Three Jewels

On September 25, 2022 a lay teacher and dear friend of Abhayagiri, Cindy “Mettika” Hoffman passed away. Before the pandemic, the monks visited regularly to teach at Mettika’s Three Jewels Dhamma Hall in Fort Bragg. Mettika spent her final weeks at a care facility in the nearby town of Ukiah, which allowed the monastic community to visit her many times. Mettika’s life and her peacefulness during her final weeks were an inspiration to the Abhayagiri community. Mettika has left the Three Jewels property including its lovely Dhamma Hall to the Abhayagiri sangha allowing the possibility of a small branch monastery in Fort Bragg.

Now that the Abhayagiri monastics have inherited the property, Three Jewels has become a branch monastery of Abhayagiri. The current residents are Ajahn Kassapo, Ajahn Thitapañño and Upāsika Kevin.

Upcoming Events
In addition to the weekly schedule listed below, here are some notable upcoming events:
Friday, April 26 – Ajahn Jayasaro is planned to be at Three Jewels for the meal.

Monday evening at the Three Jewels Dhamma Hall:
There is a Monday evening program every Monday. Visiting ajahns from Abhayagiri will be announced on this page and via the Three Jewels email list. Otherwise, the monks currently in residence will be present for that.

The schedule for Monday evenings is:

5:30pm - Tea time in the Dhamma Hall - An opportunity for questions, answers and discussion with monks and other practitioners. This is a good time to ask questions and discuss Dhamma practice, spiritual practice and meditation.

7pm - Thirty minutes of meditation, offering of Dhamma reflections and an opportunity for questions and comments.

Anyone interested is welcome to participate in the tea time and/or the evening program beginning at 7pm, as well as any of the events below.

Meal
The meal is at 11am on Mon., Tues. Wed., Thurs., Sat. and Sunday. Please feel free to join us. If you would like to simply drop off an offering, it may be helpful to know that there is usually one person in the kitchen between 9:45am and 11am. If you are making an offering for the meal, it can be helpful if you call the day before and let us know, but you are also welcome to just turn up unannounced.

On Fridays, there is not a meal offering at Three Jewels.

Note: Sometimes the monastics are not at Three Jewels. If you wish to make sure that the monks will be present for the meal offering, please call in advance. However, it is expected that for March there will usually be a meal offering on every day of the week except Friday.

If you have any questions about Three Jewels including the meal please contact Three Jewels by:
Email: threejewelscontact@abhayagiri.org
or
Phone #: (707) 813-0842
The phone is usually on between 7am and 8:15am .

Alms round schedule
The usual schedule for alms round is:
Tues., Wed., Thurs. and Saturday - the central Fort Bragg area between 8:45am and 10:15am
Friday - one of the local areas such as Caspar, Cleone, Mendocino or Westport
Sundays and Mondays - the neighborhood north of Pudding Creek between 8:30am and 9:30am
Note: This is the usual schedule for alms round but there will be variations. If you would like to make sure that you meet the monks on a particular morning, please call Three Jewels the day before or during the morning between 7am and 8am.

Sutta Discussion Group
Tuesdays at 5:30pm there is a sutta discussion group in the Three Jewels Dhamma Hall. The current book is Handful of Leaves, Volume II. This is a translation of the Middle Length Discourses by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

You may access electronic versions of this book for free via this website:
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/#majjhimaNikaya
Or you may pick-up a free copy at Three Jewels.
Suttas for Mar. 26

  • MN 18 - The Ball of Honey - pg. 58-65

On April 2nd, we are scheduled to begin going through the Dhammapada. Here are two free translations:
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu’s
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/#dhammapada

Ācariya Buddharakkhita
https://readingfaithfully.org/dhammapada-translated-by-acharya-buddharakkhita-kindle-epub-pdf-mp3/
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.budd.html

Evening Chanting and Meditation at 7pm
There is usually evening chanting and silent meditation from 7pm to 8:15pm in the Three Jewels Dhamma Hall. Occasionally, there may not be anyone present, but you are still welcome to sit quietly on your own.

2023 Dhamma Talks at Three Jewels
On the Abhayagiri website you can find Luang Por Pasanno’s Dhamma talk at Three Jewels on Monday, Sept. 25. That Monday marked the one year anniversary of Mettika’s passing away
https://www.abhayagiri.org/talks/8290-mettikas-memorial-ajahn-pasanno-at-3-jewels-ft-bragg-92523

Ajahn Amaro’s Dhamma talk on Nov. 13 at Three Jewels can be downloaded via the below link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b5HXW2N6UrSm4ZYm9raQUTouY2q4DhZ2/view?usp=drive_link

Community Work Days
From time to time there will be Community Work Days at Three Jewels. No work days are currently scheduled.

The next community work day is Sunday, April 7. If you wish to participate we will generally start around 12:30pm. Please feel free to join us for the meal.

In general, if you would like to help us maintain the property or to volunteer in other ways, please let us know.

Contact
You may contact Three Jewels at this phone number: (707) 813-0842. The phone is usually on between 7am and 8am. Or you can leave a message.
Or email: threejewelscontact@abhayagiri.org
If you would like to be on the Three Jewels email list, please let us know via email.

Directions to Three Jewels
Three Jewels is located at 31791 Johnson Lane, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. It is located on the north end of Fort Bragg. It lies east of Highway 1, which is named Main Street inside the town. The following directions assume that you are on Highway 1/Main Street.

Turn onto Pudding Creek Road, which is opposite a beach and trestle bridge on the ocean. You will be heading east (away from the ocean). Pudding Creek runs alongside the road on your right.
Proceed 1 mile, continuing past the stop sign at John Hyman Road.
Turn left (north) onto Petaluma Avenue. Take it easy! Though paved, tree roots have created unmarked speed bumps along this stretch. Be prepared to navigate them by changing lanes. Proceed about ¼ mile to the intersection with Johnson Lane.
Turn right (east) onto Johnson Lane. After a few hundred feet you will arrive at 31791 on the right (south) side marked with the Three Jewels sign.
Turn right into the driveway and park.

Walk down the path on the right (west) end of the building as you face it rather than through the gate. The entrance to the Meditation Hall is the righthand wing of the building, the end opposite from the garage.

Support
If you wish to support Three Jewels, there are a variety of ways to do so. These include volunteering to help maintain the property, helping with transportation, looking after the kitchen for a meal or asking if there are any donations that would be useful. If you would like more information on supporting Three Jewels, please feel free to contact Three Jewels.

Three Jewels is part of Abhayagiri and is supported by Abhayagiri’s steward, the Sanghapala Foundation. This page provides information on ways to make a donation to the Sanghapala Foundation:
https://www.abhayagiri.org/support/donations