Last Saturday’s dedication of our sangha to the practice of Zen Buddhism was a significant and joyful event and added encouragement to our practice of Zen Buddhism settling into the forms of our culture. Opening of the eyes of the Buddha by our founding teachers, Chozen Roshi and Hogen Roshi, blessed our practice center and affirmed the commitment by our Zen community to continue deepening insight into the nature of being human and contributing to our current world. The ethical base of interdependence taught by Buddhism is sorely needed if we are to survive the current era. We live the Bodhisattva Way by seeing into the roots of suffering and offering this clarity in our service to the world. We offer the Dharma to all who are hungry for true liberation. Those who come after us are dependent on our continuous practice. And how we express it in our daily activity is how it actually functions to do this. Without it we have no access to the true meaning of Dharma awakening. This is the heart of our Sangha dedication.
We clearly expressed our practice at the Ceremony. The Zen center sparkled, looked carefully tended and felt so welcoming. The hard work of all who organized, cleaned, re-arranged, set-up and took down, cooked, served, prepared the small gifts given to everyone, played music, rang the bells, all the planning was clearly evident in the bright light of our celebration. This is what we can continue to bring into the world at large now.
Sangha friends from far and wide were re-united and those who had never met our founding teachers, Chozen and Hogen Bays, were able to do so. It is rare to have a Sangha such as we have. Waking up to the life of our life, seeing how to free ourselves from habits of suffering and offering our clarity and energies to help others to do so, is our everyday celebration, our everyday practice, our sangha vow.
