What is the Buddhist Rainy Season or Rains Retreat (Vassa)? What is the Rains Retreat or "Buddhist Lent"?
Understanding the Vassa and Kaṭhina ceremonies
Each year, Theravāda Buddhist monastics all over the world make a determination to stay in a single monastery for a three-month period of the Rainy Season also known as the Vassa, the Rains Retreat. This year it begins July 10th.
One will hear the term “Vassa” often in this article, so please bear it in mind. Traditionally, it starts the day after the Full Moon Day in July or the day after the Āsāḷha full moon as it is known in the Pāḷi language.
If monks move around a lot and one needs to rely on a teacher, one can at least expect monks to stay at a single monastery for a full three months without moving around. Some make determinations to practice harder, while others who already follow a steady practice simply continue their daily routine as usual.
In this article, let's look at the origins of Vassa, the different types, the allowances to leave the Vassa on business or emergencies, if it affects the age of a monastic, and what happens at the end of the Vassa.
The Origins of Vassa
During the Buddha’s time, monastics (samanas or "wandering ascetics") wandered on foot between different monasteries (viharas), forests, groves, and villages. They would wander during all times of the year, even during the period or season of heavy rains. However, laypeople—especially farmers—began to complain:
“How can the Sakyan [Scythian, Saka, Shakyian] monastics go wandering in the winter, in the summer, and even during the rainy season? They’re trampling down the green grass shoots, oppressing one-sensed living being, and destroying many small creatures. Even the monastics of other doctrines (religions), with their flawed (imperfect) teachings, settle down for the rainy season. Even birds make a nest in the top of a tree and settle down for the rainy season. But not so the Sakyan monastics.”
Out of compassion and to match the culture of the time, the Buddha responded with a new instruction: Anujānāmi, bhikkhave, vassaṁ upagantun'ti.
“I allow you, monastics, to enter the rains residence.”*
This rule brought the monastics the Rains Retreat period of three months that met the expectations of the lay communities during the time of the Buddha. It now inspires the practice and striving of monastics, as it has for generations, all the way to the present. Moreover, it inspires laypeople in the present.
Two Kinds of Vassa
The Buddha allowed for two entry points into the Rains Residence: Dvemā, bhikkhave, vassūpanāyikā: purimikā ca pacchimikā ca:
“There are two entries, the earlier and the later.”
Purimikā (First Vassa) begins the day after the Āsāḷha full moon.
Pacchimikā (Second Vassa) begins one month later.
Sometimes referred to as “Second Vassa.”
This allowance for two Vassas shows the Buddha’s practical wisdom and compassion because not everything goes right the first time, as will be discussed later. It should be noted that the determination to stay in one monastery for three months is actually the day after the full moon day. This is when the new month starts.
Although most monasteries have the Vassa ceremony on the full moon day and it is a time for a large gathering, that is just for laypeople because they have that day off. Monastics really make the official determination the next day. Most of laypeople will probably never know it really happens on the next day.
Leaving during Vassa: seven-day business rule
Monastics are expected to remain in their Vassa location for the full three months. However, issues may come up where a monastic needs to leave. The Buddha allowed what is called, Sattāhakaraṇīya or “seven-day business.”
Some of the many valid reasons include: More
Bhante Subhuti (US student of Pa Auk Sayadaw), American Monk.org, July 10, 2025; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Guided Loving Kindness Meditation | Buddhism in English
(Buddhism) Mettā (Sanskrit maitrī) means loving-kindness [2, 3], friendliness [3, 4], benevolence [1], amity [4], goodwill [5], and active interest in the welfare of others [4]. It is the first of the "Four Sublime Abidings" (Brahma Viharas) and one of the Ten Perfections (pāramīs) of the Theravāda Buddhist school. More
Kate MOSS, yes, she sounds familiar and related to us, all waifish, skin all lichen-like (crepey).
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Don't look at me. I'm not a Moss!
