Having our first lay ordination ceremony since 2019. I think the last one was in the spring of 19. So that's more than two years ago. And this afternoon at three o'clock, Jerry Oliva and I will give Four members who have been preparing for this for a long time. Jerry is going to give the precepts to Sandeep Lahil and Kabir Nabi. And I will be giving the precepts to Sam Melton and Jonathan Colts. And I'd like to invite all of you to attend on Zoom. The link will be the same as our link here today.

[01:01]

Just enter the Zendo at the BCC website. Ordinese and the preceptors and a couple of people will be in person in the Zendo. And then the guests, you all and family members and so forth will be welcome to attend on Zoom. And hope that the virus is willing, we'll be able to be all in person in the Zendo again. I wanted to talk a little about the experience of it and also. a little about the history and also the shape of the ceremony. But I wanted to contextualize it first with what you've been studying in the course of aspects of practice.

[02:09]

So you've been, we have been studying Gakudo Yujinshu, Guidelines for Studying the Way by Dogen. And I hope you've all been enjoying it and learning there. The section I want to refer to, and someone else may go into it in much greater detail, is section 8 of the Okamura's, which is in the heart of Zen, part of Soto Zen, I think. And the section is titled The Activities of Zen Monks. In the context of. The ceremonies that we'll have this this afternoon. These ceremonies, we call it there's two names for the ceremony.

[03:16]

Which imply, but not. They don't exactly coincide with each other. One is called Jukai, which just means conferring slash receiving the precepts. Ju is the conferring part, Kai is precept. And this is, well, I'll talk more about it in a little while. The other way that we refer is lay ordination. The translation of that comes from the Japanese zaikei tokudo, which means home dwellers ordination. And the other kind of ordination that we have, shukei tokudo, home leavers ordination, which is what we generally call priest ordination or actually priest.

[04:20]

novice priest ordination. And as surgeons often talk, we don't necessarily have such a clear distinction between home leavers and home dwellers. So while you're here in this endo, And this ordination, there's very little difference between the essential shape of the ceremony for lay ordination and priest ordination. There are some differences, and there's differences of kind of clarified intention, perhaps relationship to your preceptor. for all intents and purposes at the moment uh activities of zen monks is relevant he says from the time of the time the true drama was transmitted from the buddha to the first ancestor which is bodhi dharma uh first ancestor in our immediate lineage it has been directly and solely transmitted 28 generations in india

[05:51]

and six generations in China without the addition of so much as a single strand or the destruction of the single particle. The robe was handed down to the sixth ancestor who lived in Sokei and the drama spread throughout. Subsequently, the Tatagatist Chu Ai flourished in China. And now, The Tathagetsu True I is flourishing in Berkeley. And the precepts and the role that were transmitted are in form and in essence, what was transmitted to the sixth ancestor, that's okay. And then what has been transmitted down to us. Then this says, there's an interesting passage here, very short.

[06:58]

It says, the Dharma cannot be acquired by groping or seeking. When it is seen, perception of it is lost. When it is attained, discriminating mind is ascended. So this is challenging for us. The Dharma cannot be acquired by groping and seeking. Earlier this morning, I was teaching in the Upaya chaplaincy program, and the subject for the day were something that maybe I'll give a talk on in the future. It's a doctrine that goes through Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Zen called the Three of the Liberation. And those are Emptiness, signlessness, which means that nothing has a particular form or sign.

[08:04]

Everything is subject to transformation. And wishlessness or wishlessness. That's what's being expressed here. That last door is what Dogen is saying when he says the Dharma cannot be acquired by groping or seeking. And this is, I think, one of the great marks of our particular school. And it rises in the context of lay ordination as well. We have in Dogan's teaching the practice of, the principle of practice realization which means that we don't practice to gain enlightenment we don't enlightenment we practice as an expression of our already enlightened nature so enlightenment being within us is

[09:22]

simply an expression we express it we activities in our relationship to those around us in sangha in our families in the world in the way we take care of people and to take care of the world uh in our song in our dance our painting all of that is an expression our enlightened nature so aimlessness is actually expressed in many ways if you're familiar with the ox which are is a kind of graphic map of the path the tenth ox herding picture shows the monk returning to the marketplace with gift-bestowing hands. This is who is manifest in that the recognition ceremony of lay ordination.

