Letter on the 10th Anniversary of Samanadipa by Ajahn Nyanamoli Thero
Establishing a place for practice is not about building an institution or a monument to a tradition; it is about providing the bare minimum of suitable conditions where a person can develop virtue and no longer hide from themselves. When we look at the Early Suttas, the Buddha’s instruction doesn’t point toward elaborate social engagements or communal comfort, but toward seclusion and simplified living. That’s why it was so valuable that Ajahn Hiriko, back in the day, decided to make a step in that direction, and around the same time, when we were building our first kuti at the Hillside Hermitage Sri Lanka, he went to a remote Slovenian countryside and began doing the same. The result is that our monastery Samanadipa today serves as a useful boundary against the constant pressure of worldly values for those who want to dedicate their lives to training in the Buddha’s teaching.
Most environments are designed to validate our preferences and distract us from the underlying unease of our existence. Although our hermitages, by design, provide a suitable environment for practice, that is only insofar as they enable an individual to see their own mind and what underlying work needs to be done. A good monastery is a place where the responsibility for one’s own suffering is placed squarely back on the individual, away from both the noise of public expectation and the safety of group identity. And that is something we will strive to protect and maintain in Samanadipa for the years to come.
Ajahn Nyanamoli Thero
The General Guardian