Taking Refuge

Precept Training and "Taking Refuge"



Anyone can practice the Buddhist ethical precepts and consider themselves to be Buddhist if they sincerely "Take Refuge" in the Three Jewels of Buddhism:  the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.

It's always been traditional however to mark this point in your life by having a public ceremony and having your practice witnessed by elders.  In the Zen lineages this has taken on a particular power and importance, where Receiving the Precepts is considered to be like joining the blood-family of the Buddha, forming an important bond with a particular line stretching back 2500 years.

In Europe we have two Buddhist Preceptors able to pass on the Zen Peacemakers line coming down from Japanese Soto Zen.  Barbara and Roland Wegmueller, a married couple who live in Switzerland, performed the first two "Jukai" ceremonies for this tradition in the UK in 2008, and we are putting together a training programme so people who would like to connect with the lineage in this way can train and do so.  This will include sewing your own "Rakusu"- a small Buddhist robe worn around the neck, which in our community we make from fragments of cloth donated by family, friends and people of importance in our lives.  It's a wonderful physical symbol that reminds us that when we practice, we do it for and with the whole world and everyone in it!



If you're interested in finding out more about Receiving the Buddhist Precepts in the Zen Peacemakers lineage, contact us for more info.  No particular length of practice is needed, just an open heart and a commitment to following where it leads...