The time has again arrived for our annual
JUKAI CEREMONY at Treeleaf Sangha
... to commence Sunday, January 12th at Midnight (Sunday-Monday) Japan time (that is New York 10am, Los Angeles 7am (Sunday morning), London 3pm and Paris 4pm (Sunday afternoon)). The ceremony will last about 1 hour, and will be visible from that time at the screen below:
Our 15 Preceptees come together simultaneously from 9 countries (from Mexico, Vietnam, Australia, Japan, Canada, USA, England and Scotland, and the Netherlands, plus several other folks undertaking Jukai with us for the second or more times) joining in this Jukai as one, after having spent several months preparing for this day, studying the Precepts, sewing a rakusu, weighing the place of the Buddhist Teachings in their life. As with everything at Treeleaf, all was accomplished fully online, and invite all our Sangha to the celebration. Jundo Cohen is the Preceptor.
Jukai literally means to receive or to undertake the Precepts. It is the ceremony both of one’s formally committing to the Buddhist Sangha and to the Practice of Zen Buddhism, and of one’s undertaking the “Sixteen Mahayana Bodhisattva Precepts” as guides for life. Traditionally for Jukai, one receives from a teacher the Rakusu, which represents the robe of the Buddha, the Kechimyaku, a written lineage chart connecting the recipient to the Buddhas and Ancestors of the past, and a “Dharma name” selected by the teacher and representing qualities of the recipient’s personality and practice.
My teacher, Nishijima Roshi, wrote this:
When a Buddhist seeks to commence upon the study of Buddhism, there is first a ceremony which should be undertaken: It is called “Jukai,” the “Receipt of the Precepts,” the ceremony in which one receives and undertakes the Precepts as a disciple of the Buddha… Master Dogen specifically left us a chapter entitled ‘”Jukai,” in which it is strongly emphasized that, when the Buddhist believer first sets out to commence Buddhist practice… be it monk, be it lay person, no matter… the initial needed steps include the holding of the ceremony of Jukai and the undertaking of the Precepts… The rationale of all of the Buddhist Precepts, the Mahayana Boddhisattva Precepts ... is as a pointing toward the best ways for us to live in this life, in this real world… how to live benefiting both ourselves and others as best we can.
WELCOME!
It is an honor to experience this moment with you.
Gassho, Jundo
Traditional "Three Treasures Seal" (三宝印) Representing the Bloodline
This is the poem composed and read for our Jukai by Hoshi, in Spanish and English ...
Bienvenida
Cuando el viento sopla
se mueven, las hojas de los arboles
las hojas caidas se levantan
las hojas marchitas se caen
pero el viento no dice
arriba, ni abajo
Si el viento sopla
que se sacudan los hojas del tu corazon
si el viento no sopla
respira con los hojas del corazon
y tu corazon soplara el viento
--
Welcome
When the wind blows
the leaves of the trees move
the fallen leaves rise
withered leaves fall off
but the wind does not say
up or down
If the wind blows
let the leaves of your heart shake
and if the wind doesn't blow
breathe with the leaves of the heart
and your heart will blow the wind.
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