April Update
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Ajahn Metta, Ajahn Sucitto and Ajahn Jayanto at the Insight Meditation Society, April 2014
Dear everyone,
The annual three-month Winter Retreat for the monastic communities at Amaravati and most of the other Western Ajahn Chah branch monasteries finished at the beginning of April, and we have been moving into a more active mode ever since. I accompanied Ajahn Sucitto to Boston on April 10, having been invited to help with his retreat here at the Insight Meditation Society. So, having spent the winter in England, I am writing this first message of what will be an important year for the new New England monastery from Barre, Massachusetts, where the retreat at IMS is coming to an end today. (After writing “We’ll keep you posted. More soon …” on November 28 last year … I suppose ‘soon’ must be appreciated as a relative term – our apologies for the long wait for news.)
The plan is that I will return to the UK next week, finish up my affairs at Amaravati over the following two months, and move back to the US to take up residence with another monk or two at the prospective monastery property that Jeta Grove is renting/hopes to purchase in Temple, NH, from July 1 onwards. Everyone is welcome to drop in once we arrive; despite the sporadic nature of recent posts, by that time we should be providing fairly regularly updated news with more details of how to get involved.
In the meantime, this week Ajahn Sucitto will be giving a talk at a Buddhaparisa event in Lexington, MA on Tuesday (tomorrow) evening – details here. Also, I thought it might be a good opportunity while I’m on this side of the pond to invite any of you who would like to get together at the property in Temple for an afternoon for some meditation and Dhamma dialogue, and to have a chance to be there together and discuss the year ahead. Bruce and Barbara Kantner have graciously allowed us to do so: we’ll use the ‘Meeting House’ which we used for the day-long meditation event we held there last September. There should be an opportunity too to see the property. Further details for these two events are announced below; everyone is welcome to come along.
With metta,
Jayanto Bhikkhu
Dhamma Talk by Ajahn Sucitto – Tues., April 22
7–9 p.m. in Lexington, MA
Details and directions on the Buddhaparisa website:
http://buddhaparisa-events.blogspot.com/
Meditation at the Temple property – Sat., April 26
2–4 p.m. in Temple, NH
A chance to get together at the property in Temple for some meditation and Dhamma dialogue, as well as to have a chance to be there and discuss the year ahead. There should be an opportunity to see some of the property. All welcome!
Enquiries: (857) 202-0572