Hungry Ghost Report!

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Yesterday, we held our first hungry ghost liturgy at the Toledo Zen Center.  The kids were all dressed up in costumes, and presented a skit to the adult sangha.

It went something like this:

One older kid and a parent dressed up as ghosts and went about the zendo trying to eat everything unsuccessfully.

The kids sat in zazen with sake cups in their mudras, filling them up with the "merit of their practice."  One by one then, the kids went and offered this merit to the ghosts, who by the by were able to practice zazen, and eventually take off their masks to reveal their true face.

Cool, eh?

For the liturgy, we chanted the Emmei Juku Kannon Gyo and one by one everyone came up and used a pine bow to bathe a buddha statue that was covered in a white towel with ghost eyes drawn on it.  At the end the covering was removed and revealed the Buddha.


Cool again I'd say!


After this, did our three bows and sung the bodhisattva vows together - yes, we have a sung version with a kid friendly melody.  Then a nice pot luck and some nice community time.

I think it to be one of the most relevant missions of the Zen center to connect with young folks -  to make a truly family-friendly gate for entrance, and I'm just so proud of the work that the liturgy team has put into all of this.

Thank you!

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