$7m Buddhist monastery approved for Horsley Park
A Buddhist monastery proposed for semirural Horsley Park would cater for religious festivals, meditation retreats and more.
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A $6.9 million Buddhist monastery set across 18,000 sqm will be built in Horsley Park after getting the green light from a planning panel.
The Panditarama Sydney Meditation Centre will be built at 21-31 Redmayne Rd.
Plans state it will be dedicated to teaching and practising mindful meditation — the latter over periods of 10 days to one month.
The $6.9m monastery will belong to the Theravada discipline of Buddhism. It will feature an ordination hall, a meditation (Dhamma) hall and a dining area for resident monks, novice monks, nuns and 20 meditators.
Principal meditation instructor Sayadaw Pinnathami will oversee the monastery’s executive team.
He, as well as another permanent monk, will reside at the double-storey home currently taking up a portion of the land.
It will not hold daily functions, a management plan reveals.
“A number of Buddhist ceremonies and events will be held during the year for approximately two-to-three hours in May, August and October,” the plan states.
“These events will be attended by between 50 and 150 persons.”
Instead, groups of up to five people will be able to attend meditation sessions from 4am to 10pm.
“Most of the time … the centre will be operated very silently with no potential noises and disturbance to the neighbours,” the plan adds.
Most people will have to visit the monastery by car. The property, located about 250m from the M7 motorway, will have 58 parking spaces on site.