Shukke tokudo means “leaving home, attaining the Way. “ In our Soto Zen tradition, as Shunryu Suzuki Roshi said, we are all somewhere in between lay and priest. We receive the same precepts, we can have a partner and family, and here in the West priests often work and live in the community rather than in a monastery. So what does it mean to ordain as a priest? In a nutshell, it’s a commitment to dharma practice, to your bodhisattva vows, as the central guiding factor in your life.

You are warmly invited to attend this ceremony for Kakuko Kaye Simard, the first person to be ordained by Mountain Rain’s Guiding Teachers.

Reception to follow. (Sweet and savoury finger-food contributions will be welcome.)