Order of Awarezen Mitras
圆觉禅修善友会

The Order of Awarezen Mitras 圆觉禅修善友会 (OAM) is a creative and beloved community of contemplatives with a heart for spiritual awakening and transformation, both personally and collectively. We journey together with wisdom and compassion, emptiness and grace, experiencing the mysteriousness of life and embodying an ethical and meditative way of living for a divinely full present and a mindfully enlightened tomorrow — one that celebrates unity in diversity, plurality, and inclusivity. The word "mitra" is Sanskrit for spiritual friend, semantically cognate with the heart of loving-kindness (Sanskrit: maitri).

 

At the heart of our contemplative living and training is the communion and union of Triune love in the person-event of Christ Jesus. Emanating from and gravitating towards Awarezen's heart is the profound richness of the Buddha Dharma, couched in a gospel-shaped ambience of cruciform and incarnational reality. We are a different kind of Sangha-Ekklesia that transcends the monastic-laity binary. An ordained lay fellowship in practice, we uphold an egalitarian and democratic ethos without religious hierarchies.

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Monastic Archetype and Impulse​

Neither monastic nor lay in the traditional sense, OAM views monkhood as an universal archetype that transcends binary categories of monastic and laity. As Raimon Panikkar articulates, monkhood “represents the search for the center.” It is a call that many feel drawn to irrespective of creed, gender, age, and even institutional structures of religion and clergy. In this sense, everyone who longs for this deep center can be validly a "monk" without necessarily donning the robes, so to speak. Myriam Dardenne, OCSO says of the monastic impulse as "... a tendency to move from dispersion to centeredness, from fragmentation to wholeness, from a 'nothing-but' attitude [of] boredom and weariness to a meaningful life enriched by symbols, relationships, silence, prayer, simplicity of heart, enriched by the Logos of the soul.”^​ For the OAM, the entire cosmos is its monastery without walls, a divine jeweled net of interbeing that shines with grace.

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Authentic Lineage

As an Order, we belong to a network of mutuality and love transcending human divisions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, nationality, politics, and religion. Our central activity is contemplative meditation of the highest, broadest, and purest degree. Inclusive of interspiritual and intercontemplative perspectives, our core practice is OAM's path of total awakening (圆觉) that can be seen as the tenth yana (vehicle). It integrates and synergises all nine yanas of the Buddha Dharma culminating in Dzogchen, enriched by Chinese Chan/Zen and North and South Indic Tantra. We call this path the Great Christic Consummation (Mahayeshua-Atiyoga). We also participate in a contemplative liturgical practice specially designed for our Order. We meet online from around the world on a regular basis, with face to face fellowship as the Spirit leads and orchestrates.

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We are simultaneously a Sangha (a Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist term for spiritual community) and an Ekklesia (a Greek Christian term for called-out or consecrated assembly). We are contemplatives belonging to Jesus from different faith and secular backgrounds. We believe that wisdom and goodness can be found in all authentic spiritual and secular humanistic traditions, where the Spirit blows as He wills and pours Himself out upon all flesh regardless of our dogmas and prejudices. We honour and respect all authentic spiritual teachers and pioneers across lineages and traditions, both non-Asian and Asian. In particular, we revere the Buddha as a teacher of awakening par excellence and Adiyogi Shiva as a paradigmatic yogi and tantrika of ultimate liberation.

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Ordained Mitras

As ordained members (mitras) of our community, we seek to live out the Twelve Awareness Trainings^^ of the Order of Awarezen Mitras (OAM). This ethical and meditative framework of our Order evinces a deeply felt commitment to a way of life that fosters a culture of awakening and grace in our world. By our living example and contribution, we aspire towards a radical renewal of the cosmos and society where peace, justice, goodness, mercy, and wisdom may flourish for the benefit and happiness of all. Those ready to enter the Order as ordained Mitras will receive a formal ordination name and spiritual transmission during a specially hosted OAM Ordination Ceremony. Spiritual transmission makes available to the ordained Mitras a tremendous outstreaming of fresh warm blessings from wisdom lineages tracing back to the Buddha and Shiva and ultimately rooted in Christ, along with profound pointing-out instructions on the essential nature of mind.

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Oblates

Those who feel drawn to the Order with a sincere heart for spiritual awakening and liberation through our contemplative processes and way of life may become part of the Order through participating as oblates or contemplative trainees who are affiliated and spiritually aligned with the Order of Awarezen Mitras. Oblates do not need to formally receive the Twelve Awareness Trainings but are encouraged to abide by their spirit and ethos as they study and practice them to the best of their ability. They will also engage in formal and informal training in the contemplative processes and practices of the Order. They will be welcomed into the oblate fellowship through a short and simple Welcome ceremony. As and when conditions are ripe, oblates can receive spiritual transmission and pointing-out instructions as grace-inspired boosts to their formation journey.

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Discernment Period

We invite those who feel called or drawn to this contemplative way of life in open inclusive mindful community to connect with us. A period of mindful reflection and prayerful waiting may be necessary to clearly discern whether you are suitably called for this profound and beautiful dedication to a life of transformative awakening shaped by the gospel and dharma of Christ. There is no obligation to ordain after the Oblate or discernment process. Please write to the OAM Mitracarya Atammayato (Chris Kang) if you wish to seek support for your discernment or to express interest in entering either the Order or the Oblateship.

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^     Katie Gordon. The archetype and impulse that is in us all. Accessed 22 November 2024 at katieraegordon.substack.com/p/the-archetype-and-impulse-that-is.

^^ The Twelve Awareness Trainings are based closely on and bring together the Five Mindfulness Trainings of Plum Village and seven of the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing, both pioneered by the late great Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh who is also one of my two primary Zen teachers from whom I have received Dharma transmission and who I celebrate, love, and respect. Anyone desiring to join our Order must be ready to commit to living the Twelve Awareness Trainings for life, and embark on sustained training in and embodiment of the Great Christic Consummation path of total awakening. A note on spelling: the Pali "Dhamma" and Sanskrit "Dharma" are used interchangeably.