to one every month. And then
for November and December, you can just
pick your favorite one and focus more on
that. And for New Year's, we gave away
these hearts. And for the first five
people who come up to us after the
gathering, we'll give you a heart with
one of the uh Parmies, the spiritual
perfections on it, and you can take that
as your year's theme. We'll give it to
you randomly so you won't know, but
it'll be fun. You can focus on it for
the year.
So the Parmies um spiritual perfections,
we have them in every school of
Buddhism. So the northern school of
Buddhism in China, Tibet, Japan, Korea
is called the Mahayana. And that's
called the greater vehicle. And
sometimes they call us the hinayana, the
lesser vehicle, the tiny vehicle.
But you know what? They've only got six
perfections and we got 10.
So feel good about that, Terravada
people.
And it really is a cool checklist for
your days. It's a cool checklist for
your year. It's a cool checklist for a
life. Because when you come to Buddhism,
really, you look at these and they're
not inherently Buddhist. It's really any
kind of mature life. You can think of
these as mature emotions or mature
priorities in life. That's how Ajantiso
translates the parmmy as priorities in
life. So you can ask yourself how are
you practicing these 10? And the 10 are
generosity,
morality,
renunciation or simplicity. You got
wisdom, you've got energy, you got
patience, truthfulness,
aditana which is determination or
resolution, loving kindness and
equinimity.
And one interesting way to look at these
is the first five are what to do with
your life, what to do with your day and
the last five are how to do those
things. So what is generosity? So you
try to give patiently, try to give
honestly, truthfully, try to give
resolutely with loving kindness and with
equinimity. Similarly, the way that you
observe your sense of morality and your
wisdom and your simplicity, your
simplifying.
And you can ask yourself, look through
the list and you can pick one a day if
you'd like and just okay, today I'm
going to focus on this virtue. So the
first is generosity. So many teachings
in Buddhism and really of course in
every other spiritual tradition in
non-spiritual traditions will emphasize
generosity the value of that because it
has the same flavor as liberation. The
Buddha said that all of his teachings
have the same flavor. Just as the whole
ocean, every ocean, every sea in the
world has the same flavor of salt, so
too all of the Buddhist teachings have
the same flavor. That is the flavor of
liberation and so it is with generosity.
So the word chaga is a synonym for
nibbana. It can mean relinquishment but
it's also a word just for generosity for
giving. The Buddha said one way you can
train yourself is with a specific
phrase. So you can think for the rest of
my life I will abide devoid of the stain
of miserliness
freely generous open-handed
delighting in relinquishment
devoted to charity delighting in giving
and sharing.
And if you didn't memorize that right
now, go back and listen again cuz that's
a really cool thing to say yourself to
prime yourself or want some whatever way
you can prime yourself to give to think
this is something I value when I'm at my
most clear thinking. This is something
that I value and remembering that every
morning. So too with virtue having it
very clear we recited the five precepts.
That's the basis of a Buddhist morality.
undertaking the precept to refrain from
killing, stealing, sexual misconduct,
from lying, from taking intoxicants.
You give the gift of fearlessness.
It's a gift. It's a great gift. The
Buddha said, "When you practice these
five, you are giving the gift of
fearlessness to innumerable beings.
You're giving the gift of non-version,
to freedom from aversion to numerous
living beings. You're giving the gift of
non-affliction to numerous living
beings. And giving that gift, you
yourself have a share of safety, of
non-fear. You don't have to fear other
people when you yourself are not harming
beings.
Wisdom, paying attention to the forno
truths, that is how you cause yourself
suffering. paying attention to the
psychonamics of when you clinch, when
you tighten around things, you cause
yourself to suffering, you cause
yourself to suffer. But when you can
know and let go, then that's the path to
the end of suffering. That's the heart
of wisdom.
Simplicity, this renunciation, this is
basically taking the precepts and taking
it up a notch. This knowing and letting
go, you know contentment and you let go
of that which is beyond what you need.
With generosity, you know what you have
and you let go of what you don't need.
With precepts, you know
safety and you let go of feelings of
needing to feed off of other people.
So that's the heart of Buddhism, knowing
and letting go. And it's instantiated.
It's lived through these 10 parm.
Effort is required. But part of the cool
thing about Buddhist effort is that you
get better and better at it. It's like
any other skill.
The better you get at it, the more
refined your touch needs to be. It's
like when you're first learning how to
play saxophone, you're first learning
how to play tennis. Your movements are
gross and they're not subtle. But you
learn over time. You practice generosity
every day. You practice your precepts.
