Ryaku Fusatsu: Renewing the Precepts

 

 First Friday of every month - 8.10 pm

 
In this ceremony the Sangha (i.e. the community of practising students) gathers to renew together the commitment to live as enlightened persons.

Fusatsu means “to continue good practice”, or “to stop unsalutary action (or karma)”.

It was established by the Buddha himself, and it is performed twice a month in Soto Zen monasteries as well as, with slight differences, in all Buddhist monasteries (see  the Uposatha Ceremony in Theravada Buddhism).

The participants in the ceremony recite the precepts of the Buddha and the Bodhisattva vows, and express awareness of the wrong actions committed along the way, performing prostrations and chants of devotion.

The power of this ceremony is to strengthen the faith in the way, giving courage on coping with the many difficulties of everyday life.