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Home » April 2026 Newsletter

April 2026 Newsletter

Turning Wheel Buddhist Temple, Leicester Posted on by March 30, 2026
The Baby Buddha on the Wesak altar
The statue of the Baby Buddha on the Wesak altar at a last year’s festival

We will be celebrating Wesak at the temple on Saturday the 16th of May, and everyone is cordially invited to come and celebrate the Buddha’s birth with us on this festive day.

The day will start at 10am, with tea and biscuits available as people arrive. This will give an opportunity for people to meet, and for those visiting for the first time to have a look around the temple before the ceremony starts.

At 10.45am we will have a short ceremony rehearsal, and at 11am we will have the Festival Ceremony. This will be followed by a Dharma talk, and then a bring-and-share vegetarian feast. There won’t be any specific events scheduled in the afternoon; you are welcome to stay for as long as you would like, and this will be a good opportunity to socialise and meet other members of the Sangha. The day will end at 4pm, and you are welcome to come for any part of it.

We hope you will be able to join us for this joyful celebration.

Turning Wheel Buddhist Temple Logo
Rev. Saido and Telford Altar
Rev. Saidō in front of the main altar at Telford Buddhist Priory

Rev. Saido was a much loved and respected member of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, and Prior of Telford Buddhist Priory in Shropshire. He died on Friday 3rd March 2023, not long after having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Rev. Saidō was a great friend to the temple, and his steady presence and wise council are greatly missed.

Tuesday the 3rd of March was the third anniversary of Rev. Master Saidō’s death, and we held a memorial for him at our evening meeting that day to mark the occasion.

After the memorial ceremony we watched together a video of Rev. Saidō’s excellent Dharma Talk on the Four Noble Truths, which can be found on the Telford Buddhist Priory website.

It was lovely to meet with members of the Nottingham group for a day of meditation and practice at the Day Retreat in Chilwell on Sunday the 22nd of March. There were eight of us there in the morning and seven in the afternoon, and the building was nice and quiet as the library which shares the building with the community centre is closed on Sundays.

The main room at the community centre, which we use for meditation, is very large, and we also have a couple of other rooms and a small kitchen, giving us plenty of space to arrange things for the day.

The photo below shows the main room during one of the meditation periods.

Practising meditation together
Practising meditation together

As well as meditation periods we also celebrated Morning Service together, which is an opportunity to offer incense, make bows to the Buddha, and recite the Scripture of Great Wisdom and the Ancestral Line. Mid-morning we stopped for a tea break and Rev. Aiden offered a Dharma Talk which was followed by a good discussion.

Following a bring-and-share vegetarian lunch we had another couple of meditation periods in the afternoon, and the day ended with an opportunity to ask questions whilst we drank tea together.

Thank you to all those who helped organise it and make it happen, and for all your support and donations in many different ways. We hope to hold another retreat at the same venue in the Autumn.

On Saturday the 11th of April we will be celebrating the Festival of Manjusri Bodhisattva. Manjusri is the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, usually portrayed holding the Sword of Wisdom that cuts through delusion, and riding “the Beast of Self which never sleeps”. Are we Manjusri or are we the beast? It may seem like we are divided between a good side and a bad side, between clarity and confusion, but we gradually come to see that Manjusri and the beast are not two different things.

When we come to understand the true nature of “self”, we see that the “beast” is what carries and supports Manjusri – and us. The wisdom which Manjusri embodies is not intellectual or conceptual wisdom, but the ability to see ourselves and the whole of existence with clarity. When we see clearly, we understand that we must act in the world in a way that is rooted in compassion for all beings.

Manjusri statue at Soji-ji
The statue of Manjusri at Dai Hon Zan Soji-ji, the temple at which Rev. Master Jiyu trained in Japan

In addition to welcoming visitors to the temple for the festival (please book in advance), we will also be holding the festival over zoom so that Lay Sangha members can join in from where they are. This festival day will run from 10am to 12.30pm, and full details of the festival will be sent out by email to Lay Sangha members prior to the festival.

The recent warm and bright weather has really helped the plants in the temple garden to get going, with daffodils, tulips and hyacinths all in flower. The trees and shrubs are beginning to come into leaf as well.

Below is a photo of the front border taken at the end of March.

Spring colours in the front border
Spring colours in the front border

Donations of Food
Offering food is a traditional way to support a monk, and all donations of vegetarian food are most welcome. In particular:

  • porridge oats
  • peanuts or other nuts
  • peanut butter
  • fresh fruit and vegetables (except garlic or peppers)
  • dried herbs
  • cheese, eggs and yoghurt

Any other suitable items would also be appreciated.

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.

All donations are received with gratitude

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