The journey began with a simple and sincere aspiration - an aspiration
to commit my life totally to the Buddha Dhamma and Sangha, a wish to
follow closely in the footsteps of the Buddha for the attainment of
Nibbana. After the ordination I wasn’t feeling on top of the world or
jumping up and down and screaming with joy. Nothing like that. But I
felt very humbled by the experience and very inspired and grateful.. As
I chanted in the ordination ceremony (ullumpatu ayya, anukampan
upadaya) I felt I was being raised up by the sangha out of compassion.
The ordination took the journey to a deeper level of commitment, faith
and confidence in the path of practice. I was inspired by the courage
and devotion of the bhikkhu and bhikkhuni sangha towards the truth, in
honouring the Buddha’s wish to have the four fold assembly in his
dispensation - bhikkhus, bhikkhunis, laymen and lay women, as the
Buddha himself established 2500 years ago. I’ll cherish this beautiful
gift of ordination given with care and support from the monastic
brothers and sisters in the Sangha. I also felt tremendously humbled by the experience. The ordination was the result of years of hard work, struggle and pain and frustration of lots of practitioners, monastic as well as lay practitioners, and the support of sangha and lay practitioners of BSWA. The conditions for ordination were ripe at this time because of your faith and confidence in Dhamma and Vinaya and your kindness and generosity. I am very honoured and grateful to be part of this beautiful and inspiring process. I will cherish this beautiful gift of ordination - a gift of faith, confidence and courage and devotion to Dhamma and Vinaya, a gift of compassion, kindness and generosity from the Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni sangha as well as all the supporters on the path of practice. May I share merits with all of you, and may this help us all in the attainment of Nibbana. Gidgegannup, Australia - 30 Nov 2009 |