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I am so pleased to announce that I have offered denkai transmission to senior dharma<\/a> teachers, the Reverend Janine Seitetsu Larsen, Tom Daimon Wardle, and Mo Myokan Weinhardt. And, that they have accepted.<\/p>\n As Zen has taken shape in the West most communities have found a two-step transmission healthful. The first step is authorization to teach, to give talks, to guide students in meditation disciplines, and to lead communities. However, one also continues as a student, whose work is supervised. The principal limitation for someone receiving this authorization is that they may not yet formally take students, nor may they give authorizations as teachers to others.<\/p>\n The second step is unlimited authorization.<\/p>\n Originally denkai meant full ordination, and is a rough equivalent to full ordination as a monastic in those communities that follow the Vinaya. When the recipient is a priest as is the case with Janine, in our community it comes with full authorization to traditional ministerial functions. But, otherwise denkai involving a priest or a householder is no different.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0Different communities use different titles for these steps. In the Kwan Um school, derived from Korea, for instance the initial authorization is called inka, and the second Dharma transmission. In schools derived from the Japanese Soto lineages the initial step is usually called denkai or precepts transmission, and the second denbo, or dharma transmission. In some schools a third acknowledgment is sometimes made. But, the critical two are what in our community we call denkai and denbo.<\/p>\n