Falling leaves & Garden harvest - Children's Program

For October's Family Program, we celebrated the beauty and bounty of autumn, as well as its bittersweetness, as the days get shorter and the nights colder. We first read the book The Fall of Freddie the Leaf by Leo Buscaglia. In the book, Freddie the Leaf learns of the changes and cycles that life brings to us all, from bursting forth in spring and soaking up the summer sun, to changing color in the autumn and eventually dying and returning to the earth, only to be recycled into more life in the spring again. Freddie learns from his wise friend, Daniel, how we can either resist these changes or move with them gracefully and wholeheartedly. We then raked up a big pile of leaves and jumped in it, before moving over to the garden to help put the garden to bed and have a celebratory harvest potluck.

Ringing the Temple Bell

Gathering the squash harvest

Potluck Garden Harvest lunch at the Garden

 

Annual Remembrance Ceremony

This year, the Annual Remembrance Ceremony took place Friday evening October 8th.  The dark evening was magically lit with candles and firelight.

This intimate annual occasion is a time to honor deceased loved ones, our spiritual lineage and those who are interred in the Shao Shan Temple Cemetery.  This year was especially poignant with the recent passing of our beloved founding abbot, Rev. Taihaku.

The evening included a candlelight procession up to the cemetery and chanting.