Resident Life at Bhavana

With the release of this newsletter it will be a year that I have lived here at Bhavana. In this article I’ll discuss the experience of residency, what someone can expect upon becoming a resident, and what is expected of them.

So what is a resident? A resident is a lay person(with intent to renounce, or without) who comes to live at Bhavana Society and becomes part of the community. In exchange for free room and board, they will work hard in support of the monastery and have the opportunity to deepen their practice in a friendly communal atmosphere that can jump from quiet to hectic in short order.

A person can come as a short-term resident(9 days to 3 months) or a long-term resident(3+ months). Those who are applying for residency can also choose whether they are applying to be a resident, or a “resident with intent to renounce”. This is a resident who wishes to pursue the monastic path. The monastic path here at Bhavana is split into four sections. The first six months you live here as a lay resident. If Bhante G feels you are ready to move forward you become an Anagarika for six months, a homeless lay person who wears white robes. An Anagarika has begun the process of leaving the lay life and therefore straddles both worlds. If you are accepted and ready to move forward you then take the Pabbajja(going forth) to become a Samanera(novice monastic) for a year, at the end of which, if accepted by the monastic community, you take full Bhikkhu ordination.

Bhavana Society is a quiet monastery in the woods of West Virginia, but it is also a retreat center, a place of learning and practice of the dhamma for all, completely dana based. On any given week you can expect a handful of visitors and at least once a month as many as 50 people come to Bhavana for a week to attend silent retreats, to practice and learn dhamma.

Hard Work

It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, metta, and karuna(compassion) to keep Bhavana going for the good of all. Both the lay and monastic community work together to ensure this continued success. In my year of residency at Bhavana I’ve learned how to do everything from making stairs to cooking vegetarian meals. Repairing Kutis to working the Crown Royal, the giant wood stove that heats large parts of the main building. Carpentry, lumberjacking, painting, construction, sewing, and much more.

I’ve also had the opportunity many times to use the skills I learned in my lay life for Bhavana, from public speaking and event organization(running retreats), to landscape architecture. Each resident not only will learn a wide skill set to bring back out into the world with them when they leave, but will come to Bhavana with a wide variety of skills that will be put to good use here as well.

When I first started visiting Bhavana almost four years ago, I was struck by the realization of how important Bhavana was, a rare gem in America, and as such I was determined to do all I could whenever I could to support it, physically, monetarily, and socially.

I was a lone practitioner, the only Buddhist I knew in my daily life, so coming to Bhavana was like coming home. Every visit I did as much as I could in support of Bhavana, from chopping wood to completing whatever task was needed, going above and beyond, as I now see many visitors who come here doing. This is the mindset needed in a resident who wants to be a help to the community. Bhavana is a small community of 10 monastic and lay residents, and there will always be more work than the few of us could ever complete, which is why we deeply appreciate all the help visitors and residents give.

What you do for Bhavana, you do not only for those who live there, but for the thousands of people from all over the world who cherish this place and visit it every year. Bhavana has existed for over 30 years now, running completely on donations and dedication. It has proven itself worthy of continued existence by those who give of themselves to ensure that happens. Every little bit you do is of more benefit to more people then you’ll ever know.

That being said however I would like to end the section on work with a short section on balance. When I first came to Bhavana I was told of the infamous “Bhavana Dragon”. This was the name for becoming overly involved in trying to accomplish everything, even with my above statement of there being way too much work to ever be fully completed by any number of residents. You get the mindset of “I can’t believe the monastery doesn’t have this, or it shouldn’t be this way the monastery deserves better!” and that drives you on. The good intentions of doing anything you can for Bhavana should be tempered with the realization that you are only one person and only have the energy and will to do so much.

I was enraptured by the Bhavana Dragon when I first came, which was a very busy time of working more than the normal four hours a day as we winded down the construction of the Asoka male dorm. It took me almost half a year before I realized I needed to find a balance. Thankfully I had some fellow residents who were able to help me realize that I was taking on too much. This is why it is important that all residents fully participate in life here at Bhavana and be supportive of each other. It’s been my experience that this is indeed the case for the most part.

