2008 Initiation Ceremony
“Jukai”
Sunday June 1, 11:30 am
with Taiun Michael Elliston, Abbot
and Mettai Cherry Zimmer,
Practice Leader
The Atlanta Soto Zen Center holds the Jukai or lay Zen Buddhist initiation ceremony for those wishing to receive (ju) the precepts (kai or sila) and formally confirm entering the Buddhist path. This is an important and powerful event in the life of a practitioner and in the life of the sangha. This ceremony, historically known as “entering the stream,” has been performed continually since the time of the Buddha. In the Soto Zen tradition, the ceremony continues to be offered exactly as set down by Master Dogen in his text Kyojukaimon (Instructions on Giving the Precepts) more than 800 years ago.
Tokudo is available to anyone who has been practicing steadily for several months and who wishes to deepen and formalize their commitment to practice and to the sangha. So the ceremony is at once both a beginning and a confirmation of something that has already occurred. Initiates enter the training matrix at the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and are assigned a senior teacher. Candidates for initiation are encouraged to attend at least one weekend sesshin priory to the ceremony.
If you would like to participate in the upcoming ceremony or learn more about initiation, click here to send email or speak to any of the disciples or teachers at the Zen center. Guidelines for initiates can be found on-line as InitiatePreGuide.html. A copy of the ceremony can be found on-line as JukaiCertificate.pdf. If you would like to read about precepts practice and initiation the following books are recommended:
The Mind of Clover
Robert Aitken, Roshi
North Point Press, 1984
The Heart of Being
John Daido Loori, Roshi
Tuttle Publishing, 1996
Invoking Reality
John Daido Loori, Roshi
Dharma Communications, 1998
Being Upright
Tenshin Reb Anderson, Roshi
Rodmell Press, 2001
During the ceremony, participants undertake the Three Refuges (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha), the Three Pure Precepts (Do no harm; Do only good; Save all sentient beings), and the first five of the Ten Bodhisattva Precepts. Participants atone for past karma, undergo symbolic head shaving, and receive symbolic robes (wagesa) and a Dharma name (kaimyo) literally, “precept name”). As part of the ceremony the officiant (preceptor) instructs initiates to realize the meaning and personal significance of the precepts. As Master Dogen said, “Living the Dharma with the whole body and mind is the heart of wisdom and compassion.”