BOUNDLESS WAY ZEN'S JUKAI CEREMONY
Taking Refuge

NOTE: Sangha only speaks underlined portions of text and only performs underlined bows

(After the Sensei enters)

[Ino: inkin accelerando]

All: (Three full bows)

Ino: strikes inkin twice,

All (kneel with palms together in gassho)

Ino: Gatha of Atonement

All: (bow and return to kneeling position and gassho)

Ino: Ti Sarana <chanted with tonal inflection>

I take refuge in Sangha

All: (bow and sit in zazen position with palms together in gassho)

Sensei: Being one with the Buddhas in the ten directions

Being one with the Dharma in the ten directions

Being one with the Sangha in the ten directions

Being one with the great teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

Being one with the first great woman teacher Mahapajapati

And all her sisters whose names have been left unsung

Being one with the successive buddhas and ancestors

Being one with the great teachers in China, Bodhidharma and Huineng

Being one with the great teachers in Japan,

particularly Dogen and Hakuin

Being one with the first teachers in the West,

coming from China and Japan and Korea and Vietnam

and particularly those who gave our school its shape,

Shunryu Suzuki, Jiyu Kennett, Taizan Maezumi and Robert Aitken,

Being one with all bodhisattvas and arhats in the ten directions

Ino: May they all be present here as witnesses

All: May they all be present here as witnesses. May they all be present here as witnesses.

Ino: Let us remember with gratitude all those who have supported us and have led us to this moment. Let us remember our extended families, our spouses and partners, our children, and particularly our parents.

Sensei: Wisdom water is the flow of all things without hindrance, blessing all the ten directions.

(Sensei blesses the gathering with the wisdom water)

Sensei: Let us now confirm the wisdom of the Buddhas, your original face, realized through wholehearted practice.

Ino: In the midst of the three treasures together with all beings let us recite the names of Buddhas

[Ino strikes clapper once]

wisdom beyond wisdom, maha prajna paramita

Ino: Oneness, the awakened nature of all beings

All: I take refuge in the Buddha

Ino: Diversity, the ocean of wisdom and compassion

All: I take refuge in the Dharma

Ino: Harmony, the interdependence of all

All: I take refuge in the Sangha

Ino: (strikes clappers twice)

All: The great precepts of all the Buddhas have been maintained and protected by all the Buddhas. Buddhas hand them down to Buddhas, and ancestral teachers hand them down to ancestral teachers. Acceptance and observance of the precepts transcends past, present and future, and form perfect accord within realization between teacher and student, continuing through all ages. Our great teacher Shakyamuni Buddha imparted them to Mahakashyapa, and Mahakashyapa transmitted them to Ananda. Already the precepts have passed through many generations in direct succession, reaching down to the present head of this community. Now, receiving the great precepts, I vow to requite my deep obligation to the Buddhas and ancestral teachers. I pledge to establish these precepts within my life as the possibility of liberation for all beings.

Ino: We will now recite the Three Pure Precepts

Ino: Not knowing, thereby giving up fixed ideas about myself and the universe.

All: I vow to keep all the precepts

All: This is the cave where all Dharmas of all Buddhas arise.

Ino: Bearing witness to the joy and suffering of the world

All: I vow to practice all good Dharma

All: This is the root-origin where all Buddhas and Dharmas arise

Ino: Healing myself and others

All: I vow to save the many beings.

All: The Dharma of the supreme way is to do and have done.

All: I vow to take up the Way of Not Killing

All: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of everlasting Dharma, not giving rise to the idea of killing is called the Precept of Not Killing.The Buddha's seed grows in accordance with not taking life. Transmit the life of Buddha's wisdom and do not kill.

Ino: Being satisfied with what I have

All: I vow to take up the Way of Not Stealing

All: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the unattainable Dharma, not having thoughts of gaining is called the Precept of Not Stealing. The self and the things of the world are just as they are. The gate of emancipation is open.

All: I vow to take up the Way of Not Misusing Sex

The Three Wheels are pure and clear. When you have nothing to desire, you follow the way of all Buddhas.

All: I vow to take up the Way of Not Speaking Falsely

The Dharma Wheel turns and turns. There is neither surplus nor lack. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.

All: I vow to take up the Way of Not Giving or Taking Drugs

Drugs are not brought in yet. Don't let them invade. That is the great light.

