April 2025
Our Songkran celebration was held on Sunday 13 April with around 400 people attending throughout the day. Our sincere thanks to everyone who helped make this special occasion so successful.
Our monks have been very busy with visits to the Isle of Man temple and to Varapunya Meditation Centre in Aberdeen, as well as hosting many school visits and offering blessings to our supporter’s homes and businesses.
The work to the new hall is going well. The main stabilising ring and the bottom foundation beam are now cast. Works will now continue with the main foundation ring beam which will include the holding down bolts for the steelwork frame.
We had a real scare this month, something that could potentially have closed our temple, and many other similar organisations …
We hold an SMS Licence from the UK Visas and Immigration service, and each year we apply for Certificates of Sponsorship for both Tier 2 Ministers of Religion and Tier 5 Religious Workers, and we have a 100% compliance record. Following our application this year we, along with other temples, received a request for additional information on why we needed these CoS, and what the monks would be doing whilst in the UK. We composed a response and had it reviewed by an Immigration Lawyer before submitting it. The decision that we received from UKVI shocked us as they refused our request for Tier 5 Religious Workers Certificates of Sponsorship without which we could not bring monks to the UK. The basis for their refusal was that the monks on a Tier 5 Religious Worker visa were not allowed to Meditate, Chant and take part in religious activities, practices that are a fundamental part of a monk’s daily routine, and are defined by the Vinaya rules that govern a monk’s life. This decision had significant implications, not just for us but for many other similar organisations, and we decided that it needed to be challenged. Helpfully, UKVI’s letter of refusal included a link to the guidance document for Tier 2 and Tier 5 visas where is was clear that these activities were permitted for Tier 5 Religious Workers. We submitted an Official Complaint and provided a seven page document setting out why we were challenging UKVI’s decision and what the implications of their refusal meant. We also engaged a local MP to write to the government of our behalf.
We are happy to report that UKVI have now changed their decision, and have now granted us all the Certificates of Sponsorship that we requested. We also received an apology from UKVI for the “inconvenience caused”
On a happier note we would like to invite you to celebrate Vesakha Puja, or Buddha Day, at the temple on Sunday 11 May 2025. Vesakha is the most important event in the monastic calendar as it celebrates the Birth, Enlightenment and Final Passing of Siddharta Gautama who would become known as The Buddha, which all occurred on the full moon day in the lunar month of Vesakha.
As always, please let us know if you have any comments or suggestions,
With Metta (loving kindness)
