Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Buddhist
To Save the World: A Few Words for a Friend Who is About to Ordain as a Zen Priest

To Save the World: A Few Words for a Friend Who is About to Ordain as a Zen Priest

Last updated on: September 14, 2018 at 9:37 am by James Ford

To Save the World: A Few Words for a Friend Who is About to Ordain as a Zen Priest 2018-09-14T09:37:36-07:00 James Ford

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Today Gensan, a dear friend is ordaining as an unsui, a person of “clouds and water.” It is a type of ordination unique to our Japanese Zen inheritance, no longer based in the Vinaya, Buddhism’s ancient monastic codes, but rooted in ten, and for the Soto school within which this ordination is happening, sixteen precepts or vows.

It is part of a still evolving ordination system. When ten precept ordination was introduced into Japan in the ninth century through the efforts of the Tendai monk Saicho, this ordination was understood as a full monastic ordination for the newly imported Tendai school which had been largely blocked from access to the traditional ordination platforms.

Within Japan it would in time become the only ordination model, slightly modified among the schools, but used by all Japanese Buddhists. However it was always confused in the minds of continental Buddhism, as the ten precepts were derived from the Chinese Bodhisattva Precepts, and there taken by lay people and monastics alike. With that for many outside of Japan this ordination system is not recognized.

And then it began a process of shifting. The reasons were many, but among them was the rise of the temple system. Where after a period of monastic training single monks would take up residency in a network of many thousands of temples across the Japanese islands. While a small percentage of Bodhisattva monks would spend the whole of their lives within the cloister of practice, the vast majority would eventually move out into one of these temples and among the people.

In the thirteenth century the Shin monk Shinran Shonin openly married, declaring his ordination was to something “neither monk nor lay person.” With this a kind of ordination that can crudely be compared to the differences between Roman Catholic and Anglican priesthood emerged. Japanese temple priests settled into their communities, performing the rites of religion on behalf of the people, but otherwise it could be hard to distinguish them from the rest of the community. Outside of the Shin school what exactly was happening was shrouded with a veneer of hypocrisy, where the language about ordination continued to be monastic, but in practice many, in time, no doubt most temple priests had concubines and children.

Finally as part of the many reforms of the Meiji era, Buddhist priests were legally allowed to grow their hair, eat meat, and, marry. The final testimony to the hypocrisy before was how within five years the vast majority of Buddhist monks married.

It is still complicated. In Japan most temples still do not have family accommodations, and the particular work ethic of Japanese culture is in full force, creating a hard divide between the priestly life and one’s family life. And for women it is doubly difficult. In theory fully equal, in practice, institutional equality is elusive. That said, something very rich and potentially useful for us in the West has emerged.

Still, the terminology for these religious professionals continues to be monastic. A Japanese priest comes west and their preferred self-reference is as a monk. And that term is still in common use among western ordained practitioners, even when they have a spouse and children. So, we still have work to do.

In Buddhist history, probably from its foundations, certainly from very early the sangha, the community was considered four-fold: monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. Those of us who practice Zen in the West, who derive our disciplines and traditions from Japan, and that continues to be the majority of us who practice Zen here; now have an emerging three-fold sangha: monastics, priests, and lay people.

Untangling these distinctions, supporting, and even celebrating each is probably the great project ahead for the next several generations. If, of course, this style of Zen, or even Zen itself, survives here. But I believe this project is critical. I should say the two fundamental gifts of Zen come west, an understanding of awakening and the disciplines of Zen meditation. However, it is so important that we understand the three-fold division. Because I do not believe those two precious gifts of our subtle understanding of awakening and our core practices can survive on their own. They need the community.

I’ve called the network of support a container. But that isn’t right. This three-fold way is vastly more than a container. It is the shape of a dharma family, it is the foundation of a way of life and even of a culture of awakening. So, each part is critical. And, that said, I think as the inheritors of the principal way of preserving and transmitting our way, the priests have special obligations. first, to the twin ways of awakening and practice. But, beyond that to discovering the mysteries of “married monasticism,” of a way of life that is at once disciplined and embedded within family and community. And also what distinguishes priestly practice and lay practice when all are seen as genuinely, not merely rhetorically equal? Understanding this way. Practicing this way. Sharing the whole way.

So…

Here we are. Looking at another person who has already devoted years to practice. Who seeks the mind of the great way. And, who now takes the vows of a clouds and water person, of an unsui, of a Zen priest.

The way forward is complicated. We are still seeking to understand all the nuances. What is a married monk? What is a priest? What will his relationships look like going forward? Gensan, what will your relationships look like going forward?

