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Hello, All
The lease has been signed and the keys have been received. It’s official: the property in White Salmon will be the site of Abhayagiri’s first-ever branch. And it has a working title that they’ve been trying out at Abhayagiri: Pacific Hermitage. It might even stick.
It is really incredible that 600 miles from their doors a community of lay supporters has come together so solidly that they can send three of their own residents to live here. In a few short months there will be a kuti or two in the woods, alms rounds in the town and possibly some very happy humans and devas in the area.
Next steps will involve getting the hermitage ready for three residents in early July. More information will be sent out soon. For now, anyone want to join me in a huge exhale and a bit of high-fiving over just how well this has all come together? We are very fortunate here on the Columbia.
with metta,
Greg
Hello, All
The property on Tunnel Road in White Salmon has turned out to be an excellent candidate for the hermitage. It has many things going for it, including renting for $1000/mo, a house with three bedrooms, woods, and an hour walk into White Salmon. Nine community members joined Ajahn Sudanto and Venerable Caganando last Saturday for a final look at it. You can see pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/pacific.hermitage/174TunnelRoad
The monastics like the property as does the board. Scott is in contact with the rental company working out the details. Abhayagiri is very, very close to having a new Pacific hermitage. It looks like there will soon be alms rounds in White Salmon and an “incomparable field of merit” on Tunnel Road above town. This is a great gift to the region.
Tentatively, Ajahns Sudanto and Karunadhammo will be visiting May 14 – May 20 to help with next steps in this project. There will be a number of opportunities for contact. Stay tuned for details.
best wishes,
Greg
Good news everyone,
It’s official, I received a message today that our credit is approved and I will be mailing in a deposit check. We will sign the rental contract April 30th.
Thanks everyone for all the time and effort you have so generously giving to the project. It has been such a pleasure working with you to find such a wonderful first hermitage location.
We are indeed fortunate to have two months to get the hermitage ready for the monastics arrival the first of July. I will be sending out more information soon on the tasks we can work on together over then remainder of the spring.
With deep appreciation,
Scott
Hello Friends,
Following up on Greg’s earlier message about the activities this weekend for the two visiting monastics, I wanted to let you know that the meal offering will be Sunday 11:30 PM at the center. Carole and Charla have very generously offered to coordinate the meal. They will be sending out a message giving details shortly.
You are invited to stay for the 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Hermitage Committee meeting. We will be giving updates on the activities of the past month and talking about potential hermitage sites.
I look forward to seeing you sometime during the weekend.
In service with you,
Scott Benge
Hello everyone,
This Saturday April 10th we will be taking a trip into the White Salmon / Bingen / Snowden area of Washington to view a very promising rental and several other properties that are for sale.
We are very pleased and excited to be joined by Ajahn Sudanto and Tan Caganando on this visit. It is likely that these two monastics will be the first to take residence in the hermitage this coming summer. The visit will be a great opportunity to learn more about how the monastic community views potential hermitage sites.
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Tan Caganando |
I am very excited about the rental property and look forward to showing it to you and the two visiting monastics. I you haven’t seen pictures of this rental, check out these two web sites: http://picasaweb.google.com/pacific.hermitage http://www.gorgerentals.com/listings/MCE174.html
Ajahn Sudanto has seen the information on this site and sent an email of encouragement. Here is an excerpt: “I showed Ajahns Pasanno, Amaro and Karunadhammo the information on this property, and they all felt that this property could be a very good site getting a start next year, even if we wouldn’t be allowed to live in kutis in the forest. They also were surprised at the monthly price, considering what the property offers and how it looks in Google Earth and the photos from the realtors. The community here feels it’s worth some serious investigation.”
The weather looks like it will be a bit cool with possible light rain so we will do the meal offering at a restaurant. A small group of us will be going up to the rental site tomorrow (Wednesday) and will find a place for the Saturday meal offering. Carole, you offered to help coordinate the meal. Joan will be going with us tomorrow and perhaps you two can work together to finalize the details?
It would be helpful for planning the meal to have a head count. If you plan to participate Saturday please let me know. Thanks!!!!
Here is the day’s agenda:
Portland Friends of the Dhamma – Hermitage Project
Saturday April 10, 2010 – Land Search Visit
8:00 AM – Leave the center
9:30 AM – View Rental Property 174 Tunnel Road
11:30 AM – Meal offering at restaurant (TBD)
1:00 PM – Meet Realtor to view for sale properties in the Snowden area.
3:30 PM – Leave White Salmon for Portland (Arrive between 5:00 PM and 5:30 PM)
Let me know if you have any questions.
Scott
Hello, All
I wanted to let people know how the hermitage project continues to take root and inspire support. A donation has come to the project from Thailand. It’s from Plern, who is a long-time supporter of the Ajahn Chah lineage in Thailand and a student of Ajahn Pasanno. She has given 100,000 Thai Baht toward the project. This is about $3,000 dollars.
It is so lovely to have this direct connection and support from Thailand as we spread out and ground this lineage in the Pacific Northwest. Plern’s gift, meanwhile, has already inspired others. Touched by Plern’s gift, Scott and Joan have given $5000 toward the project. Our budget has gone up by 1/3 in a burst of generosity. Whether these gifts turn into many months of rent, or a kuti or a nicer piece of property we will all see as things progress.
Meanwhile, the Upasika group is considering how they, as a group, can offer some support to the project. Megan has mentioned feeling the joy of her sponsorship of Saturday’s land search. Charla enjoyed her first land search so much, she has kept her schedule open for this weekend’s. I know others are pondering dana as well.
