I’ve been a Buddhist since 1993 and in June 2005 I joined the Western Buddhist Order (WBO), when I was ordained on a retreat in Wales with many friends and members of my family present. (Plenty of pictures elsewhere on the site!) What does it mean, to be ordained as a member of the Western Buddhist Order(WBO)? Not easy to say in a few words, but basically it represents a very significant step in my spiritual life where I am affirming that my Buddhist practice is the primary factor in my life. I am choosing to join the WBO as the context in which I want to practise. The Order is neither monastic nor lay, so being ordained will entail no change of lifestyle. I am fully engaged with my practice in living as I do and working in an office for a charity. The WBO is about discovering what it truly means to practise the teachings of the Buddha in the West in the 21st Century. Vijayasri, with whom I went to New Zealand in 2002, is my Private Preceptor, which means that she carried out my private ordination and chose a new name for me which she described as follows:
“My good friend and long distance walking companion, Jen Brown, becomes Satyalila. Firstly – ‘satya’ or true, genuine, sincere. I have known Satyalila for ten years now and have witnessed many times that she is dedicated to the truth: firstly knowing the truth – because in order to speak the truth one has to know it first. But also to speaking the truth, even when that truth might be difficult to speak. It is as if this truthfulness is the leading edge of Satyalila’s ethical practice, through this strong momentum towards truthfulness and transparency. She wants nothing to remain hidden, either from herself or her friends. But she is also ‘lila’ – playful. Anyone who knows her recognizes her infectious laugh. Satyalila works very hard – with an altruistic motivation, running an Oxfam bookshop, developing and inspiring her team of volunteers. ‘Lila’ can also mean an ease or facility in doing anything, and sometimes it seems as I she can do almost anything – and everything! There is a koan here for her, in that sometimes her commitment and creativity can lead her to be a bit overfocussed in her work, so she can develop more her quality of ‘lila’ so that her work can become more her play. There is the famous passage in the Bodhicaryavatara where the Bodhisattva works like an elephant leaping into a pool: I hope she will have a good time splashing around.”