Taking Refuge

Willa Schneberg sent along these photos and recollections based on entries in her personal journal:

Sunday, June 7^th was the day I and about twenty other people would take refuge. I have been attending the Portland Shambhala Center for over fifteen years. In 2004, I went on a Buddhist pilgrimage to sites important in the life of the Buddha, and it was possible to take the refuge vow then, but I wasn’t ready to take the vow yet. More than ten years passed before I felt prepared to commit to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, but last month, on a sparkling Spring afternoon, I was ready.

We all sat in the first two rows in alphabetical order. Acharya Gaylon Ferguson would say in his moving talk, and I am paraphrasing, that there are so many options in the spiritual marketplace and now you have chosen to alight in this tradition, led by a teacher who made a decision to transcend suffering by accepting what is. The Acharya would also reassure us that we have the teachings to continually call on and Sangha members to reach out to when we go astray.

Acharya Gaylon Ferguson talks about taking Refuge

We would put our hands together in the “anjali,” reverential gesture of respect, at the hand, the throat and the heart and would fully prostrate ourselves with our heads on the ground. Later we would all say together, “I take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.” We would all take refuge in the Three Jewels.

Acharya Ferguson, (his Tibetan name is Ziji Melong) would bestow us with sheets of paper bearing our Tibetan names in calligraphic Tibetan text, transliteration, and  English, formally welcoming us into the family of the Three Jewels. Such an auspiciousness occasion merits new names. I am honored to receive mine, Samten Garma, which means Meditation Dancer.

A happy meditation instructor

Bodhisattva Vow gifts