Trees are greening, flowers are blooming, birds are nesting – why? Spring is in the air! Despite the happy days this brings, be wary of what else may be lurking in deep, dark forests. From German folklore, let's explore the world of the moss people.
In German folklore, moss folk resemble dwarves (called kumbhandas in Buddhistcosmology and gnomesin much of Europe), nearly the size of human children. But they are covered in green moss, with skin that looks gray, and a lot of hair like lichen.
Their arms and legs appear as “knotted maple bark.” Centuries ago, humans considered them part of the fairy realm dedicated to trees and the forest in general.
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For unknown reasons, the moss people population consisted mostly of females. These “fairies” were known to borrow things from humans and, at other times, ask for help from them.
Maiden (Kettle Quill/Deviant Art)
Occasionally, they would ask humans for breast milk to feed their own moss babies. They repaid their benefactors with good advice or bread.
However, one had to be wary of their quick tempers. If one gave them caraway bread, for instance, they would become very angry and cry, “Caraway bread, our death!”
Some tales describe them as behaving like changelings in that they would sometimes steal very small human children. Female moss people, called Mossfraulein (“moss women”)... More: Moss People creeping out of forests
The call of the wild, the lure of the quiet, what causes city people to venture into the woods?
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Forests welcome the spring
It must be the first full day of spring because we are honoring the proudest members of Nature, the trees. Since the original towering tree, which mycologist Paul Stamets is sure was a giant mushroom on a primordial earth, trees have been the charismatic megaflora of the world.
Their diversity is stunning, and their size varies from the time they used silica instead of carbon (and left mountain size stumps all over the world) until today when the oldest and largest are on the Island of California, one a bristlecone pine named Methuselah out near US 395 by Bishop on the way to Death Valley, the other a redwood in Northern California they are trying to fence off from tourists. The exact location of each is kept secret but is said to be possible to find with a search.
A Journey Through the World's Oldest Forests(Hunter Robinson) Forests have stood the test of time, witnessing millennia of change, (d)evolution, and human history. Some of the world's oldest forests date back millions -- even hundreds of millions -- of years, preserving an incredible glimpse into Earth's prehistoric past. These ancient woodlands are home to towering trees, rare wildlife, and ecosystems that have remained virtually unchanged for centuries. From the towering redwoods of California to the misty, primeval jungles of Malaysia, here's a journey through the world's oldest forests, where nature tells the story of time itself.
Buddhism is a "forest tradition." It started there with the future Buddha, the Bodhisatta (Prince Siddhattha Gotama or Siddhartha Gautama, soon to become the Buddha or "Awakened One"), under a big sal tree. That is where he was reborn in the womb of Maya, who was on her way to see her parents for the delivery. But it came in a garden grove under a sturdy sal (sala) tree. (Why a sal tree? The lore of the Salabhanjika that might explain that).
Born in a garden grove of trees in Lumbini
That newly reborn child, coming down from the Tusita world to pursue enlightenment, made good on his mission decades later by leaving his palace and life of privilege, taking up yoga and meditation with Yogi Āḷāra Kālāma and Yogi Uddaka Rāmaputta until he set off on his own.
He was followed by a group of Five Ascetics (Kondañña, Assaji, Bhaddiya, Vappa, and Mahānāma), until he left them for a big banyan tree so that he could make his own way alone, which didn't work out but which saved his life thanks to the intercession of a milkmaid named Sujata, who offered the wandering ascetic Siddhartha solid food, mistaking him for the spirit of the tree he was at that time sitting under in the forest.
The Wandering Ascetic Siddhartha, the Buddha
Regaining his strength under Sujata and her servant's care, he abandoned severe asceticism as useless for achieving actual enlightenment and liberation. (They may help in other traditions, but that is because those traditions do not have as stringent a definition as to what constitutes real awakening and freedom). He set off in search of another tree, the now famous Bodhi Tree (Ficus religiosa), the oldest documented tree in the world. Under it Siddhartha strived to enter the meditative absorptions, bring them to perfection of samadhi and then practiced for insight (what Buddhism in the Commentaries came to call vipassana). The combination of calm and insight was the Middle Path of mental purification the Bodhisattva ("Being bent on enlightenment") had been searching for on his quest for enlightenment that had taken nearly seven years.
