[updated 5/27/94; expires ??]

                   METTA FOREST MONASTERY
                      P.O. Box 1409
                  Valley Center, CA 92082
                  (1 hour from San Diego)

                        * * *

 Metta Forest Monastery (Wat Mettavanaram, or "Wat Metta" for short) is
 a Thai forest monastery established recently in the rural hills outside
 of San Diego. It does not yet offer a regular schedule of retreats or
 classes. It is, however, available for individual short- or long-term
 self-retreats by arrangement with the Abbot, Thanissaro Bhikkhu
 (Geoffrey DeGraff, an American). If you are interested in visiting Wat
 Metta, please write to the Abbot at the above address.

 The following article, which appeared in abbreviated form in _Inquiring
 Mind_ in 1993 (?) may help give you a flavor of the place.

                         * * *

                   FROM SAN DIEGO WITH METTA

                    by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
  
  
  A new Dhamma center--Metta Forest Monastery--is developing 
  in the mountains of northern San Diego County.  At the 
  moment it consists of a tract of land with a few temporary 
  buildings, a small community of people and a plan.  The 
  purpose of this article is to notify any meditators who 
  might be interested in visiting the land, getting to know 
  the people, or giving their input to the plan and helping to 
  make it a reality.
  
  
  The place
  =========
  The land is a 60-acre avocado grove located on a hill 
  surrounded by chaparral, with Indian land on two sides and a 
  spectacular view of Mt. Palomar to the east.  The location 
  is very secluded and--a rarity for Southern California--the 
  air is clean and smells of wild rosemary and sage:  an ideal 
  place for meditation.  The grove is only ten years old, and 
  so is still relatively wild, with coyotes, an occasional fox 
  and deer and enough rattlesnakes to make mindfulness 
  mandatory.
  
  The people
  ==========
  The community is a mixture of American, Thai and Laotian 
  Buddhists.  This is also a rarity.  Most Buddhist 
  communities in the U.S. are either primarily for Asians or 
  primarily for Americans, as the aims and expectations of the 
  two groups can often be incompatible.  Metta's hope is that 
  the Dhamma and Vinaya originally taught by the Buddha, and 
  as free as possible from later cultural accretions, Asian or 
  American, will provide a common meeting ground for serious 
  Buddhists of all backgrounds.
  
  The spiritual head of the community is Ven. Ajaan Suwat 
  Suvaco, a Thai monk with 50 years in the robes.  He has 
  lived in the U.S. for the last ten years, but for the 40 
  years before that he spent most of his time training in the 
  forests of Thailand under some of the most respected 
  teachers of the Thai forest tradition.  He himself is very 
  highly regarded by his fellow members in the tradition.
  
  For those who are unfamiliar with the forest tradition, it 
  started in the last century as an offshoot of the Dhammayut 
  reform movement lead by Prince Mongkut (later King Rama IV, 
  of The King and I fame).  When Prince Mongkut was first 
  ordained, he found Thai Buddhism in a shambles caused by the 
  Burmese sacking of the Thai capital in the late 18th 
  century.  In his personal quest to recover the original 
  Buddhist teachings and to practice strictly in accordance 
  with them, Prince Mongkut developed a following which 
  eventually became the Dhammayut Sect.  
  
  At first this was largely a scholarly group centered in 
  cities and towns, but towards the end of the last century, 
  two of its members--Ven. Ajaan Sao Kantasilo and Ven. Ajaan 
  Mun Bhuridatto--took it one step closer to the original 
  teachings by going into the forest to practice meditation, 
  since it was in the forest that Buddhism began.  
  
  This is a point whose importance is hard to over-emphasize.  
  The goal of Buddhist meditation has always been to take one 
  beyond the relative truths of one's cultural 
  conditioning--and ultimately, even beyond the relativities 
  of time and space--to an absolute truth which can be found 
  only inside, at the point where mind and body meet.  This 
  requires the sort of solitude that is best achieved when one 
  is alone with nature, able to observe what is left of one's 
  'self' when removed from society's norms and concerns.  In 
  light of this fact, the forest tradition has long emphasized 
  the need for solitary practice--the usual setting is a small 
  hut or cave in the forest, with one's own seat and path for 
  meditation--and this has become one of the characteristic 
  features of the tradition.
  
  Another is its wide repertoire of concentration and insight 
  techniques.  The tradition recognizes that different 
  techniques work for different people, and within a very 
  broad framework, one is encouraged to find the techniques 
  that work best for one, and to work at them persistently.  
  Among the usual starting techniques for gaining a solid 
  basis in concentration are breath meditation (Ajaan Lee 
  Dhammadharo, one of the forest masters, developed a very 
  sophisticated breath meditation technique), buddho 
  recitation and the contemplation of the elements and parts 
  of the body.
  
  Another characteristic feature of the tradition is its 
  emphasis on high moral standards, and on using the 13 
  classical ascetic practices--such as eating no more than one 
  meal a day--as tools for overcoming one's most basic 
  attachments.
  
  Over the course of the years Ajaan Sao and Ajaan Mun 
  inspired many others--men and woman, lay and ordained--to 
  take up the meditative life in the forest as well, to the 
  point where the forest tradition is now one of the largest 
  and most respected meditation traditions in Thailand, and 
  has attracted large numbers of Western followers.
  
  In setting up Metta Forest Monastery, Ajaan Suwat hopes to 
  make the forest tradition--or, more importantly, the 
  original Dhamma and Vinaya of the Buddha--available to all 
  Americans who are seriously interested in reaching the goal 
  the Buddha taught.  A number of Thais and Americans are 
  helping him in this endeavor, including an American monk, 
  Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff), who trained for 14 
  years within the forest tradition in Thailand before 
  returning to help with Metta.  Ven. Thanissaro practiced 
  breath meditation under a student of Ajaan Lee for his first 
  nine years in Thailand, up to his teacher's death in 1986, 
  and since then he has been teaching meditation in Thailand, 
  Singapore and now the U.S.. 
  
  The plan for Metta is to build both a monastery where men 
  may receive full-time training as bhikkhus, and a center 
  where laypeople can come for individual short-term or 
  long-term meditation retreats within the balanced pattern of 
  lay-monastic relationships designed by the Buddha.  (An 
  affiliated center where women may ordain as nuns is 
  tentatively set for a later date.)  
  
  The building plans for Metta are still in the hearing stage, 
  and the specific plans for how the center is to be organized 
  and run are still relatively fluid.  Thus any constructive 
  input is more than welcome.  If you are interested in more 
  information, or would like to help in any way, contact 
  Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Metta Forest Monastery, P.O. Box 1409, 
  Valley Center, CA 92082.  
  
  May all beings be happy.

[end]
