Harnham Buddhist Monastery is a Buddhist community on the borders of Scotland and England. The abbot, Ajahn Munindo, was ordained by the late Venerable Ajahn Chah of Wat Nong Pah Pong in NE Thailand in 1975. The community comprises a monastic residence of usually about 8 Sangha members and an adjacent lay retreat facility known as Kusala House.
Aruna Ratanagiri is a Buddhist monastery within the Theravada school, as found in the countries of Southeast Asia, such as Burma, Sri Lanka and Thailand. More specifically it follows a tradition inspired by the Thai forest monk Venerable Ajahn Chah (1918-1992), an influential teacher under whom many Westerners, attracted by the clarity, simplicity and accessibility of his teaching and practice, were ordained as monks in Thailand.
This lineage was brought to the West when Ajahn Sumedho, one of Ven. Ajahn Chah’s Western disciples, was invited by the English Sangha Trust to set up a monastic order in England. Since his arrival with three other Western monks in 1977, this order has grown to include four monasteries in the U.K. Amaravati, Cittaviveka, Hartridge Monastery and Aruna Ratanagiri as well as monasteries in Switzerland, Italy, New Zealand and the USA, altogether comprising some 60 monks and nuns.
Southeast Asian (Theravada) Buddhism has as its keystone the relationship of mutuality between the monastic Sangha, i.e. the ordained community of monks and nuns, and the extended community of lay practitioners. This relationship is characterised by the material dependence of the Sangha, as mendicant renunciants, on acts of generosity (Dana) made by the extended community – in particular, depending for their daily sustenance on direct offerings of food and by the offerings likewise made by the Sangha to the lay community in providing an example, inspiration and support in their spiritual practice, and access to the sanctuary of the monasteries.
The primary focus for the Aruna Ratanagiri monastery is to provide and maintain a sanctuary suitable for the training and ongoing practice of Theravadin bhikkhus, in keeping with the Pali vinaya and forest tradition of NE Thailand.
Today, through freely distributed books and Dhamma talks, regular discussion groups and Sunday evening talks, and also in the context of more than 5 times yearly meditation retreats, Harnham offers spiritual support for practitioners far and wide. Monks from Harnham regularly visit meditation groups in the North East of England and Scotland, in addition to a lot of non-Buddhist groups and individual visitors, including school and university groups, are coming to the monastery to learn about Buddhism.
EMail: secretary@ratanagiri.org.uk
Website: www.ratanagiri.org.uk