You practice simplicity every day. And
touch it gets lighter and lighter. It
becomes easier and easier. The letting
go is more and more refined, more and
more subtle. So practicing that,
practicing knowing and letting go with
each of these parm. And I'll pass it off
to Ajan Niso for the next five.
The final five um begin with kanti which
is patient endurance.
But this is a problematic translation
because it implies uh just gritting
one's teeth and kind of powering through
difficulty.
Where longor
translates ki as peaceful coexistence
with the un with the unwished for and
forbearance.
And long poor Amoro says it's impossible
to wait for something to be over and to
be practicing ki at the same time.
I don't know. I think there's a a
continuum there, but in its most pure
form,
I think ki really can be a space of uh
timelessness.
And
it's worth noting that in Pali the agent
noun canar, which is the agent noun of
ki, patience means an elephant. It's the
word for an elephant.
And this idea of
the Buddha really singled out patience
as key. He said uh
patient endurance is a supreme flame
which burns out defilement.
And
as we practice the path, we come across
difficulties and trials and sufferings
which are larger than our narrative has
room for. Sometimes,
you know, maybe we have the difficult
boss and in our better moments we're
able to say, "Okay, this is part of my
practice." But then sometimes it's just
really hard. It's really hard. The
family member at Christmas, the politics
which are continually kind of digging
their claws into your heart.
And to know that if what you manage to
do in those moments is not react from a
place of defilement and craving and hold
still
and wait as you move through the four
noble truths cascade. So seeing
suffering, seeing dooka, comprehending
it instead of reacting from it, letting
go of craving instead of acting from
craving.
And then feeling how on the other side
of the ego stream screaming for uh
affirmation or to be heard or the anger
uh
demanding to be expressed
there's a quiet and a peace and a
relinquishment there
and
I've talked about that before as for me
that's part of the meaning of Buddhist
grace is this movement through the
fornable truths where if you hold still
enough through that dark valley, you
come to a lightness, a path, and a sense
that
problems don't solve themselves. They
dissolve
often.
And this is the power of Kanti is often
people will have a difficult situation,
work, sickness, job and sort of joke
about it afterwards and say, "Well, at
least it gave me a chance to practice
patience."
And it's said as if this is a
consolation prize,
but really that ability to restrain
action, speech, and mind in the face of
the defilements which have driven us
forward for years and decades and maybe
even lifetimes
is true nobility. And this is Kanti.
This is why it's the supreme quality is
often when things are good, when the
mind is bright, when you're resting in
the third and fourth noble truth of
peace and the path, you can look clearly
and
uh navigate a path forward.
But when you rest in the first and
second noble truth when things are
difficult and painful and fraught
to know that often your duty is to just
keep your head down, make it one step in
front of the other and hold still. Don't
create any new karma from that place and
recollect that in this moment all the
conditions I'm putting in are good. This
is all past karma. it would likely come
up when one way or another. But the
conditions right now that I'm feeding
into the heart are good. Even though
this is painful, the conditions are
good.
Kanti
and I quoted this before um at the New
Year's as well, but I think it's worth
saying again is a quote by TS Elliott.
Wait without hope because hope would be
hope for the wrong thing. wait without
love because love would be love of the
wrong thing. There is yet faith but the
faith and the hope and the love are all
in the waiting. The faith and the hope
and the love are all in the waiting
and just to take a lot of um heart in
that and to know that sometimes it's not
always enough just to say, "Okay, I'm
going to be patient with this."
Sometimes you have to lean into the wind
a bit and find gratitude as your way of
holding steady through those
difficulties. Can you find gratitude for
the fact that those difficult situations
are where we truly get a chance to
expand the breadth of our heart and the
depth of our kindness and patience
and it reminds me there's a story of
Chyam Trunka a problematic figure in
some ways traveling through Tibet and
coming to a monastery where a Tibetan
mastiff which were these big guard dogs
broke its chain and ran at the whole
entourage of llamas and everyone ran
this way and that except Chim Trunkba
ran straight at the dog and the dog got
terrified and started running away from
him. And often with the difficult
situations, it's not enough to say,
"Okay, I'll deal with it. You know, I'll
practice." You really have to orient the
heart to lean into the wind a little bit
to keep your center and say, "Okay, this
is this is my practice right now, and
it's a gift." And this is how patience
can bleed into merge into gratitude,
into grace.
And someone in my life once noted that
when someone has been with suffering in
a beautiful way as truly oriented with
the four noble truths you see it in
their face
there's a beauty that happens uh a
humility the second noble truths the
second two noble truths peace and the
path are spiral staircase up towards
transcendence and the first two
acknowledging comprehending duca and
letting go of its craving our spiral
staircase down towards humility, a love
of reality.
