Monks on TudongAjahns Sudhiro and Thitasippo are spending a couple of weeks wandering the South Island. As well as just ‘going walkabout’ they will be visiting the four Thai temples down that way. They also have support from Paul, Viphavadee and Kloy Jai and, all going well, they should be back in a week or so. We have had no news so… no news is good news? You can see plans and more detail for both these projects on the future page
Tudong ContactsThe wandering, homeless lifestyle is very much a part of our tradition. This varies from organised visits to other centers and teaching events through to completely unplanned and spontaneous ‘lets see what happens’ trips. There is growing interest in our sangha for exploring the latter option within New Zealand. We wonder if there are some of you, spread about the country, who might be interested in ‘having monk(s) come by’? Or you may have a bach or weekender, a barn? shed? campsite? etc. that we might be able to use. The thought is to make a list of such contacts and either plan a bit ahead or ‘just give you a call and see if you are home’ as we find ourselves in your area. The sangha here is large enough now so that having a couple of monks away is easily adjusted for. It would be good to hear of your interest.
City MeditationThere was a group who regularly met once a month in the city for meditation and dhamma discussion. Several factors saw meetings suspended and while there have been ongoing enquiries about restarting it has taken a while to reconfigure those factors. All we need now is to finalise a date; probably monthly as before. This is just to give you a heads up. A day will be announced as soon as it has been set.
Stupa MuralIt has been nearly two years since we had the stupa dedication – Dec. 2018. You can view photos of that event here. It was over a year *before* that when the mural to go behind the reclining buddha rupa was commissioned – first in terracotta (two failed productions) and then we switched to sandstone. And now… while it is still not finished it does seem as if completion is imminent. There are a couple of photos that will give you an idea of the current state of work. Fingers crossed!
New Year RetreatStill quite a while away but space is limited and bookings are underway. Saturday December 26th to Sunday January 3rd. More details to come.
Work ProjectsNew Kuti:
The tree fellers have been and gone from the new kuti site and the space is looking very airy and spaciously pine-tree free. There is still the work of turning the fallen logs into rounds for firewood, and then we can begin setting out the building site and preparing materials. There will be a working bee to carry those materials to the site – no date as yet but hopefully in a few weeks. photos
Vihara Basement:
Some initial concrete work has begun and this will be completed with a readyMix delivery on Wednesday 11th. This will result in a concrete slab which will act as the ‘workshop’ for the renovation-alteration of the ground floor spaces above – Ajahn’s office and the monk’s library. Then the basement will be finished.