It's been our custom at Zen Desert Sangha to have a ritual ceremony at the ending and commencement of each year. This year, the ceremony will be held on Saturday morning following our usual morning period of zazen and sutras.

We will begin the ceremony with an abbreviated chanting service followed by 108 strikes of the Densho along with the reading of the 108 kleshas (defilements).  Robert Aitken Roshi described a defilement or delusion simply as a distraction from the path of enlightenment and compassion.  As we approach the upcoming year, it is helpful to contemplate the roots of our attachment, aversion and ignorance and find a particular manifestation of the body or mind that we would like to abandon.

As part of the ceremony, everyone will be invited to participate in the “Burning of the Kleshas” in which we write on a slip of paper an unwholesome state of mind to be abandoned in the year ahead.  We will then place the papers into a flame to symbolically indicate our desire to extinguish the hindrance or obstruction. 

The rituals and ceremonies of our Zen practice help us to extend the vigor of our tradition into our daily lives.  This ceremony is open to all; we hope you will join us.