Sumter Forest Temple

As homeless monks, we are encouraged to carry out two main duties: study of the doctrine and practice of meditation. Beside these, we take administrative duties and daily routine. The abbot is in charge of the temple and the supervisor of the resident ministers and religious workers. The abbot usually assigns administrative duties upon knowledge and expertise of each minister/religious worker. Daily tasks are assigned upon necessities and situations. According to our daily routine, we get up in the morning, do personal care, eat breakfast, clean the facility, do morning chanting and meditation at 10:30 am,eat lunch at 11:15 am, take a pleasure at noon, station to receive guests, take the phone calls, receive guests, read the books, do personal jobs, clean the facility, take a shower, and do the evening chanting and meditation at 7:00 pm. Then, we do personal jobs, take a leisure, and go the bead around 10:00 pm. We are urged to live together, officiate in religious services together, eat together, and work together. The Buddha said that the effort of the united people makes one happy and makes works simple.

We do not convince you to belief in the Buddha, but we introduce you his teaching and practice for your deep research and self-experiment. Study his teaching carefully with opened mind, put it to practice intensively, and then see the results by yourself. If you see it meaningful to your life, adopt it. If you find it useless, drop it off. Simply, this is an advice from the Buddha.There is no difference and discrimination between men and women on the way to realization of the four noble truths and nirvana.