Priest and Teacher Training in Living Vow Zen

Most practitioners of Zen in the US are lay, but every so often, one feels a deep calling to become a Zen Buddhist priest. Becoming a priest is an expression of a deep commitment to serve the sangha, honor the bodhisattva precepts, and embody the buddhadharma in this world on fire.

Photo by Sandra Raponi

Living Vow Zen priests, as recognized clergy in Massachusetts, officiate ceremonies marking life's most significant transitions, visit sick sangha members in hospitals and their homes, and support sangha members in time of grief. Priests also perform liturgical rituals at services and sesshin. We attend climate demonstrations, correspond with prisoners, and advocate for peace and justice. And in daily life, priests do our best to avoid causing harm, practice good, and alleviate suffering in our communities. When we screw up (and we do), we atone and vow to do better. We vow to support all life -- our children, spouses, pets, colleagues, co-workers, friends, acquaintances, and all beings.

Living Vow Zen's priest lineage has its roots in the Japanese Soto tradition through Peggy Houn Jiyu-Kennett, Roshi, the first woman to be authorized to teach by the Soto school in Japan. Living Vow Zen's priest and teacher formation is inspired by Boundless Way Zen's, where I was ordained and received transmission (permission to teach).

There are two levels of ordination, unsui (clouds and water) and osho (senior). In Living Vow Zen, to be initially ordained, unsui candidates must have attended 100 days of sesshin and must demonstrate a number of competencies, including pastoral skills (as informed by the Zen tradition in the context of supporting sangha); an ability to perform Zen ceremonies and forms; an understanding of Soto Zen; a capacity to meet people as they are; self-awareness; leadership; public speaking; a priestly presence (hard to articulate but easy to recognize); and a means to support themselves with right livelihood. No koan training is required for one to ordain as an unsui priest as the role's emphases are service and embodying our Soto forms.

LiVZ's model where priests are generally expected to earn their own living allows for an admirable path that also honors the life of vow. We have no expectation that our sangha will support our priests financially. This means that we expect our priests to work in the world according to right livelihood in ways that contribute to the well-being of the larger society, perhaps as educators, social workers, carpenters, therapists, ministers, health care workers, researchers, and more. This model appears to be the most common way the dharma has transmitted to the West, encouraging lay folks to practice with priests rather than creating and supporting a separate monastic class.

Many of the priest competencies are gradually cultivated as sangha members play important roles in facilitating sangha practice, such as being an officer for sesshin (an intensive Zen retreat). For example, the tanto (the provisional practice leader for a sesshin) serves an important role for the sangha while developing the skills to serve potentially as a LiVZ practice leader one day. And practice leaders have their own support group facilitated by a Guiding Teacher(s). In this way, through practice, service, and mentoring, aspiring priests mature in the dharma. Before ordination, an ordination committee reviews the candidates performance and offers support and feedback. The final determination of preparedness is up to the ordaining teacher.

Ordination is conferred by a LiVZ senior priest through the authority of her or his own ordination and precepts transmission, in consultation with the ordination committee and the Living Vow Zen Guiding Teacher(s). After ordination, unsui are supervised by, and serve under the authority of, their ordaining teachers and therefore must remain in shoken relationship with their ordaining teachers or another LiVZ senior priest in order to continue to serve as priests.

Unsui ordination represents a public vow to practice intensively, to offer pastoral and liturgical services, and to support the well-being of the sangha and all beings. It reflects a commitment and stability of heart and practice. Ordination publicly affirms the significance and prominence of the role of the dharma in one’s life, in the same way that a marriage ceremony might be said to publicly affirm a commitment and relationship to one’s long-time partner; as James Ford says, "nothing changes, and everything changes."

It is entirely possible and even likely that most priests would choose to remain unsuis for their entire lives. Not all priests are called to teach. To be an unsui is a noble calling to serve the dharma, sangha, and community with one's deepest heartfelt commitment and no gaining idea. It is a pure and complete expression of the bodhisattva vow. Still, in Living Vow Zen (LiVZ), being a priest is not a necessary step along the way to becoming a fully authorized Zen teacher. For those Zen students -- either ordained or lay -- for whom teaching might be a good fit, we offer extended, supervised internships as practice leaders. Our training guidelines for practice leaders follow. Practice leader permissions are granted incrementally by one's shoken teacher and may be rescinded at any time.

After perhaps 5 years of practice with a Living Vow sangha, some sesshin experience, and usually after significant progress in the Gateless Barrier koan collection, a practitioner may be named a practice leader and facilitate a practice group in Living Vow Zen. Practice leaders are supervised by, and serve under the authority of, the LiVZ Guiding Teacher(s) and must remain in close relationship with a Living Vow Zen teacher in order to continue to serve as practice leaders.

Over time, a practice leader, whether ordained or not, might provisionally be granted permission to offer talks after about 150 sesshin days and generally after having made significant progress in the Blue Cliff Record koan collection. 

Next, a practice leader may be also granted permission to offer dokusan (private meetings with students) after about 200 sesshin days and typically having made significant progress in The Book of Equanimity koan collection. 

