On the Precepts (in preparation for New Year's Eve Jukai)

Recorded 12/20/2025.Roshi Martin reads Chapter 10 of Aitken Roshi's "Taking the Path of Zen" -- "The Ten Grave Precepts" and comments in preparation for Jukai. Jukai is a way of taking our practice seriously, of saying — of vowing that “It’s not simply what I do in the zendo or dokusan room that matters – it’s what I do in and how I live my actual daily life.” We take Jukai many times. Each time we find greater understanding and a deepening life path. With each Jukai we take another step forward.Roshi Kapleau used to say that Zen is not above morality, morality not below Zen. Anyone who thinks that Zen’s “Emptiness” means “anything goes” and throws decent ethical behavior out the window is making a grave mistake. Emptiness means love. Love means attention to our behavior. This is where we become responsible to ourselves, to others, and to the practice. As Dogen says, “The teisho of the actual body is the harbor and the weir. This is the most important thing in the world. Its virtue finds its home in the ocean of essential nature. It is beyond explanation. We just accept it with respect and gratitude.”Book cited -- Robert Aitken "Taking the Path of Zen."Photo: Manjusri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, with students - at Endless Path ZendoBooks by Roshi Rafe MartinTalks on YouTubeMore information at endlesspathzen.org