By Jishin Liz Kuney Sensei

November 7th, 2024 was a mild late autumn Sunday at the mountain monastery. The annual Harvest Sesshin had just concluded that morning. After many months and often years of preparation, fourteen aspirants would receive the Zen Buddhist precepts on this day, vowing to do their best to live according to these principles and receiving a Dharma name and rakusu (a small garment that symbolizes their vows). 

By late morning, thirty family members, friends, and Sangha members arrived and joined the thirty-two sesshin participants to celebrate the first Jukai Ceremony at Dai Bosatsu Zendo conducted by the new Abbot of the Zen Studies Society. While the event is typically referred to as jukai, a Japanese term meaning to receive the precepts, Chigan Roshi called the ceremony a “Bodhisattva Initiation,” highlighting the commitment a person makes to living the bodhisattva path.  

A good portion of the guests had never been to Dai Bosatsu Zendo, and many were unfamiliar with the elaborate and unusual customs of traditional Buddhist practice. But Chigan Roshi made everyone feel welcome and at ease with his warm-hearted and generous manner. Explaining in simple, relatable terms what a bodhisattva might be, he compared it to the term mensch, describing “somebody who is a true human being, who goes out into the world to help whoever requires help, to love whoever requires love.”  

Putting the religious backdrop into context for the newcomers and drawing everyone’s focus to the essential point, he said, “It’s not about the robes. It’s not about the chanting and the trimmings. It’s about developing a heart that goes into the world and freely helps without any thought of or desire for gain, doing the right thing because it is the right thing, becoming a pure human being who has the maturity to look at one’s own shortcomings consistently and at the same time is able to forgive oneself as well as those who have transgressed. And with that, one fulfills the function of what is called a bodhisattva.” 

Chigan Roshi illuminated the portrait of a bodhisattva even more vividly, detailing the level of dedication required to enter into benevolent relationship with this world, particularly when conflicts arise. A bodhisattva would be willing to speak up and address issues if necessary, but “not from a place that is offensive—rather from a place that is open and spacious.” He continued, “by dissolving difficulties in this way, we can contribute to making this world a more peaceful place, a more mindful place, a more respectful place, no matter what the circumstances.” Demonstrating our vows in our daily lives, he affirmed the bodhisattva within us is awakened, “manifesting unconditional love for humanity, for life itself, and for the planet” and thereby “walking the path of unlimited humanity.” 

The fourteen bodhisattvas initiated on November 7th (twelve present in the hall and two online), along with four others who will receive the precepts at New York Zendo in the coming weeks, met online with Chigan Roshi once a month for five months ahead of the ceremony. The workshops featured all the elements that activate a jukai ceremony: Purification, the Three Fundamental Precepts, the Three Refuges, the Ten Names of the Buddhas, and each of the Ten Important Precepts. Several of the newly ordained junior Dharma teachers assisted in leading the meetings as well. 

Chigan Roshi also invited the Dharma teachers who attended the November ceremony to formally present the jukai students with their rakusu as he announced and explained their Dharma names: 

Emmyō Avesha P.	円妙 Mysterious Circle	Rōshin Ashni S.	老心 Old Heart
Gessha Todd F.	月舎  Moon Hut	Ryōgetsu Lisette K.	涼月 Clear Moon
Kōen Massimiliano D.	洪淵 Vast Depth	Senzan Mike S.	仙山 Hermit Mountain
Koki Maria Layla B.	狐気 Spirit Fox	Shōjū Artemisa A.	照常 Eternal Illumination
Ōraku Karuna H.	和楽 Peace & Harmony	Shutei Siarzuk S.	守貞 Guardian of Righteousness
Eikyū Nadia M.	永久 Eternity	Shūten Marc D.	秋天  Autumn Sky
Eisai Alec D.	英才 Great Talent	Taigen Stewart H.	大源  Great Source

After the ceremony, the initiates met in the Abbot’s meeting room, where Chigan Roshi presented them with their jukai certificates and interpreted the Japanese characters brushed on the backs of their rakusu.

Finally, all gathered for a celebration in the dining room, where the delicious offerings were nearly as abundant as the happy smiles that danced through the air. 

By Jishin Liz Kuney Sensei

This past fall, two ceremonial events marked the historic transfer of the abbot’s staff from Shinge-shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi to Chigan-kutsu Kyō-On Dokurō R. Jaeckel Roshi.

On a sunny October 1st, Dai Bosatsu Zendo hosted its first Abbot Retirement Ceremony, a bounteous celebration in honor of Shinge Roshi’s twelve-year term and 50-year association with the Zen Studies Society. Beginning with board president Hokuto Daniel Diffin Osho, several sangha members spoke about the challenging and remarkable journey of Shinge Roshi’s tenure and shared sentiments of gratitude.

Shinge Roshi read numerous excerpts from Like a Dew Drop, an anthology of her recent talks that the Society gifted to those in attendance. As a unique feature, after the sangha chanted the Heart Sutra and Great Light Dharani, the Most Ven. Tet Tung Thai and the Ven. Nguyen Thai from the Định Thành Temple in Frankfort, New York, chanted the Great Light Dharani in Vietnamese. Moving and sublime performances by Anthony Bez on classical guitar and Marco Burmeister on shakuhachi lilted through the autumn air of the majestic zendo. A sumptuous feast
prepared by Muken Mark Barber Sensei and additional speeches followed the ceremony in the tented courtyard. The board of directors presented Shinge Roshi with a
large, vibrant scroll by calligrapher and scholar Kazuaki Tanahashi.

On November 24th, Chigan Roshi was installed as the third Abbot of the Zen Studies Society during the canonical Abbot Installation Ceremony. Chigan Roshi received the Abbot’s staff and presented his four-line verse to mark the occasion: On this mountain, white clouds appear in radiant light,

On this mountain, white clouds appear in radiant light,
Morning dew gathers, heart’s flowers bloom bright.
The valley’s echoes transmitting Dharma-song,
This Dharma jewel shall forever shine on.

山白雲聚承明光
朝露心華綻顏庭
谷回傳響法音悠
法界金剛永輝耀

The dignified and austere traditional ceremony featured chanting and a teisho. Chigan Roshi used an iron nyoi (a ceremonial scepter) that belonged to Nyogen Senzaki, the first Rinzai monk who lived in the United States. Chigan Roshi noted that Senzaki, who called himself a “mushroom monk,” worked quietly and without affectation for half a century, “preparing the ground for us to receive the beneficence of this teaching.”