We are working towards becoming a registered faith society from the new year, and we need at least 50 members to reach the goal of registration and state aid. Today, we have 44 members who have registered their ID number in our faith society. There are still days left until the 1st of January 2024, which is the governments’s deadline. If you want to support our work to facilitate the practice and realization of the Buddha’s teachings, we would greatly appreciate it if you took the step and signed up for the DNBF faith society (you have to live in Norway to register).

You register here:
https://dnbf.org/livssynssamfunn-dnbf/

We have previously been a society registered in Brønnøysund with 85 members, but that is not the same as a registered faith society and does not trigger state aid.

Read more about membership on this page.

Our spiritual advisor Venerable Canda from Oxford has now found the ideal property for women who wish to dedicate their lives to training and teaching in Europe. Land property in Oxford is not cheap, but donations to NOK 27,000,000 are now in place, and only details remain! We are looking forward to hear about the continuation! Read more in this article .

From 4th to 22nd of December 2024, a pilgrimage to India will be organized, which will include the central sites of Buddhism: Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Varanasi, Kushinagar, Lumbini, Kapilvastu and Sravati, as well as finally the Ajanta Ellora caves. Australian Ajahn Nissarano will be the main teacher, this will be an English-language trip with participants from Europe and Australia, and Ajahn Nitho will join the trip together with the Norwegian group.

This is a unique opportunity to experience the central places of Buddhist teachings − to physically walk in the Buddha’s footsteps − while central teaching associated with the visited places is given in the evening.

A very experienced tour leader, with many years of experience, has over the years selected good buses, the best places for accommodation and dining for participants with a western cultural background. There will be a limited number of seats available, and our members have priority.

You can register your non-binding interest on this website, and you will then be sent an email when full information and registration is possible.

Without active advertising, we already have 60 pre-registered retreatants for the 8-day retreat with Venerable Canda and Ajahn Nitho at Venabu in April 2024 − and we really only have room for 50 people. We open up final registration early in January, first for members, then for everyone else. More information about the retreat can be found here.

We are working to find a location for a smaller but very dedicated deep meditation retreat near Oslo in June. Ajahn Nitho will be the instructor, and the aim is to offer a deepening for those who already have a practice, and can have a dedicated practice for 9 days. This is not a retreat for beginners, we deliberately set a maximum limit of 20 participants, and the focus will be the practical aspects of deep meditation, as well as important theory from the Buddha that gives perspective and understanding of why jhana is so central to Buddhism.

In the autumn, Bhante Sujato will come to Norway to teach both an 8-day retreat at Venabu in October, as well as a weekend retreat in Oslo. Bhante Sujato is best known for his dedication to preserving and communicating the original teaching from the Buddha via the website suttacentra.net − where the entire Buddha’s teachings are available, in many languages, including some in Norwegian. Together with Bhante Sujato, we have brought with us our leading expert in Norway, Kåre A. Lie, to help us with his deep expertise. More information later.

Work is now being done in many smaller groups around the country, to organize weekend retreats in several cities, as well as, following an invitation from Sweden, also in Stockholm. So during the winter/spring there will be retreats in Stockholm, Oslo, Tromsø, Stavanger and Trondheim. As the dates are confirmed, they will be announced on our website and Facebook. There will be a lot of activity in Oslo in 2024 − we are planning 8 weekend retreats/courses with 5 different teachers from home and abroad.

So then, all that remains is for the DNBF committee to greet everyone:

Photos: Tohamina, Andreas Rasmussen, Patrik Kovar, Munir Rani, Oscar Nord