June 2021 Newsletter
Redecorating the Common Room
We are very pleased that the redecoration of the Common Room is now complete, and a picture showing the room before and after all of the building work and redecoration is shown below.
The main change is the removal of the chimney breast on the left hand side, which gives quite a lot more space in the room. The redecoration and new carpet will hopefully make the room nice and welcoming when we are able to have visitors again.
Now that the Common Room is complete we have moved the main altar in there, together with the Founders Shrine, so that the Meditation Hall can be redecorated. A picture of the Meditation Hall, before the work and during redecoration, is shown below.
You can see that the doorway to the kitchen on the left-hand side has been blocked up, and the patio doors in the right-hand corner have been converted to a window, with an additional radiator in front of it. We have also changed the direction of the stairs, which no longer go up from the back of the hall.
All of these changes have made a big difference to the feel of the Meditation Hall, as we now don’t need to go through it in order to get to other rooms. Redecoration will take a while, as it is quite a large room, but we hope it will be completed by the time we are able to welcome visitors to the temple again, perhaps in late June or early July.
Celebrating the Festival of the Buddha’s Birth
It was lovely to have so many people join our online celebration of Wesak, the Festival of the Buddha’s Birth, on Saturday the 8th of May. This is the second Wesak that we have not been able to meet together in person due to the coronavirus restrictions, and 18 of us met online to celebrate the festival. We started the morning with two meditation periods, followed by the festival itself and then a Dharma talk and discussion. Rev. Aiden was celebrant for the festival, which took place in our newly redecorated Common Room, and an image from the ceremony is shown below.
Forthcoming Events: The Festival of Achalanatha Bodhisattva
On Saturday the 5th of June we will be celebrating the Festival of Achalanatha Bodhisattva. Achalanatha, the “Immovable One”, represents commitment and determination in Buddhist practice. Achalanatha is portrayed sitting in meditation amidst the flames of the passions, and is not driven away from the place of meditation by them, however much they seem to burn. Achalanatha holds the Sword of Wisdom to cut through delusion, and offers us the rope of the Buddhist Precepts. To begin with the Precepts may seem like they constrict us, but as we go on in our practice we see that they liberate us.
We will be holding the festival over zoom so that Lay Sangha members can join in from where they are. I hope you will be able to join us, and full details will be sent out by email to Lay Sangha members prior to the festival.
Towards re-opening
At the moment it is not clear whether coronavirus restrictions will be lifted on the 21st of June, so we will be continuing with online-only events throughout June. This will also give us time to finish the redecoration of the Meditation Hall ready to welcome visitors again. Once the situation becomes clearer in mid- to late-June we will make a decision about the format of events in July. Whatever the situation is with in-person events though, Lay Sangha members will still be able to join via zoom.
Some recent photos of the garden
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.
All donations are received with gratitude