The Buddha after his Enlightenment turned to face the Bodhi Tree. He felt gratitude towards it, and to all his previous teachers, his life and past lives that had all led to this point of awakening. Gratitude and reverence are natural expressions arising out of sraddha. As Buddhists in the 21st Century we should be eternally grateful not just to the Buddha for achieving Enlightenment, but also that he taught a way to achieve it, and that countless thousands of devoted practitioners since have kept the flame of that Enlightenment burning. All just so we can receive, revere and feel grateful for having heard it now.
This years ritual on the theme of A Lotus in an Ocean of Fire, was an opportunity to express our gratitude and to explore this lineage of devoted practitioners. We started in the Shrine Room, in the 21st Century with a video Pedro Vidal and Vidyavajra collaborated on, based on the Buddha's Fire Sermon. This was followed by a Three Fold Puja and a reading from our own teacher Sangharakshita. We were then led in procession by Vidyavajra around the offices and warehouse stopping at team shines to hear readings of advice from past teachers. These were, in order, Patrul Rinpoche, Hakuin, Dogen, Atisha, Padmasambhava, Bodhidharma, Nagarjuna and Dhammadina. Moving sequentially back in time until we heard the Buddha's first teaching, then his decision to teach that preceded it, until finally we reached his Enlightenment experience.
By this point we had also cycled through the Three Fold Puja five times, and with the opening Worship section of the Seven Fold Puja began a substantial period for offerings to be made. This was set to a new Shakyamuni mantra led by Pranjapriya. Much incense, party poppers, glitter and ticker tape was lit,exploded or cast into the air.
At the end of this section each person was given a night light lit from the main shrine candle. Silently progressing to the Stupa Area, and placing their light under the Stupa's lotus. Once everyone was seated, Keturaja continued the Seven Fold Puja and rounded the ritual off with a Metta Bhavana. The whole morning concluded with the usual tradition of a Shared Lunch