[10:39]

So Dogen says, a master asked Joshu whether or not a dog has Buddha nature. A monk asked Joshu whether or not a dog has Buddha nature. Master Joshu replied, Mu. Being with Mu, can you fashion, fathom Mu or hold Mu? There is no way to grasp it. Sorry. There's no way to grasp it. Dogen says, I say to you, open your hands. Just let everything go and see.

[11:42]

What is body and mind? What are your daily activities? What is life and death? What is Buddha Dharma? What is the secular way of life? Which is actually, this is a line in Kakuto Yujinshu. Ultimately, what are mountains and great earth, human beings, animals, and dwellings? So this is, these are really good questions for our ordinities and for each of us. This is a ceremony, so for me, this is a ceremony of recognition. It's really moving. It's very moving to, for me, it's been very moving to witness it. The first jukai that we had here was in probably the fall of

[12:55]

summer or fall of 1985. And it was Sojin's first ceremony like that that he had officiated. So he had not so long before received Dharma transmission in Japan. And he gave it to a crew of old members. And I remember being moved to tears by this process of recognition. And I think I've been in every Jukai since then. Certainly witnessed them and a number and assisted in quite a few. And I've never ceased to be Move this way.

[13:57]

So in this ceremony. What we receive. And this is part of the. The recognition comes in. We receive. Back. The robe that we have sewn. Stitch by stitch. Taking refuge with each stitch. We receive the rock suit. Which many of you. have and have received. And it's a precept garment. When you wear it, you're clothed in the precepts. And also, when you enact the ceremony, you are clothed in the precepts, and you can never take them off. So you receive a robe and you receive a lineage paper, which is a document that at the top of the document is Shakyamuni Buddha.

[15:12]

And there is what's called a bloodline that leads through the Indian ancestors. And then it leads through the the Rinzai lineages in China and in Japan and then down towards the bottom. How can it be that the door? Is that me or did you hear that? Okay. Down towards the bottom. You get to Suzuki Roshi, and Hoetsu Suzuki, and Sojin Roshi, and then one of us would be, in this case, Jerry or myself, and then the new ordinee.

[16:15]

And this is where the direct recognition comes in. Your teacher... Often in consultation with others, the Dharma name as an ordinary. And you've not heard this name until that moment. And it's a very powerful moment. It reflects how you are seen by your preceptor. And also it's giving you a name to... live into, to move into. And usually in our tradition here in Berkeley, you receive a two-part name. Two names of two characters each in Japanese, Chinese.

[17:17]

And the first name is broadly uh descriptive the first name is called a way name it's kind of a manifestation of how you are seen so it may be something concrete like great ocean or dharma mountain or you know uh uh first ocean was white dragon uh Pretty concrete, usually. And then the second name is, strictly speaking, your dharma name, which is... or at least that's how I interpret it, and that's how it was told to me. So it's something for one to grow into that is already within you.

[18:22]

These qualities are there, but you may not completely embody them yet. So my Dharma name is Kushiki. And Ku is the same as Mu. Ku is emptiness or formlessness, and Shiki is form. We have these ku and shiki back and forth a lot in the heart suture, right? We chant it all the time. I found this kind of daunting when I got this name. Oh, Mr. Formless Form. You know, what do I do with this? And my... Supposition has been that sojourn because at that point in my early years, I was kind of stuck on form.

[19:40]

And, you know, he had given me another instruction, which I to let things fall apart. and maybe I've taken that too much to heart. I don't know. But this is a dynamic to work with. Our Japanese teachers, we had some several naming workshops, and they made a point of letting us know that That was a really weird name. It is too abstract. But actually, and the challenge that it presents to me, just to say is, how do I embody the form in a formless, fluid way?

