Monday, May 16, 2011

Fırst Mıtra Ceremony in Turkey

Vajracaksu

Vajracaksu, a Turkish Order Member living and working in Istanbul, where he runs a small Triratna Buddhist group, writes with news of their Sangha’s first Mitra Ceremony. He says -

“I’m very pleased and happy to announce that Onur Pinar has recently become the first person to become a Mitra in Turkey. We celebrated the event with the traditional Mitra Ceremony at my small home studio in Istanbul,. Onur first meditated and made contact with Buddhism, through me, almost two years ago on the 17th June 2009. He first did a six week mindfulness meditation course with me 4 or 5 months later which had a deeply positive effect on his life. For example, by the end of the course he felt a lot calmer and more peaceful; was in good spirits a lot more of the time; expressed his love more; and felt more loved as well. Since then he’s done at least 6 or 7 courses.

“Gradually Onur became interested in the Dharma too and in particular loved (and loves) listening to and reading transcripts of Bhante’s talks, in particular his talk on “Fidelity” (available of couse on FreeBuddhistAudio) which he’s returned to again and again. He has strong feelings of respect and fondness for Bhante. Then he turned to the writings of Ratnaghosha, especially his talks/essays on Kshanti, and again he’s returned to these regularly. He is very grateful for the gift of the Dharma and regularly expresses his feelings of gratitude to and for Bhante, Ratnaghosha and myself.

“Last summer he visited with me our Movement in England: staying in Sukhavati community, visiting Triratna’s London Buddhist Centre, visiting Cambridge and meeting Ratnaghosha and asking him 7 questions (!), and doing a weeks’ retreat at Triratna's Padmaloka retreat centre. He had a great time, in particular loved his experience of sangha. And from that time on he’s been thinking about becoming a Mitra and on the 24th April 2011 making the traditional offerings of a flower, a candle and a stick of incense he joined the 10,000 strong international Mitra community.

“Sadhu my friend! Long may the Dharma inspire and guide you”.

Details of Vajracaksu’s classes in Istanbul are available on his website at www.farkindalikmeditasyon.com