Shukke Tokudo

Shukke Tokudo is the ceremony of ordination marking the passage from layperson to what we call a monk, nun, or a priest (though actually those Western terms do not have the same meaning in the East).  Tokudo means ‘ceremony,’ and Shukke is ‘leaving home.’  In Kanzeon Sangha, Genpo Roshi interprets ‘leaving home’ as leaving that comfortable place called home or the self, and serving something greater than ourselves.  In this ceremony, students fully empower and commit their lives to the lineage that comes from Shakyamuni Buddha through all the Ancestors to Genpo Roshi, the living embodiment of the lineage.  Partners, family and friends are welcome.

Shoken

Shoken is a private ceremony in which a teacher accepts an individual as a student.

Jukai Tokudo

Jukai Tokudo is a public lay ordination in which the precept teacher gives the student, the 16 Buddhist Precepts, a Dharma name, and a lineage chart that includes both the teacher and the student in the lineage of ancestors issuing from and returning to Shakaymuni Buddha. It is a public confirmation of one’s life as the life of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, in which the student empowers and is empowered by the teacher and the lineage in the presence of the Sangha (community).  Partners, family and friends are welcome. Students make their own rakusu (an informal lay garment symbolic of the Buddha’s robe.)