This month, the night of the 21st and morning of the 22nd mark the first full moon of May. This has been designated by the United Nations as the international Day of Wesak to acknowledge the contribution that Buddhism, one of the oldest religions in the world, has made for over two and a half millennia and continues to make to the spirituality of humanity.Wesak is the Buddhist festival that commemorates the Buddha's birth, awakening and final passing and is celebrated by millions of Buddhists around the world on the day of the first full Moon of May.
This year we will be celebrating Wesak here in the West Wight from 12:00 midday to 2:30ish on Sunday the 22nd (usual format of bringing vegetarian food to share). All Buddhists and friends and family are welcome.
hello I live in Ryde and am looking to join a local group session, does the ryde meeting still run and do you have a contact number for the group organiser? thank you
ReplyDeleteHi Harry,
DeleteUnfortunately to date it has proved impossible to find suitable premises to host the proposed Ryde group and as such it hasn’t got off the ground. There are a number of other Buddhist groups on the island and the one that I would recommend is the Soto Zen group in Newport. This is probably the easiest for you to get to and, like all the groups on the island, is very friendly and easy going (I go along most weeks myself).
The group is run by Dave Downer and his contact details are:-
dave@davedowner.co.uk,
Telephone No. 01983 520795
Address 19 Watergate Rd,
Newport
Isle of Wight
PO30 1XN,
The West Wight Sangha is the only non-denominational Buddhist group on the island, all the other groups follow various traditions and schools of Buddhism. That said we all know one another and get together for various events throughout the year. In fact our Wesak celebrations for this year are tomorrow the 21st starting at 12:00 to about 3:00 p.m. The format is to bring vegetarian food to share, plus there will be some soup. So if you would like to join us and meet some of the Buddhist community you would be very welcome.
We are at Yew Tree Cottage, Weston Road, Totland PO39 0EY, travel along the Broadway in Totland down to the roundabout by the war memorial and turn left, we are about a hundred metres along on the left-hand side, opposite the thatched cottage. My number is 01983 756884.
Hope that helps,
Steve