November 28, 2020
A look at the several elements of the ceremony. The ten cardinal precepts are examined in the context of the “five trials” of 2020: the pandemic; its financial consequences; the intensifying effects of climate change; the clearer revelation of systemic racism and its ongoing wounds; and the alarming rise of political divisiveness.
November 30, 2019
An overview of today’s ceremony of Receiving the Precepts, with a look at how the Internet adds further challenges in upholding the Ten Cardinal Precepts.
November 17, 2019
With our annual ceremony of Receiving the Precepts (Jukai) coming up, here Roshi applies those precepts to the growing threat of climate change and how we might reduce the harm we are inevitably causing to the environment.
November 24, 2018
The ceremony of Jukai (Taking the Precepts) is basically an initiation into the Dharma. To be a Buddhist is to commit to aligning oneself with what is real–direct experience, not thoughts. It is to see things as they are in order to be with things as they are.
October 30, 2018
The First Buddhist Precept — to resolve not to kill — sounds deceptively simple, and yet it can be a lifelong koan.
July 26, 2007
An exploration of the three cardinal precepts related to Right Speech: not to lie, not to discuss the faults of others, and not to praise oneself.