Jukai Ceremony & Sesshin at Jikoji
with Ōshin Jennings
Four-day residential sesshin culminating in Jukai ceremony, where lay practitioners receive ordination in the Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts. Led by Sensei Ōshin Jennings and Sensei Nenzen Brown, open to participants from Jikoji Zen Center, No Barriers Zen, and Santa Barbara Zen Center.
About this retreat
Jukai—lay ordination in the Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts—marks a formal commitment to Zen practice. This four-day sesshin at Jikoji is built around that ceremony, bringing together practitioners from three affiliated centers to sit together and receive ordination together.
The retreat is led by Sensei Ōshin Jennings and Sensei Nenzen Brown. If you're unfamiliar with these teachers or centers, this is a transmission event specific to an established sangha—not an open public retreat. Participation is tied to membership or long-term practice at one of the three centers named.
A traditional sesshin format means silent sitting periods, kinhin (walking meditation), meals in the meditation hall, and dokusan (private meetings with a teacher). The Jukai ceremony itself, typically held on the final day, formalizes your commitment to the precepts and your place in the lineage.
Full details from Santa Barbara Zen Center
A special sesshin culminating in a Jukai ceremony where Zen practitioners from Jikoji Zen Center, No Barriers Zen, and Santa Barbara Zen Center receive lay ordination and the Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts. Led by Sensei Ōshin Jennings and Sensei Nenzen Brown.