Anyone who wants to give to the project–$5, $25, your time, or whatever–it feels really good and it’s all planting a seed in the “incomparable field of merit” that is the monastic Sangha. Anumodana – I am happy for the good fortune these gifts create.
best wishes,
Greg
Hi, Everyone
One more exciting announcement. This weekend, Ajahn Sudanto and Venerable Caganando are coming up to Portland. These are likely to be among the monastics who will be starting off at the hermitage. Their schedule is still be worked out, but there will be a number of times to have contact with them. The events below could change, so check the website as we get closer.
On Saturday April 10th, there will be trip into the gorge to look at possible hermitage sites. There is one property in particular that looks very promising. It’s a rental on 5 acres with a house, and about 3 acres are wooded. It’s near to walking trails and possibly near enough to Bingen for alms round. This is the site that people can visit Tuesday with Scott and others (mentioned in a previous post) and will be one of the sites visited Saturday. Furthermore, this is the trip whose travel is sponsored by Megan. So no need to give a thought to gas costs. To summarize: A trip with the likely resident monastics, to a possible hermitage site sponsored by a community member. Doesn’t that sound awesome?  Anyone is welcome to come to the center at 8am and join in (recheck time before coming).
On Sunday April 11th, there will be a meal offering around noon at the center. Then, at 1pm, there will be a meeting with Ajahn Sudanto about the hermitage. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the project.
Stay tuned for more details as the events get closer.
best wishes,
Greg
Greetings,
I just wanted to touch base with all of you folks with all of the things happening around this summer and the grand beginning of the Hermitage. I hope I haven’t left anyone off of the email list that should see this, so if any of you see someone who should get this, please feel free to forward it! (I don’t have email contacts for Bruce or Dave).
Probably most of you have gotten wind that Ajahn Sudanto and Tan Caganando are the folks who will be starting things up with the likelihood of a third monastic, and know that I won’t be in the first phase of the hermitage. I just wanted to make contact and let you all know I will be there in spirit with great support and enthusiasm, if not in body. The reasons for my not being part of the start-up team have mostly to do with Ajahn Amaro’s departure in July to go to Amaravati to take up abbotship there, which I assume most of you have heard about. With his and Ajahn Sudanto’s departures, Ajahn Pasanno requested that I stay on here for the time being to help with the transitions here.
Of course, there are mixed feelings for me: I feel a lot of heartfelt connections with folks up there, and am kind of sad not to be there at this stage. But I am also so grateful for the monastery here, and want to support Ajahn Pasanno during this time, too, and help keep the mothership on an even keel. So it goes….
Anyway, I hope that it won’t be too long (maybe next year?) before I can come up to the new hermitage for a while, and see all of you. We’ll see how it all unfolds.
Thanks for looking after Ajahn Sudanto and Tan Caganando — a bit of my spirit will go along with them this summer. I hope to see as many of you as can make it down here in the next bit of time.
Best wishes for the new adventure,
Ajahn Karunadhammo
Dear Community Members,
First — A Postponement: The Work Weekend in Mosier, Oregon scheduled for this weekend has been postponed due to rain and wet conditions. If you would like to join in this offering to Mike and Mimi, who hosted the 2007 Summer Hermitage, stay tuned for another announcement in late spring.
Next — Save The Date: Ajahn Sudanto and another Bhikkhu are coming up next week, over the weekend of April 10 and 11. On Saturday, they will join the trip into the gorge to look for land for a Portland-area hermitage. The travel expenses for this day’s trip have been sponsored by Megan Scheminske. So anyone can come and join one of the cars going out without giving a thought to gas expenses. You are welcome to join. To learn more about this see http://pdxdhamma.org/hermitage/events.htm
On Sunday, currently scheduled for 1:00pm, is a meeting with Ajahn Sudanto about the hermitage project. Anyone is welcome to come. There will probably be a public meal offering before that meeting and possibly on other days as well. Stay tuned for more details here or on the website pdxdhamma.org.
Finally — The Annual Board Meeting is this Monday, April 5, from 7:00 – 9:00 PM. There will be, among other topics, election of officers. Everyone is encouraged to come and participate. To learn more about the board, including the requirements for board membership, see http://pdxdhamma.org/participate/board-meeting.htm
best wishes,
Greg
Hello, All
Last Saturday there was another land outing. The trip took us up to Washougal then out to Bingen and Mosier in the gorge. For viewing, we had mainly picked land with utilities but no main building. Land with no house is less expensive and perhaps, we thought, open to the owner considering a lease for a year. Could we find something for a year that seemed good enough, we wondered?
The drive to Washougal is quite beautiful, following the Washougal River, and I could picture a hermitage at the end of this drive. The land we saw tended to lack trees and had neighboring properties that looked like they were fast being set for development. It felt like Washougal is too close to Vancouver for the kind of seclusion we are looking for to be likely.
We then went to Bingen–across the river from Hood River–and met with a new realtor. Lori pulled up a number of properties she thought would be good for us. She seemed to understand the kind of seclusion we were seeking and the properties she pulled up sounded beautiful: lots of acreage, lots of trees, some abutting public land. They are out of our current means, but it was nice to see that she understood what kinds of land we wanted. We may well continue to work with her on the Washington side.
In Mosier, we saw several properties all close to the 2007 Hermitage site. One was too small, too steep, small funky structures, and lacked privacy. The other two were wide open lots with small houses and few trees. Beautiful, but not what we’re looking for.
The next trip is scheduled for April 10th. Anyone is welcome to join. What’s more, the travel expenses for this upcoming trip have already been sponsored by a member of the PFOD community. So this trip is a gift to anyone who comes — that could be you. Come to the center at 8:00am on the 10th and we’ll go out together.
with metta,
Greg
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