Forthcoming events
Our next sesshin will be held from 24th to 28th June. The schedule can be found on our calendar. The Dharma talks, which will be given during the 10.00am meditation period (with an extra one at 2.00pm on the first day), will be on Great Master Dogen’s Fukanzazengi (Rules for Meditation). The retreat is already fully booked for in-person attendance, but anybody else who is interested in joining us has a couple of options. One is to be added to the waiting list. The other is to participate in the retreat online and more details about doing this can be obtained by contacting the Priory. All the meditation sessions will be shared via Zoom and anybody is welcome to join for any of those.
This year’s Summer Party, with its bring-and-share vegetarian lunch, will take place on Sunday 16th August. It will be held at our traditional venue in Erpingham (directions to which can be provided) and lifts will be offered from the Priory at 11.30am. Partners and pets are very welcome to come along too. Please contact the Priory if you’d like to attend. Rev. Alicia, from Sitting Buddha Hermitage in Derbyshire, will be joining us, as part of a short visit to the Priory that she’ll be making that weekend.
Recent events
Our ceremony for Wesak, the Festival of the Buddha’s Birth, was held on 3rd May. It was well-attended, both in person and online. The whole morning event, which comprised meditation, the ceremony and a Dharma talk and discussion, was a lovely celebration of the Sangha continuing the practice that traces its roots back to Shakyamuni Buddha. The Dharma talk was on ‘Life and Death’, focussing on a passage from the chapter ‘Shoji’ in Dogen’s Shobogenzo. A recording of the talk can be found here. The photo below was taken just after the ceremony.
Another recent Dharma talk has also been posted: Training with scrolling and other distractions.
Funerals for Faith Broadbent
The Easter weekend saw us bidding farewell to a treasured member of our Sangha, Faith Broadbent, via a series of ceremonies. Faith, who died peacefully at the age of 100, had been part of our Sangha since the late 1980s and had served as a lay minister of our Order for many years. She was a fine example of kindness, warmth, open-heartedness and patience, being always a supportive and steady presence. She will be greatly missed.
We conducted a Buddhist funeral ceremony on the Friday. This was a small-scale event, carried out in the chapel of rest at the funeral home where Faith’s body, in its wicker coffin, was being kept prior to cremation. On the following day, there was a large gathering of family and friends at the Cromer Crematorium for a service to celebrate Faith’s life, at which I offered some reflections and a blessing. On the Sunday, we held a memorial for Faith at the Priory, which was an opportunity for our Sangha to say farewell to her. We shared our memories of her over coffee afterwards. The photo below shows the Priory’s altar set up for the memorial.
Change to schedule for Wednesdays
The Wednesday Dharma Evenings have now changed to being fortnightly (following a similar move recently with the Thursday evening meetings). They will now take place on the first and third (and fifth) Wednesdays of the month. This means that each week there will be either a Wednesday meeting or a Thursday meeting, but not both. People are welcome to attend whenever there is a meeting, alternating from Wednesday to Thursday, if that works for them. On the Wednesdays when there is not a meeting at the Priory, ie the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, there will be an online meditation session of 30 minutes at 7pm.
If anyone is ever in doubt about whether or not a meeting is happening, our website calendar can be consulted, as it is always kept updated.
Work projects
There have been a couple of projects at the Priory in recent weeks where contractors have upgraded some aspects of the building. Firstly, a new hob was installed in the kitchen, replacing the old one that had only three out of four functioning rings. The second project had been a long time coming to fruition, when we finally had vinyl flooring fitted in the kitchen and the upstairs bathrooms. The new flooring definitely enhances these rooms and will be more hygienic and easier to clean.
Another major project is being tackled by two Sangha members. The wooden doors on the garage have been in need of repainting for a while. However, it became apparent that the wood was rotting, having been patched up in the past. It was decided to replace the doors entirely and I am grateful to the two trainees who are applying themselves to this task with their usual carefulness and bright-mindedness. The photo below was taken when the right-hand door had been replaced.
I am very grateful to the Sangha member who enabled me to have some retreat time at their cottage recently. Thanks also go to those people who do the accounts and bookkeeping, to everybody who ensures that the garden and the house are kept looking at their best and to those trainees who help with hosting events, online and in person.
With best wishes and in gassho,
Reverend Leoma