Living Vows

Suzanne Taikyo Gilman, MRO

Over eight years ago, Daido Roshi began meeting with interested MRO students to offer what would develop into the foundations of a third track of training situated between the residential monastic path and the “home dweller” or lay student path. Over thirty students expressed interest at that time and attended meetings about the fledgling program. In 2009, a formal four-year training began with a dozen students.

Initially, the group and the teachers explored the forms and deliberated over details and questions which were coming up about time commitments, about the five daojin vows, and the relationships between the different training tracks. In the process, we were discovering what worked and what didn’t, and getting a clearer picture of how this track could possibly be a sustainable way for non-residential students to practice.

Over the next several years prospective daojin became a regular presence at the Monastery and the Temple, offering their service to support the activities that took place there, while at the same time defining through their lives what a daojin practice could be.