New Year RetreatAjahn Pasada has kindly offered to lead this retreat. Starting at 7pm on Monday 26th December and finishing on Tuesday 3rd January at 4pm. Many people have already booked so if you want accommodation please fill out the guest booking form. You are welcome to come through the day and join any part of the retreat.
BruceBruce passed away peacefully on Wednesday 30th November at 10.10. His exemplification of theory in practice was very inspiring; death as a natural part of life. We will mark his passing with several dedications and have an open gathering in February 2023 to mark his 100 days. We will miss him and wish him well.
Ajahn TiradhammoThe Bodhinyanarama sangha travelled to Auckland to spend time with Ajahn Tiradhammo over the weekend of 12-13th November. We drove up over two days, spending one night camping in the forest close to Mount Tongariro. It was nice to share a bit of New Zealand’s nature with Ajahn Pasada who is in NZ for the first time. The weekend in Auckland was especially harmonious with activities and events at Vimutti monastery on Saturday and an open day at the city Vihara on Sunday. Both days saw good crowds with everyone enjoying coming together and – the dhamma.
On Monday Ajahn Kusalo and venerable Anenjo headed south on a mini tudong to New Plymouth for a weekend of teaching and Ajahn Kusalacitto and Pasada drove back to Wellington.
Sangha gatherings have a special value. They amplify the samana life – in the sense that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’ – and provide a healthy diversity with community perspective being more useful and reliable than just one individual’s view. We hope to see Ajahn Tiradhammo back more frequently.
VanThe new monastery Volkswagen van is “in the country” – they keep saying. I guess there are still a few official boxes to be ticked before we actually get the keys and can go for a drive. For now we plan to keep the old van for a year.
City MeditationAjahn Kusalacitto is going to India to visit the four holy sites. The scheduled meeting on Dec. 15th is now on the 1st (tonight). There will be no meetings until February – the third Thursday of the month.
Gym GearIt was mentioned in an update (way back) that we were looking to set up an exercise area and could use some equipment. The thought was that there is no end of weights and ‘machines’ and such sitting in garages, etc. just gathering dust. We now have a very good space set up with the items we have and, with more monks coming, are thinking to get more equipment. Please let us have any thoughts that arise around this. We can of course just buy new stuff but – it seems more practical to remove the dust off existing rather than the packaging off new.