Forthcoming events
On Sunday 4th May, the Priory will be celebrating Wesak, the Festival of the Buddha’s Birth. This ceremony is one of the Buddhist calendar’s main events and you’re very welcome to join us for any part of the morning’s schedule. There will be a meditation period at 9.45am and the festival is due to begin at 10.30am, with a short rehearsal beforehand. The morning will finish with a Dharma talk and discussion (together with coffee and biscuits). Please contact the Priory if you’d like to attend in person. Below is a photo of our altar decorated for the ceremony last year.
The next sesshin will be 25th – 29th June. The usual retreat schedule will be followed each day, with nine meditation periods, a Dharma talk and a Dharma discussion, breakfast and lunch eaten formally in the meditation room, and some working meditation, as well as time for quiet contemplation. Please contact the Priory if you would like to attend in person, whether for all or part of the time. The meditation sessions will be shared online.
Garden work
The garden group has resumed meeting on Tuesday afternoons (weather permitting) at 2pm, with their customary enthusiasm and a range of ideas for the start of the new season. Anybody is welcome to come along and there are jobs suitable for all levels of expertise and strength/energy. There is usually about an hour of work, followed by tea and biscuits. In a few weeks’ time, there will also be the option to come along on Saturday mornings. Please let the Priory know if you would like to join, even if only occasionally.
Work has also restarted on the front garden project, which has now expanded beyond the original task of installing boards to shore up the soil of the bank between the garden and the road/drive. It will now encompass fixing crumbling steps, replacing a cracked paving stone and making the porch perpendicular. The two trainees who are doing this work continue to maintain a brightness and willingness which (together with their reassuring mantra, “that’s not a problem”) are a pleasure to witness.
Thanks
My thanks, as always, go to everyone who assists with keeping the Priory and its gardens neat and tidy. I am also grateful for the help I receive with various office and administrative tasks (as well as with assembling flat-pack furniture!).
With best wishes and in gassho,
Reverend Leoma