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Dec. ’24: New Year’s Vigil & Adhitthānas (Buddhist Resolutions)!

Dec 31, 2024 | Newsletters

Dear Clear Mountaineers,

 

As we enter the New Year, we invite you to orient your practice with us, not just through our All-Night Meditation Vigil (In-Person & Online), but by making an adhiṭṭhāna or Buddhist determination for the New Year (a Google form to do so may be found here)! These resolutions, collected over the coming week, will be shared as a gift to our elders, Luang Por Sona and Ayya Ānandabodhī. Those who wish may also choose to have their adhiṭṭhānas shared with the community as a whole by selecting the “make public” option in the Google form!

 

As we enter 2025, let us remember our immense good fortune in having found such a Teaching, community, & opportunity to ennoble this life by helping create a refuge of Dhamma for all who would seek it.

 

May all beings be well!

An adhiṭṭhāna is a determination or intention in line with the Dhamma, anything that allows us to bring more awareness to our actions and practice. It is a very individual offering–it might be as simple as determining to refrain from desserts for a specific amount of time, or to honor the 8 precepts on Uposatha days for a specific period, contribute a certain number of Recitations of Refuge to Clear Mountain’s goal of 10 million, do 28 full-length prostrations each morning for the year (you’ll be joining Clear Mountain’s monastics in doing these!) — anything you know will be a bit of a challenge, but that you would like to rouse the energy and effort to fulfill, for your own well-being and growth in the Dhamma. A talk on the practice of adhiṭṭhānas by Ajahn Kovilo may be found here! People will sometimes make overly-ambitious determinations; consider building in a “test period” for yourself during which you can change an adhiṭṭhāna, and allowing for flexibility in extenuating circumstances. 

 

We dedicate the adhiṭṭhānas below to our monastic elders Luang Por Sona & Ayya Ānandabodhī, and to the aspiration of Clear Mountain Monastery! We plan to share this record of determinations with both of these wonderful teachers as a gift. Sadhu!

Beginning at 7 pm on New Year’s Eve, Clear Mountain will host an all-night meditation vigil to celebrate the past year and set our aspiration together for the future.The evening, held in-person at Fauntleroy Church, 9140 California Ave SW, Seattle, and online via Zoom and YouTube livestream, will feature meditation, monastic teachings, and traditional chanting of 108 “Itipi So” homages. Though the gathering will continue through the night, participants may leave at any point. There will also be a space to rest or nap for those who need rather than driving back in the early hours of the morning; just bring a blanket and a sleeping pad or cushion!

You can draw close to Clear Mountain in a variety of ways, even from afar!

  • Join our online Discord community of over 1000 members, nearly 500 of whom are upāsakas holding the 5 Precepts & a daily meditation practice.

  • Join our WhatsApp Community to tap into local and online events!

  • Submit your name, photo, and a (optional) Dhamma quote of 200 letters or less to join our Community Page!

  • Check out various other offerings, including our Podcast, Facebook, Instagram, & more!

The Buddha required monastics to, for three months of every year, stay in one location and put aside traveling for a time. Though formally the Rains Retreat, or vassa, takes place during India’s monsoon season, in the US and Europe, a similar period of retreat is generally observed during the quiet winter months. As a time of practice and study, it represents an important period of stepping back for monastics during which they can focus on formal meditation.

 

Clear Mountain’s monastics maintain this tradition, and Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho will be observing the Winter Retreat for approximately three months from mid-January to mid-April. While they’ll still attend alms round, Saturday gatherings, Wednesday livestreams, and Sunday Mission Majjhima sessions as usual, they will step back as much as possible from all other commitments, events, and online communication. The encouragement many of you have given for the monastics to look after their practice through such periods of retreat and pulling back has been deeply heartening. During that period, emails or communication can be sent to the monastery email steward at friendsofclearmountain@gmail.com. Sadhu!

 

“These are the roots of trees,” the Buddha said, “O bhikkhus, these are empty huts. Meditate, bhikkhus, do not be negligent, or else you will regret it later. This is our instruction to you.”