Buddhism - Jamie's Project and A Visit to the Temple in MK

Jamie has been doing a project for school on Buddhism and this has been really interesting for all of us, as we have all discovered a whole lot more about Buddhism and its philosophy.  We are lucky enough to have a Buddhist temple here in Milton Keynes and I am ashamed to say that we had never got around to having a look around it, even though we have walked past in many many times.  So as part of Jamie's project we headed camera in hand to explore The Peace Pagoda and the Nipponzan Myohoji Temple which are both at Willen Lake in Milton Keynes.  Photographs largely courtesy of Jamie as they were for his project.


A view of the Peace Pagoda from the Cedar Tree

Here are some photos from the outing, there is another blog to follow about a very unusual thing which happened to us while we were walking around, but here are some views of The Pagoda and The Temple.  The only other thing to say is that both Jamie and I were quite caught by some of the Buddhist philosophy and beliefs and I suspect we will be exploring more of those in days and weeks to come.  If you ever do come to MK then I can heartily recommend a trip to Willen Lake, The Peace Pagoda and The Temple - then possibly followed by a drink the pub on the other part of the Lake!!

The Cedar Tree



A memorial to the Buddhist Monk who was head of the Temple and died in a tragic accident about 4 years ago.

A frieze on the Pagoda telling of The Buddha Life and Road to Enlightenment

A view of Willen Lake from The Peace Pagoda



Jamie stood in front of The Pagoda





A statue of The Buddha





TheNipponzan Myohoji Temple



The above statue is called Hiroshima and is by Ronald Rae, it was created in 1988 from 470 million year old Scottish granite and part of the plaque reads "The nameless pathetic, scarcely human form conveys only the appalling history of innocent men, women and children suddenly extinguished by nuclear bombs.  Ronnie is also remembering those today who die in the world's continuing conflicts".

'After Hiroshima' installation by Edna Eguchi Read, "One seems to hear a kind of music in the ash covered things, the chairs, the teddy bear, the tennis racquet......It is the sound of the screams that were never heard - extinguished with all the lives in that death flash" Jun Furusawa, Founder of the Annual Yokosuka Peace Exhibition.

This was moving because it consisted of such normal things, things which would be left after such a tragedy as Hiroshima.

The gardens were lovely and so peaceful......

The Peace Pagoda is just peeking over the top of the hill .... behind the prayer pole .....

Inside the Temple was peaceful and striking.  There were many gifts and donations which largely consisted of food for the monks at the temple.  Lots of images of Buddha and the founder of this branch of Buddhism.

The Samadhi Garden - a zen garden with raked stones, in a variety of directions.

The Memorial Stupa

The Japanese Garden, which represents a microcosm of the world we live in ....

Jamie at The Stone Lantern

This was a fascinating and informative visit and I am so glad we all had the chance to explore and gain some understanding of the religion, philosophy and culture - it was a lovely and valuable experience.

Ciao
Sue
XX

Reading challenge 15/16 - currently reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - need to get my reading head on again  (not off my reading challenge)

Some Odds and Ends Which Don't Fit Elsewhere!!

Jamie had a busy November with a couple of school events and Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night. 

Jamie had his school assembly which was about World War II and in particular about Anderson Shelters.  Jamie had done a particularly good piece of writing about what it would feel like to be inside one during a school day when an air raid was going on and how you would be worried about where your Mum and Dad, brothers, sisters and other family and friends were.  It was a lovely piece of writing and he read it out as his part in the assembly - below a couple of photos of him doing his bit in the assembly. 

As part of the World War II project they were doing Year 6 went on a visit to Holdenby House where they were to live for the day as evacuees.  We tried to put together an outfit which made him  look like a 1940's boy and he had his little pack with his gas mask in (cat food boxes came in handy as I passed another onto one of Jamie's friends too - they worked well wrapped in brown paper and some gardening string attached!!).  Below a  photo of him dressed for his day out.

Finally a couple of photos from our mini firework display in the garden, we eventually got around to using up the sparklers over New Year as it got so cold on Bonfire Night itself.  We just had one very very small box - garden ones with lots of colour and not too many bangs but fun.  Overall there seemed to be a lot less fireworks than in previous years which was a bonus (thankfully Binnie doesn't get as distressed as Mika and Nelson (particularly Nelson) did but it still bothers her) - sadly someone always lets things down and this time it was the idiot who lives behind us letting them off at 11.40 - with young children still running around in the house and letting off fireworks which were clearly far too big for the garden - he was lucky he didn't set his next door neighbours fence on fire!!  A couple of pictures from our modest firework display!

Ciao

Sue
XX

Reading challenge 15/16 - currently reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (not off my reading challenge)