Visiting the Priory
Since lockdown restrictions were eased on 4th July, individuals have come along to the Priory to sit in the meditation room, or to have a cup of tea and a chat, or to attend an event in person rather than via Zoom. The Priory has also been offering in-person introductory sessions to newcomers on an individual basis. It has been a joy to be able to meet up with people once again and to connect in a way that just isn’t possible online. If you would like to visit the Priory, please contact me to arrange a time.
Online events
Our Zoom meetings have been unaffected by the small-scale opening of the Priory. We have recently decided to add some more meetings to our schedule, to enable people to meditate together more often. We’re now holding meditation afternoons once a month on a Saturday, from 2.00pm to 4.45pm. These silent afternoons consist of 35-minute meditation periods on the hour, followed by 10 minutes of walking meditation and a 15-minute break. You are welcome to join for however many of the meditation periods you would like. The next one is on 12th September.
There will be an online day retreat, on Saturday 17th October. This will be a silent day, apart from the tea and discussion at the end. There will be a morning session, 10.00am – 1.00pm, then a break for lunch, followed by an afternoon session, 2.00pm – 4.30pm. You are welcome to join for all or part of the day. More details and the full schedule can be found at this link.
Information about our events can be found on our calendar. The links to access our online events are shared through the Priory’s email group. Anyone who is familiar with our practice and would like join the meetings can contact me for more details.
The Priory will be closed from Friday 18th to Friday 25th September inclusive. There will be no Priory events for those eight days.
Memorial for Rev. Myfanwy
We held a memorial for Rev. Myfanwy on the morning of 26th July, which was the day of her funeral at Throssel. It was a lovely ceremony, attended by one of our Sangha in person and 14 others via Zoom. This was an opportunity to say farewell and express our gratitude for Rev. Myfanwy’s life and training, especially since many of our Sangha had fond memories of meeting her at Throssel before she left to set up Dragon Bell Temple.
Rev. Myfanwy holds a place of affection and gratitude in the story of establishing the Norwich Priory. In 2013, when I was preparing to move to Norwich, she invited me to her temple, which was then in Exeter, for a “field trip”. It was an invaluable opportunity for me to spend some time with a prior who had set up her own temple, to ask questions and to learn as she went about the everyday tasks of running the temple. I came away with many good ideas, useful tips and pieces of advice. Over subsequent years, Rev. Myfanwy continued to offer help and guidance during our occasional phone calls.
The photo below shows our altar set up for the memorial.
Thank you
In these challenging times of great uncertainty, I am extremely grateful to everybody who has been supporting the Priory, particularly with online donations. Our income from donations is holding up, despite having very few visitors to the Priory, and we are continuing to cover our costs. A truly heartfelt ‘thank you’ for that. I am also grateful for considerable computer help that has been offered recently and which has, amongst other things, ensured that our Zoom meetings run more smoothly. Also, the kind loan of an electric fan during the August heatwave was much appreciated.
With best wishes and in gassho,
Reverend Leoma