Four Belgians took a pledge to be Buddhist Upasok and requested the 5 precepts on February 10th, 2016
- Marc De Geyter
- Marc Horemans
- Arnold Meert and
- Andy Merckaert
They all announced to be Buddhist Upasok by taking a pledge in Pali and Dutch.
All of them always keep the 5 precepts.They participated in this ceremony to strengthen their attention and start to study more about the Triple Gems.
Mr. Marc De Geyter revealed that this rite helped him keep the precepts more strongly because there were friends doing this together. Mr. Andy used to be a heavy alcoholic and has stopped drinking completely for 2 years. He intended to strengthen his resolution as a warning never to do it again.
The monks gave a sermon about the qualities of Buddhist Upasok and gave blessing to the new Upasok to encourage them. After that all participants in the room meditated together for 1 hour – to recall this merit easily in the future.
This is the 2nd ceremony of taking a pledge as Buddhist Upasok at Wat Phra Dhammakaya Benelux. There were two men participating in it for the first time and four men altogether. The temple has a plan to do it every year because it is a part of the Sila 5 Project that has been organized in Thailand.