[20:45]

And how do I embody the formlessness in a formal manner. And this is a great koan to live with for a Zen person, particularly for this Zen person. So I don't really care what people in Japan think. And this is the papers when we interact with Sotushu, Kushiki. At any rate, you receive the role, lineage, and the names. And it's just really beautiful moment and I'm very honored to be able to participate in this. I'm honored to witness it. Jukai is the first major ceremony that was performed when Soto Zen came to America.

[21:47]

The first Zen group was formed in Los Angeles 99 years ago and was sort of after also after a pandemic had was had tapered off this and they created a place a sitting group or a temple in an apartment in a private house. It was the Soto Zen Buddhist North America Buddhist Church. And they built an assembly hall as was called Zen Shuji. And now Zen Shuji is a temple on its own in LA. And they had a Jukai A for, which is a large Jukai ceremony that actually

[22:47]

takes several days, and that was the first really planting of the flag of Soto Zen in America 99 years ago. And next year, actually, is going to be the 100th anniversary, and they're going to do another large Zhukai at Zenchuchi in LA. But usually, what we call Zhukai was From the Tokugawa period, which is like from 1603 to 1867, and even continuing to the present, Jukai was often not something that you received as a layperson alive. It was part of the funeral process. It was unusual to have a large public ceremony. It would happen from time to time. regular basis, nor for people to have the kind of ceremony that we have, which is recognition and acknowledgement in this life.

[24:01]

Uh, instead, uh, the, and it's still true today. Often a Japanese funeral consists of the heart of it is having a Jukai ceremony with the body and the person receives a Dharma name and a kind of ordination and a small robe, it's called a wagesa, it's like a collar. And so that as they move through the stages of death or the post death, if they're ordained, they will go directly to the pure land. Now, you know, without lapsing into theology, that's what the ritual is.

[25:05]

We do it for the living. And because we want people to be able to We want to acknowledge people's Buddha nature here. Let me just describe the structure of the ceremony a bit, and then we can take questions. The structure of the ceremony, we begin by a purification of the space, of the... which is the Zendo. We purify it with, uh, with incense in this case, with flowers and with, uh, what's called wisdom water or Shasui, which is something that the priest does is acting in the stead of the Buddha.

[26:12]

And so is drawing the wisdom such as it is. from one's head, placing it in the water and then asperging the room with wisdom to purify the space. Then the Ordinese, they chant the homages to all the Buddhas who came before. And then the officiant actually does a direct purification process with each word knee, placing the wisdom water on their heads or in their body-mind. And with that kind of cleansing, then they are ready to avow and repent all our ancient karma.

[27:15]

which, of course, is very similar to the Bodhisattva ceremony that I will begin to do again soon. All of these ceremonies begin with avow all my ancient tangled karma from beginningless greed, hatred, and delusion. I now fully avow. I now fully repent. of this process of purification, then the ordinary receives the three refuges. They take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. And then they receive the precepts. They receive the pure precepts to refrain from all evil, to do all good, to save all beings. and what we call the one mind precepts.

[28:21]

The one mind precepts are to the grave precepts, I vow not to kill, I vow not to steal, and so forth. And now when we talk about one mind precepts, we have both sides of the precepts. We have the prohibitory side, And we also have the affirmation side, which is, I vow not to kill, but to honor all life. Is that what the line is? I vow not to steal, but to honor the gift not yet given. So there's... Recognizes... It's not just... what we might easily fall into thinking of as the Ten Commandments, but it's also how we want to live, not just what we want to refrain from.

[29:27]

We want to act, which is very important to me because the way I understand the precepts is that they are instructions for our relationship. The presets are about our relationship with others and also with ourselves. If you think about the ones, many of them, the presets about killing, the presets about stealing, about lying, all the presets. They're really about how will I act in relation to those around me? It's different than the precepts that you would receive if you were taking a full Theravada ordination.

