FOREST DHAMMA MONASTERY IS A MONASTIC COMMUNITY in the lineage of Ajaan Mahā Boowa whose primary focus is on the Buddhist practices of the Thai Forest Tradition. The monastery was founded by Ajaan Dick Sīlaratano in the autumn of 2011 when two hundred and seventeen acres of woodland were purchased in the Allegheny foothills of Rockbridge County, Virginia. The land is thickly forested with extensive tracts of tall oaks and poplars, and intersected by two small streams that traverse its full length. The purchase was funded entirely by donations from members of the public.
Historically, the Buddha’s forest-dwelling tradition has been preserved by those who have forsaken secular life to seek enlightenment as full-time monastics. At this time in the history of that tradition, we find ourselves at a crossroads. Because the forest movement is limited to a handful of monastic communities which often seem unrelated to mainstream Buddhist practice, the task of teaching Dhamma in the United States has fallen primarily to lay practitioners. In addressing this issue, Forest Dhamma strives to implement a time-honored model of monastic training and practice that can safeguard and transmit the Dhamma in line with the forest-dwelling tradition of the Buddha. As such, Forest Dhamma is a form of Buddhist training for the deeply committed practitioner.
February, 2025
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August 26,2019
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