Author: ABP

Dear friends,

It has been more than two years since we temporarily limited visitors to our former Bhikkhuni Residence, but with the improvement of the global health situation worldwide, we are glad to announce that we are able to re-open to both residential and non-residential visits, now that Venerable Canda is back in the UK after her Rains Retreat!

Not only that, Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project has managed to secure our first property, near the River Thames in the beautiful University city of Oxford. Owning our very own Vihara (small monastery) rather than being in a rented location will provide more stability to the Project and provide a wonderful base from where to practice, gather together and grow community.

This purchase is a culmination of all the support from well-wishers around the globe in one way or another, and we are very inspired and grateful. Our aspiration is that Anukampa Buddhist Vihara will also be a solid foundation from which to continue building a supportive environment for women to practise monastic Buddhism in the UK, as fully-fledged bhikkhunis, in the manner laid down by the Buddha himself. This is yet another step towards our goal of establishing a permanent “Forest Monastery” in the UK.

You can write to team@anukampaproject to make arrangements to visit, offer food, or stay as a guest and find out how to be part of this wonderful, diverse and international community.

We look forward to welcoming you at our new Vihara soon. Sadhu x3!

The Anukampa team

“Monk on a Motorbike,” as Danny Hill introduces himself, spends a good hour with Venerable Canda, discussing Dhamma, Venerable Canda’s path, women’s ordination in Theravada Buddhism, and much more.

Listen with a cuppa in installments if you wish! The whole podcast can be found here:

Bhikkhuni Canda will lead the day retreat “Training in Beauty” at the The Dharma Primary School in Brighton on Saturday 18th November, 2017. See here for more details and registration.
 

 

We are delighted to announce that Anukampa has recently established a bursary fund with the wish to be able to offer some financial support to those who would otherwise be unable to attend Ajahn Brahm’s benefit events in the UK. All funds raised from tickets to Ajahn’s talks and retreats, over and above expenses, go directly towards establishing a bhikkhuni monastery in the UK.
 
If you have benefited from Dhamma teachings during Ajahn Brahm’s last UK tour, or at other times in your life, donating to Anukampa’s bursary fund is a wonderful way to express gratitude, as well as practice generosity towards those who cannot afford to attend. All donations to this fund are very gratefully received to help make some concessionary places available.
 
You can make a donation to the bursary fund here using a PayPal account or credit or debit card (no PayPal account is required).
 

 

You can click here to read our newsletter announcing the opening of registration for Ajahn Brahm’s “Real Dhamma” UK tour staring on 10th October 2017.

 

It also mentions that we are looking for volunteers to video the events on this tour. We would be particularly grateful for volunteers able to video the two retreats we are holding in London and the talks in Manchester (see the full schedule here). For further details please email us using this link.
 
 

You can click here to read our ninth newsletter including news on our successful application to become a registered charity and how Ven. Canda’s trip to America helped to consolidate her vision for Anukampa.

 

You can click here to read our eight newsletter including news about Ajahn Brahm’s 2017 UK Dhamma tour.

 

There are still a few places left on Ajahn Brahmali’s upcoming Happy Sutta retreat, taking place between 14th June – 23rd June in Schneverdingen, Germany.
 
The meditation and sutta-retreat is dedicated to the development of meditation and the study of aspects of the practice. Ajahn Brahmali will focus on the gradual training and therefore use the The Shorter Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant’s Footprint, Majjhima Nikāya 27 as the basis for the retreat. Other suttas will be used to clarify aspects of the teachings.

 
See here for more details.

On 8 January, Ven. Canda was invited to talk about her spiritual journey at Jill Satterfield’s yoga teacher training course in San Francisco. Jill takes a deeply meditative, integrative approach to yoga, and this was evident in her student’s depth of interest in meditation and the topics discussed. These topics included reconciling science and religious dogmatism, finding ones path, and working with doubt. The talk, as well as a guided body sweep is available through our YouTube channel.

 

Brave Vero has pledged to have her head shaved for her 29th birthday in April to raise funds for Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project. Her donation webpage is live if you would like to give and all funds raised go towards establishing a monastery for bhikkhunis (fully ordained nuns) in the UK.