[30:32]

There you receive the Vinaya precepts, which are really rules. They're quite binary. Do this, don't do it. There's no gray zone about them. In each of the precepts that we articulate and vow to agree to, they call for a process of inner discernment, of looking at our intention, and of recognizing that All the precepts are, have an aspect of impossibility about them. We can't live in an absolute sense without taking life and so on.

[31:49]

To take what's not, to vow not to steal, which means I vow to honor the gift not yet given, is the other side, is, purges us to examine our life and recognize what are the things that we take without even recognizing that we're doing so. What do we take say each time we step in or in an airplane, very hard to live without taking things. And our effort then, the precepts point us to our effort to, as conscious as it can be in our life,

[32:52]

And make our choices knowing that. There is nothing pure or absolute. This is another of the teachings that we receive from. We don't. We can't. Live in a way. That is pure of. all the small things that we might do that represent taking what is not given. You know, taken to an extreme, you have the ancient Jain tradition, which grew up at the sort of pretty similar place with Buddhism in India, where People wore no clothes and they wore masks so they wouldn't accidentally inhale any insects.

[34:05]

They swept in front of them gently as they walked so they wouldn't harm any beings that were on or in the ground. A very challenging way of life with, I think, A great emphasis on the notion of purity. We have a very dynamic and challenging idea of purity that is not always so clear. We have to figure out how it is for us moment by moment. And that's what these precepts, the bodhisattva, the one mind precepts, create a context for us to do. Come to feel about these precepts, and particularly receiving them this way in Jukai, is that they create...

[35:21]

an internal or ontological shift in our being, that we are different once we have received them. The karmic weight or impact of our activities, once we have formally received these precepts, And, you know, it should make us more deeply aware of the conditions of our lives and the valence of our actions. And also, having received them, we can't give them back. They're there, kind of indelibly,

[36:25]

stamped on army at the same time we can't keep them this is something that people say uh when they're in some discussion about lay ordination said well i can't keep them say the precept of not killing well i eat meat sometimes or the precept of not intoxicating mind or body of self or other. Well, I wine or have a drink of whiskey, you know, daily or sometimes, and I'm not sure that I can give that up. Well, you can give it up, but you may not. And the guidelines are something, these precepts are something to remind us, remind us of what our vows and intentions are, and to return.

[37:51]

And it may be just like Zazen, we have the intention to sit upright, and follow our breath, and that's very clear, and then we find ourselves somewhat slumped over thinking about lunch. When that happens, because we have a clarified intention, we have something to return to. And the same thing, I think, to some extent is true in our lives. we have the opportunity to return to these precepts. One final thing I'll say about the, so you receive, you receive the precepts, your Rakasu, your new name, and you catch Miyaku, but there's another document many of us have been giving over the last 10 or 15 years, which is a document

[38:58]

of women ancestors. The official Soto lineage, which, of course, in one sense or other, is a kind of construct. In all of that lineage, there's no agreed upon woman present in that Soto lineage, which just without the people or disrespecting the people who are in that lineage does not feel complete in this day and age.

[40:01]

when we have, there's been a lot of wonderful scholarship and work that's uncovered the women ancestors going back to Buddha's time. And when we have so many really strong cultures in our contemporary, buddhist world and particularly here in berkeley so there's a document that was created a number of years ago it's quite lovely and uh let me actually hang on a second i'll just show it to you I don't know if you can see this.

[41:05]

Kind of backwards, but it's a circle. And then in the middle are these small names of ancestors from Mahapajapati down to contemporary teachers and then text of entrustment. and put the temple seal and my seal on it and the seal, the three treasures. And so this is a document that we give, we give to women and men for the women, it's for everybody. And so I feel very good about this. And maybe it's provisional step. I don't know, but it's also true that as you know, now, As we proceed, subsequent Ketchum Yakus, now there are many women whose names will be in that lineage very clearly.

