蜜芽传媒

Dayasara, who often appears on 蜜芽传媒 Radio Suffolk as a newspaper reviewer or to give us his Thought for the Day, had invited me to take a look around and to meet some of the Suffolk people who practise western order Buddhism.

It was around 500 BC that Buddhism began when Siddhartha听Gautaman, a well-born Nepalese man, left his family to go wandering. Through self-denial, he sought some of the answers to the world鈥檚 sufferings.听 Under a Bodhi Tree, it鈥檚 believed, he found enlightenment and was Awakened 鈥� or became the Buddha. He's not regarded as a god nor as supernatural, but as a normal man who found a philosophy where followers strive to find serenity in a world of strife and change.

The Centre and the Evolution shop

Like many religions, there are various branches of Buddhism, including the western version that is followed at the Ipswich centre.听 Buddhists believe that they should live by certain precepts: they should give food to monks, venerate the Buddha and go on journeys of pilgrimage.听 They also believe the path to enlightenment is through the practise of morality, meditation and wisdom.

They don't believe in a creator God, but are very tolerant of those whose beliefs are different to their own.听 The Ipswich Buddhist Centre has a sitting room where, on comfortable sofas, classes are held and social events organised.

There are also a series of rooms which house the Higher Evolution centre where classes in yoga, chanting, kung fu and lots of other activities connected with personal development are held.

An impressively decorated doorway leads to the Shrine Room. As we opened the door a powerful smell of incense wafted towards us. It's a thirty feet long room, with polished wooden floors, bright blue and yellow walls with embroidered fabric wall-hangings.听

At the end of the room a four feet tall, dark wooden statue of a slim smiling Buddha surveys the room, with outstretched hand, standing upon a shrine draped in luscious red cloth decorated with yellow flowers, lighted candles and pearls.

The Buddhist Centre shrine room

Red mats faced the statue of the Buddha, at the end of the room.听 Dayasara demonstrated to me how, when kneeling, a small pile of blue cushions act as a comfortable seat to enable the worshipper to meditate for longer.听

He says there are two main types of meditation they practise "Normally the idea of meditation is to try and direct your thoughts to something in particular.听 The first way is by using the breath as something to focus on and to get us into a calm and concentrating state.

"The second way is to encourage warm-heartedness. You start with yourself, and send yourself some good wishes.听 Then you think of a friend.听 In the third stage you think of a neutral person, the person who delivers your post or whatever.听 In the fourth stage you bring in an 鈥渆nemy鈥� or, the politically correct thing to say,听 'the person with whom you have a communication difficulty!' Finally, you try to send that positive warm-hearted feeling to all beings - first in Ipswich town centre, then East Anglia,听 then Britain, then Europe ... and to all animals and other beings.鈥�

Order Member, Bodhivamsa, explained to me that they don't mark the same rites of passage and ceremonies that other religions have, and there is no Sunday school or similar.

The shrine room door

鈥淲e do have something called a mitra where somebody decides to become a Buddhist within our movement, usually after about six months.听 Then the next level is to become an Order Member. So really it鈥檚 quite a big leap which can take between six and ten years. Order Members lead classes and rituals and promote Buddhism.鈥�

It is at the time of ordination that Order Members are given, by their teacher or 鈥渟piritual friend鈥�, a Buddhist name.

I asked if they actually worshipped the statue of Buddha in the Shrine Room.

鈥淵es and no. Worship is an interesting word 鈥� what we want is for people to become engaged with Buddhism. We do make offerings to the Buddha but in a sense it's an offering to ourselves because we want to become a Buddha ie. become enlightened.听 It is a very reachable goal in Buddhism, 鈥� explained Bodhivamsa.

I asked Dayasara about Buddhists鈥� belief in re-incarnation鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 the version that you have one life, then you either go to heaven, hell or purgatory, or you have one life and then the lights go out and that鈥檚 it. Or another idea is that there is some connection between this life and previous lives. It鈥檚 not necessarily exactly the same being that comes up again and again and again. An example would be, I have always been interested in Elizabethan England 鈥� whether that means听that I have听 some connection with a lifetime then, or some aspect of me was alive then, I don't know.听 To some extent we create our lives and our reputations anyway, don't we? If one does go around being hateful and greedy and stupid in a wilful sort of way you do tend to create an unpleasant life for yourself.鈥�

With each reincarnation Buddhists hope to become a better person and so, eventually, reach the state of Nirvana, (become like the Buddha) rather than become stuck upon the Wheel of Life.听

At the Buddhist Centre a group were sharing a vegetarian meal.听 Nick works at the Evolution Shop next door 鈥淲e work around Buddhist ethics. Before we start work we sit down and have five minutes to say about how we are feeling - whether we are upset, grumpy or really happy. We try to take that sense of communication and connection through into the day. The Buddhist ethic is also taken into what we sell and how the business runs. We are an ethical trading company.鈥�

A couple of people were meditating while I was there.听 Tony was one of them "It was purely to learn about meditation.听 I didn't really know about the other side 鈥� the history. I didn't think of it as a religion. It鈥檚 a way of life.鈥�

Avril is another relative newcomer "I'm not a Buddhist, but I've been interested on the sidelines for many years.听 I've never found anything that took my attention so much. I came for an open day and when I walked in I felt so comfortable.听 It鈥檚 great to come to a place and meet so many genuinely nice people.听 You feel you can become part of that. I'm on a journey really.鈥�

I wasn't really surprised that many non-Buddhists decide to attend the centre and learn to meditate. Everyone I spoke to said that it was an excellent way to cope with any stress in your life, and release tension, and certainly everyone I met seemed very relaxed!

If you go on holiday to a country such as India, Tibet or China one of the tourist attractions will be to visit a Buddhist shrine.听 Most of us don鈥檛 realise that there is a Buddhist Centre in our county town.

For more information about Buddhism, meditation, yoga, drop-in sessions etc click on the Ipswich Buddhist Centre weblink on the right>>