Report on the Pa-Auk Retreat Led by Sayadaw U Kumārābhivaṃsa

Dear friends!

From July 12 to 19, a meditation retreat in the Pa-Auk tradition led by Sayadaw U Kumārābhivaṃsa took place at the Kunsangar North meditation centre near Moscow.

It was a remarkable event: 12 monks from Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, China, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom came to Moscow, and more than 100 people from cities across Russia took part in the retreat.

The monastic delegation began arriving on July 6, and every day until July 20 all of us had the opportunity to personally, with our own hands, offer dāna to the Saṅgha: delicious, high-quality food, comfortable accommodation, and much more. Many practitioners were able to meet Mandalay Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Kumārābhivaṃsa, and other venerable monks, pay their respects, and ask questions about practice.

Before the retreat began, Sayadaw U Kumārābhivaṃsa gave two public Dhamma lectures, attended by dozens of people. These lectures were recorded and are now available on YouTube and VK. During the retreat, the lectures and practitioners' Q&A sessions were livestreamed, and these videos are also available on the Sayadaw's channel and the Studio Bodhi channel. In addition, we invited the venerable monks to give further Dhamma talks — including in a professional studio — and recorded interviews: some of these videos have already been published, and the rest will be released later, also on the Studio Bodhi channel and the Sayadaw's channel.

After the retreat ended, four monks remained as our guests, two of them for another ten days, and throughout this time we were able to continue making daily offerings to them.

We wholeheartedly thank all the donors and volunteers for their selfless help, which brought the light of the Dhamma to our lands! 🙏 Organizing an event of this scale required tremendous effort: every day, many people contributed their wholesome efforts to our shared cause, and the entire event was filled with generosity, kindness, support, and the whole palette of beautiful qualities of mind!

💰 Expenses

The retreat and all related events were completely free for participants and were made possible only thanks to the generosity of a great many people.

The total costs came to about 4.66 million ₽. Around 3.1 million ₽ was donated by the circle of organizers, and another 1.25 million ₽ was raised thanks to everyone who responded to the fundraiser — more than 210 donations were made in total! At the moment, about 400,000 ₽ of expenses remain uncovered.

Main expense items:

The full list of expenses and donations received is published below on this page.

🏗 Building a Pa-Auk Meditation Centre in Russia

At the close of the retreat, Egor Trufanov donated $15,000, and Sayadaw U Kumārābhivaṃsa asked the kappiyas to direct the $3,000 donated to him toward the construction of a Pa-Auk meditation centre in Russia. Thus, $18,000 has already been raised for the future centre. We hope the next retreat will take place there!

💬 Participants' Testimonials

We received many warm messages from practitioners and would like to share some of them:

Immense gratitude to the organizers, the volunteers, and, of course, the venerable bhikkhus 🙏🏼 I have been in Buddhism since 1997, and in Theravāda since 2007. Different teachers, retreats, practices, books — a lot of scattered information (especially lately). And finally! It was here, at this retreat, that I heard a complete, coherent, logical system literally "from A to Z," which the teacher and the translator repeated many times, so it stayed with me. I had wanted to temporarily become a sayalay ever since 2022 — back then, Ashin Ācariya (at the Myanmar Cultural Centre in Balashikha) said it was possible and even asked my height and clothing size, but it didn't work out at the time. And now it has come true 🙏🏼 My overall impression of the retreat: lightness, joy, purity, understanding (my wisdom grew a little). Once again, thank you for the opportunity to take part and for the enormous work of organizing the venerable bhikkhus' visit to Russia.

— Yulia

The retreat was incredibly beneficial for me: I learned a great deal, and I was able to see and feel the practice as if I had been to a monastery of the Pa-Auk tradition. Although many aspects of the practice were familiar to me from Shaila Catherine's books, reading about something in a book is one thing — receiving it from people who have realized it in their own lives is quite another. After the retreat, my understanding of the Dhamma — and especially my confidence in the Dhamma — grew noticeably. What I would call most valuable was the opportunity to listen to and ask questions of people who have attained through their own experience what they were teaching. I was very glad to meet so many wonderful people practicing alongside me.

— Andrey

I thank the organizers, the Saṅgha, and the Teacher for the opportunity to spend these unforgettable days together and to grow, develop, and progress along the path of the Dhamma. It was a beautiful and very profound experience. I noticed that practice and theory were perfectly balanced so that we could integrate this experience to the fullest. I learned a lot that was new to me about both the Teaching and meditation practice, which is precious — systematically presented information on both is hard to find. The Teacher had a wonderful sense of the participants and gave teachings according to our questions and our potential for growth, which matters greatly. I could also truly feel the incredible generosity and goodness that flowed from the monks and from everyone involved in the retreat. My sincere gratitude to you for this 🙏

— Marina