Three New Bodhisattvas

I had been angling to write about Saturday being one of those non-stop-twelve-hour days, but in the end it didn't quite feel like that. Having missed out on the one-day sitting last weekend, I did feel a bit rusty about doing a morning with oryoki, and there was a certain feeling of one thing after another - zazen, service, breakfast, doshi for zazen, lecture, setting up the Buddha Hall, kokyo for nenju, a silent lunch with the ordainees, rehearsal, jukai ceremony, photographs, reception - but I also had time, after Paul had run us through the rehearsal very efficiently, to take a bath so I could shave my head before the ceremony.
Michael in his talk had spoken of how ceremonies never go the way you think they are going to, and this jukai was a fine example of that, as our newly minted bodhisattvas needed to be nudged on the forms a few times, but it was also a very sweet and emotional occasion. As usual, the photographs say more:

Preceptors Paul and Cynthia and Lucy the jisha

Virginia receives her kechimyaku

Caren shows off the back of her rakusu

Cynthia and Cynthia

Virginia Paul and Caren

You're never too old to be a Bodhisattva

Envelopes, chant cards, serene name cards and kechimyakus