All: I vow to take up the Way of Not Discussing the Faults of Others

In the Buddha Dharma, there is one path, one Dharma, one realization, one practice. Don't permit fault-finding. Don't permit haphazard talk.

All: I vow to take up the Way of Not Praising Myself while Abusing Others

All: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of equitable Dharma, not dwelling upon I and you is called the Precept of Not Praising Yourself While Abusing Others. Buddhas and Ancestral Teachers realize the empty sky and the great earth. When they manifest the noble body, there is neither inside nor outside in emptiness. When they manifest the Dharma body, there is not even a bit of earth on the ground.

All: I vow to take up the Way of Not Sparing The Dharma Assets

All: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the genuine all- pervading Dharma, not being stingy about a single thing is called the Precept of Not Sparing the Dharma Assets. One phrase, one verse: that is the ten thousand things and one hundred grasses. One Dharma, one realization: that is all Buddhas and Ancestral Teachers. Therefore, from the beginning, there has been no stinginess at all.

All: I vow to take up the Way of Not Indulging in Anger

All: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the selfless Dharma, not contriving reality for the self is called the Precept of Not Indulging in Anger.

Not advancing, not retreating, not real, not empty. There is an ocean of bright clouds. There is an ocean of solemn clouds.Ino: Honoring my life as an instrument of the great way

All: I vow to take up the Way of Not Defaming the Three Treasures

All: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the One, not holding dualistic concepts of ordinary beings and sages is called the Precept of Not Defaming the Three Treasures.

Ino: The wheel of the Dharma turns and turns. Each generation manifests the great way. Today we commit ourselves to the way of awakening manifesting as peacemakers in a world torn by strife.

and I commit myself to a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women.

All: do seated bow (initiates do one full bow and kneel)

(Sensei presents each initiate with a rakusu.)

(All put hands together in gassho)

Ino: We will now recite the Verse of the Kesa

All: Vast is the robe of liberation, a formless field of benefaction. I wear the Tathagata’s teachings, saving all sentient beings.

Ino: (strikes clappers twice)

Sensei: The Three Refuges, the Three Pure Precepts and the Ten Grave Precepts have been practiced by buddhas and ancestors, passed to me and now I pass them to you. The precepts, daily life and meditation are one – practicing, manifesting, realizing and attaining awakening. Remember, from the beginning you were already daughters and sons of the buddhas of the ten directions.

(Sensei gives a lineage document to each initiate)

Ino: (strikes gong 2 open, 1 closed 1 open)

Ino: Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, when practicing Para Prajnamita,
clearly saw that the five aggregates are empty
and thus relieved all suffering.
Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form.
Form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself form.
Sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness are also like this.
Shariputra, all dharmas are marked by emptiness;
they neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled nor pure, neither increase or decrease.
Therefore, given emptiness, there is no form, no perception, no formation, no consciousness;
no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind;
no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no object of mind; no realm of sight...
No realm of mind consciousness.
There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance...
neither old age and death, nor extinction of old age and death;
no suffering, no cause, no cessation, no path;
no knowledge and no attainment.
With nothing to attain, a bodhisattva relies on prajna paramita,
and thus the mind is without hindrance.
Without hindrance, there is no fear.
Far beyond all inverted views, one realizes nirvana.
All buddhas of past, present, and future rely on prajna paramita, and thereby attain
unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.
Therefore, know the prajna paramita as the great miraculous mantra, the great bright mantra,
the supreme mantra, the incomparable mantra, which removes all suffering
and is true, not false.
Therefore we proclaim the prajna paramita mantra, the mantra that says:
"Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha."

(All present are invited to offer incense. While people are offering the incense, the Heart Sutra is chanted through once, and then as long as people are offering, the "Gate Gate" mantra is continuously chanted.)

(After everyone has resumed their seats)

Ino: May the benefits from receiving the precepts penetrate into us all, into each thing and into all places, so that we and every living being may realize the Buddha way together.

All: All buddhas throughout space and time. All bodhisattva-mahasattvas. Wisdom beyond wisdom. Maha prajna paramita

Ino: (Beings are numberless;)

All: I vow to free them Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them.The Buddha way is unsurpassable; I vow to embody it

Ino strikes inkin twice and begins accelerando

All stand

(All do three full bows)