Zen Glossary of Terms

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• Bodhichitta: awakened mind, or the wholesome desire for enlightenment

• Bodhisattva: enlightenment being, a being who seeks buddhahood through systemmatic practice of the perfect virtues

• Buddha: awakened one – a person who has achieved the enlightenment that leads to release from the cycle of existence. Also, Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha

• Chiden: sangha volunteer who takes care of the altar, cleaning, changing flowers, etc.

• Dharma: the cosmic law underlying our world including the law of karmically determined rebirth. Also, the teachings of the Buddha

• Dharma Talk: talk given by priest or teacher about the Buddha’s teachings

• Dharma Name: one’s Buddhist name, usually two pairs of Chinese or Japanese characters. Received from a teacher during Jukai.

• Doan: the sangha volunteer who rings the bells during service

• Doanryo: (do an ree yo). Doan work group the group of people who ring bells and lead chants during service. See also Doan, Kokyo, and Tenken.

• Dokusan: means literally “to go alone” a private interview between student and teacher see also Practice Discussion

• Ino: the sangha volunteer who is in charge of supervising and leading activities in the meditation hall, training the doanryo, and maintaining the zendo schedule

• Jisha: the sangha volunteer who attends to the teacher: helps with ceremonies, brings people to dokusan and helps the teacher in other ways including arranging travel, housing, and food while the teacher is visiting Bellingham

• Jukai: literally means “receiving the precepts” a ceremony through which one officially becomes a Buddhist and receives the rakasu – also called “lay ordination”

• Kinhin: walking meditation, usually done in between periods of sitting meditation, literally “sutra: walking”

• Kokyo: a person who leads chants during service

• Mahasattva: great being

• Practice Discussion: private interview with a priest or Dharma leader to discuss one’s practice. Less formal than Doksuan. Available in our sangha with the Resident Priest on senior lay students.

• Precepts: guidelines for behavior in daily life, derived from the rules that governed the community of monks and nuns in the time of the Buddha

• Rakusu: symbolic of the Buddha’s robe, a bib: like garment that is conferred on one who has gone through the jukai ceremony. The teacher writes the ordainee’s dharma name on the back.

• Ryo: work group.

• Sangha: literally “crowd” – the Buddhist community. Can refer to members of Red Cedar Zen Community or more widely to all Buddhist practitioners

• Samu: work period conducted mostly in silence with attention to the body and breath and the task at hand

• Soku: sangha volunteer who leads a serving crew (serving tea or a meal formally in the Zendo.

• Soto Zen: school of Zen founded in Japan (via China) in the first half of the 13th century by Dogen Zenji

• Tathagata: one of the ten titles of the Buddha, literally the “thus come one” implies “one who has attained supreme enlightenment”

• Tenken: the sangha volunteer who keeps track of time in the meditation hall

• Zabuton: a square sitting mat used in meditation

• Zafu: a round cushion used in meditation, usually with a zabuton

• Zazen: sitting meditation

• Zen: Japanese word, via China based on a Sanskrit word meaning “collectedness of mind or meditative absorption”

• Zendo: meditation hall