Last month, the Institute of Buddhist Studies celebrated its 75th anniversary. Not part of the pubic celebration was a kieshiki service officiated by the BCA Bishop, Rev. Marvin Harada.
A keishki service, sometimes called an “affirmation service,” is a short service wherein people affirm their commitment to the Buddhist path and are given a homyo or dharma name.
I have been studying Buddhist history, thought, and practice for over thirty years now. My feelings about “identifying” as a Buddhist over the past three decades have certainly shifted; I’ll spare you the pedantic lecture about how exclusionary religious identification is rooted Protestant ideologies and individualistic ontologies. And, instead, I’ll simply note that over the last decade or so my location and commitment to this particular community supersedes any and all pedantic lectures. I’m implicated in, I’m responsible to (and in many ways for a) Buddhist community. I’m committed. May as well make that commitment public.
And so, on November 15, I participated in a kieshiki service wherein I was given the dharma name Kyogaku 教楽.
The process of getting the name involved my selecting one character and the BCA bishop selecting the second character. I was at a loss for what to choose, and so I asked my good dharma friend Harry for advice. After some conversation, he suggested 楽, which is one of the characters in his own dharma name. This seemed more than appropriate to me, but in good Gen X fashion, I’m going to stop talking about it before I lapse into my usual non-sentimental sarcasm.
The bishop selected the other character which was not revealed to me until the night of the service: 教
As per the certificate I was given, Kyogaku means:
Joy of the teachings — it is a joy to listen to the teachings. It is a joy to share the teachings. It is also a joy to see how the teachings transform the lives of others.
The combination of these characters feels profoundly appropriate. As many close friends and long-time readers know, I have a dharma wheel tattooed on my right wrist. I got that tattoo when I was still in graduate school, and I choose a dharma wheel as my first “Buddhist tattoo” because it was the teachings to which I’ve felt drawn to over the years, more so than any particular person or sectarian identity (and, at the time, I assumed I’d be a teacher in my professional life). To have a dharma name that reflects my affinity for the teachings as well as my relationship to a true and real dharma friend is deeply moving.
And so, if you follow me on the various non-fascist social media sites (BlueSky, Instagram, Threads, Mastodon) you’ll notice I’ve appended this name to my profile.
It’s been a busy month since I received the name. So I’m not sure if I’ve completely “internalized” it. But I’m happy to have received it. And I’m happy to try and embody it in my daily life.
南無阿弥陀仏
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