FOUNDERS AND LEADERSHIP
Metta Forest Monastery focuses on meditation and follows the Thai Forest tradition — the first of its kind in the United States. It was founded by Ajaan Suwat Suvaco, a student of Ajaan Funn Acaro and, for a short time, Ajaan Mun, who came to America in the 80s, founding four monasteries. Metta Forest monastery is currently led by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Ajaan Geoff), meditation teacher of the Kammatthana tradition, who was ordained in 1976 and lived at Wat Dhammasit, Thailand after graduating from Oberlin College, USA five years prior. He studied under Ajaan Fuang, a student of Ajaan Lee, for 22 years. He then came to San Diego in 1991 and helped Ajaan Suwat Suvaco found Metta Forest Monastery. Ajaan Geoff is an author of his own works as well as the man behind the translations of the Dhammapada and the Sutta Pitaka.
THERAVADA TRADITION
Metta Forest’s focus is to teach the Dhamma and Vinaya as taught by the Buddha and ordain men wishing to become monks and learn more. According to Metta Forest, the best way to repay the monks for their generosity is to put their teachings into practice in one’s own life.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu describes in his essay “The Customs of the Noble Ones” the history of Kammatthana Buddhism, founded by Ajaan Mun Bhuridatto and his teacher Phra Ajaan Sao Kantasilo Mahathera. Ajaan Mun had a solitary practice in following the Vinaya. He lived in the forest and had both students and people criticizing him for his indifference towards following traditional Thai Buddhist culture. According to Ajaan Mun, one did not need to place importance in following customs as those practices were products of cultures that were unenlightened. Rather, what he was looking for were the practices of the Buddha himself. He called these practices “the customs of the noble ones,” based on a part of the Buddha’s life where he tells his father, the king, that he is no longer practicing his kingdom’s customs, but those of the noble ones, that being the spiritual path to awakening. After Ajaan Mun was ordained in 1892, he joined the Dhammayut order, which focused on the Pali canon and bringing back its meditation techniques. One of Ajaan Mun’s students was Ajaan Lee, a teacher who first brought the Kammatthana tradition out of the forest and into Thai society.
According to Ajaan Geoff, Metta Forest never attempted to advertise itself or have any kind of missionary activity. Nevertheless, Metta Forest has become popular due to the internet, and has garnered international visitors. Ajaan Geoff takes care to stay true to what the Buddha and his teachers taught him when it comes to his own teachings. He also relates ideas from secular people — such as Sigmund Freud’s “Ego, Superego, and Id” concept —to Buddhist teachings. While he may use metaphors from American life, he does not change his teachings to fit with American culture. How is it that Metta Forest Monastery is popular for Americans, then? In Thailand, monks are venerated, and families with monk family members have prestige. In America, however, the monastic community is not seen as an essential part of society, and people looking to become monks may be discouraged, especially since this means forgoing a lucrative career and having children. The popularity of Metta Forest is greatly due to the rise of meditation and yoga practices in Western countries. Ajaan Geoff is encouraged by Buddhist teaching becoming more widely available, since people who would not visit monasteries may try meditation classes near their homes. However, he expressed concern, stating, “What’s happened to mindfulness is that it’s become denatured; the Buddha never taught mindfulness as simply being accepting or nonjudgmental about what things happen. Mindfulness for him is the ability to simply keep something in mind, the distinction between the kind of mind states: skillful or unskillful … if it’s something skillful then how do you nurture it in a skillful way. And this is getting missed.”
Many are under the misconception that Buddhism asks the practitioner to deny themselves of superficial joy, but according to Ajaan Geoff, it is not required to let go of pleasures in alignment with the Dhamma. However, one must make sure that these pleasures are not getting in the way of their focus. For example, one may be able to live with comfort and keep their mind disciplined, but another may need to discipline their body as well as their mind to keep the mind clear. Denying oneself something is a way that one can see how well their mind can adapt to being without it.
At Metta Forest Monastery, the ego itself is not a bad thing. Though we often hear only negatives about the ego, there are positive aspects of the ego as well. As Ajaan Geoff teaches, rather than asking, “Who am I?” one should ask, “What am I doing to cause suffering, and how can I change that?” Using Freud’s ideas of “healthy ego functions,” Ajaan Geoff takes the functions of anticipation, altruism, and suppression and relates them to the Buddhist equivalents of heedfulness, compassion, and restraint. Heedfulness refers to thinking ahead and anticipating how one may deal with change or behave in response to past actions. It also relates to becoming comfortable with changes in one’s life. Compassion is pretty straightforward — thinking of the needs of others and realizing that they are worthy of help. Restraint simply refers to one’s ability to say no to unskillful choices and choosing skillful ones instead that will help you in the future. Ajaan Geoff also tells of two other positive ego functions: humor, the ability to laugh at one’s mistakes, and “healthy shame,” an amount of shame that does not weigh one down but deters them from repeating unskillful actions.
DAILY LIFE
Currently, there are ten monks residing in the monastery: nine American monks and one Thai monk. Their day begins at 5:30am with morning meditation. From then, morning chores are done until the alms round at 8:30, where people donate food to the monks, typically by putting rice in their bowls. The monks eat at 8:45 and have morning chanting at 9:00. At 9:30, there is a potluck meal for visiting laypeople. The hours from 11:00 to 4:00 are considered the afternoon, and visiting people are each given a sitting platform and orchard path to meditate or rest however they wish. From 4:00 to 4:30, Taan Ajaan Geoff is available to answer any questions about meditation and the Dhamma from visitors. From then until 6:00, afternoon chores are done, which visitors are welcome to help with, and from 7:00 to 8:20 is evening meditation. Past 8:20 is free time for any quiet activity.
EVENTS
Metta Forest Monastery is open every day of the year to the public. Laypeople can donate food to the monks, who have the alms round at 8:30am. People visiting are welcome to participate in the daily activities of the monks, meditate, help with some chores, and ask the abbot questions. Visitors are only required to observe the first five of the Eight Precepts in Theravada Buddhism, unless they are staying overnight, in which case they are asked to observe all eight and participate alongside monks in the daily activities. Laypeople can make reservations to stay at the monastery overnight or even a few weeks free of charge. The amount of visitors rarely gets above twenty at a time, but it is still recommended to reserve months in advance for a longer visit. Rather than having scheduled retreat periods like many other monasteries, visitors can schedule retreats year-round.
FUNDING
Metta Forest Monastery is a non-profit organization that gets its funding through donations. There is no “donate” button on their website so as to not pressure people into donating; rather, the donation page can only be reached by specifically searching for how to donate to the monastery.
RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER COMMUNITIES
The Dharma Bum Temple occasionally has Ajaan Geoff over to speak, as Dharma Bum and Metta Forest have a longstanding relationship. Dharma Bum Temple’s goal is to make Buddhist practices available for local people to learn, and to help connect people to other schools of Buddhism. As a gift, Dharma Bum gave Metta Forest a statue of the Buddha created in Thailand around 1930. Ajaan Geoff continues to be a teacher and mentor of the members of the Dharma Bum Temple.
More information can be found at the Metta Forest Monastery Website: https://www.watmetta.org/about.html
Free copies of their teachings can be accessed here:
Report by Leana Gyalokay.