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Photo Kōdō Sawaki-rōshi, left is at Mt. Mannichi, Kumamoto, ~1929.  Photo Kōdō Sawaki-rōshi, right is at Daijōji, Kanazawa, November 1961.  [Caption translations on this page courtesy Yuko Okumura.]

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Sawaki-rōshi was born in 1880 and his teacher is “Fueoka Ryōun.”

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Tenshin Reb Anderson's quotes are from his book Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts (publisher Rodmell Press).

Compiler Note:  People wish for the guidance of the precepts in their life.  Instead of expressing this directly, they may ask to sew a rakusu.  The finite process of sewing may seem less intimidating though still challenging for many.  Yet asking to sew is not synonymous with asking permission to receive the precepts.

              When you actually ask, “May I receive the precepts?”,
              you touch something very deep in yourself.
              (4)  (Tenshin Reb Anderson, or Anderson, Being Upright)
 

In the bodhisattva initiation ceremony, we begin by invoking the presence of all great and enlightened beings.  We invite them to sustain and support us as we enter buddha’s way.  We open our hearts and minds to their wisdom and compassion.  (7)  [W]e do not say the bodhisattva vow explicitly, yet it forms the background for receiving the Sixteen Great Bodhisattva Precepts.
(4)  (Tenshin Reb Anderson, or Anderson, Being Upright)

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Photo caption now reads:  Seven panel okesa stitched with a type of traditional sashiko or embroidery stitch called zokin-zashi or “cleaning cloth” stitch, described as “rain” stitching in America.

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Credit for poem now reads:  (Kōdō Sawaki-rōshi quotes Daichi Sokei (1290–1366))

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(Kōdō Sawaki-rōshi quotes popular verse (type, J. senryu), poet unknown.)

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Quote from Dōgen’s Den-e is from page 143.

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For further readings in Vinaya see:  www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe17/

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First Lyman quote is from pp. 27-29.  Quotes are © Nyx Lymann and used with permission of her family.

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Photo of tōyama-gesa is from  Nihon no Bijutsu, #12, Shibun-do, Tokyo, 1967, p. 94.  Used with permission.

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Enlarged image of zokin-zashi stitching on okesa taken by Ron Granich and used with his permission.

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Correct copyright date is 1978 for J.C. Cooper’s An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols.  London: Thames and Hudson.