We are taking some tentative steps towards reopening the monastery and we hope that this will happen gradually over the next couple of months. The community is not yet fully vaccinated and with covid infections at a very high rate we remain cautious.
On Saturday 31st July we will have our first monthly meditation workshop - see the News section for details. Booking will be necessary if you would like to come.
We also hope to resume the Sunday evening pujas from around mid-August, but will post another update before that happens.
We are having a few short term guests starting to come and stay during August. We will wait a few weeks to see how this goes and to review the situation before deciding if we continue this in September. August is now full so for the moment we are not taking any further bookings.
For those coming to offer dana, for the time being there will still be no access to the kitchen, and we will continue to meet with people outdoors. If the weather is poor we may invite you to come inside, although over the summer so far this has rarely been necessary.
The community has continued to be well and covid-free. Most of the team of lay people who had been resident alongside the monastic community since last summer have now moved on, so we are open to the possibility of one more long-term guest (a month or more), although this would preferably be someone that has stayed before and is already well kkown to us.
Anumodana and much appreciation for the generous support of many friends over recent months.
For friends and supporters wanting to know how things are working at he moment, here is a brief summary:
1. The buildings remain closed to visitors for the time being, with the exception of the Dhamma Hall vestibule just before the meal time. 2. We are pausing the reopening for short term guests coming to stay. We currently full until September, and will decide in mid-August when we will resume taking short term guests.
3.It will continue to be possible to come to the monastery to offer dana, whether cooked food or supplies. If possible please phone us on 01404 891251 or email prior to coming. Usually one or more of the monks will be available outdoors to offer an anumodana and for a short conversation. By prior arrangement it is usually also possible to go for a walk in the grounds.
4. If you are looking for online resources to help support you, we suggest that a good place to start is the website of Amaravati, our main monastery: www.amaravati.org They have an extensive library of free Dhamma talks, books, guided meditations and chanting which you can download. If you would like a hard copy of a particular book, many of these are also available on request from us or from Amaravati. Amaravati are also posting videos of Dhamma talks online at: https://vimeo.com/amaravativideo
5. Some supporters who are unable to visit in person have arranged deliveries of requisites, or sent funds to enable the lay residents to either go once a fortnight to the shops, or order requisites online. If you would like to offer support in this way please see details in the Contributing section. If you would like to dedicate an offering on a particular day or for a particular reason, please let us know.
We have tested the broadband availability to us at Hartridge and with most of the network operators we lie on the edge of reasonable internet reception. In practice this means that most of the time we have adequate broadband for receiving data, but that the performance when sending data is intermittent or poor, and this particularly applies inside the Dhamma Hall and cottage. We have therefore dropped the idea of live streaming of events such as talks. However, we have occasionally, on request from external groups, led live meditation classes, and will consider any requests.
