50 km from Rome, Sabine hills of Poggio Nativo, is the Santacittarama, Buddhist monastery in the Theravada tradition "The way of the elders."
The resident monks follow a tradition inspired by the Thai forest monaco Venerable Ajahn Chah (1918-1992), an influential teacher, under which many Westerners were ordained in Thailand, attracted by the clarity, simplicity and accessibility of its teaching and its practice.
This lineage came to the West when Ajahn Sumedho, an American disciple of Venerable Ajahn Chah, was invited to establish a monastic order in England. And 'since 1977, when he arrived with three other Western monks, that this order has grown to include four monasteries in the United Kingdom and those in Switzerland, Italy, New Zealand and USA, including, all together, about sixty people, including monks and nuns.
Buddhism of Southeast Asia (Theravada) has as its main the relationship of mutuality between the monastic sangha, the ordained community of monks and nuns, and the extended community of lay practitioners. This relationship is characterized by the material dependence of the Sangha, consists renunciates on acts of generosity (Dana) made by the lay community. Thus, for example, while Sangha is dependent on direct food for their daily sustenance, the other provides a model to the lay community, inspiration and support for spiritual practice, and their ability to access to the shrines of the monasteries.
In the monastery held various seminars and meetings, including meditation for beginners, for events not must book and pay any sum, visitors are required to comply with the rules of the monastery eParticipation in daily life.
In addition to the program of events site and information about the monastery and the residents can find audio files and written about the Buddhist religion and meditation.
http://www.santacittarama.it/
