The resident community at Amaravati officially ended its winter retreat 2025 on the morning of the 31st of March, with a formal ‘Asking for Forgiveness’ ceremony with Ajahn Amaro.

As always, great gratitude goes to the winter retreat support team. This team of lay volunteers runs the monastery from early January to the end of March, thus allowing the monastic community a period of increased quietude. If you are interested in joining the support team for future winter retreats, please contact the guestmonk or guestnun via the booking form.

Ajahn Amaro’s sabbatical

Although the monastery will revert to its regular routine – more on this below – this year will be quite special, as Ajahn Amaro will be entering a year-long sabbatical on the 1st of April, and should return to Amaravati in April 2026. Please note that the Ajahn wishes to remain incommunicado during that period, and most sangha members are not privy to his whereabouts.

In the meantime, Luang Por Pasanno will be staying at Amaravati until the coming autumn, in a “Guiding Elder” capacity. We are grateful to Luang Por for spending time with us, and sharing his extensive and broad experience in monastic life.

Ajahn Amaro’s new book

During this period, chapters from Ajahn Amaro’s new publication, Mara and the Mangala II – The Liar, will be released incrementally every other Tuesday on our media website, with the final one released on the last day of March 2026 (the full e-book should be released shortly after that). If you have appreciated the first volume in this saga, or The Pilgrim Kamanita, be sure to check that space every other week for new instalments.

Upcoming events

Songkran (South Asian New Year)

We will celebrate the traditional South Asian New Year – “Songkran” in Thailand – on Sunday the 13th of April at 1:30pm in the sala. The event usually consists of a formal pouring of water onto a Buddha-image, as well as onto the senior monastic’s hands. The monastic community will also chant parittas, and a short Dhamma reflection will be offered on that occasion.

Vesākha Puja (Vesak)

This year, Vesākha Puja (the full moon day of May) falls on a Sunday, the 11th of May, so we will have both our public festival (from the morning to the early afternoon) and our evening gathering (which includes the outdoor circumambulation) on the same day. We will give more information about this event in due course.

Regular routine

The routine of the monastery reverts to its ‘normal’ mode, and you are now welcome to book online if you wish to stay overnight at Amaravati.

Luang Por Sumedho is expected to carry on with his other-weekly offering of a Dhamma talk until the end of May, as he will be away from Amaravati for most of June. As usual, these Dhamma reflections take place at 3pm in the Temple, and all are warmly invited to attend. Video recordings are posted afterwards on our YouTube channel (on a related note, a contributor to the Berzin Archives skilfully put together a playlist of short clips of an interview he conducted with Luang Por.)

Please check our calendar for last minute cancellations, which are not unusual at Luang Por’s venerable age.

On moon days when Luang Por is not giving an afternoon talk, a senior monk or nun offers the reflection at evening puja instead.

Saturday Workshops and Day Visits

The 2pm Saturday workshops, led by experienced lay practitioners during the winter, revert to being led by a senior monk or nun for the rest of the year. They usually take place in the Temple (the first one in April, this coming Saturday, will take place in the sala, as Luang Por Sumedho is set to give a talk in the Temple at the same time.)

Finally, all are welcome to visit during the day and make use of the sala, Temple and library, and to partake of the daily meal offering at 11:30am (we shifted to our summer routine on the 30th of March.)

May all beings be at ease,
The resident community at Amaravati