Residential stays
Renew your aspirations
Anukampa Grove is primarily a monastic residence, though we have a couple of rooms for lay Buddhist friends to stay with us as guests for a week or longer. We accommodate female, male, transgender and non-binary people. A residential stay provides the opportunity to deepen your meditation practice and experience our simple monastic lifestyle.
As alms mendicants, we do not cook, handle money or drive, so visitors are invited to participate in the monastic lifestyle by helping with cooking, gardening and providing transport. As our dear guest, you will be fully immersed in our shared routine, which involves eating meals together and reflecting on the Buddha’s teachings as they apply to our daily activities and meditation practice.
Anukampa Grove offers the possibility to explore whether monastic life could be beneficial for you. The path to ordination is progressive and would include visits and longer stays at different monastic communities, to see if a small community like ours or a larger place would be most suitable for you. Aspiring monastics must have participated in several retreats of at least a week, be in sound mental and physical health and be developing a daily practice that is well-integrated into a stable lifestyle at home.
Aṭṭhaṅgasīla: The Ethical Precepts
During their time at Anukampa Grove, guests live by a set of ethical principles that foster virtue. Designed by the Buddha, these principles are known as the Eight Precepts.
- I undertake the training-precept to abstain from killing living beings.
Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. - I undertake the training-precept to abstain from taking what is not given.
Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. - I undertake the training-precept to abstain from sexual conduct.
Abrahmacariyā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. - I undertake the training-precept to abstain from false speech.
Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. - I undertake the training-precept to abstain from alcoholic drink or drugs that cloud the mind and cause heedlessness.
Surā meraya majja pamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. - I undertake the training-precept to abstain from eating at the wrong time (after solar noon).
Vikāla bhojanā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. - I undertake the training-precept to abstain from dancing, singing, music, going to see entertainments, wearing jewellery, using perfumes, and beautifying the body with cosmetics.
Nacca gīta vādita visūkadassanā mālā gandha vilepana dhārana maṇḍana vibhūsanaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. - I undertake the training-precept to abstain from using high or luxurious beds and seats.
Uccāsayana mahāsayanā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
Request a stay
Anukampa Grove is a small and quiet monastic residence. Due to its size and purpose, which is to provide up to four bhikkhunis a place to live and practice, it differs from a traditional Buddhist temple that is open to the public. This means that all visits are by pre-arrangement only and at the discretion of the resident bhikkhunis—no drop-in visitors are allowed.
We trust that you come with the intention to respect and benefit from the peaceful atmosphere at Anukampa Grove. If you are bringing your car, please plan to park in our driveway and not on private roads nearby, in the spirit of care for the local environment.
Please note that we do not accept stay requests or visitors during our annual Rains Retreat, typically between July and October.
To request an invitation to visit, email us at: team@anukampaproject.org.