Forthcoming Events: Festival of Kshtigarbha Bodhisattva

On Saturday the 3rd of October we will be celebrating the Festival of Kshtigarbha Bodhisattva. Kshtigarbha is usually depicted as a monk, carrying a staff and a “wish-fulfilling jewel”, and symbolises gentleness and the importance of offering.

It is traditional to make offerings of stones to Kshtigarbha; when we truly give ourselves to practice we find that this “ordinary pebble” we have offered, is in fact a precious stone. Anyone joining the ceremony is invited to have a small stone with them to offer during the ceremony.

We will be holding the festival over zoom so that Lay Sangha members can join in from where they are. Details will be sent out by email prior to the festival.

Continuing our practice throughout lockdown

With the winter months approaching, it doesn't look likely that the restrictions relating to households will be eased for some time. In the meantime we continue to meet together via zoom, and in addition to our regular events there will be some additional events in October.

On Sundays we will have Meditation Mornings throughout the month, from 10am to 12.30pm. These will consist of two double periods of meditation starting at 10am and 11.30am. There is also the possibility of doing morning service after the first period, at about 10.30am, but we will wait and see who comes along, and what those who are there would like to do. We will still have morning meditation and the Kanzeon Ceremony via zoom from 7.30-8.30am on Sundays. We will also have another zoom social on the afternoon of the 10th.

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Summary of our recent Steering Morning

On Saturday the 12th of September we had a Steering Morning over zoom, and Rev. Aiden gave an update on the temple's finances, as well as where we are with the building work.

Finances
Despite the temple having been closed since mid-March, we have managed to cover our expenses each month thanks to the generous support of Sangha members.

We have not received any Guest Donations in the alms bowl during this time of course, but a number of people have kindly dropped off donations at the temple, and others have made donations either online or by cheque. As these are in lieu of putting donations in the alms bowl they have been included as Guest Donations, and as a result, the income from Guest donations has been fairly steady over the lockdown period, and in fact slightly higher than the preceding winter months. A number of people have also kindly increased their Standing Orders, or set up new ones, which is also a great help.

The graph below shows our core incomings and outgoings each month, and you can see that our outgoings (the red line) increased significantly in April 2018 as we started making mortgage repayments. They have also been a bit higher in recent months, as the temple has had to spend more on food, as donations of food have of course been lower.

Our core incomings (the dark green line) vary quite a bit, but have held up well in recent months, although they are still less than the outgoings. However, when the income the temple receives from prison visiting is included, our incomings are as shown by the light green line. With this additional income they are greater than the outgoings each month, so that we have been covering our core costs.

This graph shows how much the temple's cash incomings vary from month to month, as well as how narrow the margin can be in some months.

Thank you to all those who are so generously supporting the temple through your online, cheque or cash donations, standing orders, food donations and other donations in kind, in addition to the support of your practice.

There is much more information, and more graphs, on the finances page of the temple website.

Building Work
Over the summer we have been getting quotes from builders, but it has been rather a slow process due to all the restrictions. We have now narrowed it down to a couple of builders, and it looks like the cost, including VAT, will be in the range £73,000 to £83,000. This includes building a porch at the front, replacing the stairs so that they go up from the entry hall, converting the garage into rooms, and dividing the upstairs bathroom into two shower rooms, plus some smaller changes.

The scope of the work is wider than our initial plan of just the porch and stairs, but will substantially improve the temple and allow it to function much more smoothly. The garage would be affected by the porch work anyway, as the porch would partly obscure its front door, and doing the other work at the same time would minimise the inevitable disruption that building work causes.

At the moment we have about £32,000 saved, some of which we specifically held back when we bought the property. That leaves us about £40,000 to £50,000 short, although we have been offered a long term interest-free loan which will go some way to closing the gap. We will also apply to a grant-giving charity who kindly supported us with a grant when we bought the property.

We probably need to raise another £10,000 to £20,000 in order to be sure that we can carry out the work.

We realise that these are difficult times in which to be trying to raise money for a project, but if you felt able to help the temple with a donation or interest-free loan of any amount, that would be very much appreciated.

If we don't have sufficient funds, it would certainly be possible to do just part of the project initially. However, the overall cost would definitely be higher if we did it in stages, and if we can have the work done whilst we are forced to be closed anyway, due to the coronavirus restrictions, that would be very helpful.

If by any chance we raise more than needed, any extra will be used for the general purposes of the temple (and there will also be carpets and furniture etc. to buy).

If you feel able to help in any way, that would be greatly appreciated.

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Some photos of the temple

First a picture of the garden in mid-September. By the end of the month the lower sun means that almost all of the lawn is now in shadow for most of the day.

And then a photo in the Common Room, showing the Bodhi Tree which is by the front bay window. It is flourishing this year, after having been treated for spider mite earlier in the year, and is now taking up much of the bay.

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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.

All donations are received with gratitude