Ending six years of severe asceticism, his body emaciated appearance led Sujata to believe he was the tree-spirit (bhumi-deva, dryad) who had granted her wish. She thanked him with enough nourishment to cultivate the Middle Way, develop meditative absorption (jhana), and attain enlightenment or bodhi, thereafter becoming known as the "Enlightened One" or the Buddha.
When 45 years of teaching the Middle Way and bringing the Dhamma (knowledge of the path to enlightenment) back into the world, the Buddha relinquished the will to live on. He decided to hike to Kushinagar, where he found twin sal trees to recline into nirvana, closing out an 80-year-long life after countless rebirths as the Bodhisatta.
For 45 years the Buddha remained a wandering ascetic (shramana), abiding in forest groves rather than accepting other more luxurious lodgings offered to him. When he trained nuns, monks, novices, and lay people, he often recommended they find a quiet place where they would not be disturbed by noise and other people. Here they could cultivate the Middle Path, avoiding extremes. Here they could realize the ultimate truth. Here they could see and experience for themselves that what the Buddha taught did not depend on the Buddha to be considered "Truth." It could be objectively verified. Here, where? The forest, woods, or a pleasant garden under a portable mosquito net.
Tibetan Buddhist, plant spirit healer, and shamanic teacher Emma Fitchett is a lineage holder of the White Serpent teachings of the British Isle of Manx and the Pacific Island of Vanuatu, who has been initiated into ancient magical practices.
CIA madman Cleve Backster
How did she gain her powers? They were opened or vivified for her by Iboga, a psychoactive root from Gabon, she claims. The plant spirit sensitized her to our innate human gifts to see and sense beyond the ordinary five senses.
Appearing on Coast to Coast on April 2, 2024, she discusses how to access plant spirit healing through meditation with plants as well as the work of CIA mad scientist Cleve Backster, who gets credit for pioneering the measurement of how plants perceive human consciousness.
Such credit in fact belongs to Indian scientist in England
Emma Farrell (aka Fitchett), with a foreword by Pam Montgomery, has 4.4 out of 5 stars with 34 ratings.
This is a guide to communicating and working with plant and tree spirits for personal development, spiritual connection, inner peace, and healing.
It presents meditation journeys with specific plant and tree spirits, such as Mugwort (dreams), Rosemary (cleansing), Dandelion (liver), Yew (poison), Elder (healing), and Wormwood (artemisia).
Find details on how to achieve a calm mind, cleanse your energy field, and connect with your heart in preparation for meditating with the plants.
It includes a progressive series of introductory meditations, adapted from wisdom traditions, to lay the foundation for working with plant spirits.
In this book, Emma Farrell explains how to take your connection and relationship with nature to a deeper level and access plant spirit healing through meditation with plants.
Exploring the nature of plant consciousness and how plants perceive, she details how to achieve a calm mind, cleanse our energy field, and connect with our heart in preparation for meditating with plants and trees, showing how the plants can support us not only in the cleansing process but also in teaching us how to sense what is in our energy field.
Offering a progressive series of preparatory meditations adapted from shamanic and indigenous wisdom traditions, the author reveals how to lay the foundation for working, communicating, and developing relationships with plant and tree spirits -- for personal development, spiritual connection, and inner peace.
(Podcast: The Future is Beautiful with Amisha Ghadiali) How do we work with plant medicines in a meaningful and respectful way? In this episode, Amisha talks with Shaman Emma Fitchett, a plant spirit healer, teacher, and author initiated into and trained in indigenous healing and magical lineages of the British Isles and the Ecuadorian Amazon, who is also a Yew Mysteries initiate and a holder of the lineage of the White Serpent from Manx and Vanuatu. This conversation illuminates how we can grow our spiritual sovereignty and balance our inner and outer worlds in co-creation with nature’s medicines. It is a gift for all of those who want to explore more in relation to plant medicines, want to know how, and want to explore to reveal the truth of our existence in this living (animistic) world.