And so for some of these situations, can
you just recollect I'm not acting out
anymore. This is old karma burning
through. I'm not putting in any more
conditions and I'm only feeding in
wholesome conditions. And what I can
expect of myself as a human, as a
practitioner, is not to act from this
doubt, from this anger, and so on. And
this is why Kanti isn't a consolation
prize.
There's a linguist who learned the word
for those small holes that animals make
in hedges. And as soon as he learned the
word, which I've promptly forgotten
despite having prepared for this, um, I
think several a year ago, I think I
looked it up. Um,
he started seeing the holes everywhere.
And this is the beauty of the parameas
is that they weren't actually
articulated as a list by the Buddha. The
fact that they've come up in every
Buddhist culture for me indicates that
we need some language for these other
qualities of heart which we're
cultivating and to know that you know if
what this year is is you bearing with
very difficult circumstances and not
acting out you're building bar that's
the tie word building parameita you you
are um
that is there's a growth there that's
deep profound And having language for it
is key.
The next uh is satcha truth.
And the Buddha emphasized truth so
deeply. He talked said send me a person
who is sincere and straightforward. I
will instruct them. I will teach them
the dharma. This is the prerequisite is
honesty with oneself and others. Because
it allows self-reflection.
It's the mirror
which allows us to see what defilements
manifest and how we can become more
pure. The last thing you want to do is
start to lie to yourself because then
you lose that ability to refine and
self-reflect.
So taking honesty as a key quality and
to know how difficult that is. It's
really hard to be honest.
There's a story of one practitioner who
as soon as he entered his career he said
going into this job my one of my
priorities is I will not lie and he lost
some business before uh from that
determination in the beginning but after
a few years people began to know this
person is honest they don't lie and his
business did just fine but that to hold
honesty in the workplace where there's
so much pressure or the family it
requires a very strong determination and
devotion to these teachings and trust in
the Buddha and it requires a skill. The
Buddha talked about wholesome
wholesomeness is cus skillfulness and
you have to learn how to be skilled with
being honest. You don't always have to
say everything on your mind or
everything you know. But can you become
prepare for the difficult question you
know might be coming. Is there a
skillful way to answer? Is there
something that's true but won't injure
in a way that isn't useful
to note the small exaggerations in your
life. If you take this as a primary
parameita for the month, can you really
notice how much you exaggerate? There
was someone recently who talked about
she noticed her tendency to exaggerate
was predicated on her not wanting to be
boring
and she decided so this year I'm going
to try to be more boring and you know
take that with as tongue and cheek but
there's something to it like what's
driving the tendency to exaggerate a
little bit and can we bring it back and
know the power of holding that clarity
of honesty where people know this person
does not lie and you know of yourself I
will not lie Okay,
this is the fourth pre uh third wait
fifth fourth precept. It's the fourth
precept um and it's a really key key
foundation
related to that is aditana determination
and this is where you bring that power
of truth and to say that the Buddha
would often invoke truth as a power in
and of itself. Some of you will know the
moment where he came to the five
aesthetics who he'd um moved away from
in his path and said when he was trying
to convince them to listen to him his
new teaching and they were dismissive.
He said have you ever known me to lie
before? Have you ever known me to say
this? And that declaration of truth was
enough to make them say no actually
we've you've always been honest so we'll
listen. And that was the doorway that
let the first five arhants, the first
five enlightened beings beyond the
Buddha become enlightened. The
declaration of truth.
Aditana is where we bring that clarity
of truth to bear on the world and direct
our own path based on it means
determination.
And it's when you make the determination
for some people a gentle intention is
what feels right. But for others really
making a clear determination. You know
in the simile of the quail the Buddha
talks about these elements of our lives
these defilements which hold us like a
rotting creeper would hold a quail
where if one is willing to relinquish
even those
feathers because of the instruction
because of devotion to the teacher and
the teaching and the path then one snaps
those feathers like a bull elephant
would snap a leather strap.
And to just notice at the beginning of
this new year, it's the year of the
firehorse, which is a time of chaos and
growth. Every 60 years, we get one of
these. Uh, and it's after the year of
the snake, which is a year of shedding
the skin.
And to notice what are the rotting
creepers, like what are the things that
I just know I should give up? I've been
through this before. It's time. And can
you just make the determination like,
okay, I'm done drinking for these three
months, for this year for good.
I won't lie. I'll give up, you know,
I'll pull back from this relationship.
I'll make this a priority. I'll start to
meditate. Any of these things, this is
the moment to make those determinations.
And in Thailand, the word aditana is
used not just for determination, but
also to invoke the power of a spiritual
icon. So, Kruba will say, the great
teacher will say, I'll aditan the bar me
of the Buddha. And it means they're
opening up a doorway in the heart to
that resonance.
