Monastic Academy

05/02/2025

It was a joy to have you here, Venerable SooSeong. Thank you for taking the time to practice with us and offer your clarity to the community. We look forward to our next time together.

10/06/2024

Seeking teachings on Buddhism, spirituality, and the path to enlightenment? Wondering what this might have to do with complex issues of artificial intelligence and civilizational renewal?

Check out our YouTube channel where we've begun posting pithy videos from our lecture series, Buddhism for AI, as well as dialogues featuring Head Teacher Soryu Forall.

Soryu was recently hosted by Daniel Kazandjian's Metagame Podcast. The dialogue looks at why more intelligence won't solve our problems, the religions running our world and the dire need for a trustworthy one, and how we might scale wisdom and compassion in the digital age.

Conversations featuring Monastic Academy Founder and Head Teacher Soryu Forall.

09/26/2024

We love this MAPLE tale. It is part of a new series of writings by residents at MAPLE, about the training here, and about real teachings that we've received from our head teacher.

"As we reached the peak of the heart sutra chant, which had grown quite fast and vigorous by that point, many in the group lost the chant, didn’t keep up, and grew quiet as they listened for where they were supposed to be. But this was not what we had practiced for. Soryu was in front of the altar leading the chant loudly at the top of his lungs, his whole body pulsing back and forth as though each syllable was a cry that needed every part of him to project as far as he could. He heard the group falter and finally yelled, nearly screamed at us as the chant continued: “DON’T STOP! KEEP GOING!! THIS IS REAL!!!”

In the first few months of 2024, we held several funeral services at MAPLE during our morning chanting. We always chant in the mornings, the same chants every day in various languages, some with drumming and some without, taking about 40 minutes in total. But on some days this is extended due to off...

09/15/2024

There are still spots available for the Vision Quest with Darren Silver and residents of the Monastic Academy this September 24th-October 2nd.

One way to summarize Right View in Buddhism is: there is the sacred. The Vision Quest is a time of connection to the sacred; this beautiful Earth, all beings. We offer this opportunity as a ritual of initiation in a time of desperate need for a path forward.

Answer the call to connect directly with the land and invite a vision for living in harmony with this Great Earth.

Details: https://www.monasticacademy.org/visionquest

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vision-quest-with-darren-silver-september-24th-october-2nd-tickets-971267165237

Join Darren Silver at the Monastic Academy for a journey through the rhythms of nature, personal insight, reflection and healing.

05/16/2023

In just eight short days from now, Monastic Academy will be hosting its second annual Antifragile Heart retreat — a unique experience that combines deep emotional transformation, ethical inquiry, and relational work

Our goal: empower you to live a more fulfilling, ethical and joyous life

We have a few spots remaining, so sign up today

monasticacademy.com/the-antifragile-heart-2/

02/03/2023

Are you ready to discover the medicine you are here to offer the world?

Join us for a 4-day immersion into the realm of body and soul at Embody Your Medicine, taking place at Monastic Academy March 30th - April 2nd.

Rhythm and movement are the foundation of this transformational experience.

Guided by intention, awareness, and expression, you will spend multiple hours each day on the dance floor, exploring free-form movement practices that tap into your physical and spiritual bodies.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/embody-your-medicine-a-4-day-movement-immersion-tickets-500846293747

10/18/2022

Photos from last weekend's movement day-long.

10/12/2022

Significant construction work underway this month!

10/06/2022

We invite you to join Level Up ⬆️, a 9-month transformative training opportunity through relational practice offered by our friends at CircleAnywhere.

Next weekend (Oct 13-16), Level Up participants have the opportunity to join our in-person circling event at MAPLE, an intimate group that includes several of our teachers and most dedicated practitioners at MAPLE, and will be lead by CircleAnywhere’s founder Jordan Myska Allen, a deft facilitator who orients deeply to responding dynamically to what is arising.

As a Level Up ⬆️ participant, you can deepen and consolidate openings from the weekend over the course of 9 months with hundreds of hours of circling, coaching, facilitation practice, and theory-learning. The course has helped many people break through and shed unhelpful patterns.

If you'd like to participate, please purchase the core Level Up ⬆️ training + the in-person MAPLE weekend, AND purchase a room and board ticket for the MAPLE separately.

Message us visit@monasticacdemy.org if you have any questions or simply want help discerning whether this is right for you now.

CircleAnywhere LevelUP Registration:
https://www.circleanywhere.com/offers/2AVVJ2Lz/checkout
Room & Board:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/roomboard-for-circleanywhere-levelup-at-the-monastic-academy-2022-tickets-195116668207

08/15/2022

We are in need of a few more stewards for 1-3 month stints in the upcoming months to offer their gifts of service at MAPLE.

As harvest of our vibrant garden is in full swing, summer exhales to a close, and autumn will bring forth her rainbow of red and golden hues, it’s a great time to meditate and practice in a robust, loving community while cooking great food and getting outside, fully inhabiting these beautiful and heartbreaking bodies of ours, upon the breast of our precious mother earth.

Formerly the apprentice program, we’ve changed things a bit in that stewards part of the Service Program aren’t obligated to train with the intention of potentially entering the residency program afterwards.

The teachings and wisdom and events day-to-day at MAPLE continue to be high-octane, diverse, and always evolving. If you’re interested, please fill out the form on our website (link in comments) and Renshin will connect with you about next steps.

We value your networking. Please pass this info along to anyone who you think would be a good fit for our vision and mission of regeneration, transcendence, transformation, and co-creating a counter-culture to the mainstream narrative. Our daily schedule, as many of you know, does require some experience with the stamina available through meditation and samadhi and/or an absolute commitment to throwing oneself in completely to the practice.