Temple Night and Buddha’s Birthday Are Still On

Our annual weekend-long celebration begins with Temple Night and Jukai on Friday, May 27. The festivities on Saturday, May 28, include music, storytelling, a parade led by an elephant – not to mention a potluck vegetarian lunch and birthday cupcakes! We wrap up on Sunday with the Center’s annual corporate meeting. The full schedule is here. Any event that is marked “hybrid” will be broadcast on Zoom (same meeting ID and passcode as those used for sittings and sesshin).

Like the elephant, the band is back! If you play an instrument, we invite you to the Center’s library on Saturday, May 28, at 10:00 am for a music rehearsal. The talented trio of April and Roy Stein and Phil Swanson will help lead the parade.

For the vegetarian potluck picnic that follows the parade, the Center will provide veggie burgers and Not Dogs, drinks, and dessert (featuring a pyramid of Lou Anne Jaeger’s legendary cupcakes). Please bring either a main dish or a salad (fruit salad counts). Remember to take your dishes home with you when you leave. Please, no meat, poultry or seafood, and size your dish to serve eight.

If you’re a parade veteran and would be willing to miss it this year to help with food setup, let Dené Redding know. You may free up a staff member who’s never participated in the parade before to follow in the footsteps of the elephant!

In fact, volunteers are needed to help set everything up during the Friday workday (May 27). The workday begins at 8:00 am, and we usually end with a pizza lunch at 12:30. If you can volunteer, contact Trueman.

Speaking of Volunteering …

To get the Center’s front and back gardens ready, staff and residents will be working on the grounds this Friday morning, May 20. If you are able to attend, your help would be greatly appreciated! Contact Trueman, and he’ll get you on the list. You don’t need to stay all morning; even a few hours of your help will go a long way in beautifying our gardens for Buddha’s Birthday.

The First Precept: Not To Kill

With the May 27 abbreviated Jukai in mind, Roshi’s teisho this coming Sunday, May 22, will be on the first of the Ten Cardinal Precepts: “Not to kill, but to cherish all life,” with comments on abortion, self-immolation, and the recent shooting massacre in Buffalo.

This Evening, May 18: Responding to the May 14 Shooting in Buffalo

Local community garden 490 Farmers is hosting a food drive benefiting community members in the Buffalo neighborhood where the shooting occurred, a “food-desert” neighborhood that has now lost one of its few sources of groceries. Donations will be accepted at the 490 Farmers Community Garden here in Rochester on the southeast corner of Broadway and Meigs Street this evening, Wednesday, May 18, from 5 to 7 pm, and disbursed on Sunday, May 22.