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<\/a><\/div>\nThe Toledo sesshin, long meditation retreat, culminated with a Jukai ceremony where ten people formally embraced the Bodhisattva way as it is presented within the Zen dharma<\/a>.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s see. First a little unpacking. Sesshin is a Japanese word that translates as \u201cto touch the heart mind.\u201d It is the term for multiple day intensive meditation retreats in the Zen tradition. Jukai means \u201creceiving the precepts.\u201d It stands for the ceremony in which one undertakes the obligations of the Buddhist<\/a> ethical\/moral\/practice code, in Japanese-derived Zen a sixteen part undertaking. The Bodhisattva way is the path of the open heart, open mind, a shorthand for the way within the Mahayana branch of Buddhism. Dharma as a modifier for Zen means the teaching, way, practice of the Zen school.<\/p>\n As part of the retreat talks touched upon aspects of the precepts.<\/p>\n \u00a0I spoke in passing about the \u201cthree pure precepts,\u201d the second three of the sixteen vows.<\/p>\n According to Robert Aitken, one of the principal teachers in our lineage of Zen, \u201c\u2018The Three Pure Precepts,\u2019 which derive from a gatha<\/i> (didactic verse) in the Dhamapada<\/i> and other early Buddhist books:<\/p>\n Renounce all evil;
practice all good;
keep your mind pure \u2014
thus all the Buddhas taught.<\/p>\n