The retreat was held in a Catholic nuns retreat center an hour and a half drive outside of the very large city; there were 54 participants. After the retreat I gave a post retreat Dhamma talk to some of the retreatants at the Casa de Dharma city center. I was then invited for a two day R&R period at a nice house on the coast south of Sao Paulo.
My breakfast view in the library room
Meditation Hall at the retreat center: note the figure at left watching over us
I then made a five hour car journey with two members of the Casa De Dharma to the small city of San Lorenco to visit the Suddhavari Forest monastery. It is a branch monastery of the Ajahn Chan Forest Sangha tradition. The abbot is a Brazilian monk named, Ajahn Mudito,who I had met when I had visited Thailand in 2006. The Suddhavari monastery is spread out over some low hills verdant green hills about five outside of San Lorenco. I spent a relaxing time at the monastery and gave a Dhamma talk one night that was translated into Portuguese by Ajahn Mudito.
After returning to Sao Paulo I gave a final Dhamma talk at the Casa De Dharma and the next day flew back to Washington and Lion of Wisdom Meditation Center.
The following photos sum it up.
From left: Bhante U. Buddharakkhita, Bhante H. Gunaratana, Bhante Y. Rahula
Dining hall
Group photo from retreat
Nice sunrise from bedroom balcony
Food
Panorama of the Suddhavari Monastery; new temple on the left
recently completed temple
Temple roof under the cloudy full moon
Main shrine inside the temple
Nice meditation seat on my kuti porch with morning fog
My breakfast table with a view
Ajahn Mudito and two resident monks having breakfast
Returning from lunch at a restaurant in the town of San Lorenco
MAY ALL BEINGS BE WELL, PEACEFUL AND WISE
