Editorial
The new name for our newsletter is ‘Community’. We hope you like it. It reflects our intention to support a vibrant lay community to complement the ordained Sangha.
Putting together this edition of the newsletter has been a lengthy and interesting experience. Part of this has been the question of how the newsletter should evolve. We wanted to encourage the kind of excellent articles we have had in the past relating to practice and feedback from Upasika events, but also to include some new ideas as well.
We are in the the position of having a lot of freedom to cover and explore some of the more worldy and controversial issues which arise in Buddhist lay life.
We therefore invite you to respond to the articles contained in this issue as well as to contribute and share the many concerns that we experience as lay practicioners. This could range from personal challenges such as sila practice and problems; how do we feel about our current livelihood - is it right livelihood? What ways have we found to skillfully handle money? How can we let our work colleagues know that we are Buddhists. How do we raise our children? What difficulties are there in living with non-Buddhist partners?
Or we could address the concerns felt about raising our voices in the secular world and asking how confident do we feel about ‘coming out’ as Buddhists in a variety of situations.
This is your newsletter. It is an opportunity to have your voice heard and to listen to others; to share experiences, keep up-to-date with news and events and contribute to the strengthening af the nationwide (and beyond) community of lay people.
We want the newsletter to be relevant to, and a reflection of our lives as lay people. We therefore extend an open invitation to you to shape and colour it as you feel the need - to respond, to contribute, to reflect and to share with others. If you are reluctant to write, ring one of us for a chat and we may be able to put something together on your behalf. We look forward to hearing from you.
Form and Ritual
The main theme of this edition is that of form and ritual - the UT form as it is developing in the UK and the US; the new AUA constitution; and using ritual to commemorate the ending of a relationship.
Rules and ritual sit uneasily alongside western values of individualism and materialism. To support our reaction against constraint we can point out that one of the ‘fetters’ to be relinquished in Buddhism is attachment to rites and rituals - the conventional religious forms. And yet without these there is no teaching and no training.
Perhaps it is the attachment - either for or against religious forms - that is the problem , more than the nature of the forms themselves?
UPīSAKA (masc.) / UPīSIKī(fem.) lit. sitting close by, i.e Lay Adherent; is any follower who is filled with faith and has taken refuge in the Buddha, his doctrine and his community of disciples. (A.VIII, 25) His/her virtue is regarded as pure if s/he observes the 5 precepts (panca sila: s.sikkhapada). S/he should avoid the following wrong ways of livelihood : trading in arms, in living beings, meat, alcohol and poison. (A.V.177)
[We have been advised that in Pali there is no inclusive male & female plural form for lay follower/adherent. The Community Newsletter uses UpŒsikŒ as the plural form. Editor]