"Thinking" and Ordination

Upaya Zen Center. Tokudo. Yushin with Roshi Joan.
Originally uploaded by Upaya.

Roshi Joan Halifax and new priest Yushin embrace.

I came across a few photos from this ordination on the Upaya/Halifax flickr site (click the photo to go there).

Tetsugan and I (and any other dharma buddy I can convince to broach the topic) have been talking about what it means to be ordained in a Zen lineage, especially in this country.

Religious reforms in the Meiji era, designed to weaken Buddhism in Japan, permitted priests to marry, and shifted the tone of practice from one of renunciates in the world, to one where priests could enjoy lives very similar to those of laypeople. Within the Japanese cultural context, however, priests retained their ceremonial role: conducting religious services and being available to the community.

Jump forward to North America in the 21st century. Those of us who really love Zen instinctively imagine that being ordained is the best way to express that sense of connection. And so "People Who Love Zen" become ordained and live in a way that includes hair, jobs, cars, houses, families. You have Zen priests who live essentially ordinary lives, devoid of most of the social and ceremonial roles of even laicized Japanese priests--except for occasionally dressing up in robes to do something.

To some, this is an appropriate expression of practice. Others wonder what the point to ordination is, other than being a strange merit badge of "really loving Zen." The question is actually only a personal one: What is the best expression of the Dharma in this life?

The question I keep turning over is, Why is the lay path not valued? Why shouldn't a devoted practitioner embody the dharma and helping others as a part of her (non-priestly) life? Wise and experienced lay people can and do lead groups and teach others. Why the need for invoking and then (some would say) abusing ordination, when the outcome looks the same?

And the dark side: what is it in ourselves that seeks a spiritual identity? That wants to be seen by others as special, holy, correct? That wants to attain respect through this means? Perhaps for you this is not an issue, and these questions fall mysteriously flat. But for me, and for many, they are alive.

My personal view at this point is that priests can't exist without a sangha to serve; that being ordained points to service as the primary focus of one's life, and that it is inappropriate to pursue worldly gain within that context.

People I love and respect may disagree. Fortunately, our views are just that: ideas.

And so it was, that, wwimming in the afterglow of yet another conversation about "The Meaning of Ordination," I came across a series of photos from a recent tokudo at Upaya.

These pictures are so beautiful, they destroy notions with their brilliance. When I stopped crying, I came here to blog, because I wanted to say something: talking and talking about something beautiful and precious is not that thing. Ideas are not true.

I don't know anything about ordination, or how other people should live their lives. But I do recognize something beautiful. And I wanted to share it with you.

Upaya Zen Center: Tokudo. Yushin
Originally uploaded by Upaya.

That face stills all debate.