Buddhist Community Abroad

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Forming
  • Spiritual

Founding year

  • 2024

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 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.

  • Purpose
  • Spiritual
  • Community type
  • Cohousing
  • Spiritual Retreat Centers

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2024
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2027
  • Started living together
  • 10 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
10

Decision-making process

  • Modified Consensus

Generally seek agreement, but have backup methods when consensus isn’t reached.

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
Regular fees: $700

Frequency of communal meals

  • About once a week
  • Religions
  • Buddhist

Age demographics

  • Mixed adults (few or no children)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

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

Guest Book

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Location

  • Chiang Mai Thailand, Guatemala, Thailand

Buddhist Community Abroad

Needs and Offers

Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
2 months ago

Beautiful 4-bedroom, 4-bath passive solar home in Southwest Colorado

Beautiful 4-bedroom, 4-bath passive solar home nestled within Heartwood Cohousing, a thriving multigenerational community on 360 acres of meadow, pine forest, pastureland, and farmland just outside Durango, Colorado. Offering approximately 2,600 square feet of thoughtfully designed living space, this stick-built home combines comfort, efficiency, and connection to nature. Enjoy radiant floor heat, wood ceilings, abundant natural light, and multiple indoor and outdoor spaces for gathering, working, gardening, and relaxing. The spacious layout includes four bedrooms plus two flexible bonus rooms, four bathrooms, and a lower-level guest suite with living area, kitchenette, bedroom, and bath. Covered front and rear porches, a balcony off the primary suite, and private and extended backyards create inviting spaces to enjoy every season. Step outside to extensive drought-tolerant landscaping, fruit trees, perennial gardens, raised vegetable beds, flagstone patios, and direct access to forested open space. Heartwood Cohousing residents enjoy shared amenities including a greenhouse, hot tub, workshop, farmland, horse pastures, playground, Common House, and more than seven miles of trails right outside the door. Located just minutes from Durango, you’ll enjoy easy access to world-class recreation, including skiing, mountain biking, hiking, rivers, desert canyons, and the vibrant cultural life of Southwest Colorado. A rare opportunity to enjoy spacious living, beautiful land, and meaningful community in one of the region’s most unique neighborhoods.
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
3 months ago

House for Sale at Valley Oaks Village Chico, CA

Welcome to 1997 Wild Oak Lane in Chico, CA— a beautifully maintained 4 bedroom/3 bathroom 1,620 SqFt home nestled in an established Cohousing community. Step inside to discover a spacious open floor plan, which bamboo flooring, and generous natural lighting. The downstairs offers a bedroom, and bathroom off the main living room. The spacious dining room and kitchen has quartz countertop overlay and will lead you out to a bonus 11×12 fully enclosed porch. The upstairs provides laundry hookups, 2 additional bedrooms, including a large loft, and a bathroom with a jacuzzi tub.. The spacious main bedroom features an en suite bathroom and ample closet space. The back patio has low maintenance patio pavers, a new 6’x8′ shed along with a 220V Level 2 EV charger. See listing on Zillow.com COHOUSING DESCRIPTION – chicocohousing.org Valley Oaks Village was designed using the Cohousing model, built in 1996 with 28 homes on about 5 acres. We have numerous shared amenities, such as a large community building (“Common House”) with a kitchen, multipurpose dining room, lounge with wood stove, guest rooms, rec room, laundry, as well as a pool and sauna. Other shared amenities include a workshop/arts and crafts room, bike sheds, large grassy lawn, playground, pond, gardens and orchards. The neighborhood was designed to promote interactions between residents with picturesque pathways, benches and gathering areas. Valley Oaks Village is right next to Bidwell Park and Big Chico Creek with its running, hiking, horseback riding and park trails with a bike path to either downtown and Chico State University or upper Bidwell Park. Price- $470,000
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
3 weeks ago

2 Units Available in Forest Grove, OR - Where Town Meets Country!

Two Homes Available at Green Grove Cohousing – Forest Grove, OR Discover Green Grove Cohousing, a fun-loving, vibrant, family-friendly community that embraces environmental sustainability, social justice, community service, and the arts in the heart of Forest Grove, home to historic Pacific University. Enjoy the perfect balance of country living just minutes from town. With just nine privately owned homes on five natural acres, Green Grove offers a rare opportunity to live independently while enjoying an intentional, connected community. Shared amenities include a spacious common house with guest accommodations, gathering and entertaining space, play and art areas, a large woodworking shop, ample storage, organic vegetable and flower gardens, fruit trees, a chicken coop, a 30,000-gallon rainwater catchment system for irrigation, 14.7 kW of solar power supporting the common infrastructure, carports with living roofs and EV charging capability, and beautifully maintained grounds with buried utilities and walking paths. Homes are thoughtfully arranged around a shared village green, creating opportunities to connect with neighbors while preserving the privacy of your own home. 3926 Coho Cir | $595,000 3 Bed | 2 Bath | 1,475 SF A bright, detached two-story home featuring a main-level bedroom and full bath, bamboo floors, quartz countertops, high ceilings, abundant natural light, and beautiful Mt. Hood views. Thoughtfully designed for flexible living with modern finishes and energy-efficient comfort. MLS#: 704265931 3934 Coho Cir | $615,000 2 Bed | 1 Bath | 1,400 SF A beautifully designed single-level detached home with vaulted ceilings, stunning Mt. Hood views, radiant heated

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