I gave a set of talks this time on the threefold puja translated not by Maitriveer Nagarjuna but by Dhammamitra Bharati who is a really superb translator - indeed she is translating all my papers into Hindi at present. The talks went far far better than I’d anticipated. The theme had been suggested to me and I’d been rather lukewarm about it but it had gone out in the programme and I found myself committed to it. In the event I was delighted. The threefold puja is a text that communicates the basics of the Three Jewels in such a rich and poetic way that it’s possible to really touch people through it. In fact using a poem, which is what it essentially is, was a very effective way of communicating. I was particularly pleased with my talk on the Sangha Jewel - An ever widening circle. I was able to communicate what commitment means and how our own order offers the opportunity for deepening commitment and that clearly had a big effect on a number of people. Indeed one man had come wanting to become a mitra during the retreat and we obliged him. He is from Tamil Nadu, his name is Gautam Prabhu, and he came first to lectures I gave in Nagpur in 2004 and has since been coming to Nagaloka centre in Nagpur. He is very active in Tamil Nadu with quite a range of apparently very effective social projects as well as Dhamma projects. I was delighted to preside over his mitra ceremony. Incidentally I have my own way of conducting mitra ceremonies which I think is not strictly speaking the authorised way. I like to get all the Order members around me and myself to preside rather than lead. In others words I give the talk, although I get someone else to introduce the person, and then the order members together chant the refuges and precepts, together chant the blessings etc. I think this makes the point clearer that they are connecting to the order and that also makes the point clearer to the order that they are responsible to the mitra.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 08:00:57 +0000
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