Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Good son (good daughter), the source of mind is utterly still, the sea of Dharma  profoundly deep. Those who are ignorant of this flounder in confusion for endless kalpas; those who understand it attain liberation in this very place. The path toward roaming freely in liberation necessarily entails the Dharma of leaving home. This ceremony, which is the same in the Way of all Buddhas, is the standard for attaining liberation. This is a truth which cannot be doubted. In bringing one’s body and mind into full accord with the Way, nothing surpasses leaving home. Why is this? Because, to cut off one’s hair is to cut off the root of attachment. When the root of attachment is cut off, the original body is revealed. To change one’s clothing is to shed defilements. When defilements are cast off, then this is freedom. Among all Buddhas of the three times, there is not one who attained the Way while remaining a householder. Among the successive generations of ancestors as well, there was not one who did not take on the form of a homeleaver. Thus, among all types of merit, the merit of leaving home is considered most excellent. If one built a seven-jeweled stupa as high as the heaven of the thirty-three the merit would be very great, but it would not amount to even one-hundredth of the merit of leaving home. No imaginable calculation can compare. A jeweled stupa gradually wears away and becomes fine particles of dust; after many years, its form can no longer be seen. Leaving home, however, increases in value and results in the fruit of Buddhahood; through the eons, it does not lose its merit. Thus, even before one has cast off this human body, one goes beyond the realm of ordinary people; and even if one has not yet confirmed the fruit of Buddhahood, one is now a true disciple of Buddha. Among all living beings of the three realms, one is the most honored of people; and within the six realms of birth, one has the most praiseworthy birth. Consider well: you are turning around body and mind, which for long eons have been caught up in the round of rebirth, and you now will live eternally in the unborn Buddha Land from which there is no falling back. Your beginningless deluded attachments are today cut off, and your true original virtue is fully realized at this seat. This being the case, after leaving home, heaven and earth will no longer cover you and hold you; how could living beings possibly throw you into confusion? Your round shaved head will have nothing covering it; your rectangular robe will be your banner of liberation. All those who see or hear of them will receive great benefits, and your relatives will surely reap excellent fruits. Your rank will transcend the three realms, and your virtue  will tower over the ten directions. As the verse says: “Throughout the rounds of birth in the three realms, the bonds of attachment are hard to break; to cast off obligations and enter the unconditioned is the true repayment of blessings.” You should think of the virtue of your father and mother in giving you birth, and in complete sincerity take leave of them. You should reflect on the blessings bestowed by the land, waters, and trees, and requite them in accord with Dharma. This is the manifest confirmation  of liberation, and the particular sign of an honorable person.’

These are the introductory remarks of the priest ordination ceremony (shukke tokudo – leaving home, attaining the way), in a translation written down by Menzan in the early 18th Century, based on Dogen’s own form of the ceremony – many of the phrases are echoed in the ceremony performed at San Francisco Zen Center these days. As I prepare for my class on Dogen’s monastic writings, I am considering this tension between the notion that everyone has the innate capacity to awaken, and that leaving home is necessary.

The central idea is renunciation, symbolised most clearly by the head-shaving (central to Buddhism since the Buddha’s time, and indicative that hair conveys status in many cultures), and the donning of a robe to symbolise the new role.

Can we also see the sense of leaving home as a philosophical stance? I was just leading a meditation and bringing in the notion of ‘beginner’s mind,’ where we leave behind our pre-assembled thoughts and ideas to look at things fresh.