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You are warmly invited to join us for a day of Metta in remembrance and support of the people in Myanmar. Ayya Piya Dassi, Sayalay Uttara, Sayalay Daya, Bhante U Agga and Bhante U Vivekaga, all ordained in Myanmar, will be sharing reflections, meditation and chanting in gratitude to Myanmar as a ‘birthplace’ where many of us received the Dhamma from.
Our intention for the day is to practice and share in community. There will also be an opportunity to renew our commitment to the Dhamma by taking the Refuges and Precepts and to join the meal offering at Tilorien Monastery (Belgium) and Sarana Vihara (Spain) virtually. The day will be led by Ayya Anopama and also include the regular Saturday iSangha program with Ven.Vimala.
You are most welcome to come for the whole day or just for part of it.
If you are already registered for the iSangha, there is nothing you need to do to join this day. Otherwise you can sign up here: https://tilorien.org/en/isangha/
Program:
6.00 – 7.00 Silent meditation and Chanting
9.00 – 11.00 Part I: Introduction, Refuges, Reflections and Meditation
11.00 -11.15 Meal offering for Myanmar and Anumondana at Tilorien Monastery (Belgium) and Sarana Vihara (Spain)
13.00-16.00 Part II: Reflections, Meditation and Sharing of Merits
18.00-19.00 Guided meditation and Chanting (English and French)
The dana offered for this day will be dedicated to support people in Myanmar.
Money is very much needed for food, medical supplies and protective materials. The following fundraisers are highly reliable. They make sure the money is directly handed to the people via their respective networks. Because the banking system is failing, this is important.
Insight Myanmar, or their new website Better Burma
For more information:
Buddhist Door:
INEB, Clear View Project Launch Humanitarian Appeal for Buddhist Monastics in Myanmar
Senior Buddhist Monks Urge Military Junta to End Violence in Myanmar
Buddhist Door features many related news reports.
INEB:
Ayya Piyadassī was born and grew up in Lithuania where she completed a degree in chemistry. Over six years of dedicated meditation practice and Dhamma service in the UK as well as Lithuania, she developed an increasing interest in the Buddhist scriptures and theory behind meditation. This interest led her to study Pāḷi in India. She then proceeded to Myanmar to absorb the teachings available in its traditional Buddhist cultural context and took robes in 2013 with the Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw as a preceptor. There, she has practised and learned various meditation techniques in mostly, small Pa Auk meditation centres, and obtained an MA in Pali and Buddhist Studies from Shan State Buddhist University. Within that period of training she also spent over a year in caves in Southern Spain. Now, she is back in Europe once again with an intention to share the tradition that she has received while living in Asia and establish a Dhamma centre in Lithuania.
Sayalay Uttarā, born in Spain, has been practicing meditation for 25 years, of which she spent nearly 10 years in silent retreat in Asia and Europe. She had worked over two decades as a social worker, supporting persons with social difficulties, before she left for India in 2007 to study Pali and practice Vipassana meditation. In 2008 she ordained as a Buddhist nun in Myanmar where she practiced for six years. During that period she spent three years in a deep forest, mostly in solitary retreat, and one year in complete silence to deepen her samadhi and vipassana practice. In 2014 she returned to Europe as a lay person and has been teaching professionals in hospitals and at the university on the dying process and grief since 2019. She reordained as a nun in May 2020 and founded “Saraṇa Vihāra”, a small monastery in Spain.
Bhikkhu Agga (formerly known as Tjeerd Aukes, born in the Netherlands) started meditating in 2001 when he attended his first 10-day Vipassana retreat. Since then he has been practising regularly. In 2006 he travelled to India and Myanmar to deepen his meditation practice. He ordained as a Buddhist monk in 2011 in Myanmar and was given the name U Aggawamsa, shortened to U Agga. Since then he’s been staying in different places and settings across Myanmar, living a simple and solitary life, mostly in forests and jungles, together with other monks, nuns and lay practioners or just by himself in a wooden hut. In 2016 and 2019 he visited Europe for two months. He currently resides in a Forest Monastery in the North-East of Thailand.
Bhikkhu Viveka is a French Canadian Theravada Buddhist monk and has been practicing and exploring meditation for more than 18 years. His primary interest is how to live a life of true happiness rooted in compassion and wisdom. He discovered Vipassana meditation in 2002 and since then has been studying, practicing and sharing this path of mind cultivation, self discovery and inner freedom.
He has taught in the US, Canada and Mexico and has practiced meditation extensively in North America, South East Asia and India with renowned teachers including: SN Goenka, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pa Auk Sayadaw and Pascal Auclair. Since his ordination in 2013 he has been practicing primarily under the guidance of Sayadaw U Tejaniya.
Sayalay Dayā, born in the Netherlands, decided after a colorful worldly life to ordain as nun in the Theravada Buddhist tradition in Myanmar. Due to health issues she traveled back to Europe in 2018. She lives in Southern Spain at Sanditthika Meditation Community (www.sanditthika.org) founded by her spiritual friend and teacher Beth Upton / Anuttara.