It is traditional in Far Eastern Buddhism to hold a retreat at the beginning of December and in our school this retreat includes a period of extended chanting, so, today, we spent twelve hours chanting the nembutsu invocation of Amitabha Buddha. We alternate twenty minute periods of sitting and walking. Some of us did the whole twelve hours and others come in for a few hours so there was a steady stream of people coming and going through the day with, maybe three dozen people taking part altogether. It was particularly lovely that Acharya Susthama Kim and her husband Damian arrived with their daughter Selena who is almost four and baby Dorian. There was also lots of tasty food mostly brought by participants. Late in the day a group of people came in to join us briefly who had no previous knowledge of the event but had heard about it while passing on the street - I hope they enjoyed. At the end of the day we were all tired but happy. Some people were leaving and others staying on for the final half day of the retreat tomorrow.
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Namo Amida Bu - so pleased to have been able to join your chanting at a distance