Celebration
picture: A family of 7, Harnham Lake
There has been much to celebrate recently, beginning with the good amount of work done on last Saturday's Lake Work Day. Then there was the wonderful weather we had for the Vesak Celebration on Sunday. In the morning, many members of our extended Buddhist family gathered for the meal offering. In the afternoon Ajahn Abhinando led the Practice and Study group in contemplation on The Life of the Buddha. In the evening there was a composed, contemplative, circumambulation of the lake, followed with meditation and a talk on Our Spiritual Skills by Luang Por Munindo in the Dhamma Hall. On other matters, as you can see in this week's photo the 5 cygnets born to the resident swans seem to be doing well. The Listed Building people and the Planning Authority have given thoroughly favourable responses to our application for permission to construct a food larder and scullery behind No. 2 Cottage. We have heard now that we can expect Ajahn Go from Santacittarama to be joining us for the Rainy Season Retreat (vassa) this year. Originally from NE Thailand, Ajahn Go has stayed with us before and we are delighted to welcome him back. Hopefully we can confirm before long that he has been granted the necessary visa. We received some sad news that our long-time and very dear friend, James Scott of Glasgow, passed away suddenly last Sunday. It was known that he had advanced cancer, but it was not expected he would deteriorate so quickly. Ajahn Punnyo will take part in the funeral service in Glasgow this afternoon, Wednesday 25th. Ajahn Abhinando left yesterday morning for a two week visit with his parents in Germany and later today, Ajahn Jayrat, an acquaintance of Ajahn Punnyo's from Thailand, is expected to arrive and stay with us until Sunday 29th.
