Forthcoming Events:
Festival of Avalokiteshwara Bodhisattva

On Saturday the 4th of February we will be celebrating the Festival of Avalokiteshwara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The name Avalokiteshwara is Sanskrit (Japanese: Kanzeon, Chinese: Kwan Yin, Tibetan: Chenrezig), and means “The one who hears the cries of the world”. To live with compassion is to hear the cries of suffering within ourselves and within all beings, and to be willing to respond, and the festival day will focus on this centrally important aspect of Buddhist practice.

During the festival, a wide variety of different images of Avalokiteshwara are placed around the walls of the meditation hall, and we circumambulate the hall and bow to each image as we pass it. This symbolises the fact that compassion can appear in many different forms, sometimes in a way that we least expect, and that if we want to know stability and contentment in our lives we must accept, and bow to, all these different appearances of the nature of reality. This is one way in which we ourselves express compassion for all living things.

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 tea. You are welcome to come for any part of the day.

Festival of the Buddha’s Parinirvana

On the evening of Friday the 17th of December we will be celebrating the Festival of the Buddha’s Parinirvana. This festival commemorates the death, and entry into boundless meditation, of Shakyamuni Buddha. As we recite the Scripture of Great Wisdom, all the lights in the meditation hall are extinguished, one by one, except for a single light in the Founders Shrine. As the scripture continues, we make the wish for the Light of Buddha to return to the world.

The light is then brought back from the Founders Shrine into the rest of the hall, and we recite the Adoration of the Buddha's Relics and the Scripture on the Immeasurable Life of the Tathagata in celebration of the ongoing life of Buddha, and the way of ceaseless practice.

The Light of Buddha is seen in the world whenever we give rise to the sincere wish to live in harmony with what is true, and to find the end of suffering for ourselves and for all beings.

The evening will start at 7.30pm with a meditation period. We will then have the festival, with a short rehearsal beforehand, and after the ceremony there will be another meditation period, followed by tea and biscuits, ending at 9.30pm.

For other events in February, please see the events calendar.

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Opening and Dedication of the Arnold Zendo

The Nottingham group's first meeting of the new year was also the first meeting at the new Arnold Zendo. The new Zendo is in Ruth's house, which is in Arnold, in the north of Nottingham.

After a social bring-and-share meal, we started the meeting with a meditation period. There were a dozen of us there altogether, and we just about fitted into the zendo, as you can see from the photo below.

The meditation period was then followed by a Ceremony of Opening and Dedication for the new zendo. The ceremony started with an incense offering and three bows, and then we all processed around the hall and offered incense at the altar as we recited together the Scripture of Great Wisdom and the Litany of the Great Compassionate One, with flower petals raining down upon us. Rev. Aiden then recited a dedication verse for the new zendo:

Today the Sangha gathers here in order to dedicate the Arnold Zendo as a place of Buddhist meditation and practice.

We offer our gratitude to all who have passed on the teaching from the time of Shakyamuni Buddha to the present day, and to all who have made this training place possible.

We reaffirm our own commitment to practice, as we meet together in this hall in the stillness of meditation and in joyful celebration.

Let us offer the merit of this zendo to all beings as we recite together the Names of the Ten Buddhas:

Following the recitation of the Names of the Ten Buddhas, we recited the Invocation for the Removal of Disasters, skillfully accompanied by percussion instruments, and ended with an offertory and three bows.

We then celebrated the opening of the new zendo with glasses of juice and slices of cake; see photo below.

The Nottingham group will now be meeting at the Arnold Zendo on the first Monday of each month (except February or on Bank Holidays). All other Monday evening meetings will continue to be at Tiger Boe in Clarendon Street in the centre of Nottingham.

There will also be a daytime meeting to meditate at the Arnold Zendo on the third Friday of each month, from 10.30am to 12pm.

For full details of all the meetings, please see the 2017 calendar on the Nottingham group page on the temple website, or on the group's own website.

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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:

• fresh fruit and vegetables (except garlic or peppers)
• porridge oats
• yoghurt and eggs
• peanuts or other nuts
• rice and pasta

Any other suitable items would also be appreciated.

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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.