Residents are also expected to set a good example for visitors and retreatants to follow. In regards to both meditation and general behavior. When someone comes to a place like Bhavana they are searching for a warm, welcoming, friendly and meditative community. Residents are the face of Bhavana. We are the ones who welcome people with open arms to come and practice the dhamma. So in summation, if you thought everyone at Bhavana does nothing but sit around meditating for 12 hours a day while dozens of lay people do everything for us, you were mistaken! Hard work and dedication is needed, but within the framework of the correct balance and with the support and friendship of the whole community working together towards a common goal.

Dedicated Practice

As stated above, I was a lone practitioner, the only Buddhist I knew in my daily life, with no English speaking Theravada sangha within hours of me. Much of my learning was from dhamma talks and the suttas online. In the 3 years after I found out about Bhavana I visited 14 times, 5 of those being week long retreats and the rest being personal four day weekend visits that I tried to make every other month or at least quarterly. The lessons I learned during those retreats and visits were invaluable to my practice and were well worth the 5 hour drive.

Now I live here! And I am able to attend every retreat and record every dhamma talk and Q&A to put on the youtube channel, something I wish I could have had in the last half decade of lone practice. However I would not expect for your practice to dramatically improve JUST because you have come to live at a monastery, as all the mental baggage you thought you left behind stowed away with you and a monastery is no sanctuary from greed, hatred, and delusion. Wherever there are beings with the three roots, no place is free of them. The residents in many ways become like a family, and with any family comes disagreements. This gives you plenty of practice in right intention(metta, karuna, patience), right speech and right action!

The schedule for Bhavana allows for three hours of group meditation daily. 5am, 5pm, and 6:45 pmish. During your free time you can also choose to meditate or go for a walk or study etc. Every morning after chanting and announcements we are given a short “dhamma thought of the day” to contemplate on. On Saturday there is usually a 3pm Pali class and a 4pm Sutta discussion. On Uposatha (full and new moon) days the monastery forgoes all work and meditates throughout the day and up to 11pm for those who choose to do so. There is a lay person’s discussion, a dhamma talk, and a chance to ask questions. There is also a weekly resident’s meeting that brings the community together to discuss the issues of the day.

It’s been my experience that just being around the monastics, in a place of dhamma learning and practice, is of immense value. Driving the various monastics to talks, doctors’ appointments, to the airport etc, have been great times to ask questions, talk dhamma, and to get to know them on a personal level, and they you. There are also interview periods offered by senior monastics on a regular basis for residents to speak about their practice and ask questions.

I’ve come to find that often times the best teachers teach more profoundly through their actions rather than their words, and this is certainly true for Bhante G, who is perhaps the most humble person I’ve ever met and who has encouraged and instilled in me the same practice, which is a lot harder for an Italian from New Jersey with a loud mouth!

Bhante G is not a guru, master, or even a teacher, he will flatly reject such things and point to the Buddha. He follows the ideal of the Kalyāṇamitta, the spiritual friend. As Bhante says our greatest spiritual friend is the Buddha, as he proclaimed the Dhamma for the good of the many folk. That being said I don’t know of another living person who is a better Kalyāṇamitta then Bhante G. Bhante G doesn’t tell you how to practice, he doesn’t control your practice, he won’t hit you with a ruler if you are not meditating enough, but he is always there to guide if you have questions along your path and be an example to follow.

I actually don’t speak much with Bhante G about my practice, I’ve never felt much of a need to, but I know that he is there if I need him, and that is to my great benefit. I feel grateful to him and all the monastics here at Bhavana, as well as the residents. Bhavana is a rare jewel. To be in a place centered on dhamma is worth its weight in platinum, let alone gold. So in closing I’d just like to say that coming to Bhavana and following the path towards renunciation is the best choice I ever made. My year as a resident here has been quite the experience. While there is a large demand to come here and limited space for residents, a residency here is well worth it.