So…

Along with all that, how will this ordination further that larger project of liberating the human heart, and with that creating a Zen Buddhist community here on Turtle Island and throughout the west?

Responsibilities. Joys. Sorrows. Failures. And, successes. All of these things hang in the balance.

So…

So, Gensan, blessings on you and those with whom you live and work. Blessings on your questions. Blessings on your finding. And. Thank you for taking these vows for yourself and for all of us.

Endless bows,

Your friend,

Myoun

Previous Post

September 11, 2018

Our Quest for Meaning: A Pointer from the 105th Floor of the World Trade Center.

Next Post

September 15, 2018 Call me Roshi: A Small Meditation on Zen Titles in the West

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Christmas Carol Abolitionist African-American Ahmadiyya Alan Watts Aldous Huxley Allen Ginsberg Amedkar Jayanti American politics American Zen Anaheim Zen Sangha Anglican Annie Besant April Fool Armageddon Art and Religion artificial intellegence Atheist Awakening B R Ambedkar Barlaam & Josaphat Beatnik Between Bhagavad Gita Bible biography birthday bodhisattva Bodhisattva Precepts Book burning Book of Common Prayer Book of Mormon Brahmo Samaj Buddha Buddhism Buddhist Buddhist Lord's Prayer Butterflies Calendars cartoons cat ChatGPT Chicken Tortilla Soup choices Christian atheism Christian mysticism Christian origins Christian Science Christian Zen Christianity Christianity and Buddhism christmas Christmas Truce Christopher Isherwood Church of Later Day Saints Cinco de Mayo circus covenant critical thinking culture D. T. Suzuki Dalit Buddhism Daniel Defoe Desert Fathers and Mothers dharma talk Dogen Donald Trump Dongshan's Five Ranks Dorothy Day dream Duty Easter ecology Edwin Arnold emptiness Empty Moon Zen Network Episcopal Church Eternal Now Ethics evolution existentialism Faith fantasy Fathers Day film film review fire Five Ranks Folk music food Form and emptiness Four Seals Francis of Assisi Francis Xavier Free thinker friendship George MacDonald Gerald Heard Glenn Taylor Webb God Good Friday Gospel of Gospel of Mark Gospel of Thomas grace Graduate Theological Unioin Graduate Theological Union Guanyin H R Blyth Hakuin Ekaku Hanamatsuri Hanukkah Harada Yasutani Zen Heart Sutra Henry David Thoreau Hermann Hesse Hinduism History and Religion history of religion Holy Spirit home Hospitality Icon Ides of March Isaac Newton Islam Islamic mysticism Jack Kerouac James Luther Adams Jiddu Krishnamurti Joan of Arc Johannes Gutenberg John Donne joke Judaism justice karma kensho King James Bible koan Koun Yamada Kyoto School Lewis Carrol Liberal Christianity Liberal Religion Life Plan Community Liminal literature Literature and Religion Liturgy Lord's Prayer Love Mahatma Gandhi Mahayana Martin Luther King Jr Mary Baker Eddy Mary Magdelene Mary Oliver Mayflower Compact Meditation memories memory metaphor money money and religioin Mormons Mother's Day movie review mysticism mythic Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church New Thought Nichiren Buddhism Nonduality not knowing Omar Khayyam Pacific School of Religion pagan Palm Sunday Passover peace Pentecost perennialism Phantastes Philip Kapleau philosophy Pilgrimage poetry Poetry and Religion politics Prayer Precepts Printing Press prophecy prophetic spirituality psychology Pure Land Queer religion queering religion Quietism Ram Mohan Roy rebirth recipe Relationships and religion religion religion and history Religious syncretism Resistance Retirement Retreat review Rissho Kosei Kai Ritual Robert Aitken Roshi Robert Ingersoll Rohatsu Romani religion Rosie the Riveter saints samadhi SanboZen Sangha Satyagraha science science and reigion science and religion science fiction seminary sermon Sesshin Sex and Religion Shinran Sikh Sikh tradition silence Social Justice Socially Engaged Buddhism Society and religion Soto Zen soul spiritual community spiritual practice Spirituality Sufism Suicide superstition Taoism Television Teresa of Avila Thanksgiving theological schools Theosophy Thomas Merton Time Transcendentalism Transcendentalist Trinitarian Trinity Uncategorized unitarian Unitarian Christianity Unitarian Universalist Universalism Vajrayana Vedanta Walking war Willa Cather William Ellery Channing wisdom women and religion women in religion World Teacher Writing zazen Zen Zen Center Zen inspired retriement zen meditation Zen Precepts Zen women

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "be salt and light" mean in Jesus' teaching?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Change nothing Be invisible Lose your flavor Be a good example