More Karma

The "Acknowledgement of Karma" is from the initiation ceremony, or jukai, performed in the Soto Zen tradition. Here in Atlanta, we perform it twice a year (assuming new initiates have stepped forward).

For those interested in such things, an outline of the entire jukai ceremony can be found here.

The chant is also recited during other ceremonies, such as the renewal of precepts, known as fusatsu. During fusatsu, the "Acknowledgement of Karma" is chanted by those initiates who have already taken the precepts as a reminder.

Another version of the "Acknowledgement of Karma" goes:

All my ancient twisted karma,
From beginningless greed, hatred and delusion,
Born of body, speech and mind,
I now fully atone.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown on October 12. I hadn't considered that the holiday was coming up when I posted the chant yesterday. Actually, it was part of an email I had sent to my teacher, in which I had acknowledged that some of my egocentric, one-sided views had recently gotten in the way of my own practice. Long story.

I'm still in Washington, and the weather's been lovely. I had an opportunity to walk around the Capitol earlier this evening, and ate breakfast here at the hotel in the booth next to Sen. Hastert for the quintessential D.C. experience.