The Heavenward Path
“@page { margin-bottom: 5.000000pt; margin-top: 5.000000pt; } REBIRTH Does the new moth ask, drying its wings in the sun, "So, what am I now?" At dawn, I sat on the veranda facing east. Around me, Dento had drawn a circular mandala with ashes and other powders. This was not an ordinary ceremony for the initiation of an ubasoku acolyte, I was told, because of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding my decision. Even so, it is not permitted that I describe all that Dento did....
I will say only that, among other things, he chanted several sutras and performed incantations with incense and sakaki branches, and then he cut my hair. Not all of it, for I was still only an acolyte, but so that it came just below my shoulders. As he cut the strands, he said, "You should give thought to what your new name will be. You need not choose it right away. Often one chooses a thing or quality that one would wish to learn or emulate. Such as my name, Dento, "tradition," which I chose because I wish to continue the traditions of my ubasoku ancestors." My head felt strangely light after the hair was cut.MoreLess
I will say only that, among other things, he chanted several sutras and performed incantations with incense and sakaki branches, and then he cut my hair. Not all of it, for I was still only an acolyte, but so that it came just below my shoulders. As he cut the strands, he said, "You should give thought to what your new name will be. You need not choose it right away. Often one chooses a thing or quality that one would wish to learn or emulate. Such as my name, Dento, "tradition," which I chose because I wish to continue the traditions of my ubasoku ancestors." My head felt strangely light after the hair was cut.MoreLess
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