Santacittarama

Dhamma greetings from Santacittarama, the Vihara in Italy. As the cold winter winds are bracing the bare hills of Sezze, our community, only two at the moment, is getting ready for the winter retreat. Now the heat of summer months are only a memory, although the sun is still mercifully warming up the days after the long frosty nights.

Luang Por Sumedho enjoyed his time with us, and brightened our minds once again with the light of Dhamma. The retreat in Rome organised by the A.M.E.C.O. group ('association for meditative awareness founded by Prof. Corrado Pensa) was well attended, with Luang Por in great form, although he had to teach sitting in a wheelchair, having broken his leg in Hamburg, on his way to Italy. While we were in Rome we were also able to bring to completion the legal founding of the 'Santacittarama association', receiving from Mr. & Mrs. Piga the generous donation of the Vihara building.

The support and growth of Buddhism in Italy has culminated in the legal recognition of the 'U.B.I' (Buddhist Union of Italy) as well as the Maitreya Foundation (for the propagation of Buddhist culture, of both of which I am a representative member. In the month of March we should start the much needed renovation of the foundations of the Vihara building, and if fund raising efforts will cover the costs, we plan also to extend our guest facilities to accommodate both men and women practitioners, and convert a large room into the main Shrine and Meditation room.

All in all we could say the past year's experience has provided us with wise reflections for the furthering of our practice and Dhamma activities.
Yours in the Dhamma

Angulimala's Song