And when you orient your life based on
these
aditana, when you create a structure for
a Buddhist life, it's like tuning a
stratavarius where you're tuning each
string perfectly, but then the resonance
invokes a deeper note. So this is the
tuning of our life carefully using
Aditana
and use it skillfully. Give stuff a
three-month trial period or maybe even a
week before you determine for the whole
year. Um, but it can be a powerful tool
and it's one that's under spo not spoken
about quite enough I think.
And we're running a little low on time,
but the last two are meta, loving
kindness, and oopa.
And most of you know meta, the sense of
friendliness, benevolence.
And the fact that this orientation
towards the world is both nourishing and
galvanizing.
The Buddha said, "One who practices
loving kindness is dear to human and
non-human beings." And they die
unconfused
in the sense that if you invoke this
loving kindness, this is what Bontes
Summit said, before you enter any room,
before you pick up a call, may the
people in there be happy, healthy, well,
that you'll just feel safe when you walk
into that room. And when you feel the
impulse to go out and connect and
scramble for some sort of connection and
acknowledgement,
instead can you root into that sense of
loving kindness in the heart and trust
the upwelling of love to radiate out and
see what effect that has. Bontes
Sumittita said, uh, after you start
practicing meta, you can start trying to
tame animals from far away. See how it
works. So see how it works.
or you know your coworker uh whatever it
is see what effect radiating loving
kindness has
and of course oopa one of the crown
jewels of Buddhism equinimity equipoise
as Joseph Goldstein says looking at the
earthbound ma madness through the lens
of Venus who's the goddess of love
but is not a indifference
the etmology is a careful watching and
many of you have heard me talk about
this before but I think equipoise is the
perfect simile or the perfect word for
it because when a dancer is poised it's
because they're waiting for the next
motion of music they're waiting for one
of the other three brahma viharas to
become available where there's an
opening for love or karuna compassion or
muda rejoicing but in that moment just
holding still at one center and noticing
that this as a parita to perfect is in
and of itself very meaningful and may be
very relevant for people. It almost
always is with their life, with
politics, with family and more. Can you
keep the heart centered, warm heart,
cool head?
So coming to this new year, wish you all
the best cultivating these parameas.
Like Ajin Kovu said, we get 10 that
gives you all 12 months plus two extra.
Um, and good luck.
Su
ano dami.
So um we want to open up for questions
and people can feel free to comment or
ask about the talk or anything on their
minds. But we realized we uh spoke about
something very important last week about
the land and the possible movement of
clear mountain eventually to land and we
want to just invite people if they have
questions about land and the process
going forward. This is also a time you
can ask about those and before that
Virginia do you have anything to comment
on the baritas?
just to put you on the spot a little
bit.
>> They're just so practical.
>> I think they're just such they're so
practical and so um doable because
yeah, there's such a range that we've
already experienced in life of of doing
some doing them really well and doing
them okay and not doing them well at
all. And so maybe we already feel
familiar with them um to a certain
extent
and so yeah maybe a little more
reachable than some of the other things
we we experience around dhamma I don't
know so yeah really helpful for me thank
you for the talk both of you
question
>> oh anybody else got another one so if
anybody has questions you can raise your
hand and also on Zoom. Yeah, Jen,
please.
>> Why are the uh paramei delineated as
spiritual priorities from the Brahma
viharas?
>> I don't know.
One thing to note is the Buddha divided
up the pi in many different ways. Uh
there's an interesting quote. Someone
says abidama is the Buddha creating a
per is the periodic table. But the
Buddha was teaching us how to bake an
apple pie, you know, and but he divides
up wholesome, the wholesome chitta, the
wholesome heart in different ways on
different moments. And so there's
moments where talking about the four
Brahma vihares is really the useful
metric. You know, that's what you're
focused on and and that resonance is
salient. But there's other times where
like you're just dealing with a really
difficult boss and Meta is not doing it.
Karuna is not doing it. Upeka sounds
great, but I don't even know what that
means. But patience, I can touch
patience. So for me, what the parameas
are, they're a really grounded,
practical,
important list. We had one member of the
community who was going to ordain um and
then he had family duties which meant he
couldn't. But instead of kind of giving
up hope you know of practicing he said
you know what I did was that I
determined to live my life here as
beautifully as I could and I took the
three first paras almost as a mantra how
much can I give how much can I how
ethically can I live how much can I give
up you know renunciation and so for me
they're just really accessible and
important to have language for um but
that word meta like the flavors of meta
are all four brahiharas so It's hidden
in there. But the Buddhist teaching is a
bunch of fractals. You know, they expand
out into all the others to some extent.