She then presents meditation journeys with specific plant spirits, focusing on the frequencies within the plant’s bio-resonance that will assist us.
For example, the meditation with Mugwort works with the plant spirit’s qualities of alignment and self-awareness to assist us with grounding and developing inner vision, while the meditation with Dandelion helps us break old habits by working with the plant’s qualities of release, reconnection, and fearlessness.
What do forest tradition Buddhist monks know?
Revealing how each plant is an expression of the soul force of Mother Nature and carries a unique blend of her medicine and wisdom, this book details step-by-step how to effectively work with plant spirits for emotional and spiritual healing, enabling us to awaken the eternal spirit, or soul, to become truly multidimensional and whole. More
British Emma Fitchett, with buffoonish host G-Man Noory, Coast to Coast AM com, 4/3/24; Dhr. Seven, Kelly Ani, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
What is the ideal place to meditate? The Buddha frequently repeats some of his suggestions. Would it be a thatched hut in the jungle, a tent of robes in the desert, a mound of kusa grass next to a river?
Tiny house?Abodu Quiz(prefabricated small footprint)
The Seclusion Sutra
Viveka Sutta, (SN 9.1) translated by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
"Oh, foolish mortals! ever blind to fate; too soon dejected, too soon elate" (Alexander Pope).
At that time, having gone to spend the day in seclusion, he was beset by unskillful thoughts, clinging to reminisces about the life of a layperson.
Then the woodland fairy (devata) inhabiting that forest, out of sympathy for the meditator, wishing him success, wishing to return him to his senses, approached and addressed him in verse:
Indeed, that meditator, chastened by the glowing spirit, came to his senses with a sense of urgency for the goal.
*Abyss: not literal (as in Avicior the Downfall of Niraya in general) but figurative in the sense that sensual craving can never be appeased by feeding it, as it is an endless consumer of more and more pleasures, stimuli, and novelty.
In West Virginia we visited Bhante G's Bhavana Society(bhavanasociety.org), a Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist meditation center in the woods. I was assigned a cozy cabin with a funny stove. It was the warm season, so I could hardly imagine how cold it gets part of the year, snowed in, surviving by chopping wood to feed the hearth. Outside, mushrooms sprouted on the damp ground, and all around were trees and plants and a creek farther down by the old country road. This would do for meditation, but there were still many social distractions. One could hardly be silent as people were in the habit of small talk or getting to know one another. External silence is a great support for internal silence, where it really counts if one wishes to absorb into one's meditation object. The visiting nun leading us, as the abbot was no longer himself post-stroke, gave us instruction capable of producing absorption (jhana). One retreatant constantly slipped into piti and swirled his body on his cushion, blissed out. I would look at him, and rather than let myself become annoyed, I would follow suit. I swirled. And piti arose like magic, just a little, enough to know he was onto something. The woodland glen the center is on seemed ideal for fairy spirits of some description, as in "The Rape of the Lock." But I didn't see them. I couldn't feel them; I wasn't still enough. Females, being more sensitive and attuned to nature, claimed they could.
Hiking the Gabrielino Trail from JPL to the dam in the riparian environment | drone footage
It's easy, right? - This is so beautiful!
(Diggin SoCal Outdoor Adventures) The hike begins in the JPL parking lot, above the reservoir and dam visible from the 210 Freeway.
Up the Gabrielino Trail, established by the "Gabrielino Indians" (the Indigenous Kizh or Tongva of Los Angeles, once known as Tovaangar), beyond Gould Mesa Trail Camp and Paul Little Picnic Area, ending up at the dam (about 3.5 miles in one direction).
This is beautiful hike is leisurely with easy trails (and dangerous rattlesnakes warming themselves in the dappled light and mulch of fallen leaves).
