Berkeley Zen Center lay ordination (video)

Berkeley Zen Center; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

BerkeleyZenCenter.org

Three members of the Berkeley Zen Center sangha (spiritual community) received "lay ordination" (Zaike Tokudo) from Sojun Weitsman Roshi and Hozan Senauke Sensei in the summer of 2017.

Such commitment to practice is possible in Mahayana Buddhism, particularly in the Japanese tradition practiced in the United States.

This ceremony takes place once a year at BZC and is a significant rite of passage for each participant and for the whole sangha.

• Film Club: Watch Old Plum Mountain, a film about the Berkeley Zen Center (Tricycle: The Buddhist Review)

You're never too old to RNR if you're TYTD.

Those present have the feeling that we are all together witnessing and participating as those ordaining receive the Buddha’s precepts.

Those ordaining are welcomed into the lineage of Shakyamuni Buddha and Suzuki Roshi’s family.

• Sojun Roshi’s students:
• John Lake Hei Ko Shin Kan ("Calm Lake Deep Insight")
• Matt Haug Ji Dô I Shin ("Compassionate Path Healing Heart")
• Hozan Sensei’s student:
• Tim Lane Kô Ryû Gen Shin ("Peaceful Dragon Sees Heart")
• Heart Sutra Class | Berkeley Zen Center
• A new abbot for the Berkeley Zen Center (Old Plum Mountain Zen Center) | Sangha News Journal (sfzc.org)
• SFZC Dharma App
• Actor Pasquale Esposito from Italy to lay ordination
• Hozan Senauke: Zazen Instructions | Berkeley Zen Center
• 2024 BZC Calendar (berkeleyzencenter.org)

How to sit zazen: instructions

This is a talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Friday, May 14, 2021, by Hozan Alan Senauke. AUDIO: Listen to an audio-only version of this talk: Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed. Subscribe to The Berkeley Zen Center Podcast: RSS.

ABOUT: Hozan Alan Senauke: Sensei began practicing at BZC on Dwight Way and later established his practice as a student of Sojun Roshi in the early 1980s. He was ordained as a Zen priest at BZC in 1989, receiving Dharma Transmission from Sojun at Tassajara Zen Center in 1998. After serving as tanto (head of practice) and then as vice-abbot at BZC, Hozan was installed as abbot in January of 2021. More

"Buddhist Bishop" rejected by TEC

Dr. Kevin Thew Forrester, Anglican priest and Zen meditator (right)

George Conger (Religious Intelligence, 7/31/09)

The election of America’s "Buddhist bishop" has been vetoed by the bishops and diocesan standing committees of the Episcopal Church.

The February 21 election of Dr. Kevin Thew Forrester as Bishop of Northern Michigan was “null and void,” Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori announced on July 27, as he had not received the necessary “consents” from a majority of the church’s diocesan bishops and standing committees.

Dr. Forrester’s rejection marks the first time in 77 years that the election of an American diocesan bishop has been repudiated by the Episcopal Church....On April 24 The Church of England Newspaper predicted the election would be rejected by the House of Bishops, as early returns showed a 3 to 1 negative margin with Dr. Forrester failing to hold together the left-liberal bloc of bishops that backed Gene Robinson’s 2003 election as Bishop of New Hampshire.

Shortly after his election The Living Church Magazine reported that the bishop-elect had received “lay ordination” as a Buddhist and according to his former bishop “walk[ed] the path of Christianity and Zen Buddhism.”

Dr. Forrester denied that he followed two faiths, telling the Marquette Mining Journal, “there’s one faith and it’s Christianity,” and that his Christian faith had been “deepened by my meditative practice and I’m eternally grateful to Zen Buddhism for teaching me that practice and receiving me as an Episcopal priest.” More>>

Christians reject their new Buddhist Bishop

Episcopalians reject Buddhist Bishop

Leaders of the Episcopal Church (in the Anglican communion) have rejected the appointment of bishop-elect Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester (pictured in white). Forrester holds views that are apparently too progressive. Among them, Rev. Forrester:

• Denies that Satan [a Christian version of Mara] exists
• Doesn't believe God sent Christ to die for the world's sins
• Teaches that many paths lead to salvation

The Diocese of Northern Michigan's election of the Rev. Thew Forrester was declared "null and void" on 7/26/09. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says Forrester failed to receive the necessary consent from a majority of Episcopal bishops and diocesan committees.

Rev. Forrester has also been criticized for blending elements of Christianity and Buddhism. In an old diocesan newsletter from 2004, Rev. Forrester said he had "received Buddhist 'lay ordination.'" Some bloggers have also criticized him for calling a reading from the Quran [Islam's bible] "the word of God." This begs the age-old question:

Can you be Christian and Buddhist?
(Dharma Folk, 3/12/09)

The...other day I ran across The God Blog over on the Jewish Journal, which asks Can you be Christian and Buddhist? with respect to Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester. He’s in the news due to irate Episcopalians who will not tolerate him as both a bishop in the Anglican communion and an ordained Zen teacher. More>>

WISDOM QUARTERLY posed the question to Ven. Karunananda, Ph.D. -- a Theravadan scholar-monk of long standing, from our Ask a Monk series. The question of whether or not one can be a "Buddhist" and at the same time another religion is easy. (See following entry).

Was Judas a Traitor?

New image for Jesus' traitor
Christians have long thought of Judas Iscariot (a Christian version of Devadatta) as evil, but that may be changing. Discovery (The New Yorker)
Amish, Vampires hot in Christian lit.

Episcopalians reject Buddhist Bishop

Leaders of the Episcopal Church have rejected the appointment of a bishop-elect for his progressive views on important Church teachings.