Each practice leader needs to be in a shoken relationship with a Living Vow Zen teacher and to meet regularly with their teacher to reflect on their experience and receive guidance. This extended internship is considered fundamental to teacher formation in Living Vow Zen. Under the supervision of their mentor, a practice leader cultivates essential skills related to teaching Zen forms of practice, offering dharma talks and dokusan, managing transference and countertransference, establishing appropriate boundaries, cultivating supportive group dynamics, and many other competencies that support sanghas and individual students of the Way.

After a practice leader has interned for 7-10 years (usually practicing in LiVZ for at least dozen or fifteen years) and been supervised in offering talks and dokusan, their teacher may consider offering the first stage of dharma transmission. For one to receive this first stage of transmission, due to the associated teaching responsibilities, generally one will have attended at least 300 sesshin days, demonstrated insight (substantially completing The Record of Transmitting the Light koan collection and through other appraisals by one's teacher), and shown commitment and skill in teaching. Dharma transmissions are granted by fully transmitted teachers through the authority of their own transmission in recognition of experience, insight, commitment, ethics, and teaching competencies.

For a priest, the first stage of transmission is called denkai and confers the title "osho," or "senior priest." For a lay teacher, this stage of transmission is called "dharma entrustment" and confers the title "dharma holder." An osho may receive shoken students, offer the precepts, and ordain unsui, though they may not offer dharma transmission to dharma heirs until they have received the second stage of transmission. (A dharma holder has the same authorities as an osho, minus ordaining priests.)

After a few more years, at least 350 sesshin days, and after having completed the entire koan curriculum, an osho or dharma holder might receive the second stage of transmission called denbo, or full transmission, if one's shoken teacher determines it fitting. This number is not determined in isolation; the American Zen Teachers Association, while not a credentialing body per se but a support group for Zen teachers, also has a working guideline that teacher formation requires about a year's worth of sesshin days, in addition to transmission from one's teacher. In a sense the most significant stage of transmission, denbo confers the title of "Sensei" and may offer transmission to dharma heirs and function as an entirely independent Zen teacher.

The third stage or "final transmission" is called inka shōmei and confers the title "Roshi," meaning "old teacher" or "master teacher." Inka shōmei, which means the "legitimate seal of clearly furnished proof," commemorates a Soto teacher who has given years of service and is also the traditional acknowledgment of mastery in the Rinzai tradition. My transmission in the Seon lineage traces its roots to Linji, the founder of both the Korean Seon and the Japanese Rinzai traditions. Inka shōmei for me therefore commemorated my lineage roots in both the Soto and Linji traditions. Most who receive final transmission have more than 400 days of sesshin experience. By the time I was given inka shōmei on May 28, 2022 by David Rynick, Roshi, I had attended 413 days of sesshin (plus about 80 "zazenkai," all-day practice periods) and had practiced weekly with sanghas and daily at home over nearly two decades. I had completed the koan curriculum years before with my teachers and been evaluated and supported by an ordination committee and mentored in teaching for nine years. Of course, practice is never finished, no matter one's title or role. I continue to attend sesshin and zazenkai and consult regularly with my co-teacher, Bob Waldinger, and with Zen teachers outside of Living Vow.

While titles, roles, and permissions in LiVZ as practice leaders and unsuis can be revoked by their teacher at any time, dharma transmissions and final ordination as an osho cannot be rescinded, though all spiritual leaders in Living Vow Zen serve at the pleasure of the Guiding Teacher(s). Of course, joining Living Vow does not nullify permissions, ordinations, or transmissions in other traditions, but to function as a spiritual leader in Living Vow Zen requires an appointment by a LiVZ guiding teacher and, in the case of Guiding Teachers, the Board of Trustees.

Some Soto Zen groups require a 90 day residential ango as a primary qualification for senior priesthood. Ango, a monastic practice period, is generally less intensive than sesshin but may include some sesshin training. While such an experience is wonderful for those who are able, in Living Vow, we do not hold this as a requirement. James Ford, Roshi, a former Soto Zen Buddhist Association board member, was central in developing Boundless Way Zen's ordination and teacher training programs through which I was trained and which serve as a model for LiVZ's training programs. James writes that some trainees are fortunate enough to have the formal cloistered experience ranging from several years to ninety day retreats. When possible, this is encouraged. However, an ango can be both overly burdensome and, ironically, insufficient training for senior priesthood on its own. Practitioners in the West experience the cloister more commonly by repeatedly attending sesshin, briefer but more intensive meditation retreats, over many years. Most sesshin days include nine or more hours of zazen, plus meal and work practice. Additionally, in LiVZ we offer extensive koan training (the Harada-Yasutani koan curriculum) to foster and integrate awakening as a "householder." Koans also allow for a more objective evaluation of spiritual growth. Based on this vision of training, in LiVZ we offer paths to senior priesthood and teaching that cultivate spiritual maturation while honoring other life responsibilities.

As should be clear, becoming a Zen priest and/or teacher takes patience, commitment, and humility. It's a long winding road, and we face many inner demons and outer obstacles. Still, befriending these demons, navigating obstacles, developing compassion for ourselves and all beings, and sharing dharma practice with our sangha -- is there anything more meaningful? I'd walk every step of this road over and over again for eternity were that an option. But since we are not even guaranteed our next breath, I'll pour all that love into just this.