[42:20]

So, you know, Jerry has won. And, you know, she's now seen her ancestors in our temple. So is Ryushin. So is Lori. And there will be others and others in our lineage. So that lineage is exclusively male. But still, it's important to name and recognize the women ancestors. Another couple things that I want to say. is that Jukai does not imply that the preceptor is necessarily your teacher in a formal sense. That's an opportunity.

[43:21]

I mean, I think that Jukai creates the potentiality for that relationship, which is certainly welcomed. by the teacher, but it's up to the student to kind of actualize that. And, you know, there are often people who receive a guy and maybe they don't have such a close relationship to the teacher or they come from someplace else and they receive it and they go away, which is fine. They receive the precepts. But it's also really wonderful when it's a relationship that becomes a deepening relationship between teacher and student. And the other dimension that, again, is really important to me, although not always essential, is

[44:29]

It's so beautiful that our ceremonies have been witnessed by the whole Sangha. And I feel that an unspoken or unarticulated part of the ceremony is actually recognizing someone's presence in the Sangha. That that presence is not... It's not welcoming them in because they're already in. It's acknowledging where they stand. And it's including them in a formal way in the sangha. Or it's acknowledging that they're already included in the sangha. And to me, really important the the Sangha life is it's really the ground or the garden from which we all grow it's not Buddhism in some broad sense or it's not just it's not just Buddha it's not just Dharma it's actually

[45:58]

Sangha is the enactment of Buddha and Dharma from my perspective. And I think that one of the things in something I've been writing about Sojin is this is what he enacted from day one. He just into Sangha and practiced with them, worked with them, ate with them, lived with them, with us. Not them, us. And this is a really powerful model, particularly in a lay society where many of us have very busy and active lives. But the community The Zen community here is, I think, a pivotal factor or element of many of our lives.

[47:05]

So I lay ordination as a kind of confirmation. My sister said, oh, this is like your Zen bar mitzvah. Well, in a sense, it's true. Although, actually, I enjoyed it. My bar mitzvah was a complete... But the lay ordination was just a joy. And so I think that I would encourage you to come this afternoon and recognize our friends, Sam, Kabir, and Jonathan, and see them. and see ourselves in reflection for them. So I think that's where I'll end and call on people for questions and answers.

[48:12]

Okay, good, Sangha. Good morning. If you have a question, please raise your digital hand and I will call on you or comment. Close on what time should we be in our seats for the ceremony this afternoon? It'll begin at 3.

[49:18]

I think that's fine in this. It's not convenient again show. We'll we'll start around 3. Actually. Okie dokie Nathan Britain, please unmute yourself and ask a question. I was on. Thank you for helping to explain Jukai and the process. Who will be receiving that today? I have kind of a, it's sort of an intellectual question, but it came up, I was reading about precepts recently, and I came across a translation, if I understand what it was correctly, of the Jukai ceremony from Dogen. And if... The third precept was not a prohibition against inappropriate sexual behavior, but rather it said, I vow not to covet.

[50:25]

I was curious just if you had anything to say to clarify about that. Well, the third precept is usually the precept against lying. And I suspect that that's, I mean, I have to see that using, I don't want to pull it up now, but we have the Kyoju Kaiman, which is Dogen's set of precepts and the commentary, the brief commentary sentence or so. And I think. Would probably be the third precept. Yeah. What what's been adapted. You know from the monastic precepts. Where. Full precepts are in a temporary monastic setting.

[51:34]

It basically be a prohibition against sexuality. And that would include between people, include masturbation. All those would be. The way this has been framed in our contemporary times is not to misuse sexuality. And Tick Not On, really helpful in framing that as basically healthy, loving relationship between people. So there's a note in the chat that I want to look at. OK, well, Sue Moon says, and she may be right.

