In most years, a select group of Zen students at the Empty Hand Zen Center participate in a lay ordination ceremony, known as jukai in Japanese, where they formally accept the sixteen Bodhisattva precepts and vow to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
The 2011 Jukai Ceremony was held last Sunday at EHZC for three students (shown below, l - r): Carolyn Fuchs, Bernard Rowen, and Fran Shalom. All are artists, dedicated Zen practitioners, and dear friends. The beautiful new rakusus (see Rakasu) they are wearing are inscribed on the back with the Dharma name they have just been given by their teacher, Susan Ji-on Postal. Which may be why they are smiling. I mean, really, how often do you get a new name?
