Rains Retreat at Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center.

The Rains  Retreat is basically a three-month period where monks do not travel away from one location for more than 5 days and All travel has to be for Dhamma purposes only.  They  remain in one place to concentrate on the teachings of the Buddha. Monastics teach others and take  in-depth retreats. Novices often come in for temporary retreats during this time. 

Q: How did this tradition come about?

In Southern Asia there are only two seasons in the year. They are Rainy and Hot.  In India there are three seasons, Rainy, Cool, and Hot. Rains retreat came about during the Rainy season of the year. During the time of the Buddha  monks were attempting to live the precepts very exactly.  The first precept is "Not killing or harming living beings on purpose". This included bugs and other beasties that live in the ground. During the Rainy season, when the rain came down, the bugs came up out of the ground. When the monks were traveling from one place to another, they couldn't stop from harming the bugs that were being born! The Buddha was criticized by other religious sects and the town folk so much that he had to put into effect the Rains Retreat. so monastics could keep the precept fully.

The tradition is that each year during the rainy season,  the monks stayed close to a town so they could walk on the roads to get their alms instead of walking through the forests. Over time this Rains Retreat officially  happened in conjunction wtih the Asian season from July full moon til October full moon.  Gradually, as other geographic countries became involved where seasons fell at other times, it became acceptable within the monastic rules that a person could take their Rains Retreat in keeping with their own country as long as they served one retreat per year in this way.

Because of this, Monks now have the option to serve a yearly Rains Retreat schedule either within July Moon to October Moon OR December Moon to  February/March Moon.  They agree to stay in one place during this time to practice and to teach dhamma.

Each year students come to Dhamma Sukha Center to study because they know the guiding teachers will be there usually from May through October to teach.  In 2008 the center began accepting temporary ordinations in the traditional way and will continue to do so in the future.

[Edited by SK April 1, 2009]