And I think someone's locked out of the
gym. So maybe we could let them into
Jen. Any other How does that land? And
any other thoughts?
I just had a question because I'm kind
of hard of hearing. Um the field trips,
I know you're taking one today to the
land. And then did you say every third
Saturday or every 1st?
>> I think we said every 1st and 3rd. Um
and so we might update that, but I think
that's that'll be our plan for the next
Yeah. up through March 22nd.
>> Thank you.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Greg, please.
>> Uh can you explain why the parameter
always in this order when they're
explained?
There aren't they always in this order?
Yes.
>> Yeah, they are usually in this order.
Um, yeah, usually it is it is an
interesting ordering. Usually in
different lists, wisdom is the last. Um,
but also equinimity is also the last.
Equinim is the last in the list of seven
bojungas. Uh, the last in the four
brahma viharas. Wisdom is the last in
the five powers, the five faculties. uh
sila samari pa um but yeah this was the
Buddha didn't like the earliest strata
of text you don't find this list you
find it in kind of paraconical texts
which emerged some centuries after the
time of the Buddha um but yeah this is
the traditional list and there's some
great chants there's a if you just look
up paramei or parameita chanting there's
some really beautiful chants that go
through this list in this order and yeah
boom boom boom Boom. Yeah.
Um I might also just add the um I think
part of it a lot of the list
when Long Propos translating in Europe
for Longpore uh Pa uh he he'd think he
got all the things correctly but Long
Poor Ponta would say you didn't get the
order right the order is important and
it's true like often there are these
hidden um messages in the ordering and
for example with the seven enlightenment
factors um you have you know uh sati
mindfulness this Dharma vitaya
investigation of dharmas um energy uh
joy and then you have uh uh padi um
tranquility of body ease happiness and
there's this progression where it's the
active qualities leading to the the
effect the afterglow samadei tranquility
and there's a similar progression here
like Ajin Kovilo said the first five are
very accessible things you can do you
can give it's so simple you can hold
good morality
And then there is a progression to like
those more subtle qualities at the end
like equinimity and meta. These are in a
some sense you put forth the effort and
then you then the Buddha is giving you a
way to understand what you're tasting as
the afterglow or resonance and like
making much of that and emphasizing that
as well. So I think that's that's part
of the progression is I find the first
are very accessible and things you can
do and the latter are more qualities. At
least that's how I've thought about it
sometimes but I'm not sure either. So,
has anybody memorized the list yet?
Anybody? D. All right, Doug. I would
throw this at you. These are made out of
wood, people. They're wood. It's not
just cardboard. So, if anybody else
memorizes it, you can be the next uh
wooden heart person. We're going to give
this to you. Actually, you already got
one, Doug. But uh yeah, if anyone
memorizes the list, you get a wooden
heart. It's
>> like a monk.
Virginia, any thoughts on this?
>> So, um, my question has to do with
something, um, that happened to Ajan
Kovaleo
earlier this year. I'm right here, and
you could stop me if it's too if it's
not a good question, but when you
described that attack on you, like some
of these things that you're now talking
about, seems like you were you were
immediately drawing upon. And you know,
I've heard that some people say that
Buddhism is is really close to psycho
psychology, like the best type of psych
psychology. And so my question for you,
if you feel comfortable answering it, is
did you think that's the type of event
that many of us would take decades to to
digest? And do you feel like you had
that you took care of a lot of it that
night?
>> Yeah, thank you. Um, yeah, it was just
March 28th, 2025. I was kind of punched
in the stomach and put in a headlock and
thrown on the ground and kind of got
just got beat up. Just got beat up uh
downtown Seattle. And um yeah, I was it
was in the end of our winter retreat.
So, I had been meditating for basically
two months straight and was able to go
back after getting beat up and just do
another couple weeks of meditation. And
then yeah when it came up I was just so
primed the heart was just so juicy with
you know I wasn't specifically
practicing with the parameies but
certainly loving kindness is a daily
practice and all of these they just are
the bread and butter of a monastic life
of hopefully any kind of Buddhist or
spiritual life and you just have so many
mirrors around you in a monastery or
spiritual community that are just uh
reminding you of these things the chants
we do every single day the meditations
we do um so I definitely feel like I was
receiving the the fruit of that. Um,
yeah, cuz I didn't plan for it to happen
and I didn't know what was going to
happen. Um, but yeah, it didn't uh I
don't
uh it uh does seem like it hasn't left
scars and uh certainly didn't leave
physical scars. So, yeah, definitely
lists like this and other Buddhist lists
really came quite quickly, but
especially meta. Um, so yeah,
>> thank you.
