With respect,
How great the robe of liberation, a formless field of merit...
A recent thread on Facebook began to discuss the wearing of robes at public protests and demonstrations. Many readers opposed the practice essentially saying robes were for the Zendo. I have a different view.
When s priest, as well as lay people, take the precepts it should mean something. They are taking refuge in the Three Treasures, they are vowing to manifest the Three Pure Precepts and vowing to honor the Ten Grave Precepts. I wonder what it is they think those Three Treasures and Three Pure Precepts are all about. They are not just words. They are meant to help us shift our identity from the individual to the universal. The Four Great Vows are invitations to do the same.
I think robes and the questions around them reflect our ambivalence regarding our public priesthood and sense of being clergy here in America.
Being a priest for me is a non-dualistic. It is a full time occupation and until recently I wore robes often and nearly always at public events. It was my way of honoring and perhaps manifesting, the Buddha Way and maintaining the tradition. I am now quasi-retired but, I still put on the Buddha Robe when at public events. It’s an important means, in my opinion, of stating what Zen Buddhism is all about: bringing about abundant good for all beings. It also says, “Here I Am.”
Such a message is lost if the wearing of our robes only occurs in the Zendo. How can we make people be aware of our presence in a community if we only
How great the robe of liberation, a formless field of merit...
A recent thread on Facebook began to discuss the wearing of robes at public protests and demonstrations. Many readers opposed the practice essentially saying robes were for the Zendo. I have a different view.
When s priest, as well as lay people, take the precepts it should mean something. They are taking refuge in the Three Treasures, they are vowing to manifest the Three Pure Precepts and vowing to honor the Ten Grave Precepts. I wonder what it is they think those Three Treasures and Three Pure Precepts are all about. They are not just words. They are meant to help us shift our identity from the individual to the universal. The Four Great Vows are invitations to do the same.
I think robes and the questions around them reflect our ambivalence regarding our public priesthood and sense of being clergy here in America.
Being a priest for me is a non-dualistic. It is a full time occupation and until recently I wore robes often and nearly always at public events. It was my way of honoring and perhaps manifesting, the Buddha Way and maintaining the tradition. I am now quasi-retired but, I still put on the Buddha Robe when at public events. It’s an important means, in my opinion, of stating what Zen Buddhism is all about: bringing about abundant good for all beings. It also says, “Here I Am.”
Such a message is lost if the wearing of our robes only occurs in the Zendo. How can we make people be aware of our presence in a community if we only
practice in the shadows or in the proverbial closet. If we are granted the right to wear a robe and are a priest why hide it? Maybe others will be inspired by our presence and see that at least one faith tradition is not afraid to be seen supporting or opposing an important issue.
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