Our new forest monastery for bhikkhunis with an attached retreat center for all practitioners will open soon.
The property is located close to Guben, Germany, near the Polish border, and already has several old buildings that are in need of renovations. So far, the main house, which will be the nuns’ residence, and the building for guests are nearly completed. The meditation hall and 10 wooden cabins (kutis) will be renovated in the next few months and years, as support becomes available.
The monastery is run by a small group of bhikkhunis / bhikshunis, and belongs to the Miao Fa Center in Berlin. This is a Mahayana center in the Chinese Chan tradition, which is the tradition our abbess, Shifu Simplicity, trained in and practices.
Watermoon will offer the opportunity for people to live with the monastic community, and guided retreats.
If anyone wants to support the project, donations can be made through the Miao Fa Center. We also welcome volunteers who want to help out with the building activities.
The main building (nuns’ residence) with our abbess, Shifu Simplicity.
Some of our kutis, still in need of major renovations. They are currently not usable.
On the left side is an old barn, which will be turned into the meditation hall.
The future meditation hall from the inside.
The monastery is in the forest and it gets very cold in winter. Many of the buildings still need to be insulated to be usable year-round.
View from our “tea room”: Watermoon is surrounded by forest and a lake.