Forthcoming Events:
The Festival of Avalokiteshwara Bodhisattva

On Saturday the 14th of September 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 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 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.

Late summer hedge cutting

On one side of the temple property is a long hedge which has large thorns on its stems. It has nice flowers in the early summer, but grows long shoots which block the view and start to overhang the garden, blocking out the light. It takes quite a while to cut the hedge, and it is difficult to do it without getting scratched by the thorns. It also takes a while to deal with the cuttings, but the hedge has now been cut back to the height of the fences, and we can see the park again!

It needs cutting a couple of times a year, but that should now see us through until the spring.

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Late summer light show

One sunny Saturday morning recently, the rising sun was just in the right place to cast a shadow of the Kanzeon statue which sits on the front windowsill onto the wall just outside the Meditation Hall.

Fortunately there was just time to take a photo of it before we started our ceremony, as later on the sun would have moved too far round, and it could be a while before these conditions are repeated.

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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