We are now moving towards the most important retreat in the Amida
calendar, the Bodhi Retreat. This is a time of reflection and
celebration as well as a time in the year when people receive
ordination, become Amida shu members and take refuge. It is also an
opportunity for the Sangha to come together to engage in an extended
period of devotion and nembutsu practice.
This year, to build on the success of the 72 hour nembutsu intensives
over the last two years, we will be chanting continuously for a period
of ten days between November 22nd through to December 2nd. This
chanting intensive precedes the Bodhi Retreat and follows the Reihai
Sesshin. All three periods can be considered as a whole, connected by
the spirit of devotion to Amida and an expression of gratitude for his
grace.
We hope you will be able to join us for part of this period which
starts with the commencement of the Sesshin at 8.00 a.m. on Wednesday
16th November.
We also hope that you will encourage other nembutsu practitioners and
members from your local group to join the 10 day chanting intensive.
As you maybe aware the idea is not to allow the chant to stop which
requires people to co-operate and work together somewhat as if in a
relay. It will be a challenge this year to cover the whole period and
so we hope that you will be willing to put some effort into getting
others to come along.
It is a team effort as well as intense personal practice. There are
also opportunities for people to assist the retreat by bringing food and
by helping with the domestic support that is required.
This year we have set up a ‘doodle’ document and are asking people to
record in advance the days they intend to come. Please do use this so
we can begin to get a picture of how well we are progressing towards
covering all the times we need to. Follow the link to join:
http://www.doodle.com/w5xgdbcziydnzrhv
Please book the other two events with us separately.
The dates for the three events are as follows:
Reihai Sesshin 16th – 20th November
Chanting Intensive 22nd November – 2nd December
Bodhi Retreat 4th – 8th December
For more detailed information visit Friends of Amida
. If you have any questions or want to talk
about further about attending these events please do phone us at the
Buddhist House on 0116 286 7476 or email Aramati
aramati.amida.trust@gmail.com
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