Urban retreat – day 3

In the Triratna tradition, when someone feels able to make a commitment to joining the community it is called becoming a Mitra and there is a special ceremony of commitment, and welcome. Yesterday, at the Bristol Buddhist Centre there was a Mitra ceremony for three people I have become friendly with while studying there so I was very pleased to join them and their friends and family for their special evening. After a period of meditation, an order member gave a little speech about the Mitra-to-be, with a little background to their journey to this point as well as an appreciation of their strengths and talents. Each Mitra made an offering of a flower  a candle and incense on the shrine and then read something which had particular meaning to them. Earlier in the morning had been reading the Dhammapada, and to my surprise one of my friends chose the very chapter I had been reading:

As the fletcher whittles
And makes straight his arrows,
So the master directs
His straying thoughts.
Like a fish out of water,
Stranded on the shore,
Thoughts thrash and quiver,
For how can they shake off desire?
They tremble, they are unsteady,
They wander at their own will.
It is good to control them,
And to master them brings happiness.
But how subtle they are,
How elusive!
The task is to quieten them,
And by ruling them to find happiness.
With single-mindedness
The master quells his thoughts.
He ends their wandering.
Seated in the cave of the heart,
He finds freedom.
How can a troubled mind
Understand the way?
If a man is disturbed
He will never be filled with knowledge.
An untroubled mind,
No longer seeking to consider
What is right and what is wrong,
A mind beyond judgements,
Watches and understands.
Know that the body is a fragile jar,
And make a castle of your mind.
In every trial
Let understanding fight for you
To defend what you have won.
For soon the body is discarded,
Then what does it feel?
A useless log of wood, it lies on the
ground,
Then what does it know?
Your worst enemy cannot harm you
As much as your own thoughts,
unguarded.
But once mastered,
No one can help you as much,
Not even your father or your mother.