The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts

 I took these precepts formally in 2018, receiving the dharma name Shin Chi, which I am told can mean “deep wisdom.” In the Zen school in which I practice, one is asked to say something very personal about each one. The boldface below represents what I said about them. The lightface represents what was originally written by Boundless Way Zen. I also took the precepts in the Korean school in which I used to practice (this was in the early nineties) and the name I was given then was Il Shim, which I am told can mean “one mind.”

The Cross

I wear a cross on a silver chain around my neck. It’s only less than 1x1 inches. It’s silver. It doesn’t say “Save and Preserve” on the back, as Orthodox crosses often do. The one I had before said that. It was pewter, and being that, it wore almost completely away. It says on the front the abbreviation for “The King of Glory,”  and the one for “Jesus Christ conquers.” That last word, NIKA, (“conquers” in Greek) is not an abbreviation though. 

Recent Poetry, January 2025

Mike Leigh (1943-    )
You taught us that
By not turning away
There is much to be learned.
And what a rare thing it is
Not to turn away.
In all of your films,
On our behalf,
You never turned away.
We learned so much.