Tuesday evening, December 31, the Center will celebrate the beginning of the New Year with zazen, resolutions, repentance, chanting, the Precepts, and a prayer for peace. Chanting and silence—with a bit of Buddhist bedlam at midnight—is a truly wonderful way to welcome the New Year.
Registration Required
Members, trial members, and family are welcome to attend in person. Please register below on the pop-up form that will appear when you click the button.
Those who cannot attend in person are welcome to participate via Zoom. You must register to receive the ceremony link.
Noisemaker
Part of the ceremony is a noise-making kinhin to “drive out the demons,” so have some type of noisemaker, such as a kazoo, harmonica, recorder, or bell near you if you want to join in this part of the ceremony in your house. If you are attending in person, we will provide noisemakers if you don't have one.
Resolution
We will also read the anonymous resolutions of ceremony participants during the evening. Those who are attending in person will write their resolution during the first part of the evening sitting and place them in the resolution bowl in front of the Buddha Hall altar.
If you are attending via Zoom, please enter your anonymous resolution by Saturday, December 30 on the form that will pop-up on your screen when you click the button below. (You may have to double click.) This is only for Zoomers. Those who are attending the ceremony in person will have a chance to write their resolution during the informal sitting.
Schedule
The schedule for the New Year’s Eve is as follows (there may be slight changes necessitated by the Zoom format):
9:00 p.m. |
Formal zazen. |
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10:30 |
Repentance ceremony followed by a break. |
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11:15 |
Formal zazen. Reading of resolutions. |
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11:45 |
Purification of altars. |
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11:55 |
Driving out of Demons Circumambulation: Chanting & Noise-making. |
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Midnight |
Cacophony, ending with “Happy New Year! May Peace Prevail on Earth!” |
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12:01 a.m. |
Moment of silence. Chanting: Prajna Paramita. Abbreviated Jukai Ceremony. |
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12:20 |
New Year’s Prayer. |
All are welcome. We hope you will join us! Please remember to REGISTER whether you are attending in person or via Zoom.
