Forthcoming Events:
The Festival of Founders Day

On Saturday the 8th of November we will be celebrating the Festival of Founders Day. This festival is an opportunity to offer our gratitude for the life and practice of all those who have practised Buddhism, from the far distant past to the present day. In particular we celebrate those in our own lineage who have passed on the teaching from generation to generation for over 2,500 years, and are the founders of this temple. These include Rev. Master Jiyu (the founder of our order), her master Kōhō Zenji, Great Master Dōgen(1200-1253) and Great Master Keizan (1268-1325).

The festival day will start with two periods of meditation at 10am. These will be followed by the Festival Ceremony and a Dharma Talk and discussion, ending at 12.30pm.

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. Full details of the festival will be sent out by email to Lay Sangha members prior to the festival.

Visit to the Milton Keynes group

There has been a meditation group practising in our tradition in Milton Keynes for many years, and until last year it had been supported by the monk who was serving as the prior at Reading Buddhist Priory. Following the closing of the Priory last year another monk was needed to support the group as their Meditation Group Monk, and at the beginning of August Rev. Aiden took on this role.

On the 11th of October the group held a Day Retreat at the Bancroft Meeting Place in Milton Keynes, and Rev. Aiden travelled down to Milton Keynes to join the group for the day. Five members of the group came along for a day of meditation, ceremonial and dharma talks and discussions, and we had a very nice shared lunch together as well. The day ran from 10am to 4pm and thank you to all those who helped to arrange it and make it run so smoothly. We hope to hold another Day Retreat in the Spring.

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Improvements to the temple:
work continues on the new conservatory

Last month’s newsletter had some photos of the new conservatory base which had been built in the second half of September, as it was nearing completion. The conservatory will be at the back of the temple building, and the base was finished off the following day, with the builders laying the insultated concrete floor. The photo below shows the completed base, with a comparison photo of the original patio above it.

The photo below shows the inside of the new conservatory, shortly after the concrete base had set enough that we could walk on it. Since then it has had lots of leaves fall into it, so it will be good to have the top part installed to finish it off. The floor area of the conservatory will be 2.7m wide and just under 6m long, which will give us a good sized space.

Once the base was complete the conservatory company came and measured it accurately, and then had the top part manufactured to those dimensions. It took a few weeks for the uPVC and glass sections to be made, but we heard last week that they will be here this coming week to install it. Hopefully there will be some dry weather for the installation, and it would be nice if we had some sunny days after that for the conservatory to warm up a bit before we head into the colder and darker winter months. Hopefully we will be able to share some photos of the completed conservatory in the next newsletter.

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Alms Bowl Requests

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.

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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