This is a story about the time I did a ceremony to receive the Buddhist precepts from my Zen teacher.
In Zen Buddhism there are sixteen precepts. They're known as the gbodhisattva preceptsh. The idea in Buddhism is that the precepts are guidelines to help you live the best way. There are no sins in Buddhism, but there is right action and wrong action. Breaking a precept is not a sin, but it might result in some bad effect depending on the situation.
For the record, the sixteen precepts are broken down into three groups. The first three are known as the three devotions. They are devotion to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
The next three are the three universal precepts. They are to observe the rules of society, to observe the moral rule of the universe, and to work for the salvation of all living beings.
Those first two groups are a bit abstract. The next group are most concrete. They're known as the ten fundamental precepts. They are: don't destroy life, don't steal, don't desire too much, don't lie, don't live by selling liquor, don't discuss failures of other Buddhists, don't praise yourself or berate others, don't begrudge the sharing of Buddhist teachings and other things, don't get angry, and don't abuse Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
You can follow the precepts without doing a formal ceremony. A lot of people interested in Buddhism do it like that. But if you've access to a teacher, you can do a ceremony to formally receive the precepts if you want. After that, youfre officially a Buddhist monk or nun, or layman or laywoman, depending on how you feel about it.
For me, taking the precepts meant some kind of a commitment to Buddhism. I was raised as a Catholic, but lost interest in religion in general when I was a teen. It was no big deal and I didnft worry about it very much. But after practicing Zazen and learning about Buddhism for a while I felt a bit different. I used to hear my Zen teacher, Gudo Nishijima, talk about what he called gthe Buddhist truthh, but I always presumed there was no such thing. But after a while Buddhism began to make some sense. I wasnft sure how to follow up on it though, so I started thinking about taking the precepts. Ifm not entirely sure why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Ifd been studying with Nishijima for a couple of years and I figured it might make some difference to me.
But I wasnft exactly sure about turning Buddhist. And I didnft want to start asking Nishijima about taking the precepts and then back out. So I waited a while. Then one day a guy I knew from Nishijimafs Zen group told me Nishijima was planning to do the precepts ceremony for another student, named Denis. I figured Nishijima might be able to fit me in at the same time, so I decided to ask him about it. I tried calling him one morning at his Zazen dojo. I dialed the number and waited and waited, but no-one answered. I tried again a few minutes later. This time I let the phone ring. Eventually a German woman who was staying at the dojo answered. I asked for Nishijima, but she told me they were doing Zazen in the Zazen hall (zendo) and to call back later. I felt a bit stupid. The phone was right next to the zendo. Nishijima and the others would have had to listen to the phone ringing for a few minutes while they were doing zazen. I hoped they didnft mind. Anyway, I called back after lunch and asked Nishijima about taking the precepts. He said okay and told me to do the ceremony at the same time as Denis. It was going to be held on January 15 at Nishijimafs dojo. The dojo was in a place called Moto Yawata on the outskirts of Tokyo. The plan was to meet there at about 10 and practice Zazen together and then do the ceremony.
So that was it. The arrangements were made. All I had to do was show up and do the ceremony. But I was still having doubts. I was very wary of religions, and even though Buddhism felt different I wasnft entirely convinced. And those doubts werenft going away easily. One time I was listening to one of Nishijimafs talks at one of his meetings in Tokyo with about 10 or 12 other people. Some of the folks in the room seemed like real dedicated Buddhists who had been studying for years. One or two had shaved heads and were wearing a rakusu, which is a kind of bib your teacher gives you when you receive the precepts. All of a sudden I started thinking gwho are these people, and what am I doing here?h I felt like getting up and leaving. For some reason or other I didn't get up and leave, and after a few minutes I just forgot about it.
The day for the ceremony, January 15, finally came round. It was a Thursday. Normally Ifd have work that day, but at that time January 15 was a national holiday in Japan. It was called gcoming of age dayh. It was the day when people celebrate becoming 20 years old, after which they're legally adult. Nishijima used to arrange to hold his ceremonies on national holidays so they didnft interfere with peoplefs work. Doing the ceremony to become a Buddhist on gcoming of age dayh felt like a nice touch too.
