Name: Amaravati Buddhist Monastery
Item: Amaravati Buddhist Monastery
Rating: 5
Author: Fiona Holland

Amaravati Buddhist Monastery is situated at the eastern end of the Chiltern Hills in south-east England. It is near the Hertfordshire village of Great Gaddesden. The nearest towns are Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted.

Established in the early 1980s, the monastery is inspired by the Thai Forest Tradition and the teachings of the late Ajahn Chah, a Thai monk, a Thai monk and renowned Dhamma teacher, who encouraged Ajahn Sumedho to settle in England and found monasteries in this country. In Autumn 2010 Ajahn Sumedho handed over the position of abbot to the English monk Ajahn Amaro, for the previous fourteen years co-abbot of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in Redwood Valley, California.

The purpose of Amaravati Monastery is to provide a place of practice for monastics in the Forest Tradition, whose shared intention is the realization of Nibbana, freedom from all mental suffering. It is also open to guests and visitors who wish to come and stay in a place where there is the opportunity to develop mindfulness, to explore spiritual teachings, and to contribute to the life of the community.

The community consists of monks and nuns, together with a number of full-time lay residents. Usually there are between twenty and thirty bhikkhus (monks) and siladhara (nuns) in residence, living a contemplative, celibate, mendicant life according to the Vinaya (monastic training rules) and Dhamma (the Buddha’s teachings). The community also includes anagarikas, who wear white, observing the Eight Precepts, and who have made a commitment to train within the monastic community for at least a year and may subsequently make a further commitment to the monastic training. The monastery also includes within it an retreat centre, where residential retreats are conducted for the public during nine months of each year.

Retreats have been held at the Amaravati Retreat Centre since the monastery was first established in 1986. The retreats organised by the monastery are led by monks and nuns trained in the Ajahn Chah tradition. They offer an opportunity to put down daily work, chores, commitments and stresses for a short time, and create the space and environment to reflect inwardly and to listen to daily Dhamma teachings. Broadly speaking, the teaching focuses on insight meditation. On some retreats a particular theme or approach to practice is emphasized, such as ‘Death and Dying’ or ‘Walking the Buddha’s Path: the Fruits of Effort’.

‘Just as a deep lake is clear and still,
even so, on hearing the teachings and realising them,
the wise become exceedingly peaceful.’
Dhammapada, verse 82

The Retreat Centre is located in the monastery grounds but is run separately, with its own accommodation facilities, kitchen, and Shrine Room.
Monastic Retreats
Retreat Centre shrine room

We offer weekend, five-day, ten-day, and thirteen-day retreats. Weekend and five-day retreats are suitable for people who have little or no experience of meditation or retreats. The longer retreats are for people who have a meditation practice and previous retreat experience. Participants at any of these retreats must be aged eighteen or more.

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