Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

The Serenity At Amaravati Buddhist Monastery In Hemel Hempstead


source:
Nelu Manel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlg5AO49_dY
http://www.youtube.com/manel08uk

Amaravati Buddhist Monastery is a monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition of the Theravada lineage of Buddhism. Amaravati is a centre of teaching and practice. It is located in Great Gaddesden, in the Chiltern Hills, near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England.

Amaravati means "Deathless Realm" in Pāli, the scriptural language of the ancient Buddhist Pali Canon. The temple was founded by the disciples of the noted Thai meditation master, Luang Por Chah (1918-1992). Its current abbot is Ajahn Sumedho. In addition to the monks' and nuns' residences, there are accommodations for long-term lay residents and shorter-term lay guests.

Amaravati has a retreat centre, where meditation retreats of varying lengths are held for lay people. Both the monastery and the retreat centre are run on dana (free-will donations).

Amaravati was created in 1984 when the English Sangha Trust purchased a residential school (previously an army base) from Buckinghamshire County Council.
It is linked to Cittaviveka (Chithurst Buddhist Monastery) in West Sussex, and to monasteries in Devon, Northumberland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, North America and Thailand. Amaravati officially opened in 1985. In the late 1990s, a temple building was constructed. It was officially opened by the King of Thailand's sister, Princess Galyani Vadhana, on the 4th of July, 1999.
The nuns at Amaravati (and Cittaviveka) are part of the ten-precept order created by Ajahn Sumedho at Cittaviveka in 1983..

It has become one of the more popular lineages in the West. Amaravati's sister monastery at Chithurst is not open to the public and is occupied by serious long-term practitioners.
This Monastry is located in a large woodland.The uniqueness of this Monastry is the silence that prevails within its surroundings...


Venerable Ajahn Sumedho
Ven.Ajahn Sumedho is a bhikkhu of the Theravada School of Buddhism,a tradition that prevails in Sri Lanka and S.E.Asia.
In this last century its clear and practical reachings have been well received in the West as a source of understanding and peace that stands up to the rigorous tests of our current age.

Ajahn Sumedho is himself Westerner having been born in Seattle,Washington,USA in 1934.He left the States in 1964 and took bhikkhu ordination in Nong Khai,N.E. Thailand in 1967.Soon after this he went to stay with Ven.Ajahn Chah, a Thai meditation master who lived in the forest monastery.....

Ajahn Chah's monasteries were renowned for their austerity and emphasis on a simple direct approach to Dhamma practice, and Ajahn Sumedho eventually stayed for ten years in this environment before being invited to take up residence in London by the English Sangha Trust with three other of Ajahn Chah's Western disciples....
Ven. Ajahn Sumedho the head priest has written many books on the Dhamma.His knowledge of Buddhism is Amazing.....

This article from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlg5AO49_dY
http://www.youtube.com/manel08uk
Nelu Manel 
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