Events at the Priory
We shall be celebrating Wesak, the Festival of the Buddha’s Birth, on Sunday 8th May at 10.30am. This will be preceded by a meditation period, starting at 9.45am. After the ceremony, we’ll have coffee and there will be a Dharma talk and discussion. You are welcome to attend all or part of the morning, either in person (please let me know if you’d like to do that) or online.
This year, our Summer Party will be held on Sunday 19th June, from midday until around 3.00pm, at our usual venue in Erpingham. Lifts will be available from the Priory at 11.00am. For more details, please contact me. There will be an optional meditation period at the Priory at 10.00am and then some tea, before we set off.
We shall be having another four-day sesshin in early July, from Friday 8th to Monday 11th. Each day of this intensive meditation retreat will start at 6.45am and finish at 8.25pm. If you would like to come along for the whole retreat or for any of the days or part of a day, please get in contact with me. For anyone wishing to join online, each day will be divided into five sessions. More details can be found on our calendar.
Recent events
On Sunday 10th April, we held a lay ordination ceremony for Kiran Evetts. It is always a special occasion when someone formally commits themselves to live by the Precepts and expresses their wish to become a Buddhist. We as a Sangha came together (both at the Priory and online) to welcome Kiran into the family of Buddha and to recommit ourselves to a life of meditation and keeping the Precepts. We congratulate Kiran and wish him well with his ongoing training. Below are a couple of photos taken on the day.
It was a great pleasure to welcome Rev. Master Mokugen to the Priory for a brief visit one afternoon in March. Rev. Master Mokugen, who is the chief priest at Great Ocean Dharma Refuge in Pembrokeshire, had a tour of the Priory and offered incense at the main altar. Then she joined the garden group (who were working at the Priory at the time) for tea and a chat, which rounded off the visit nicely.
Thanks
Several people have been offering their help and expertise to the Priory in recent months: ongoing repairs and maintenance work, including painting, putting up shelves and fixing skirting boards; computer and IT upgrades, including improving our Zoom meetings; cleaning and other housework; gardening and other outdoor maintenance; bookkeeping and accounting; producing our Wesak cards; providing a place of retreat for me in Wells-next-the- Sea for a week; and keeping the Priory running when I had to be away. A big thank you to those people and to everyone who supports the Priory in any way.
With best wishes and in gassho,
Reverend Leoma