Taking the Precepts (Jukai at Boundless Way Zen Temple, January 2024)

Teachers and Initiates 

 

Madhu and me

Last weekend, six Boundless Way Zen Temple students received the 16 Bodhisattva precepts from the four transmitted teachers.  David Rōshi and I spent some quality time finding appropriate names that both describe the current quality of the student's practice and hopes for the future -- aspiration names, which we wrote on the backs of the rakusus that were sewed by the students themselves.  Dharma Holders Alan and Michael also helped with coming up with ideas for names and signing and stamping.   

Above are some happy pictures of us all.  The ceremony was hybrid -- people attended in person at the Temple and also on zoom, including one of our initiates from the UK.  Here is the list of the people who received jukai, along with their dharma names in Romanized Japanese, Kanji, English:

Brad Roth (Kyо̄gyо̄):  協行 Flowing Action

Deb Haas (Shо̄kyo):  正居 Authentic Presence

David Linshaw (Myо̄chi):  明知 Bright Knowledge

Bix Spanierman (Shindо̄):  深道 Profound Path

Madhusmita Dhakal (Yūen):  勇炎 Courageous Flame

Susann Herrmann (Tokushin):  篤心 Devoted Heart

Taking the precepts is a step on the path of Zen that is determined by an individual student in consultation with their teacher.  Having a moral and ethical sense of what it means to be a human being is an important balance for the practice, which usually involves "taking the backward step" as Dōgen calls it.  Jukai is taking the forward step, into the world which needs our attention and healing energy.

Congratulations to everyone who took jukai!

Great Bodhisattva November Sesshin, Running Still December Rohatsu Sesshin and Snow Falling on Bare Branches January Sesshin

 November 2023 sesshin

 January 2024 sesshin

Since I last wrote in this blog, Boundless Way Zen Temple has hosted three sesshins, in November and December, 2023 and in January 2024.  All three were wonderful in their own ways, as usual.  November and January were entirely on Zoom, which continues to be a platform for deep practice in two dimensions.  Our December sesshin was in person at the Temple, and for the first time since the pandemic began, we suspended our requirement for negative covid tests before arrival.  Sadly, we couldn't have predicted the rise in covid cases beginning in early December, and so we had to end the sesshin a little early when one participant tested positive for covid and we had to send them home.  We ended the sesshin early, although most people stayed at the Temple to help with clean-up and care for the Temple before leaving.  Around a third of our participants came down with covid within 10 days of leaving (including me).  Naturally, we will reinstate the testing policy for our next sesshin, scheduled to be a hybrid, with in person and Zoom options, in early February.  We decided not to take a photo on the last day, as we usually do.

I have been reflecting on the Five Remembrances quite a bit while recovering from covid -- it's really true that we are all of the nature to have ill health, as if I needed a reminder.  Resting, canceling appointments, missing Christmas and New Year's with our children and grandchildren, rescheduling our December precepts ceremony have been some of the karmic consequences of being in a human body.  While it's all unavoidable, I did have the delusion that I wouldn't contract covid, having indeed avoided it for the first four years of the pandemic.  All unfolds as it unfolds, and I'm glad for all the learning.  May all of you who read this blog have the best health that is possible for you, as one version of the lovingkindness instructions say.

Happy New Year!