8 February 2026

One month of 2026 has passed but this is the first opportunity to wish many of you a “Happy New Year“. We very much hope that all is going well for you. Changes in the monastery are still being assimilated but, overall, we are looking toward a range of positive activities and dhamma offerings. Some of these will be new but several are the revival of older events – tried and true (see below). Change… can break/reshape habits, challenge our value structures, lead us toward growth and potential we may not have known possible. May all your changes through ’26 be of benefit and bring you much peace.

Many of you already know that Venerable Javano has left the monastery and the monastic life. He is currently in Dunedin spending time with his family and generally reorienting. We are in regular contact with him and there is a loosely formed thought that he will come to Bodhinyanarama in about a months time. What ever transpires we thank him for all that he has contributed to the monastery during his time here and wish him well with all his undertakings on into the future.

The final choice was to upgrade the existing – rather than build anew. Feel free to give us some feedback on the new look. If you would like to help with site layout and maintenance it would be great to hear from you. Some site content needs updating and this will happen over time. As a part of ‘content’ these news updates will be much more frequent (and isn’t this one long?) and we will be a bit more pro-active sharing photos of monastery activities and people.

The first Saturday of every month. The next workshop will be on the 7th March; 1pm to 5pm with a range of approaches and techniques considered. There will be time for questions and discussion. It is an opportunity for both experienced and beginning meditators to practice together.

We will have two through the year plus the New Year retreat.

• King’s Birthday: 29th May — 1st June
  
• Labour Day: 23rd — 26th October
  

Both retreats are from Friday evening, 7pm, until Monday afternoon, 4pm. These retreats have not happened for a while and we are happy to announce their return to the annual schedule. They were very popular so it is important that you book early as accommodation is limited. Use the guest booking form.


Details of the New Year retreat will be announced later in the year as will more detail on the two weekend retreats.

We have changed our guest policy from minimum 3 night stays to two.This means that you can come for a weekend; arrive Friday night, depart on Sunday. Several (busy) people have requested this and… we welcome your visit. Use the guest booking form.

Saturday, 28th February. We will start at 8:30 in the morning, break for lunch, start in the afternoon at 1:00. Finish around… 4? You are welcome to come for either session, or both. Much of the work is forest, plant, vegetation oriented so if you have loppers, pruning saw or similar tools it would be great if you could bring those. Gloves are also very useful. See you then.

The nursing kuti has been our most significant build in many years and what it represents is even more significant; the care of sick and elderly residents. We would like to invite you to join with us is bringing focus to this on Sunday, February 22nd. It is also an opportunity to ‘take a tour’ of the new facility.