Page 55 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

to the Dharma as the Way to realize that Ideal, and the Sangha as
the Community of those in whose company we shall realize that

Ideal. Going for Refuge marks a turning point in our spiritual life.
It represents a total re-orientation of our whole life in the
direction of the Ideal. Formal 'taking' of the Refuges is done by

repeating the formula of Refuge, plus certain Silas, or ethical
precepts, after a monk. This makes one what is called an Upäsaka

or Upäsikä, a lay brother or lay sister, which is the first level of
the Buddhist order. *

Fourthly, Confession of Faults. Confession is of great importance
in all forms of Buddhism, though its significance is psychological

rather than theological. Many people, as we know, suffer from
repressed feelings of guilt, and because of these repressed
feelings of guilt, leading very often to self-hatred, they cannot

develop maitri or Love, at least not in its fullness. Buddhist
monks, if conscious of any fault or shortcoming, confess among

themselves, especially to their own teachers, or to the Buddha. It
is also the custom, if you are conscious of any fault or
shortcoming in yourself, to burn incense in front of the image of

the Buddha and recite sutras, and to go on doing this until

* At this point in the original lecture, given during the first year of the FWBO's
existence, I spoke of the possibility of Upasaka and Upasika ordinations being held
shortly under our auspices. The first of these ordinations took place on 7th April 1968,
thus bringing into existence the Western Buddhist Order, which now numbers some
300 ordained members. In the course of the last few years the requirements for
ordination have been upgraded to such an extent that it is no longer appropriate to
refer to members of the Order as lay brothers and lay sisters, or even as Upasakas and
Upasikas. They are now simply known as Dharmacharis and Dharmacharinis, or
'Practicers of the Dharma' , and there is only one level of ordination for all.

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