Mitra ceremony in Ireland Nov 17th 2007, an invitation from Sinhaketu

Dear Jayamuni and Letchworth Sanhga members

I am writing to you as I would really appreciate your company and support around Ann Geraghty’s mitra ceremony coming up later this year in Belmullet, County Mayo .

This ceremony is particularly significant in a number of ways, firstly and most obviously because it is a mitra ceremony. What makes it so special is that it is the first mitra ceremony planned in the West coast of Ireland . It represents, more importantly, an fwbo and foothold in this area. It is the culmination of 18 months dedicated dharma and meditation work, giving rise to 3 small groups (Belmullet, Ballina and Westport ) in county Mayo .

Why I am appealing to you is because we don’t as yet have a mature Sangha, nor are we close to any prevailing Sangha - your support would therefore bring added credibility to WBO presense here, and make the whole process, I think, more enjoyable. I am worried that we don’t have enough dharma practitioners who understand and practice devotional activities, to make it happen with any conviction, and I guess I fear a ceremony that would be feeble and lifeless!? As of yet, there are only 2 people who engage in puja – introducing devotional activity seems to be the most challenging aspect of communicating the dharma here! On the other hand we do have 3 reasonably committed meditation groups with a strong interest in Buddhist practise, who I guess would be very inspired by attending Order members and those with a stronger practice.

As I would also really enjoy evoking a festive and devotional atmosphere, there is a need for mature Buddhists to attend! Furthermore, Ann’s family will be present, and I really would like them to witness something substantial, and perhaps even enjoy what might be very alien to them! (which I don’t believe would not be possible unless we can bolster the numbers up). I really do want Ann to feel supported, I am sure it would be a boon and encouraging if we were to have the support needed for a wholehearted mitra ceremony – it would certainly give added faith to further activities here (and make my endevours easier!)

DATES & ACCOMODATION

I am proposing a Saturday evening, when we can have the ceremony and then a small knees – up (hopefully with some traditional Irish music etc). This should give you enough time to get here from Knock Airport , or from Dublin . I am offering accomodation for the Friday and Saturday evening, if not at my place then somewhere in the small town of Belmullet !

The date is SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17.

TRAVEL

The most convenient way to get here is to hire a car from Knock airport, you can get reasonably cheap deals via the web and you book Ryanair. It is about an hour and thre quarters. Hopefully you will be able to share the cost with others coming over at the same time (there is only one flight a day).

You could choose to fly in on Saturday, and get here by the skin of your teeth for a 7.30 start, or come in on Friday, in which case you would arrive early evening friday. There are wonderful beaches and countryside here – so if you do arrive for the Friday, we would do a bit of touring! I propose that you leave on a Sunday, unless of course you wanted to stay to do some touring.

Personally I would be delighted if you could make it!

Love

Sinhaketu

Jayasiddhi writes from Gampo Abbey (June 25th)

Hello All,

I hope you are all well and that England is providing you with a warm and sunny summer!

My time here is flying by and I am now well over halfway through my visit. The pattern here seems to be a period of intense activity followed by a short period of change and transition into another period of intense activity. I've heard that Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche called this sort of thing the great Zen monastic joke, lots of formalism and ritual combined with constant activity as a method to stun the ego into a state of numb surrender! Fortunately, we do get one free day per week.

Recent highlights have included a sponsored overnight walk for Cancer Canada. This was my first exploration into the local town of Cheticamp and proved to be good fun despite getting a soaking. They had a Scottish marching band, folk music and country and western (all night - urghhh!). We camped overnight and I got a good drenching during my period of the walk (the only rain all night). Thanks for all of your sponsorship, I raised about 100 GBP.

After this we had a busy time preparing for and looking after Karme Senghe Rinpoche, the nephew of Chogyam Trungpa. He was here for about a week and gave initiations to some of the tantric students and a couple of talks to the entire house. I had the opportunity to spend some time as one of his attendants, making him cups of tea and helping to serve his meals. The formality involved with this is quite astonishing, even his washing up had a protocol and required separate washing cloths and drying up towels. He seemed kind and easy going. A few of us spent an evening with him looking at some of his monastaries (he is the Abbott of several) on the internet. He laughed a lot and seemed to enjoy a joke.

We have also had a visit from Shibata Sensei a Japanese Kyudo (archery) Master in his late eighties. He was a very interesting character with some great stories about Samarai and Japanese culture. He gave a demonstration of Kyudo despite being quite frail. I enjoyed being his personal attendant for his two day visit. I was deeply impressesd by the loyalty of his assistant/partner Carolyn who made a real practice out of devotion and service.

We had a day out to Kalapa valley, the mythical home of the Shambhala royal court (like Bhante's New Society but with Kings and Queens). This is a beautiful valley with semi formal gardens, waterfalls, forests, rivers and some solitary retreat facilities. It is said that the (female) energy from this land feeds all the other Shambhala properties. I find this mytholigical/pagan aspect of Tibetan Buddhism fascinating. The land certainly has a great atmosphere and I found my day here made left me feeling revitalised. I was lucky to get to visit it again a few weeks later.

We are currently trying to find time in the evenings for softball practice. We are playing the local fire department on Canada day (1st July). We usually get thrashed apparently, this year should prove no exception, we are rubbish!

We also have the annual lobster release coming up this weekend, where we buy the final catch of the season from a local fisherman and release them back into the water. Animal release is a very traditional Tibetan practice (unlike vegetarianism, unfortunately).

Before then, three women who arrived at the same time as me are taking temporary monastic ordination this week. This will involve formal head shaving, ordination ceremony and robing. Should be fun. I've witnessed two Ordinations here so far and they involve a lot of rice throwing, usually with much gusto and enjoyment on the part of the preceptor in trying to hit as many spectators as possible.

Recent wildlife has included plenty of pilot whales (up to 10 in a pod) plus humingbirds and some very hungry black fly that remove chunks of skin and leave a nasty itchy lump for many days. Tourists are also being sited more regularly. We are on the Cabot trail, a very popular scenic route. The Abbey is open to tourists for a couple of hours per day. I have given three guided tours so far (the largest a group of 11), which has been enjoyable.

Keep in touch.

Love,
Jayasiddhi