Buddhist Community Abroad

  • Community
  • 0 followers

About the Community

  • Forming

What we do

This is a small, residential Buddhist intentional community organized around shared daily meditation and simple living. It is not a retreat center, monastery, or spiritual business, but a full-time home for lay practitioners who want their ordinary lives to be explicitly oriented around practice.

Residents would live in small, private, minimalist dwellings — tiny homes or simple hotel-style rooms — located near one another. Each person maintains an independent daily life (work, creative projects, relationships, responsibilities), while participating in a shared rhythm of morning and evening group meditation.

The atmosphere is intended to reflect the simplicity and quiet of a long retreat, without adopting an intensive retreat schedule or monastic hierarchy. Silence would be respected during agreed morning and evening hours, while community life outside those times remains natural and grounded.

The community is non-denominational and not tied to a specific lineage such as Zen, Theravāda, or Tibetan Buddhism. Residents may come from diverse Buddhist backgrounds, united by a shared commitment to meditation and ethical living.

Due to cost considerations, the community would likely be based abroad, potentially in Thailand or Guatemala. The financial model is shared-cost, with estimated monthly expenses around $800 per person depending on location and infrastructure. Costs would cover housing and shared operational expenses, with an emphasis on transparency.

This project is currently in the exploratory and founding stage.

Our Vision

This project seeks to bring together like-minded people interested in creating a community where each person leads a simple, independent life while sharing morning and evening meditation. The intention is to live quietly and intentionally—each person with their own small home or room and shared common spaces for practice and connection.

The mission is to explore whether ordinary lay life can be gently organized around awakening through shared daily practice, simplicity, and mutual support.

Community focus includes:

  • Daily morning and evening group meditation
  • Long-term residential commitment rather than short-term retreats
  • Minimalist living and reduced material complexity
  • Personal responsibility and emotional maturity
  • Mutual support in maintaining consistent practice
  • Ethical living grounded in core Buddhist principles
  • A quiet, stable environment conducive to contemplation
  • This is an experiment in simple living and shared practice, intended for individuals with an established meditation practice who are seeking steady community rather than intensive instruction or structured retreat programming.

    The foundation will be the Buddhist precepts, followed either in full or in a way adapted to lay life. Each person will maintain their own work and income while contributing to the community’s upkeep and shared rhythm of practice. The heart of this community is a commitment to meditation, simplicity, and mutual respect.

    Our Mission

    This project seeks to bring together like-minded people interested in creating a community where each person leads a simple, independent life while sharing morning and evening meditation. The intention is to live quietly and intentionally—each person with their own small home or room and shared common spaces for practice and connection.

    The mission is to explore whether ordinary lay life can be gently organized around awakening through shared daily practice, simplicity, and mutual support.

    Community focus includes:

  • Daily morning and evening group meditation
  • Long-term residential commitment rather than short-term retreats
  • Minimalist living and reduced material complexity
  • Personal responsibility and emotional maturity
  • Mutual support in maintaining consistent practice
  • Ethical living grounded in core Buddhist principles
  • A quiet, stable environment conducive to contemplation
  • This is an experiment in simple living and shared practice, intended for individuals with an established meditation practice who are seeking steady community rather than intensive instruction or structured retreat programming.

    The foundation will be the Buddhist precepts, followed either in full or in a way adapted to lay life. Each person will maintain their own work and income while contributing to the community’s upkeep and shared rhythm of practice. The heart of this community is a commitment to meditation, simplicity, and mutual respect.

    • Community type
    • Cohousing
    • Spiritual Retreat Centers
    • 10 Total members
    • Open to new members
    • Open to visitors
    • Open to volunteers
    Total
    10

    Primary decision-making authority

    • Small Leadership Group

    A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

    Governance structure

    • Collaborative/Horizontal

    Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

    Economic model

    • Independent Finances

    Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

    Economic scenarios for this community

    • There is a one-time fee, investment, or share purchase to join the community separate from accessing housing
    • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
    • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

    Additional economic information

    Join fee: $20000
    Monthly fees/dues: $700
    Members with pre-existing debt: Yes (some debt)

    Frequency of communal meals

    • About once a week
    • Religions
    • Buddhist

    Property status

    • Privately owned

    Property owner

    • By a Land Trust, Home Owners Association, or corporation

    Reviews

    Location

    • Chiang Mai Thailand, Guatemala, Thailand

    Buddhist Community Abroad

    Promoted Needs and Offers

    Need
    • Communities with Openings
    12 months ago

    Water Birch Co-op. Urban living in central Denver.

    Large, lovely house built in 1900, two blocks from Cheeseman Park in downtown Denver.  5000 square feet. The house was a Buddhist Meditation Center for 20 years before we got it and has lovely, calm vibes. We currently have ten people and have room for one more. We are an intentional community sharing dinners, 3 living rooms, 2 new kitchens and a kitchenette, & 5 baths. Staple food (organic) is bought together. The group is self-regulating as a co-op; it decides together how the house runs. There are chores ;-) Average cost per room is about $1000 ranging from $650 to $1354. Currently available room is $875. We are just finishing renovation of three bedrooms on the third floor  they are $875 each and share our largest, newest bath (shower and separate claw foot tub) and a brand new kitchenette  they all have beautiful windows and lots of light. PLEASE CHECK OUT COMMUNITY LISTINGS FOR MORE INFO. Initial lease for 3-6 months while we and you decide if we are a good fit for each other.  Deposit in the amount of one months rent is required prior to move in.  We do background checks on all members. Utilities are currently $130 per person per month and are all-inclusive.  They will change if costs go up, that amount is insufficient to cover utilities, or more people mean the cost per person goes down.  WiFi is via mesh network from gig-speed fiberoptic service.  Heat is with radiators.  Cooling is evaporative.  We have a storage room in a nearby commercial facility.  And a new large workshop in the garage. Shared food is $125 per month per person; it is a pass-through cost divided evenly among residents; it does NOT include meat or alternative protein nor any alcohol.  We will not be surprised if that needs to go up some soon ($10 or 15). We have two dogs and three cats in the house  that seems like a sufficient quantity of furry friends for now. Our community intentions include: Communication with compassion. Shared space and life. Shared meals. Shared staple foods which are non-GMO and Organic. Group decision making. Safe, inclusive space: queer and trans friendly, anti-racist, non-violent, and feminist. The purchase of the house by the co-op in about five years. The expansion of the co-op, possibly to include other housing types (like separate apartments). Weekly meetings and house committees to manage our community. We are considering implementing Sociocracy as an organizing method. Quiet hours are from 10:00pm to 8:00am. We are looking for community members who: Want to live in a community not just have a place to sleep and eat. Want to live in a beautiful, clean, and organized house and are willing to help make and keep it that way. Residents should expect to spend 16 hours per month towards this goal. Are curious, compassionate, flexible, and open to living with others who will undoubtedly have different ideas about many things. Are interested in pioneering a new co-op. There will be work involved to get there. Are responsible and communicative. Embrace enthusiastically that living in community requires introspection and personal growth. Are not joining the community as a way of running away from something.
    Need

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