However, it does involve crisscrossing the water numerous times. A river runs down and sinks beneath JPL to come up again at Devil's Gate Dam. This is usually easy but could pose a problem when it rains and the water level rises and becomes a whitewater chute.
Good hiking shoes and plenty of water are always smart choices, particularly as the weather warms. There is also poison oak (the reddish green leaves with a waxy coating in the brush next to the trail). Along the trail there was one snake no one would want to step on or have a dog bark at.
Also, it's beloved by mountain bikers, who race by with hardly a warning. #dronefootage#hiking#hikingadventures
Buddha Boy (BSDS); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, A. Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit
"Buddha Boy" or Ram Bahadur Bomjon (Sanskrit राम बहादुर बम्जन, also spelled Bomjan, Banjan, and Bamjan) was born in 1990.
Previously known as Palden Dorje (his Vajrayana Buddhist monastic name), he is a controversial wandering ascetic (shramana) from Ratanapuri, Bara District, Nepal.
Who is that dusty, napping boy?
At 15 years of age, he gained widespread media attention and popularity because of perceived semblances to the historical Buddha Gautama, leading to claims that he had to be the reincarnation of the Buddha himself.
(This of course is nonsense, but in the popular imagination, it was the only explanation for Bomjon's miraculous power to sit months on end without eating, drinking, or moving, only meditating).
Details
How it all began, a dusty 15-y.o. meditating well
In May, 2005, the 15-year-old Bomjon left his home near the Indian border after a dream in which a deva appeared to him and told him to do so.
He found a good spot and sat in the massive roots of a pipal tree [sacred fig, Ficus religiosa, Bodhi tree, more likely a local banyan tree] to meditate [1].
Looking refreshed and showered
Eyewitness claims suggest that for 10 months he rarely spoke, drank, ate, or even moved. He simply sat under that tree, striving for some attainment or other, possibly even supreme awakening.
Thousands, then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands of people made pilgrimages to visit the site in the forest (Terai jungle) to sit with or see (darshan) the miraculous boy motionless for hours, days, and months as rumored.
Tummo generates a lot of fiery heat.
Others came not so much to practice themselves (as would have been very good to do) but out of devotion (puja) and the very real possibility of an important spiritual event occurring. There might be a miracle (siddhi), a public marvel (Buddhist iddhi) like that time he spontaneously burst into flames possibly from practicing tummo meditation.
As a result of some of these widespread claims, Bomjon's followers believed he had to be an incarnation of the historical Buddha Gautama [2] (who Hinduism says was an incarnation (avatar) of the God Vishnu, which is also said of Jesus Christ, possibly for the purposes of conversion, and other peaceful spiritual figures interested in the maintaining of humanity).
Dharmasangha (aka Buddha Boy) inside fire
(Bodhi Shrawan Dharma Sangha) Nov. 24, 2009: On January 19, 2006, Mahasambodhi Dharmasangha (Ram Bahadur Bomjon or Buddha Boy) spontaneously combusted, burning off the cloth robes he had worn for nine months but leaving no burn scars on his body (bsds.org).
Bomjon is not the Buddha
Why do people keep bothering my meditation?
Bomjon has rejected any such comparisons to a buddha or to the historical Buddha, saying: "Tell the people not to call me a Buddha. I don't have the Buddha's energy currently. I am at the level of a rinpoche [a jewel or precious one]" [3].
Mahiswor Raj Bajracharya, the president of the Nepal Buddhist Council, has stated likewise: "We do not believe he is [a] Buddha. He does not have [the] Buddha's qualities" [4].
Then, on March 11, 2006, he disappeared and went missing for months [5]. On March 19, 2006, Bed Bahadur Lama of the Om Namo Buddha Tapaswi Sewa Samiti (ONBTSS) told reporters that he had been seen in Bara District and that [ONBTSS] had spoken to him for half-an-hour, during which Bomjon reportedly assured them that he would return in six years (at the age of 21) [6].
