Pannyavaro spent many years studying and practising in Sri Lanka and Burma in the Mahasi Sayadaw tradition after receiving higher ordination in the Dhammayut Thai tradition. He is better known as the founder of the Buddha Dharma Education Association, an education and information network with websites BuddhaNet.net: www.buddhanet.net, World Buddhist Directory: www.buddhanet.info/wbd/ and the Buddhist eLibrary: www.buddhistelibrary.org.
At Bodhi Tree Monastery, we are working on developing a meditation community to serve both lay and monastic practitioners on ninety-five acres of beautiful land at Tullera, ten minutes from Lismore in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia. This land has been donated as a monastery and retreat centre, known as Bodhi Tree Forest Monastery and Vipassana Retreat Centre.
Supportive conditions for ordained and lay practitioners to undertake intensive meditation practice are hard to find in Western countries. To assist people in penetrating the heart of Buddha’s Teachings, the Buddha Dharma Education Association is building a purpose-built meditation retreat complex at Bodhi Tree Forest Monastery. After negotiating planning permission, i.e. Development Application (DA), we are currently working on the third stage of the build!
The Land
The landforms and tree cover at Bodhi Tree naturally divide the land, making it easy for different activities to coexist here. The land rises to a flat plateau from two streams with beautiful rock pools. There is a good balance of cleared and forested land with impressive old trees, and the creek valleys have plenty of flat and gently sloping areas. The 15-acre rich red soil plateau has expansive and uplifting views and is a natural choice for the Retreat Centre.
Rainforest Restoration Project at Bodhi Tree
In 2006-2007, with a grant from Envirofund, Bodhi Tree Forest Monastery planted 1,500 rainforest trees along our creeks and rock pools. Since then, we have extended our bush regeneration and revegetation project over the past twelve years, planting approximately 10,000 trees, including local rainforest trees, koala food trees, and fruit and nut trees; while always needing ongoing maintenance, they are thriving!
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