Conducive Conditions
Picture: Anagarika Charlie fixing drains by the lake
The New Moon for this month falls today, Saturday 18th November; the next Full Moon will be on Sunday 3rd December. Sometimes conditions come together in ways that conduce to harmony and ease; at other times they do not. Last Saturday (11th November) was one of those wonderful late autumn/early winter days with clear skies and no wind. Lots of work got done down by the lake: landscaping around the new Borobudur Buddha, straightening trees and addressing drainage issues. Very satisfying. The next Lake Work Day is planned for Saturday 9th December, when we expect there will be several trees ready for planting around the new shrine. Construction work on the building site is not completely satisfying, but certainly good enough. Access to some of our accommodation was blocked whilst new foundations were dug. Discovering unexpected drain pipes and temperatures dropping didn't help. But at least it is not snowing which it was at this time last year. We are hopeful that any serious frosts will hold off long enough for the cement work to be completed. On Sunday evening at puja Luang Por delivered a Dhamma talk called A Generative Unfolding, offering inspiration to the monastic community as we began a week of formal silent retreat. The week before on Sunday 5th November Luang Por offered a talk called An Apparently Unending Ordeal (the contents of the talk are not as ominous as the title sounds). Tan Sudhammo is about to leave for Thailand on 22nd (his departure was delayed). Tan Mandali has returned from visiting family in Portugal. Tan Rathapala and Anagarika Pedro are still due to arrive.
