VesakMay 27th… Vesak is one of the biggest Buddhist events of the year when we celebrate the birth, enlightenment and final passing of the Buddha. A time to express our gratitude to the Buddha and our appreciation of the Dhamma that he taught and the Sangha that he established. A time to confirm our connection with the monastery and celebrate this wonderful place and all that it offers – as a result of the Buddha’s life and generosity. We will gather in the hall about 9:45am. All are welcome – bring a friend.
Queen’s Birthday Retreat1-4 June. “Defining Reality” What is real? How do you define it? Is ‘it’ an it? Reality: (from the thesaurus) “truth, fact, certainty, actuality, substantiality, genuineness, authenticity” How much of this do you get? If not all – why not? Let’s get real! A move away from ‘untruth, not-fact… inauthenticity.’ “When in the seen is merely what is seen… in the cognized is merely what is cognized… Just this is the end of suffering.” Bahiya Sutta, Udana 1.10. Book using the booking form
MembershipWTBA 2017 membership ended on March 31st. This notice is a bit after the event but it is never too late. Membership is a visible sign of your continuing support of the monastery. It also allows you to vote at the annual general meeting – date to be advised. You can download the membership form and send it to the ‘Treasurer, 17 Rakau Grove, Lower Hutt 5019’ or, email to: treasurer[at]bodhinyanarama[dot]net[dot]nz
Monks AboutAjahn Pum (Jotimanto) arrived from Thailand on Sunday and is currently in the South Island visiting the Thai monastery in Christchurch along with venerable Kusalacitto. They will be back next week and we look forward to having further time with Ajahn. Venerable Akincano headed off to Australia on Tuesday after a month here. Venerable Thanavaro was away for a month and has now returned. We are 7 monks in residence plus quite a large number of lay residents and guests. It is great to have such a vibrant population but they do keep eating! and our pantry supplies are dwindling.
StupaThe reclining Buddha rupa is finished and shipping is well underway. With luck it will be here in about 6 weeks. view photos The stupa itself has been thoroughly cleaned and after a few minor repairs will be ready to paint. It will be all gold – as distinct from the lower half being white. It is then a matter of having a few clear, consecutive sunny days. It is great having so many guests to help with scraping off all the old, flaky paint.
Monk’s BathroomThe bathroom room is now finished view photos and the two shower stalls are not so far away. It has been a challenge with just the downstairs shower for 7 monks but we have all worked our times well enough so there has been no problem. There are plans to do the downstairs next but details and timing have yet to be finalized. Bruce has done most of the work so he will take a break between the two.