September 2017 Newsletter
Visit to Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey
Rev. Aiden was very pleased to be able to visit Throssel briefly in late August. He was only there overnight, but was able to get a lift there and back, so it was a good opportunity to visit Rev. Master Daishin and the community there.
There have been quite a few improvements to the buildings and grounds over the Summer, and below are some photos of these (tapclick to enlarge).
The main doors to the cloister have been replaced with a very smart double-glazed door, which feels very solid, and the downstairs windows of the rooms beneath the monks' Meditation Hall, including the Novices Common Room, have been replaced with double-glazed units.
There are also some very smart new railings on either side of the Guest Cottage, where there is a drop at the edge of the courtyard, including these ones by the steps to the Abbot's House:
The very tall Leylandii hedges on either side of the garden have been taken down as well, and replaced with a dry stone wall on the side of the drive that leads to the Guest Department. This now matches the wall that was already there behind the hedge on the other side, and which is now visible again from within the garden.
When most of the Throssel grounds were quite open the hedge helped make the garden much more sheltered from the wind, but now that the trees have grown up, this protection isn't needed so much, and the hedge was taking a lot of work to maintain.
Now, when you stand on the drive and look across the garden, you can see the trees in the field beyond, which include pine, beech, alder, hazel and birch.
If you haven't been to Throssel before, a visit is very much recommended. An Introductory Retreat is the best time to go for a first stay, and there are details of these on the Throssel Hole website.
Forthcoming Events:
Festival of Great Master Bodhidharma
On Saturday the 9th of September we will be celebrating the Festival of Great Master Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma is an important figure within Zen, as he is credited with bringing the meditation school of Buddhism from India to China. His emphasis on "pure meditation", and the need to spend time "just sitting" facing a wall, are still central to our tradition. This festival is an opportunity to celebrate the life of Bodhidharma and to focus on some of his important teachings.
The day will start at 10am with a meditation period, followed by the ceremony. After the ceremony there will be a Dharma talk, and at about 1pm there will be a bring-and-share vegetarian lunch. In the afternoon there will be two periods of meditation from 2pm, followed by a Dharma discussion and tea. You are welcome to come for any part of the day.
For other events in September, please see the events calendar.
Update on Recent Steering Morning
We had a steering morning at the temple on the 24th of June, and the following is a summary of what we discussed.
Finances
We started off with a review of the finances. June and July have been quite quiet the last couple of years, but this year more people seemed to come along at this time, and the income in June was quite a bit higher than last year. Although July was not as good, it was also far better than last year, and pretty good compared with all but the most recent months.
The graph below shows the Net Total Income for the general fund, which includes all income and expenditure except for the Building Fund (tapclick to enlarge). Any surplus on this is the amount which would be available to put towards mortgage repayments, for example (in addition to our current rent payments of £625 per month).
The average net income over the last six months is now over £300 per month, and the average over the last year is approaching that, giving £925 per month towards the mortgage. This is about where we need to be, so that the additional amount needed is small enough that income from prison visiting can cover it.
The Building Fund currently stands at nearly £28,400. Thank you to all those who have kindly offered support for this. Any further donations would also be very much appreciated.
There is much more information, including more graphs, on the finances page of the temple website.
Properties
The Triodos Bank have approved our mortgage for up to £200,000, and with the personal loans that have been offered (£58,000), and the Building Fund and our reserves, we would now have enough to manage a purchase price of about £285,000.
We are now waiting for a suitable property to become available. After a slow couple of months, a few more properties are being advertised, and a number of these look quite attractive.
Dharma Texts
We also discussed what texts we might look at and discuss together at the Dharma Evenings on Wednesdays. It was agreed that it is nice to have a range of different teachings that we consider, including teachers from other Buddhist traditions. We hope to include more texts by contemporary authors and women authors, for example. We may also just look at individual chapters of different books, rather than working through a whole book sequentially. Any suggestions for texts to look at would be very welcome.
Next Steering Morning
The next Steering Morning will be on Saturday the 14th of October. Please do get in touch if you have any questions or comments about any of this, or anything else related to the temple.
Alms Bowl Requests
Thank you to all those who have donated items to the temple. We are very grateful for donations of any household or other items that the temple might be able to use. Please contact Rev. Aiden if you have an item to offer but are not sure whether it would be useful.
Donations of Food
Offering food is a traditional way to support a monk, and any donations of vegetarian food are most welcome. In particular:
- brown rice and pasta
- fresh fruit and vegetables (except garlic or peppers)
- porridge oats
- yoghurt and eggs
- peanuts or other nuts
- nut or seed spreads (e.g. peanut butter, tahini)
Any other suitable items would also be appreciated.
Donations
The temple is dependent on donations for its continued existence, and any financial support you are able to offer is greatly appreciated. Details of how to offer support can be found on the Donations page of the website.