The closing of Reading Buddhist Priory

Many of you will know that our order has had a small temple in Reading, Berkshire for many years, called the Reading Buddhist Priory. It was the first of the small temples outside Throssel to be set up in the UK, in 1990, and many different monks have been resident as the Prior over the years. The most recent Prior, Rev. Gareth, has stepped down from that role, and unfortunately there aren’t currently any monks available to take on the job. Our main monastery Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey, for example, isn’t really able to spare anyone as they are already quite stretched running the monastery with the number of monks that they currently have.

Rev. Master Haryo (the Head of the order), Rev. Gareth and the trustees of the priory have discussed the situation with the lay Sangha at Reading, and have taken the difficult decision to close the priory and to wind down the Reading Buddhist Priory charity. It’s very sad to see a temple of the order closing, but the reality of the situation is that we just don’t have any spare monks in the order to take on the running of the temple at the moment.

Rev. Gareth and many lay Sangha members held a Closing Ceremony on Sunday March the 17th. We are all very grateful for the many training opportunities that have been offered by the Reading Buddhist Priory for over 30 years, and we send our best wishes to Rev. Gareth and the lay Sangha members at Reading and in the South-East of England as they continue their practice.

New altar in the Meditation Hall

Following the closure of the Reading Priory the trustees there have been trying to find new homes for many of the temple fixtures, fittings and equipment that have been built up over the last thirty years or more.

We have been offered many items from the priory, and in particular the main altar from their Meditation Hall, which is a similar design to the main altar at Throssel and is known as a Mount Sumeru altar. It’s a real shame that Reading will be closing, but it’s nice to be able to make use of the altar, which is a significant upgrade to our Meditation Hall.

On Friday the 22nd of March Rev. Aiden drove down to Reading in order to pick up the altar and many other items from the priory. He got back to the temple at about noon on Saturday, and thank you to Paul, Kevin and Aidan who helped unload the transit-sized van that had been hired for the day, which was fairly full of items.

The Mount Sumeru Altar is now in place in our Meditation Hall, as shown in the photo above. We also have many statues, pictures, scrolls, sacristy items, books, meditation equipment and other items, many of which you will see if you visit the temple in person. You’ll be able to see quite a few on zoom as well.

We are very grateful to the lay Sangha and trustees at Reading Buddhist Priory for their generosity, and it is a great privilege to be able to make use of all these treasures that have been collected at Reading over a period of nearly thirty-five years.

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Forthcoming Events:
The Festival of Manjusri Bodhisattva

On Saturday the 6th of April we will be celebrating the Festival of Manjusri Bodhisattva. Manjusri is the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, usually portrayed holding the Sword of Wisdom that cuts through delusion, and riding “the Beast of Self which never sleeps”. Are we Manjusri or are we the beast? It may seem like we are divided between a good side and a bad side, between clarity and confusion, but we gradually come to see that Manjusri and the beast are not two different things.

When we come to understand the true nature of “self”, we see that the “beast” is what carries and supports Manjusri – and us. The wisdom which Manjusri embodies is not intellectual or conceptual wisdom, but the ability to see ourselves and the whole of existence with clarity. When we see clearly, we understand that we must act in the world in a way that is rooted in compassion for all beings.

In addition to welcoming visitors to the temple for the festival (please book in advance), we will also be holding the festival over zoom so that Lay Sangha members can join in from where they are. This festival day will run from 10am to 12.30pm, and full details of the festival will be sent out by email to Lay Sangha members prior to the festival.

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Buddhist Stories

There are many stories in Buddhism, from the time of the Buddha onwards, and they are very helpful in illustrating aspects of the Buddha’s teaching and Buddhist practice.

Unfortunately due to other commitments there hasn’t been time to prepare a Buddhist Story for this issue of the newsletter.

We hope that our regular Buddhist Stories slot will return in the near future.

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Alms Bowl Requests

Donations of Food
Offering food is a traditional way to support a monk, and all donations of vegetarian food are most welcome. In particular:

• porridge oats
• peanuts or other nuts
• peanut butter
• fresh fruit and vegetables (except garlic or peppers)
• dried herbs
• cheese, eggs and yoghurt

Any other suitable items would also be appreciated.

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Donations

The temple is dependent on donations for its continued existence, and any financial support you are able to offer is greatly appreciated. Details of how to offer support can be found on the Donations page of the website.

All donations are received with gratitude