Please Matt,
>> how about the land? Okay, I'm just what
I've heard from a good number of people.
I just want to represent that here is
how how is that going to affect us?
What's going to what's going to change?
Will will this how long will we continue
to be here? What's the plan for the
future? Will you let us inside over
there or I don't know. So, just kind of
I've a number of people have asked those
questions of me and I said I don't have
no idea.
>> Yeah, that was the question I was hoping
would come up. Thank you, Matt. Who's
kind of had that cross their mind re at
some point uh ever? Um,
yeah.
So,
we I know we addressed this in the
previous descriptions of the land, but
um this will most likely be the largest
forested
uh forest monastery near a large
metropolitan area in at least North
America. Um, and part of the reason it's
taken so long was because we wanted it
to be within 30 to 50 minutes of here.
This is our our landmark.
Um, and in the end, the Northbend
property is about 40 40 minutes away.
Uh, which we were pretty delighted
about, and that was hard to find.
But that quality was sacred because what
I've seen with other monasteries is if
it's an hour or two out, people can get
there once a month or if they're
retired, they can get there if they're
really devoted or they'll say they'll
get there twice a month or once a week
and it ends up being once every 3 months
and it's just people have busy lives and
it's hard to make time. So, we really
wanted this to be accessible to people
as much as we could. So, that was a key
priority. Um, and our hope is that uh if
this due diligence process goes through,
if the land checks out, if we uh if the
funds come in where we can purchase it
by March 22nd,
um we don't really have we have one
building on it, but we're not sure what
it looks like inside and odds are it
can't stand for long. It's a little
little hut. Um but what we'd probably
have to start doing is laying the
groundwork there, getting uh kind of
facilities in, septic and more. um get
two little cooties or trailers out there
where we could start to live. And then
maybe if everything went perfectly,
maybe we'd have by summer an outdoor
tent where we could have some meetings
maybe on Sundays or something. Um or
maybe we'd be meeting in here on
Saturdays and out there on Sundays or
something. Regardless of what happened
during the summer, I think by autumn
we'd have to be back here. It's very
unlikely we're going to be have a hall
this big in, you know, eight months or
whatever. Um so odds are like basically
we have an image of a multi-purpose hall
um in our minds uh at is phase one but
the large temple which we're thinking
will have capacity of 300 or 400 people
200 300 something like that um would be
in phase two and so that's a few years
out. Um, so the hope is for these large
gatherings, um, we'll still be meeting
here for a while if they'll let us. Um,
although there may be two months in the
summer where we see if we can actually
manage something up up in North Bend.
Um,
and to acknowledge that, yeah, that will
cause shifts, you know, and there's
melancholy to that. Some people do not
have the same ability to drive there
even though it's only 40 minutes away.
Some people don't have cars. what we
feel we really want to do and we've been
trying to lay the framework for this was
by the creation of the WhatsApp groups
and the discord um and other things we
really want to create forums where
people can connect for car pooling and
such I mean there is bus service out
northbend but it's a long it's a longer
hall so we want to facilitate that we
want to also have a group where people
can sort of figure out with each other
if they want to move near the monastery
how can that happen I mean it's
expensive to live in Seattle it's
expensive to live in Northbend but we
think if
congregate people, connect them. That's
been our ethos from the beginning is get
people talking and bring in some dharma
and some divinity into the mix and see
what happens. And um
my my feeling is that if people really
have that in their hearts that there's
some things that can happen, you know,
co-housing or plots divided or mini
houses, who knows if people have
trouble.
So we want to really uh create forums
where people can get car pools out there
where they can figure out ways where
they might be able to live nearby.
But the vision is that really every day
um at you know 6 7 a.m. the monastics go
for alms. We have one monastic at the
monastery receiving people having
question and answer with folks. 9:00
a.m. we have a shared meal any who wants
to can come and offer. um people can
continue to share the meal and talk.
We'll have a library, a meditation hall
where they can just continue to sit
through the day. Um hopefully um a
garden, trails, places where people can
work. Um uh we'll hopefully have a kids
room where people can bring children.
