450: Taking Responsibility - Happiness and Transformation with Mahamati

Aug 16, 2024

In a heartfelt conversation, Akasa Jyoti—whose name means she whose radiance is like the sky—and Mahamati share insights from their spiritual journeys in Buddhism. They explore the significance of names as reflections of personal growth, delve into the nature of transcendental experiences within community, and discuss the responsibilities that come with spiritual leadership. Their dialogue highlights the transformative power of collective engagement, emphasizing the pursuit of genuine happiness and the ethical healing necessary for communal trust.

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ANECDOTE

Finding Buddhism Through Community

Mahamati was drawn to Buddhism through a lecture by Sangharakshita about spiritual community that combined personal growth and transforming the world.
He quickly committed by becoming a mitra and ordained member, driven by the sense of collective spiritual life.

INSIGHT

Nature of True Happiness

True happiness in Buddhism transcends mere relief from suffering; it is freedom from grasping, hatred, and delusion.
This transcendental happiness is a safe refuge that can be shared collectively within a spiritual community.

ADVICE

Responsibility as Dharma Practice

Taking responsibility means owning your role fully and acting with care, making the collective work effectively.
Responsibility invites deeper Dharma practice and growth through serving the community and exemplifying its values.

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Prayer to Manjushri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom
May all beings experience happiness and its causes
Be free from suffering and its causes,
Never be parted from happiness
And dwell in the condition of equanimity

Ever since his introduction to Buddhism in 1976, Mahamati has been attracted to collective, collaborative contexts. He was, from the start, delighted to find a group of people with whom he could live his whole life, practising and working together with a vision for the transformation of both self and the world. This has long characterized his relationship with the Triratna Buddhist Order and with its founding teacher, Urgyen Sangharakshita, whose lecture The Meaning of Spiritual Community ignited something magic in Mahamati’s life that continues to find new expression today.

This vision of transformation is what Mahamati will be bringing to a major role in our community as Chair of the College of Public Preceptors, starting in November 2024. Mahamati speaks about Triratna’s primary mission - and his own spiritual life - in terms of responding to suffering in the world and a vision of ‘transcendent happiness’. Understanding what that might mean - and how that works, both at an individual level and at the level of serving a spiritual community - is key.

We hear about the many-layered role of the College of Public Preceptors: its central role in welcoming new members into the Order, upholding an established lineage of practice (particularly after the death of Sangharakshita in 2018), and addressing ethical issues. What shines through most is the deeply personal lifelong connection that marks ordination into our particular community; how people are transformed through a shared sense of common project ready to meet the challenges and sorrows of the world. Happiness and the potential for it is never far away throughout the conversation as Mahamati unfolds his own sense of how that initial act of commitment - choosing to become a Buddhist - blossoms and fruits over time into a path of service and of responsibility capable of changing a life in quite profound ways.

An encouraging, inspired evocation of the opportunities to serve that light up a life lived on the Buddhist path.

Show Notes

🖥️ The Triratna College of Public Preceptors (website)

🎧 Listen to more talks from Mahamati on Free Buddhist Audio

🎧 The Meaning of Spiritual Community

🎧 The Six Distinctive Emphases of the FWBO by Sangharakshita

🖥️ Addressing criticism of Triratna

🎧 Listen to talks on The Greater Mandala

🎧 Listen to evocations of Manushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom

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