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H i l l t o p
N e w s l e t t e r
Winter 2008/09
Harnham Buddhist Monastery, 2 Harnham Hall Cottages, Harnham, Belsay,
Northumberland NE20 0HF UK
AJAHN’S COMMENT
It’s good to have friends.
That’s a truth I felt strongly over the summer, when I had to take time out to
have a kidney cancer removed at Freeman Hospital. I felt incredibly blessed to
receive the support and well wishing of so many friends from our extended lay
and monastic community and especially, of course, from the community members
living here at Harnham, both during my stay in the hospital and during my
recovery time on the hill. The whole experience had its physically unpleasant
moments, but in my heart I felt blessed by the environment created for me by
friends and friendliness of all sorts, in which to find my way through the
learning curve. I don’t know if I have learned anything at all, but I am
certainly very grateful for what I have received. Thank you!
The turn of the year at Harnham offers a special opportunity to celebrate
friendship and friendliness with the Forgiveness and Renewal of Aspirations
ceremony, one of our most popular events, which is attended by at least 40 to 60
people each year. It is very heart warming to see so many of our regular
visitors and friends as well as many less familiar faces gathered on that
evening, enjoying each other’s company in such a wholesome way, practicing
meditation together and engaging and witnessing each other engage in this
simple, but very meaningful ritual.
It is good to have friends. It is good to come together to do wholesome things,
to cultivate the mind, to remind ourselves of our aspirations, to recommit to
them and to offer or ask for forgiveness where necessary. Our aspirations give
us direction, they have a powerful influence on our intentions. And our
intentions will not only influence what we do, but also how we perceive what we
are doing and what we perceive to be happening to us; they will influence our
choices on what to pay attention to, as well as what the quality of our
attention will be like. To be clear about our aspirations, to make them
conscious then is very important, if we want to take responsibility for our
practice. Forgiveness keeps our hearts young and malleable, allows us to let
past things be past and to direct our energies fully to the present. Without
forgiveness we might easily grow a shell of regrets and resentments which will
make it difficult for our aspirations to move and motivate us.
It is good to be generous, to give to ourselves and others. There are many
things one can give. To offer forgiveness and to offer our aspirations are
excellent gifts. One way in which some of the aspirations most of us share are
expressed in the Buddha’s teaching, is the five precepts, which we will also
re-determine on New Year’s Eve. The Buddha said that to keep the precepts is to
offer the gift of fearlessness to the world. If we are committed to the five
precepts other creatures (and we ourselves) need not be afraid of us, we and
them can trust our good intentions, integrity and restraint. That is a beautiful
way of being generous to ourselves and others.
This year Ajahn Munindo and Tan Nyanamoli won’t be here for the Forgiveness and
Aspiration ceremony. They have left for Asia at the beginning of December, and
won’t be back until the 18th of February. We are missing them already, and not
just because we feel the work-load that they tend to carry themselves when they
are here. Ajahn Punnyo on the other hand, after being away for most of the last
four years, has arrived back from Thailand just in time for our ‘New Year Do’,
which in itself is a good reason to celebrate, and I hope he will be with us now
for a good long time.
Soon after New Year our community will retreat for three months into our usual
winter quiet time. Work schedules will be reduced to a minimum, we won’t accept
overnight guests and there will most likely be no Dhamma talks on Sundays
either, as we will try to direct our attention more completely inwards,
dedicating our energies to study and meditation. But though we might be less
available for verbal communication, I hope that won’t deter you from coming to
share the quiet space of this beautiful sanctuary for meditation and
contemplation. The Sunday Evening Puja, the monthly Lay Discussion Group and
some of the other regular events (see calendar) at Harnham will also continue
throughout the retreat.
But first of all we are looking forward to see as many as possible of you again
for this year’s Forgiveness and Renewal of Aspirations ceremony at Harnham and
wish all of you that the coming year be full of blessings for you.
Bhikkhu Abhinando
RESIDENT COMMUNITY & NEWS
Current residents at Aruna Ratanagiri are:
Ajahn Munindo
Ajahn Abhinando
Ajahn Puñño
Bhikkhu Hiriko
Bhikkhu Ñānamoli
Samanera Visuddhi
Samanera Suññato
Anagārika Michael
Andrew Bateman
This winter
Ajahn Munindo left for Thailand and New Zealand, with a teaching detour to
Malaysia already at the beginning of December. That means, he plans to be back
in February for the second half of this year’s Winter Retreat. Tan Nyanamoli has
gone with him as far as Asia, where he is intending to stay for a couple of
months with Ajahn Sawaeng. Ajahn Puñño has returned from Thailand on the 10th of
December and on the 22nd of December Samanera Visuddhi will be back from
Chithurst, where he helped with a month of work in the monastery forest. Ajahn
Abhinando will be going to Hartridge Monastery at the beginning of February, to
spend part of the Winter Retreat there. He plans to return by the end of April.
