Online Zen priest ordination? Sounds pretty odd, but it's now happening. Jundo Cohen, of the online practice community Treeleaf, will be conducting home leaving ordination for three people online. He writes:
The ceremony itself will be held with the participants in four separate countries, and our Sangha members observing the ceremony from perhaps twenty countries, often separated by thousands of miles, all linked by modern telecommunications. Training too will combine old ways and some very new ways transcending barriers. We expect the training period will require several years, and there is no promise or expectation of the outcome. The “goalless goal” is the creation of priests who have profoundly penetrated into the way of Zazen, who are ethical, who can serve the community and people who come to them for guidance, and who embody the ways of their Lineage.
I have no idea what to make of this, but it's kind of fascinating to think such a thing is possible. What do you think?
