On Sunday, January 7, 2024 at 11am – 12:15pm ET a new class is forming to take The Zen Garland Order Vows.
Study dates are: January 7, 14, 21; February 25; March 3, 17 (classes are held in person and streamed online)
Course fee: $75 (includes classes, manual, and fabric for the rakusu)
Registration is open until December 31st, 2023
Practicing the Zen Garland Order Vows means to embody Zen ethics as a way to salvation, healing, and liberation. The Vows are an essential element in the practice path of all Buddhist traditions: precepts, meditation, and wisdom. Taking the Zen Garland Vows is the commitment to enter the Zen Buddhist path and the initiation into the Zen Garland Order practice community.
This empowerment is open to those with a regular practice under the guidance of a Zen Garland Order Teacher. The practitioner request of their teacher to take and receive the Zen Garland Order Vows.
Once accepted, the practitioner joins a training group that studies the history, philosophy and dynamics of precepts and vows in Buddhist, Zen, and the Zen Garland Order traditions. A rakusu, a miniature version of a monk or nun’s robe, is sewn by each practitioner with help from their sewing mentor. A ceremony is held where they receive the Zen Garland Order Vows as ongoing ways of practice from their Teacher.