We'll have, you know, hopefully a
children's uh kind of like uh camp day
once or twice a summer. It' be all these
kind of little things that could be
really fun. Um during the middle part of
the day, our hope is that we'd have a
lay person who could kind of hold the
space. The monastics won't be there all
day. Um but that meditation hall would
just be open for people hopefully. Um if
it turns out to be too much, maybe we
will have to have certain closed hours
during the day. Um we'll see. Um but
then in the afternoon, uh also have a
tea time where people can come have
evening chanting. Um and have that every
more or less every single day. Even if
sometimes the monastics are all running
back to their coutis and it's a lay
person leading the chanting, we want it
to be a bit of a refuge. Not a bit of a
refuge, really a refuge. Um, and we will
have to, you know, we have to make sure
it's a place where the monastics can
live if we're getting 100 people staying
there all day and it's just a mess. Like
we might have to close those gates at
certain hours, but our hope is we can
have an open space where people can come
and find peace. And if you have a day
off, you can come up. If you want to
come garden, you can come up. Right now
it's a interesting situation where we
love being together but we're a bunch of
introverted not me a lot of a lot of
introverted Buddhists who their one
chance to come together is like 90 other
people in a gym for an hour and a half
and it's wonderful that it works but
this will provide real opportunity for
people like maybe you just feel like and
coming coming and working in the garden
for a few hours. Maybe you just want to
come and sit in silence. The main hall
will be noble silence. Uh it'll be
hybrid as well. Um hopefully on the
weekends we'll have uh bigger events in
the in the mornings Saturday or Sunday.
Hopefully we'll have all day
non-residential retreats maybe for a
week. Ain will be there sitting 10 hours
a day in the hall. People can come sit
with him one others. Um
and and then holy days we'll have those
too.
So yeah basically it won't be a sharp
shift right away. We'll still be meeting
here acknowledging you know that there
will be a time where we probably look
back at the time in the triple gym with
fondness and a certain and it's this
will be the beginning of an end of an
era. Um and it will cause shifts and we
hope people can still get there. That is
why we are aiming to be 40 minutes away
is so that people can get there. Um,
and yeah, and then once it's fully
formed, we're hoping that the
infrastructure is such that it really is
a temple where people can just come and
sit, where you can be in the library.
We'll have a columnarium where people
can bring the ashes of their dead and
and keep them and remember them. Um, and
a lot more.
Anything to add, Audin? Sorry, I think
you said everything.
>> Okay. The the one thing that's worth
clarifying here is we don't think we'll
have people staying overnight. The price
airi and other monasteries that are far
from the city, the way that they can get
food on time and have things taken care
of is by having people stay over. And
that's sustainable for them because on a
big day, a Saturday, they might have
seven or eight people come. On a
Saturday, we might have 150 people come.
We instead of having people stay
overnight, we're hoping people can get
there. Um hopefully we'll have community
members living nearby who are willing to
open up, you know, a little hut in their
backyard for people who want to stay
nearby. Uh create a hospitality network,
but our proximity to the to the city
means first that we don't have to have
people stay at the monastery all the
time. And it also means we really can't
like I've if you're at a monastery where
you're
orienting people about staying overnight
and and taking care of them, it's a huge
it's a huge duty. And if we're already
navigating receiving about a 100 guests
on a weekend or 40 on a weekday morning,
that's all the monastics can take. Like
at the end of the day, like we need the
ability to kind of practice. That's why
we're monks. Um, so that is one caveat
is like we'd have non-residential
retreats where we open at 6:00 a.m. As
soon as you can get there, you can be
there sitting and the doors might close
around 9 9:00 p.m. or something. But
then you might have to either find a
friend to live nearby. Um, or, you know,
stay nearby that evening or camp nearby.
There's a campsite nearby. Um, or drive
back home and drive the 40 minutes the
next day. And we think that's doable.
>> Um, You must stay at night
>> posted today.
>> Yeah, like in Thailand.
>> Staying overnight or
>> stay overnight all night.
>> So when he was reference referencing the
full moon new moon days and sometimes
half moon days in Thailand, people will
stay sitting all night. If one is
willing to lead an all night sit, we
might uh might be willing to. We'll see.
We we we will have special days. We'll
have the full moon days and new moon
days, I think, memorialized somehow. And
we'll probably have late nights and we
might have some all night sits. I'm not
sure yet. Yeah.
Dad and then Dominique or Dominique then
dad. Dad then Dominique or Okay. The
other way.
>> So I know that there's a little gap with
the financing at this point. How is that
looking and what do you need from us?
>> Thank you.
So us monastics we are really careful
about articulating this like we don't do
any events or messaging that are
explicitly fundraisers ever. Um at the
same time we feel people care enough
about the stream that we did want to
make as you're asking the situation
clear and the practicalities. Uh right
now I believe uh 4.3 million has come in
in pledged and given funds. the total
cost of 90 acres and associated cost
with due diligence is around 4.9. So,
our gap is around 600,000. Um, and we'd
have to raise that in about 3 months.
So, it's um raise is the wrong word, but
we're hoping it can uh come in and um
yeah, it rests a bit on on that faith
and much of our kind of path has since
since there. So, that's that's the hope.
