Name: Jhana Grove Retreat Center
Item: Jhana Grove Retreat Center
Author: Send an Enquiry

Jhana Grove Retreat Centre comfortably accommodates up to 60 guests at a time in 10 individual cottages containing rooms each with its own en-suite. This allows a great deal of privacy and thus maximises the benefits of meditation practice. Connected to the cottages, by a covered walkway, is a large, air-conditioned meditation hall with three adjoining halls for the convenient practice of walking meditation. There is also a well-equipped kitchen and dinning area, as well as laundry, office, and storage facilities. A small caretakers residence completes the centre.
Residential and Self-Retreats

We offer regular formal residential retreats led by the Sangha of nearby Bodhinyana and Dhammasara Monasteries. Formal residential retreats are very popular and early booking is advised. For experienced/serious spiritual practioners we also offer Sangha mentored self-retreats. The minimum stay for self-retreats is 7 days. All retreats focus on meditation and retreatants follow the 8-precepts of Buddhism. Noble Silence is kept during almost the entire time. Jhana Grove Meditation Centre is also available for meditation retreats by other Buddhist Groups, subject to availability.
Disabled?

The facilities have been designed so that the elderly and infirmed, especially those with illnesses such as cancer, can learn meditation techniques and strategies in a peaceful environment that is also physically comfortable.

Teachers at Jhana Grove Meditation Retreat Centre are the senior monks and nuns from Bodhinyana and Dhammasara monasteries. On occasions, famous visiting monastics may teach/mentor retreatants at the centre. While our ‘home’ Sangha practices and teaches in the Thai Forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism, other traditions using the facilities will normally have their own teachers.
Ajahn Brahmavamso

Ajahn Brahmavamso was born in London in 1951. He regarded himself a Buddhist at the age of 17 through his reading of Buddhist books while still at school. His interest in Buddhism and meditation flourished while studying Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University. After completing his degree and teaching for a year, he traveled to Thailand to become a monk.He was ordained in Bangkok at the age of 23 by the Abbot of Wat Saket. He subsequently spent 9 years studying and training in the forest meditation tradition of the Venerable Ajahn Chah. In 1983, he was asked to assist in the establishing of a forest monastery near Perth, Western Australia. Ajahn Brahm now is the Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery and the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia.

The daily schedule is an effective, time-proven suggestion for retreatants, but it does not necessarily have to be followed rigidly. Jhana Grove’s daily schedule is somewhat flexible, grounded in kindness and ease.

4.00-4.30am Rise with gusto!
4.30-5.00am Walking meditation
5.00-6.00am Sitting meditation
6.00-6.10am Chanting in the meditation hall
6.10-7.00am Sitting/Walking meditation
7.00-8.00am Breakfast

8.00-9.00am Ajahn’s Dhamma talk
9.00-10.00am Walking meditation
10.00-11.00am Sitting meditation
11.00-1.30pm Lunch and rest
1.30-2.00pm Walking meditation
2.00-3.00pm Sitting meditation
3.00-4.00pm Walking meditation
4.00-5.00pm Sitting meditation

5.00-6.30pm Evening Drink
6.30-7.00pm Walking meditation
7.00-7.50pm Sitting meditation
7.50-8.00pm Chanting in the meditation hall
8.00-9.00pm Ajahn’s questions and answers
9.00- late Rest or more meditation

Noble Silence

Noble Silence is observed on all Jhana Grove retreats, starting after supper on the first night and continuing until the final afternoon.

Noble Silence means no talking or non-verbal communication of any kind, except of course in emergencies, interviews or discussion times with the Teacher. Noble Silence applies not only to speech but also to any signals and written notes etc. as well as to external contact by telephone or internet.

The purpose of Noble Silence is to allow the mind to let go of outer distractions and to focus as much as possible on the inner world. In this regard it is also useful to minimise eye contact with other retreatants. Practising restraint of the senses in this way provides an essential foundation for the powerful inner work which a meditation retreat facilitates.

Jhana Grove Retreat Center

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