This month we seem to be continuing the theme from July’s Dharma Day Festival. On that day Dayasara introduced us to the teachings of Milarepa, an 11th Century Tibetan Buddhist teacher. I have in mind the beautiful and lyrical text “Song of Meeting and Parting” which was sung by Irene.
So on Wednesday 7th August we say welcome back to Kamalasiha and Vishvabandhu. If you remember, we had a large send-off for them back in April, when they both left for the 3 month Men’s Ordination Course in Spain. Our biggest ever event at the Centre.
With only a week for that excitement to subside, we then have on the 14th August the Going Forth celebration for Andy Madel, who is also off to Spain on the one month ordination course. Dayasara is Andy’s Private Preceptor and he will be travelling to Spain to Ordain Andy.
Becoming Ordained is one of the biggest events that can occur in your life, if not the biggest. Many other Buddhist organisations have multiple ordinations, and Triratna started of that way.
However, Sangharakshita realised, fairly soon after founding Triratna that only one Ordination was necessary. This is related to his realisation that Going For Refuge(GFR) is the principle and defining Buddhist act. Ordination within Triratna marks the point that we Effectively Go for Refuge. The point where we turn our whole life’s work towards the Buddha’s path. There is no need to mark any other spiritual accomplishment. In fact, marking other attainments can lead in the opposite direction, becoming a source of pride or conceit. Fuel for the flames of greed and craving. History shows us how this spiritual ‘one-upmanship’ can completely undermine and derail a person’s journey towards Enlightenment. This desire for spiritual rewards, and reliance upon such recognition is part of the third fetter of ‘attachment to rites and ceremonies’.
I don’t have space to go into the fetters in detail. But briefly, the Buddha said that there are ten fetters (Samyojana in Pali) in total, which one has to break free from in order to become Enlightened. You can read more about the Fetters in Sangharakshita’s book – A Guide to the Buddhist Path – around page 105.
This third fetter (Silabbata-paramasa) of clinging to rituals, habits and rewards can be so devastating that it leads, over time, to the stagnation and the eventual end of whole schools of Buddhism. So, it is important to understand how we are affected, even infected, by it. The future of Buddhism actually depends on our individual understanding of, and freedom from this fetter.
So, by the end of September we will have three new Order members in the Ipswich Sangha. Each, on their return, will have their own way of re-connecting with us in Ipswich. They will each have a clearer idea about how they are going to pursue their own path towards Enlightenment. And also how they are going to help the Ipswich Sangha move forward on our individual spiritual paths.
When Andy returns to Ipswich he too will have a new name and will be a very different person to the Andy that left. I’ve talked about the significance of Buddhist names in previous monthly writings, see March 2024.
The Ordination itself and the Ordination course that follows it, are a time of great personal upheaval. During the Ordination, you receive a new Buddhist name and take on the 10 precepts as vows. You also accept the Ordination on the proviso of four special verses. I have mentioned these verses before but it is worth briefly repeating them because they give the context around which an Order Member builds their life and also how they affect the lives of those around them.
With loyalty to my teachers, I accept this ordination.
In harmony with friends and brethren, I accept this ordination.
For the attainment of Enlightenment, I accept this ordination.
For the benefit of all beings, I accept this ordination.
During the Ordination course there is time and space, so that one can reflect and understand the importance of these vows and verses, also what it means to be, and live your life, as an Order Member.
As I mentioned above, our new Order Members will be very different people to those that left. It is hard to describe the changes that have taken place within them. To the outside world, they will look, and maybe even occasionally act the same; but they will have fundamentally changed. They will no-longer see the world around them, that includes you and me, as part of a strong human need to grasp onto, and permanently hold things. A grasping that we vainfully hope will stave off the existential dukkha (discomfort) that previously perfumed every thought.
This fundamental change – and staying with this change is our work as Order Members. Staying fluid when all around one is pushing for us to fix ourselves. Staying with the turbulence of life, dwelling full-time in the Gap. The Gap between feeling and craving. Riding the wave of discomfort.
Not fixing any aspect of your personality is what we are aiming for. As Order Members we are part of the world, but not hooked into it in a rigid or fixed way. Ordination then, is the breakdown of that rigid connection to OUR world. We stop taking Refuge in Samsara, worldly pursuits and things, but begin to discover how we can really Go For Refuge, to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha; the three Jewels.
So, this coming back from Ordination can be a disturbing and in some sense, a painful time. How long this period lasts is very dependent on the new Order Member. It also is dependent on the new Order Member when this period will begin. For some, it can be immediate, for others, it may occur a year after they were Ordained that the enormity of the undertaking and the change required really hits home. And the ‘home’ that has been built up over the years, pre-Ordination, is no longer a safe refuge and now requires rebuilding. It requires re-alignment with the Three Jewels, so that all of our life becomes a Dharmic life.
So come along to the Centre on Wednesday 7th and see what these new beings are like and hear of their adventures in the mountains of Spain.
But make sure you come along the following week, say goodbye to the heroic Andy, who leaves us to take on that new life.
And finally to end, the Acceptance verses remind me of some of the words of Hakuin Ekaku who is on the Triratna Refuge Tree. See if you can see him on Trisha’s marvellous painting at the Centre. Hakuin was a very influential, 17th Century Japanese Zen monk. Who re-invigorated Japanese Buddhism and took it beyond the restricted formalism, beyond the rites and rituals it had become over the 1,500 years since it was introduced into Japan.
What is to be valued above all else is the practice that comes after Insight is achieved.
What is that practice?
It is the practice that puts the Bodhicitta first and foremost.
I have at long last penetrated into the heart of this great matter.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, I saw it; it was as clear as if it were right there in the hollow of my hand.
What is the mind of Enlightenment, the Bodhicitta?
It is, I realized, simply a matter of doing good —
benefiting others by giving them the gift of the Dharma teaching.
Chairs Homily August 2024
