Taking Refuge in the Bodhisattva Way

The most recent PZI Refuge Ceremony took place at the Santa Rosa Creek Zendo on April 26, 2008. When the next series of refuge classes are scheduled it will be noted here.

Taking Refuge is open to PZI members who have decided to make a personal commitment to the way and have attended the introductory meeting. Taking refuge is a way of expressing your sense of homecoming—of taking refuge in your own deepest nature, in our way of practice, and in your companions on the path. Taking refuge, you turn toward whatever encourages life.

People taking refuge participate in a series of eight monthly preparatory classes on the buddhist precepts, or vows, that are taken in a formal ceremony of refuge, known in Japanese as Jukai.

In the preparatory classes, people take up the idea of vows and refuge. They are also a way for those who are participating in the ceremony to prepare to compose their own responses to the vows and an opportunity for the community to take up these ancient questions in a conversational format. The vows are not considered as a set of rules to obey; they are approached as a path of asking and exploring the eternal human questions. Conversations and teachings are one way to integrate the practice of meditation into daily life, and to find out how, as The Heart Sutra says, emptiness can become form.

A ZEN NAME & RAKUSU:

One aspect of the ceremony of taking refuge is the taking of a Zen name that is written onto a formal garment called a rakusu. The rakusu is worn over your chest (as demonstrated by the bear above).Your Zen name, although it is not secret, is written on the cloth inside the rakusu where it is hidden from others; you wear it next to your heart. Many people sew their own rakusu, following an intricate pattern and ancient tradition.

John Tarrant on taking refuge:

Refuge comes when a certain kind of wandering is finished because now we can make out a path through the fog. Perhaps the true wandering begins then, in trust. We have become curious, we listen to the inner life and act on what we hear and follow it. Like a wedding the ceremony closes one time and opens another that we are already becoming immersed in. And Refuge is a public ceremony—we acknowledge that we are in a greater whole, composed of uncountable beings, of stars and plants and rivers and particular people who know us well. Our vows are taken before this big audience.

From our small point of view, refuge is intended to be helpful and practical. If we are confused we can check our experience against the vows and the spirit of the ceremony. What is this? How does it fit? Is it right? Do I love it? So we can begin to refine our question and our capacity to ask and explore. And we choose. We understand by this that we won't always make the best choice because we choose what we don't know. We choose to walk a path without a precise knowledge of the destination. It takes courage to choose and this is a good thing, close to love. And we are willing to bear the shame and guilt of choosing and erring and changing. When we decide, other possibilities go dark. There is risk. By choosing we show that we have learned this—that sometimes the choosing itself is as important as what is chosen, that we are on a journey not at a place of ending and it's best if we love the travelling for its own sake.

In their profound sense the vows lead us down into the timeless center of the world which is the core of the self. There, we walk alone in the moonlight, not remembering our names.

Finally, through the vows, we take on the blood line of the teachings and meet the ancient men and women standing behind us. Our participation in the way has deepened and turned more towards joy because we have become conscious of it, we have said to our inmost selves, "I am walking the way."

Click here to View the Refuge Vows