On the winter solstice, Saturday, December 21, 2024, Shannon O'Brien received jūkai at a ceremony at Boundless Way Zen Temple, which was held in person and on Zoom. Many sangha members and friends and family of Shannon attended this joyous occasion.
Jūkai is the recognition of a student's sincere commitment to the Way of Zen. In the ceremony, the student takes on the practice of living the traditional sixteen Bodhisattva precepts. Shannon had composed personal responses to each precept which she read during the ceremony, and had sewn her own rakusu, the abbreviated robe which Zen practitioners wear during formal meditation practice. David Rynick, Rõshi, Dharma Holder Michael Herzog, Dharma Holder Rev. Paul Galvin and I presented the precepts to Shannon.
One of the lovely features of jūkai is that the teachers give the student a Japanese Dharma name. Anyone who knows Shannon will know how appropriate the new name is for her: Kanshõ, which means "generous illumination."
Congratulaitons Shannon Kanshõ!
