Wed PRACTICE night:
Saying Goodbye to Mark Jones

Tonight is a very special evening: we are saying goodbye to our dear friend Mark Jones as he leaves for his Ordination Retreat at Padmaloka. 

Ordination in Triratna is a very serious step - a lifelong commitment taking many years to become ready to join the Order. Mark has been practising for over 20 years and he ‘asked’ for Ordination three years ago. When you ask for Ordination, you are declaring your desire to make a definite and life-changing commitment to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, within the context of the Triratna Buddhist Order. 

In the Triratna Buddhist Community, Ordination is a deeply significant step in a person’s spiritual journey. It is not just a formal ceremony but a transformative process that symbolizes a kind of spiritual death and rebirth—entering into the “family of the Buddha” and dedicating one’s life to the ideals of wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all beings.

Tonight Mark leaves us to experience that transformation.

On 5th August, an Order Member will return to us . He may look and sound like Mark but it won't be the Mark who left! He will have a different name and and he will be a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order. Also, since getting Ordained is a such a powerful step, there will inevitably be something different about him as well.

So please come along this Wednesday and give Mark a really good send off as he leaves his old life behind and takes this important step in his spiritual life. There will be meditation and a short talk in the first half of the evening and then the actual goodbye will be made in the context of a Seven-Fold Puja.

All over 18 welcome. Newcomers are also very welcome too.

No need to book, just turn up.

The evening is freely given but we would very much appreciate a donation of £6-£12, or whatever you can give, to help cover our costs. York Buddhist Centre depends for its existence almost entirely on donations from those who use it. No one is paid at YBC. Please support us if you can.

Anyone can join our Order, regardless of race, caste, sexual orientation, age, ability or gender identification, and the Ordination teams work worldwide.   Triratna is quite unique in that there is one equal ordination for all genders. Women are ordained only by women, men are ordained only by men (and there is a process in development for folks who do not fit in the binary gender classifications, too).