Anagarika Sebastian is now Samanera Suññato and Michael from Leipzig, who became
an anagarika during the Vassa, is now the third German member of our community.
Kusala House Update
The day before this year’s kathina we were able to inaugurate the beautiful
meditation room of Kusala House with a baby blessing ceremony for the two
grandchildren of our good friends Myint Su and Clive, with the participation of
many visiting Sangha members, including Luang Por Sumedho. We used the occasion
to also bless the new Buddha rupa in the Kusala House garden, which was recast
by Ajahn Vimalo from the original Burmese Buddha rupa given to the monastery by
the local council twenty years ago, that now finally stands on its masterfully
carved Burmese shrine in the meditation room. We hope you will enjoy the
facilities of Kusala House in the coming years on your visits to the monastery.
In the coming year we still hope to build a further fire escape to improve the
usability of the upstairs dormitories. There also remain minor furbishing
projects and of course the maintenance of the place which will be supervised by
the Kusala House Committee and our able Kusala House manager Andrew Bateman.
NEW NOTICES
Monastic Retreat 2009
From 5th January 2008 until the end of March the
community will be on retreat. Much of the time will be spent in silence and we
will not be having guests staying at the monastery. Visitors are still welcome
to visit in the daytime, and the Dhamma Hall will be open daily from 6am until
10pm for personal meditation. The monthly meditation class, lay discussion group
and the Sunday evening puja will continue to take place. However, Dhamma talks
will only occasionally be given during the retreat period. As always, you are
most welcome to come and share the silence, bring food offerings or help with
cooking.
Meditation Retreats at Harnham 2008
- Women's Retreat - will be offered from Sat. 2nd - Wed. 6th of May. Led
by Ajahn Anandabodhi and Ajahn Santacitta.
- Men’s Retreat - will be offered from Sun. 9th - Sat. 15th of August.
Led by Ajahn Jayanto.
- Mixed Retreat - will be offered from Sun. 18th - Sat. 24th of October.
Led by Ajahn Vimalo.
- Weekend Retreat – will be offered from Fri 13th to Sun 15th of
November. Led by Ajahn Abhinando.
- Introduction to Sutta Study - Professor Peter Harvey has kindly offered
to hold a Sutta Study day at Kusala House on Sunday 24th May 2009. The day will
provide an introduction to Sutta study for those interested in developing
knowledge of the Buddhist scriptures. The day will begin at 9.30 am and finish
at 4.00pm. There will be a meal break between 11.00 am and 1.00pm and a short
break in the afternoon. Participants will be asked to bring vegetarian food for
a shared lunch. Numbers will be limited to 24 places and allocated on a first
come first served basis. Participants will also be asked to provide an e-mail
address if possible (otherwise postal address) to enable Professor Harvey to
send some introductory material as a pre-read to the day’s teaching. There is
also a possibility of further study days.
- Meditation/yoga day - on 7th June led by Ian Plagaro Neill.
For more information and
booking please contact Kath Ann Jones at
contact
page or by phone on 0120 7283361.
For our dynamic calendar please click
here.
COMMITTEE NOTICES
Cooking Volunteers wanted!
It would be very helpful if the lay community could
cover the cooking of the meal on at least one day a week, preferably on a
Friday.
“Monks… householders are very helpful to you. They provide you with the
requisites of robes, almsfood, lodgings and medicines… And you, monks, are very
helpful to… householders, as you teach them the Dhamma… and you proclaim the
spiritual life in its fulfilment and complete purity.
Thus… this spiritual life is lived with mutual support for the purpose of
crossing the flood and making a complete end of suffering.” (Anguttara Nikaya)
If you are interested in offering help, either by providing cooked dishes or
coming to the monastery to cook, then please contact one of us:
Anna Potaro 01875 320 581
Kath Jones 01207 283 361
Monastery 01661 881 612
Sunday Evening Food Offerings
This offerings rota has been organized so that the wider lay community can bring
vegetarian cooked dishes on Sunday evenings, in order to be reheated during the
week.
Anyone who may be interested in adding their name to this rota could contact
Mickey MacGregor on 01434 240256 or use our contact
page. Alternatively please fill your name in on the sheet
provided on Sunday nights.
Request for Local Accommodation
There are times of high demand for guest
accommodation at the monastery and we are compiling a list of alternative local
accommodation. If you live locally and would be prepared to offer short-term
stays to guests of the monastery we would be delighted to hear from you.
Likewise, we are also for looking for recommendations of any Bed and Breakfast
establishments in the area. Anyone interested please contact Caroline Dower on
01670 774404 or use our contact
page.
Committee contacts
Should you need any information or advice about visiting the monastery, or ways
of supporting the monastic community through offerings of practical help, food
or funds please do not hesitate to get in touch. We are also always very
interested in receiving your comments or any new ideas. Our names and contacts
are:
Email: click
here
Phone numbers:
|
Anna Potaro | |
01875 320 581 |
|
Micky MacGregor | |
01434 240 256 |
| Alex Ewing | |
01875 830276 |
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