What Is the Buddhist Rainy Season? Understanding the Vassa and Kaṭhina Ceremonies Each year, Theravāda Buddhist monks 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 Vassa, or the Rains Retreat. You will hear the term “Vassa” often in this article, so please remember it. Traditionally, it starts the day after the Full Moon Day in July or the day after the Āsāḷha full moon known in the Pāḷi language. If your monks move around a lot and you need to rely on a teacher, you can expect the monks to stay at a 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, we will look at the origins of Vassa, the different types of Vassas, the allowances to leave the vassa on business, or by emergencies, if it affects the age of a monk, and what happens at the end of Vassa.

Monks walking up the monastery road near the library 2014. (Double umbrella) Excerpt from Going For Broke: Monasterynote5: Walkman Karaoke, 2004 Rainy Season is luckily my favorite and I love all five months of it. It is the perfect temperature also, not too hot, not too cold. It’s quiet and the noises around me get white washed out from the rain striking the metal corrugated roofing. We had over 350 Bhikkhus and a total of more than 600 residents this past Rainy Season (2004). One problem is that nearly everyone has the same brown or silver umbrellas. Surprisingly, up until last Rainy Season, everyone sort of knew which umbrella was theirs just by the markings. Some would put string on the handle while others might have some tape along the fabric to stop the leaks.

Recently, I got a nice message from a monk friend telling me he was taking vassa (3 month Rainy Season Retreat) on July 23rd (the Full Moon Day) and wishing me a happy vassa before he goes offline for three months. However, we at Pa-Auk are taking the vassa today on July 24 (the day after the Full Moon Day). The calendars often say it starts on the Full Moon Day, but we don’t do that at Pa-Auk. So who is correct? Rainy Season from the back of the sima hall

Please note: this was written in 2020 but also applies to 2023. Vassa starts on August 1, 2023. There seems to be confusion about when vassa is this year. This year is a special year and Vassa starts the day after the full moon day in August. The full moon day is August 3rd and Vassa starts on August 4th. However, there are some traditions that believe that Vassa has already started with the full moon day of July 4th and Vassa on July 5th.