He was again seen on August 2007, preaching to crowds in Nepal’s Hallori jungle, about 100 miles south of the capital of Kathmandu [7].
Arrest
Budanilkantha looks nice from a distance.
A team of CIB (Central Investigation Bureau) police from Nepal arrested Bomjon on January 9, 2024, nabbing him at his "hideout" [ashram or house] at Budanilkantha [8].
An arrest warrant had been issued in 2020 [9]. The CIB also confiscated Nepalese rupees (NPR 33 million = US $225,000.00) and foreign currencies from over 17 different nations equivalent to about $245,000 [8].
CIB: We got him, we finally got him.
DIG Kuber Kadayat said Bomjon tried to evade arrest, making a run for it by jumping off the roof of the house he was staying in.
Issuing a press release after the day of his arrest, police stated that a key to an SUV, bluebooks of three two-wheelers, two laptops, 14 mobile phones, and multiple electronic devices were also confiscated during the search.
Controversies
Keep moving, dacoit. Your days of criminality are at an end due to the big hand of the CIB.
We want the world to see you now, Bomjon.
Eyewitnesses, Bomjon's followers, and skeptics claimed that Bomjon meditated for months without eating or sleeping [7]. (A scientific team from India tried to debunk these claims but could not, only saying that for the time they were there and watching him, he did indeed seem to be meditating nearly motionless).
In 2010, Bomjon was investigated for accusations that he attacked a group of 17 villagers. He claimed that they were intentionally disturbing his meditation.
However, the villagers said they were just foraging for vegetables [10, 11, 12, 13]. Bomjon explained that he had taken "minor action" against them with just his hands [10, 11, 12, 13] after they had "tried to manhandle" him [11, 13] and stopped as soon as they apologized.
However, the alleged victims claim that for three hours he struck them on their head and back with an axe handle [10, 13], resulting in serious injury of one of them [12, 13].
Bomjon refused to attend any potential trial, stating: "Do you think a meditating sage will go to the court to hear a case? I took action against them as per the divine law [universal justice]" [10, 13].
In 2012, Nepali police announced that they had rescued a Slovak [Central European] woman from Bomjon's followers, but other reports claim that she had been released voluntarily after media coverage of the kidnapping.
Newsweek reported she had been taken from a hotel by two of Bomjon's men on motorcycle, kept tied to a tree for three months, and accused of practicing witchcraft in order to disturb the Buddha Boy’s meditation [14].
However, another report claims she had been kidnapped from a monastery. When she was released, she had a broken arm [15, 16]. A week after her release, Bomjon's siblings accused him of holding his brothers captive overnight and beating his brothers and his sister [17].
Followers of Bomjon assaulted five journalists and destroyed their cameras after they had recorded one of Bomjon's sermons [15].
Oh my! Is it possible he would?
In September of 2018, Bomjon was accused of raping an 18-year-old nun repeatedly for nearly two years.
During a press conference organized by women's rights groups, the nun also accused his wife of trying to keep the abuse hidden so as not to "attract attacks" on their [new] religion.
Bomjon is married? He is no longer referred to as Tapaswi (austerities-practicing) Palden Dorje, so perhaps he disrobed to become a Vajrayana Buddhist lay practitioner.
Supporters of Bomjon claim that nun was in fact involved in theft and had been ejected from the monastery [18].
If I had it to do over again, it'd be different.
An investigation was opened in January of 2019 after complaints from family members that four devotees had gone missing from several of Bomjon's ashrams [19].
In the same month, police raided one of Bomjon's ashrams in Nepal, but he was not found [20].
Prison self-immolation? Not without absorption
On February 6, 2020, the Sarlahi District Court issued an arrest warrant against Bomjon. The following day, police raided another one of his ashrams in Kamalamai, Sindhuli, but Bomjon was not found there either.
However, police did arrest one of his disciples, Gyan Bahadur Bomjon [21]. More
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