Issue 44: Weekend Retreat with Than Ajaan Geoff in Victoria (Sept 12–13) + Community News

Dear Dhamma Friends,

We're pleased to invite you to attend a weekend retreat with Than Ajaan Geoff, abbot of Metta Forest Monastery (Wat Metta) in San Diego county.

Than Ajaan will be offering teachings in person and via Zoom during his visit to Victoria, BC. These teachings are freely offered, and are co-sponsored by Aranya Refuge and the Victoria Insight Meditation Society (VIMS).

☸️ Weekend Retreat: A Path Rooted in Desire

  • Saturday, September 12th & Sunday, September 13th, 2026

  • 9am–4pm PT

  • Goward House, Victoria, BC, Canada + Zoom (Hybrid Event)

📝 Description

All phenomena are rooted in desire, the Buddha said. This includes all things skillful and unskillful, and even the path to awakening. Contrary to a popular misconception, not all desires get in the way of the path.

This weekend retreat — through talks, readings, meditations, and discussions — will focus on the positive role of desire on the path to awakening, and on how skillful desires can be developed and given power in the heart and mind.

📖 Reading Materials

Than Ajaan Geoff has prepared readings for the retreat: A Path Rooted in Desire (2026)

🗓️ Registering

  • Online: Click here to register for attending online via Zoom. After registering, you will receive the Zoom link and full instructions.

  • In Person: Click here to register for attending in person in Victoria, BC. Space is limited.

📧 Contact vims1retreat@gmail.com if you have questions about your registration.

About the Teacher

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff) has been a Theravada Buddhist monk since 1976. After studying in Thailand with Ajaan Fuang Jotiko, he returned to the US in 1991 to help found Metta Forest Monastery (Wat Metta) in the mountains north of San Diego. In 1993, Than Ajaan Geoff was asked to be the abbot, and has continued to train monastics and offer teachings to lay people in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. Than Ajaan Geoff is a highly respected scholar and practitioner of the Buddha's teachings. His many recorded talks and writings can be found here.

The teachings of the Buddha are offered freely.

📅 Community News

🌳 The Rains Retreat Has Begun

Monastics have entered the vassa, the traditional three-month rains retreat observed each year. For Than Ajaan Geoff, this is his 50th vassa since ordination.

🪭 Royal Ecclesiastical Appointment for Than Ajaan Geoff

On July 23, in honor of Queen Suthida's birthday, His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn bestowed a Royal Ecclesiastical Appointment on Than Ajaan Geoff, presented in a ceremony at Wat Metta by a representative of the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand. Royal ecclesiastical titles mark a monk's standing within Thailand's monastic hierarchy, and are traditionally presented along with a ceremonial fan (a symbol of rank carried by monks holding such titles) and a set of robes.

Than Ajaan Geoff's new title, Phra Rājavajrabhāvanācariya, incorporates Vajra ("diamond" or "thunderbolt," a term tied to King Rama X's name and given to monks receiving royal appointments during his reign) and translates roughly as "The Venerable Royal Master of Meditation." Watch the ceremony here. Anumodana!

🙇 Ordination of Bruno Barrera Yever

Bruno Barrera Yever (now, Than Bruno) was ordained at Wat Metta on July 25. Watch the ceremony here. Anumodana!

🏞️ Taan Mike in Squamish and Salt Spring, BC

From late May through late July, Taan Mike stayed in Squamish (a mountain town north of Vancouver) and on Salt Spring Island (in the Gulf Islands, between Vancouver Island and the mainland). His time included daily sits and mountaintop meditation, with over 50 unique visitors coming out in Squamish, and a day-long retreat on Salt Spring that drew over 20 participants. He made lots of friends in Canada during the trip. Anumodana to all who supported his visit.

🪔 Than Ajaan Geoff's 50th Ordination Anniversary — November 2026

A number of occasions are being organized to celebrate 50 years since Than Ajaan Geoff's ordination:

  • November 1: A ceremony at Wat Metta in conjunction with the Kathina (the annual robe-offering ceremony marking the end of the rains retreat).

  • November 6–8: A weekend of teachings and meditation at Portland Friends of the Dhamma, including a full daylong retreat on November 7 (the anniversary date itself). Zoom available for some sessions. Details here.

  • November 7: A Zoom meditation session with the monks at Wat Metta. 

A small group of students has also been exploring ways to mark the occasion through collective practice, as part of Paṭipatti Pūjā (paying homage through practice):

  • A collective 50-hour meditation pledge — one dedicated hour for each year of his ordination — in the weeks leading up to the anniversary. Track your pledge on the meditation tracker. For those continuing beyond 50 hours, additional meditation offerings for Than Ajaan can be recorded anonymously here. Anumodana to Iván M. and Suganya for creating these apps.

  • A multi-day Zoom meditation gathering among students across groups.

All are warmly encouraged to join.

📚 New from Dhammatalks.org

Questions? Send us an email: info@aranyarefuge.org 

Anumodana for supporting the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha to take roots in a wilderness home on Vancouver Island.

Aranya Refuge Board of Directors: Than Ajaan Geoff, Brock Brown, Jacqui Balfour, Russ Callaghan, Irfan Pirbhai, Tiara Letourneau, Kiko Brown, June Fukushima (in loving memory)

“Ajaan Maha Boowa tells a story when Ajaan Mun had passed away, how he felt lost — like a person who had depended on a doctor, and now the doctor was dead. He’d have to be an animal in the forest with no doctors to look after his diseases at all. But then he stopped to reflect: when Ajaan Mun was alive, what teachings did he repeat again and again? One particular struck him: when something comes up in your meditation, and you’re not really sure whether it’s reliable or not — just stay with your sense of the knower, bare awareness, awareness itself, and just let it pass. Ajaan Maha Boowa then decided he’d use that principle from that point on to protect himself from the dangers of meditation, when you’d get obsessed with something…You question what you got, and in questioning, you step outside. That’s how you look after yourself with ease. That’s how you maintain yourself. That’s how you become self-reliant.

Those are the gifts we’ve been given by our teachers, by the Buddha, so that the events of the world won’t shake us, and our comings and goings won’t leave scars on the mind. That’s what it means to be self-reliant, and the gift of self-reliance is the best gift that a teacher can give to help you teach yourself how to get outside of yourself to come to a place of real safety.”

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu | Get Outside Yourself | August 12, 2026