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You may take Refuge and take the Five Buddhist Precepts anytime right here from this page. Even if you have taken them before you can reaffirm them by going to a private place and chanting along (click play on the audio below). Going for Refuge and taking the Precepts define a person as a practising Buddhist.

Going for Refuge gives a continuous perspective on life by referring to one's conduct and understanding of the qualities of the Buddha (wisdom), Dhamma (truth) and Sangha (virtue). The Precepts are for reflection and to define one's actions as a responsible human being. There is a formal means of requesting Refuge and Precepts from a bhikkhu/bhikkhuni, which is as follows:

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In early January I attended a talk given by Venerable Buddharakkhita. It was a very special evening devoted to a guided meditation and talk on Mudita - sympathetic joy. It is not a topic I have heard spoken of much before so I have written down what I learnt from him. Mudita is one of the 4 Brahma Viharas or Divine Abidings, the others being loving-kindness, compassion and equanimity. These are all powerful antidotes for self-doubt, unfriendliness, cruelty and unbalanced destructive mind states. ...

One technique for managing anxiety and producing peace and calm is meditation. I have used it very successfully in managing anxiety and have learnt much about how to do it.

Meditation objects can vary and there is no one 'right' object that helps everyone to reduce anxiety. It is important to find the object that best suits you. ...

Following the direction of the comments on my Presidential address to the BSWA’s March Annual General Meeting over the past month has been very interesting. The depth and subtlety of the issues identified around the Bhikkuni ordination has been quite remarkable. It has been a pleasure to see these issues unpacked and deconstructed by many very skilled and knowledgeable bloggers.

There have been three main sites I have followed that include the BSWA’s own Dhammaloka Community and our Dhamma TV site, but probably the site with the most interaction has been Ajahn Sujato’s Blog space. (Many thanks to Ajahn Sujato for hosting such a free and open discussion.) My hope is that all the monks and lay communities that are involved will read this and allow harmony, friendship and peace to be restored. ...

The following essay is an edited transcript of a talk given at the Buddhist Society of W.A. on 17th April 2009.

As you read the word of the Buddha and get a feel for what he taught, again and again you come across the teaching of dependent origination (paṭicca samuppāda). It soon becomes quite obvious that this teaching is a very important part of the way the Buddha explained things. At the same time dependent origination is a difficult teaching to understand. This essay, then, is an attempt to draw out the most important aspects of dependent origination in such a way as to make it more easily comprehensible.
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It is with some regret that I need to report to our members the hardening of attitudes towards us and in particular to Ajahn Brahm by some senior monks from the Wat Pah Pong group, obviously still angry and annoyed over the Bhikkuni ordination in October 2009. I have just re-read my report from last year, and realized that the harmony and forgiveness I was hoping for last year seems still to be a long way away. It feels like things have got worse. Over the past year I feel our committee and our supporters have, in the interest of harmony and peace, suppressed a lot of feelings and words that could have been said, in the hope that the silence would allow these disaffected monks, who are displaying ill will towards Ajahn Brahm, a clear view of what they are doing in order for them to see where they are at. ...

One of our members recently wrote: "I am terrified of big hairy spiders ... I could never get close enough to a large spider to catch it and put it outside myself and would be extremely uneasy if I did not know where it was while I was in the House. I know it's pathetic, but I can't help it and would love any brilliant suggestions as to how I can get rid of this fear."

Here are some tips: ...