I have 2 lay ordinations, one in one Zen lineage and another one in another Zen lineage. They are lay ordinations because I don't live in a monastery otherwise they are the same vows that monks and nuns make.

'True Sacred Vulture' is my lay ordination name in the Tien Hep lineage. (Vietnamese)

'Sacred Peak' is my jukai (lay ordination) in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage. (Japanese)

Both are references to Vulture Peak in India, where Shakyamuni Buddha loved to teach.

I received the first one in 2014 in India while we were ON Vulture Peak (was super cool). The second one I received at a Zen Centre in Washington State.

I had 2 teachers.

They are both really nice names. The reference to the place and what happened there is lovely.

On the inside of my Rakusu, the teacher wrote "the flower is still twirling" which is a reference to a koan that takes place when the Buddha transmits to Mahakashyapa on Vulture peak.

The vulture imagery is nice too, they transform death into life and they fly very high and see everything.

My teachers really did a nice job customizing these names for me.

I have a 3rd name "Awakening Light of the Source" which was given to me on the Tien Hep side when I decided to practice seriously and took the 5 vows.

The other 2 ordinations: one has 14 vows and the other has 12. You have to write your own understanding of the vows to do jukai.

On one side, I have Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh as my grandfather in the lineage and on the other, I have Robert Aitken Roshi as my grandfather in the lineage. The teachers of my teachers.

The vows are not rules, they are mirrors.

🤙