A little bit about Abay agiri…..

Abayagiri Buddhist monastery is located in 280 acres offorestland, in Redwood Valley. (15 miles north of Ukiah, California.) Abhayagiri Monastery is thefirst monastery in
the United States to be established byfollowers of Ajahn Chah, a respected Buddhist Master of the ancient Thaiforest tradition of Theravada Buddhism.
The name that was settled upon ”Abhayagiri” means “Fearless Mountain”. The original Abhayagiri Monastery was in ancient Sri Lanka, at Anuradhapura . That monastery was most notablefor welcoming practitioners and teachersfrom many different Buddhist traditions.

Purpose
Abhayagiri Monastery is a center of teaching and practice for people in monastic or lay life. Its heart is a community of monks (bhikkhus), novices (samaneras), and postulants (anagarikas) pursuing a life of meditative reflection.

The Sangha lives according to the Vinaya, a code of monastic discipline established by the Buddha. In accordance with this discipline, the monastics are alms-mendicants, living lives of celibacy andfrugality . Ahove all, this training is a means of living reflectively and a guide to keeping one’s needs to a minimum: a set of robes, an alms bowl, one meal a day, medicine when ill, and a sheltered place for meditation and rest.