If we get to the end of that period and
and it hasn't come in, then we might
have our board members begin there might
be other messaging such as an
interestree loan from a community member
to get us to closing and then but we'd
really rather avoid being in debt.
Really, really rather avoid it. So, does
that answer the question a bit?
>> Okay.
>> If Yeah. I think if people wanted to
connect um around that, yes, you could
make um sort of we'd want you to connect
you to one of our board members to make
sure that the the messaging if it was in
any sort of official Clear Mountain or
even unofficial Clear Mountain capacity
was was in line with our ethos, which is
somewhat refined. But yeah, just talk
talk to me. But if it's more just
gathering people and trying, you know,
inspiring one another along the lines of
what we've spoken about or talking to
others about what you find inspiring
about the vision, then that's completely
okay to do. Um, yeah, thank you for
asking. Yeah,
Dad.
So, the um
the anchor of all this has to center in
a certain way. I'm assuming center in a
certain way around um the monastics
being able to um
continue your practice with the ardency
and um focus you need to. So one of my
concerns has always been
you're land developers now. Um, so how
it it is is there a way as a community
that we can um support you not being
overwhelmed by this so that it impacts
your practice?
Is that an appropriate question?
Yeah, honestly, I mean, we're monks and
supposed to be training in contentment.
And, you know, once the land's there, we
can stay in the shackiest shack, you
know, that you can find. We can stay in
trailers and um the big cost certainly
at the outset is the land. And once
that's there, then yeah, we'll host what
we can out there. We do love group
meditation. We'll continue doing that
daily. and also yeah dayong retreats and
and longer our winter retreat that's a
big part of our monastic life and we'll
continue to be that's three months and
we'll open as much of that as we can to
other people coming in to participate
and of course no cost at all for that
and yeah once we're on the land we'll
just be there doing our monk thing just
continuing to live simple lives and then
when funds come in for the next phase of
of building then that'll be great and
people can come and and you won't have
to be, you know, hanging out in a shack,
but you can like sit in a meditation
hall or um something more sustainable.
But um I think once we're there, this is
the biggest the biggest
yeah cost at the outset. So anything to
add
uh just in terms of how you can support
us as like keeping that practice um like
Ajin Kov said just uh yeah having faith
in this process um when you hear about a
volunteer opportunity that would be
helpful tap into it um and uh practice
well and dedicate the goodness of your
of your practice to this aspiration.
It's a beautiful one and like Ajin Kov
said we're happy in the shakiest of
shacks. Um we have really good shacks
right now actually in David Alson's
backyard. But uh this vision is largely
for the future monastics who would live
there and for this community. So just
hold that aspiration in your heart and
however much this community has affected
you just imagine that rippling out over
generations and that is the real hope.
So just recollect that goodness and if
you want to ask for a little bit of um
just invoke you know the goodness that's
out there for the sake of this uh
aspiration that will be worth a lot.
I I just thought I' I'm I'm I'm on the
board. Um and uh there is if you go on
the Friends of Clear Mountain website,
there's a page, we've got land, and it's
something you could share with friends
across the world. Uh and I'm on the team
that thanks people for donations. A
bunch of been flooding in, but more to
come. But there's people who are just
overjoyed, like literally all over the
world about this happening. It's
extraordinary to have phone
conversations with people giving. So I
just look at this as an opportunity for
people to give. There's no ask. It's
just an opportunity for people to give.
And if you want to share that website
with friends all over the world, go for
it. But just don't don't do it as an
ask. But you know, this is a beautiful
thing to be able to help this wonderful
thing happen for the benefit of all
beings. So kind of have that attitude.
And there's a mechanism that works
really well. Go for it.
Yeah, thank you so much, Steve. And just
uh one tiny thing. I mean, one of the
best things you can do is just remember
the tenarammy. Okay, just remember the
temp. It's up on the board. It's not
that hard.
Um yeah, I just uh wanted to mention
that this is a um it it is about change
and impermanence and um uh many of us
here spent years with Sims and uh we
used to practice here in this gym and
before that in uh Blowdell Hall and
there was a time when we had to move
from both places and Um and
subsequently, you know, our teacher
retired and um but many of us are still
here and or and have joined this group
or have still still at SIMS and um
there's something really uh valuable
about that and um I just hope everyone
won't lose sight of that and and also So
just appreciate you know that it is the
monastics and their practice that has
brought us here.
So
Peter's work on due diligence has always
also brought us here. He's our owner's
rep for this period along with Alex and
it's just been so helpful. Um I don't
think we got a chance to do three sados
for Peter's work but it trust me he
deser deserves them. Three sados sad. S
do.