On Saturday we sent a newly minted batch of Buddha's children out into the world with a jukai ceremony, and just for good measure, we took the precepts again today in the Full Moon Ceremony.
I had felt a little distracted on Saturday morning: there was
another zagu-related mishap, with me turning to the altar at the beginning of morning service and realising with a sinking feeling that my left arm did not feel as heavy as it should with a zagu draped over it; I had simply not picked it up when I got up at the end of zazen, so I made my way out of the Buddha Hall and back to the zendo to retrieve it while everyone else was doing the nine prostrations.
Christina gave a wonderful talk, one of those where I think that even though there is really nothing one can say about the dharma, she managed to say everything one could say.
We did the rehearsal for the jukai on Friday night, which is unusual, and took me away from mingling at our volunteer appreciation event (that was fine, as I usually have a limited tolerance for mingling), and while that made Friday a long day, it had the benefit of allowing a little more time and space on Saturday, once we had got through the morning program and lunch, to have a cup of coffee, print up the programs for the ceremony, make corrections to the script, make the flower arrangements, check in with the chidens and so on, which meant I felt quite relaxed when the ceremony got underway. I think everyone enjoyed themselves, and it was quite emotional in places. Love was definitely in the air, as I hope some of the photos show.
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| Karissa receives her rakusu |
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| Simbwala receives her rakusu |
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| The whole crowd, blue period |
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| Christina with Zenju Earthlyn and Simbwala |
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| Christina with Tressa |
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| Christina with Karissa |
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| Christina with Mary |
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| Cory, Karissa and Christina |
2 comments:
If you ever have a thought of taking up baseball, Cory & I both remarked you have the makings of an excellent catcher and/or third base coach, calling the game with all the right hand signals and waving us around the bases to "home" (in several senses of the word).
Thank you for your great service and kind attention to detail; we are all *so lucky* to have you on our team.
Can't say I have ever thought about a career in baseball, but hand signals are a remarkably crucial part of the ino's job.
Glad to be able to assist in your special day.
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