Ullambana holiday- Rose festival

[MagnoliaVillage]

Dear Friends,

“The thought "mother" cannot be separated from that of "love". Love is
sweet, tender, and delicious. Without love, a child cannot flower, an
adult cannot mature. Without love, we weaken, wither.” This sentence
is taken from A Rose for Your Pocket written by our Teacher, Zen
Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

We are happy to share with you that Magnolia Village will honor this
love on the Ullambana holiday. This is one of the main holidays in
Buddhism when we share about filial love — the work of the father, the
devotion of the mother, and the duty of the child. We come together to
create the energy of peace by practicing sitting meditation, walking
meditation, chanting and listening to the Dharma talk. We nourish this
peace and send it to our parents, hoping they would be in wonderful
health and have peace in themselves.

The Ullambana holiday will be celebrated on Sunday, August 15, 2010.
You are invited to come and stay at Magnolia Village for this special
weekend. You are welcome to join us for the whole day or part of the
day. At 5:30am, there will be a special chanting session focusing on
the work of the father and the devotion of the mother. Walking
meditation begins at 8:45. Live Dharma talk will be at 9:45. The
Dharma talk will be divided into two sessions; the first session is in
English for the children and the second session is for the adults will
be in Vietnamese, with English translation. The rose festival, which
will be conducted in English and Vietnamese, is at 11:00. During the
day we will practice together, creating the peaceful energy to offer
to our ancestors, our parents and to all living beings. Your presence
on the Ullambana holiday is a great encouragement to the residential
monastic sangha (community). Please email us at
off...@magnoliavillage.org if you plan to come. The full program is
listed below.

We also would like to express our gratitude to all of you for
supporting Magnolia Village financially and/or spiritually over these
past months on our current project, the Multifunctional Activity
House. This will provide a temporal residence for the monastic
Sisters. The house is going very well; the insulation is almost
finished. The electricity and the roof are completed. The total
expense for the house at this point, including the foundation, is
$117,981. We are in need of $50,000-$70,000 for the heating and
cooling system, drywall, and painting. Once again, we are humbly
asking for your help and your support in this project so that the
house can be complete soon.

We also would like to share with you the wonderful news that currently
there are 13 monastic Sisters and 8 monastic Brothers residing in
Magnolia Village. More Brothers and Sisters will join Magnolia Village
in the near future. Completing the house as soon as possible is very
much needed in order for our Sisters to have a place to live, and to
continue on the path of understanding and love. We ask for your
support, help and generosity.

Thank you for continuous practice and generosity. May you be peaceful
and well.

A lotus for you,
The monastic Brothers & Sisters at Magnolia Village

The Program.
Sunday, August 15/ 2010.
05:00 Wake up
05: 30 Sitting and Chanting
07: 00 Breakfast
08: 00 Working Meditation
08: 45 Walking meditation
09: 45 Live Dharma talk
11: 00 Rose Festival
13: 00 Lunch
14: 30 Sharing the happiness, memories we have with our parents
If you have a song, poem, skit about mother’s love and dad’s
love, please share with us.
16: 30 Offering to the Hungry Ghosts.
17: 30 Dinner.

Program ends after dinner.