[52:42]

Actually, I think our third precept is usually the one about sexual misconduct. And the fourth precept. So I didn't think we'd have to go back to. They have to go back to the text. I may have misspoken, which that can happen. But anyway, did not on reframed that precept. as uh an affirmation of healthy sexual healthy loving sexual relations with healthy sexual relations within the context of a loving relationship and uh because of the efforts of his students uh he changed it from within the context of a healthy marriage to relationships which actually could include same-sex relationships, which all seems for the good to me.

[53:46]

I want to thank also, before I call on Pauline, quickly thank Gene Selkirk. been instrumental in steering most of our jukai sewers through the pandemic before and now after. And Jean is our sewing teacher. Hannah Mira, who worked directly with one of the and also helps with the sewing quite a bit. Without them, we would be willing to do this. And, you know, I'm hoping that next year we can have our Jukai in advance and, you know, people can talk to me or one of the other teachers in the next, you know, once we get to the new year.

[55:07]

if this is a wish that they might want to do, but let's not talk about that now. So Pauline. Hi, Jose. I had a question about the two names that are given. I sort of had an understanding that of the two, one might be kind of publicly used. You might use it to introduce yourself to people around the Sangha more, and then another would be kind of a more inward or only used in selective times. Is that right? It's kind of right. I mean, basically customarily use your Dharma name, which is the second of the two, but some people go by their first name. It's okay. These aren't secret names. I mean, You can use one. Some people choose to use verified around here by their dharma name.

[56:12]

And yeah, so I go by, I use my way name, Hozan. And I've done that for years. And Sojin used his dharma name, Sojin. And some people like, Our friend Penelope Luminous Heart uses, as they do in L.A., the English version of their Dharma name. So it's your choice. They're not secrets, but usually you would land on one or the other of them if you wanted to be known in that respect. Thanks. But they're not secrets. What I would say is, you know, your kechimyaku, your lineage papers are really private. You can show them to a loved one, but basically you keep them in the wrapper, you know, on your altar or in the top of a drawer.

[57:24]

And they're not secret documents. So, Helen. Good morning, Holon. Morning. I wonder if you would say a few words about this, what the, I'm forgetting the word right now, but what you sew, what that represents, and a little bit about that process. Sure. I'm happy to. So what you're sewing is a small version of the Buddha's robe, which seems to. At some point in China, it might have evolved in the context of one of the periodic repressions of Buddhism, where you weren't allowed to wear a full robe. So people kind of more secretly sewed these little robes.

[58:27]

In Japan, a priest would wear this often when they're out in public. But it's constructed according to the same principles as the large robe. It's made of strips of that are sewn together. It was traditionally made of discarded cloth. When the Buddha gave his instructions for the creation of the robe, there's some very clear regulations. You know, you would use various kinds of discarded rags, funeral shrouds, things have been chewed on by animals, and you would soak them and dye them, patch them, and, you know, dye them all a uniform color and then sew them together in this form, which is the form of a rice field. That was the inspiration that he got when he asked Ananda to create a robe.

[59:37]

a particular robe for his order. People wore robes. Monks wore robes. Monks of pre-Buddhist or other Indian orders. And he wanted a robe that was designed for his order. And he asked Ananda to design this in the form of a rice field. So that's the form of it. We do... We are part of a tradition in Japan, actually, that we sew our own robes. And we sew those robes by hand, and we take refuge with every stitch. Every stitch, we say, I take refuge. Or as our teacher, Blanche Hartman, used to say, with each stitch. strokes, I plunge into Buddha.

[60:39]

And so we're taking thousands of refugees in the course of finishing our Raksu. Or our case that we saw our cases by hand also. So I think we're about out of time. And thank you. And I hope we'll see you at three o'clock. and i'm going to close the verses i vow to save them delusions are inexhaustible i vow to win them dharma gates are boundless I vow to enter them, Buddha's way, unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[61:42]

Sorry, I actually awaken with. I plan. So, welcome. Everybody, give me a second to post in the chat the email, the relevant websites for BCC. And there they are. Of course,

[62:19]

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