The Red Cedar Zen Community is offering a monthly study group with Heigaku Talus Latona and Shudo Chris Burkhart supported by Nomon Tim Burnett. This class is for all Red Cedar Zen Members interested in precepts studies. Students should have the intention to attend all 7 evening meetings and the two day retreats.
Students moving towards Jukai are expected to attend all sessions. If you are interested in receiving Jukai this year, please speak with a teacher before the first meeting. (Note that it’s typical to practice with the sangha for a few years before juaki: see the Going Further page on the website for more).
SCHEDULE OF COHORT MEETINGS
(last Tuesdays of the month plus a cohort retreat)
- Tuesday, March 30th, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm - about the precepts, refuge
- Tuesday, April 27th, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm - pure precepts
- Tuesday, May 25th, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm - precepts 1 & 9
- Tuesday, June 29th, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm - precepts 2 & 3
- Tuesday, July 27th, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm - precepts 4 & 5
- Tuesday, August 31th, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm - precepts 6 & 7
- Cohort Retreat - Saturday September 18th, 9am - 1pm
- Tuesday, September 28th, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm - precepts 8 & 10
ADDITIONAL EVENTS:
- Zen Sewing Intensive - Saturdays April 3 and April 10, 10:00 am - 12:00 noon: This is required for members preparing for jukai in November. Jukai students will learn how to sew a rakusu.
- Precepts Retreat & Ceremony: Saturday, November 6, 6:00 am - 5:00 pm The ceremony takes place at 3 pm. Jukai students usually invite friends and family.
Texts Used
Primary text (required):
Being Upright by Reb Anderson,
Optional texts:
Waking Up to What you Do by Diane Rizzetto
Mind of Clover by Robert Aitken.
Study Process
Each group meeting will include discussion, experiential exercises, and reflection in small groups on what these precepts mean for us as human beings and students of Zen and in reflection of the teachers' comments.
In between meetings students will be invited to reflect on how the precept in focus shows up in their life and to respond. This response can be written, artistic, or verbal. At each meeting a new assignment for the next month will be offered by the teacher of that month’s group.
More on receiving Jukai
Receiving Jukai is a wonderful step: It provides the student with a focus and structure in practice. It also offers the sangha support and nourishment through the student’s publicly made commitment to practice and precepts. At the same time sangha support nourishes the student's practice.
If you’re interested in in receiving jukai, please request permission from a sangha teacher. Speak either to Guiding Teacher Tim Burnett, Tanto Shudo Chris Burkhart, Lay Teacher John Wiley or to one of our Mentors who have been shuso: Edie Norton, Talus Latona, Bob Penny, or Kate McKenna.
Jukai preparation also includes practice interviews. In addition to attending the Precept Study Group and receiving permission from a sangha teacher, you will also be meeting individually with a sangha teacher to discuss your process of engaging with the precepts privately in Practice Discussion or Dokusan.
Jukai is not required or expected. It’s important to note that it is wonderful and complete to study the precepts without preparing for jukai. Receiving jukai and wearing the rakusu is not a requirement (or a blanket recommendation) in our sangha. It is your choice and a discernment to be made with a teacher. (For more on Jukai and other training options at Red Cedar please see: the Going Further page on the website).
Please use the registration form at the left to RSVP if you intend to come to study group.
