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Forest Fog

GUIDELINES

By coming to BRF, you are immersing yourself in a contemplative monastic setting devoted to spiritual growth and practice. To help you prepare for your visit, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the guidelines below. These are established to help maintain a peaceful, harmonious, and safe environment.

Community Guidelines​

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  • Our kitchen provides three vegetarian meals per day. No food in your tent is a rule we strictly enforce— wild animals have keen noses. To avoid attracting animals to your tent, please leave all food in the kitchen.

  • Campers and staff alike use outdoor toilets and showers. Water is shared so daily showering time will be limited.

  • Sounds travel easily in the forest. Please be mindful and considerate of others and refrain from carrying on conversations after 10:00 PM and before 5:00 AM.

  • Buddha Root Farm is a monastery, so we ask that you please leave behind any meat, eggs, or food containing onions, garlic, chives, scallions and leeks.

  • Alcohol, marijuana, and other intoxicating substances are not allowed at Buddha Root Farm. 

  • Please do not bring your pet(s). 

  • Men and women will camp in separate campgrounds. A family camp will be designated for families that wish to stay together.

  • Please dress modestly (i.e. wearing comfortable, loose fitting clothes). This includes wearing pants, long shorts or long skirts (below knee) and long or short-sleeve shirts rather than tank tops. Please no tights or leggings.

Following the Five Precepts

The Buddha taught these precepts to facilitate and aid our spiritual practice.

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The five precepts are:

1. Refrain from killing.

2. Refrain from stealing.

3. Refrain from engaging in sexual misconduct.

4. Refrain from lying or slandering.

5. Refrain from using intoxicants [drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, tobacco, etc.].

Separation of Men and Women

​Buddhist monks and nuns in our tradition observe a vow of total celibacy. Monastics do not engage in long conversations with a person of the opposite gender without the company of a third person. We ask that visitors to the monastery be sensitive to this monastic code of conduct and respect the separation of gender during the retreat. This allows the community to focus on contemplative practice with fewer distractions.

Comfortable & Modest Clothing

Clothing in the monastery should be comfortable and modest. Comfortable clothing is ideal for meditation and cultivation because it allows one to bow and sit cross-legged unimpeded. Modest clothing is important because it causes fewer distractions for others. As a visitor, please refrain from wearing clothing such as mini-skirts, shorts, and sleeveless shirts.

Cherishing All Forms of Life

Please refrain from killing any living creatures in the monastery, including even small insects such as spiders, ants, flies, or mosquitoes. In Buddhism, all life forms are interconnected, and all creatures are considered “family.” With this in mind, community members practice non-harming in order to cultivate a heart of compassion and empathy for others.

Vegetarianism

In line with our philosophy of non-harming, all food at Buddha Root Farm is sattvic vegetarian, and for those who choose, vegan as well. There are many reasons people in the monastery are vegetarian: compassion for animals, protecting the environment, and personal health and well-being. We try to minimize the amount of suffering we create through our lifestyles and eating habits. Buddhism also teaches that food has a profound connection with our thoughts and desires, and being vegetarian helps us have clearer minds and more compassionate hearts. We also do not serve onions, garlic, chives, shallots, leeks, or eggs at Buddha Root Farm.

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