One problem, though, was the weather. It can snow a lot in Tokyo in winter, and sure enough it snowed the day of the ceremony. It snowed really hard too. There were a couple of feet (or well, at least 5 or 6 inches) of snow on the ground so it was going to be tough getting to the dojo. Nishijima wasnft staying at the dojo that day either. He had a house on the other side of town where he stayed with his wife. He only stayed at the dojo at weekends. He was going to have to make his way through all the snow to the train station and try to get to the dojo. He was 78 then, so it was a lot to ask.
I should have called up Nishijima and asked him to cancel the ceremony, because he could have slipped and injured himself walking in that snow. But for some stupid reason I decided to head off for the dojo. It was kind of dumb. It was going to take hours to get to the dojo, and Nishijima could easily have fallen on the way. I must have been really nervous about the whole thing and just forgot it was going to be really hard for him to travel in the snow.Anyway, I walked from my house to the train station and waited for a train. Eventually one came, and I made it to the dojo at around 11. Denis showed up a while later and eventually Nishijima too. Hefd walked through the snow from his house to the local train station, caught a train to Moto Yawata station near the dojo, and walked from there to the dojo by himself. Not bad for 78. Most people wouldnft have bothered. It helped dispel my doubts. Hefd made a big effort to get there.
The original idea was to do zazen and then do the ceremony. But we were running a couple of hours late so we went straight up to the room to hold the ceremony. The place was freezing. I was still nervous about the whole thing and wouldfve liked to do some zazen to settle my nerves first, but we didnft have time. Nishijima changed into his robes and a few of us set up the room for the ceremony.
The person who does most of the work during the precepts ceremony is the teacher. He repeats each precepts three times, and asks the recipient if they can keep it until the end of their life. The recipient says gYes, I canh. One part in the precepts ceremony that felt important to me was these four lines the recipient says towards the beginning:
"Our wrongs which we have committed in the past,
All came from eternal greed, anger and ignorance.
They were the products of body, speech, and mind.
So now we confess them all."
Ifd done a lot of things in my past that were definitely gwrongsh that came from "eternal greed, anger and ignorance". I felt like I was getting a fresh start.
Towards the end of the ceremony the teacher says gYou should do your best to keep these preceptsh. Thatfs the basic idea. Youfre not expected to spotlessly keep the precepts, just do your best. After that, the people receiving the precepts do three prostrations and then walk up and sit on the teacherfs chair. The teacher walks round the chair a few times saying that the person receiving the precepts is at the same level as Gautama Buddha and is a child of Buddha. When thatfs done the receivers get a rakusu and a certificate from the teacher.
When you take the Buddhist precepts you also receive a Buddhist name. It's usually chosen by your teacher, but you can sometimes choose it yourself if you like. Therefs cloth on the back of the rakusu where the teacher writes your Buddhist name, the date and the teacherfs name. The certificate has the same things written on it. Nishijima also wrote the Japanese version of this poem on the back of the rakusu:
How great is the clothing of liberation,
Formless, field of happiness, robe!
Devoutly wearing the Tathagatafs teaching,
Widely I will save living beings.
This poem is taken from a chapter titled Kesa-Kudoku (The Merit of the Kasaya) in Dogenfs book Shobogenzo. Dogen heard a Chinese monk recite it before he put on his Kasaya when he visited China. The Kasaya (or Kesa in Japanese) is the Buddhist robe thatfs worn by most Buddhist monks and nuns regardless of which branch of Buddhism they belong to. The rakusu is considered to be a small version of the Kesa.
After myself and Denis received our rakusus, the ceremony ended. We took a few photos, and then went downstairs for a quick cup of tea. After that we all headed home.
So that was it. Ifd taken the precepts and gotten my rakusu and certificate, and had a Buddhist name. I had formally turned Buddhist, although I didnft feel any different. But I felt very grateful to Nishijima for the trouble he went to. There was no money or reward involved for him. He did it because he believes in Buddhism.
The next time I met Nishijima was a few weeks later at one of his talks in Tokyo. I was on my way into the zazen room. I thanked him for doing the ceremony. He didn't say anything, just shook my hand really strongly and gave me a big smile.