First time visitors can stay for a minimum of two nights and up to a week. We do not charge for your stay, but we do ask you to come with a genuine interest in participating in our daily routine.
In that respect, a stay in the monastery is not like a personal retreat in complete silence; there will be some interaction with other guests;
keeping in mind a healthy balance between the activities and chores during the morning and seclusion (private time) in the afternoon.
Guests are expected to keep and leave the room and bedding clean and tidy, and help maintaining the guesthouse clean.
As monastics of a mendicant tradition, we are dependent on what food people offer us and therefore we cannot provide specialized diets. Fasting is also not allowed. The food given to the monastic community is stored in the building in which the guests stay, and some days the guests are responsible for preparing the meals for the community.
We ask the guests to arrive between 8 am and 6 pm. We also ask the guests to make sure that all their personal and professional affairs are settled before arriving at the Monastery, with no need for further communications during the time at the Monastery.
To book your stay please send us an email to sangha@sumedharama.pt, telling us about yourself and with the dates on which you would like to come.
How to get here: https://sumedharama.pt/contacts/
If you come by bus from Lisbon you should catch the bus number 2740, from ‘Carris’ company, in Campo Grande bus station, to Ericeira. The journey from Lisbon to Ericeira takes approximately one hour.
The Monastery is about 3km away from Ericeira’s bus terminal and and once there, an easier way to arrive to the monastery it is to take a taxi from the terminal.
Visitors are asked to keep the following daily routine:
5:00am – Puja / morning meditation (please be on time)
6:00 am – Chanting (15 minutes)
6:30 am – Morning chores (helping with breakfast preparations or general cleaning)
7:00 am – Breakfast
8:00-10:00 – Work period (helping with meal preparations, forest work or housework)
10:30 am – Main meal
12:00 pm – Kitchen clean up
The afternoons are usually free for personal practice.
7:30 pm – Puja / evening meditation
9:00 pm – Retiring
All monastery guests are required to observe the 8 precepts during their stay:
Harmlessness: not intentionally taking the life of any living creature.
Trustworthiness: not taking anything which is not given.
Celibacy: refraining from any sexual activity.
Right Speech: avoiding false, abusive or malicious speech and idle
speech.
Sobriety: not consuming any intoxicating drink or drugs.
Renunciation: not eating after midday.
Restraint: refraining from games, listening to music and other
entertainment and from self-adornment (guests are requested to dress
modestly).
Alertness: to refrain from overindulgence in sleep.
It is important to bring confortable and modest clothing for the meditation, slippers to wear indoors, and shoes that are easy to put on and take off. We also ask all visitors and guests to don’t wear shorts or mini skirts, or sleeveless tops.
If you come by car please bring your own bedding and towels. Otherwise the monastery is happy to provide you with such items for your stay.
It is good idea to bring warm clothing because the mornings and evenings can be cold.
Cancellation Policy
Due to the high number of overnight guest requests and our limited accommodations, we ask that reservations not be made until one can firmly commit to those dates without the likelihood of changing or canceling. Because of very limited facilities, we often have to turn people away who wish to visit. Occasionally, people make reservations and then cancel or change them. If a guest makes a reservation and then cancels or changes it, this usually means that someone else has lost the chance to stay here. Therefore, we ask guests not to make a reservation unless they can make a firm commitment to follow through on it.
If a potential guest has made a reservation to stay, received confirmation and then doesn’t show up without notice, that guest forgoes staying at Sumedharama for one year from the reservation date.
If a potential guest has made a reservation to stay, received confirmation and then later cancels the reservation less than two weeks before their visit (for non-emergency reasons), that guest forgoes staying at Sumedharama for six months from the reservation date. In addition, if a guest comes to stay at Sumedharama and leaves a day or days earlier than planned (for non-emergency reasons), the guest forgoes being able to extend their next stay past the number of days stayed on that visit (e.g. if someone plans to come for a week and he or she stays only four days, their next reservation can be for no longer than four days).
