What is it to Go Forth in 2022?
On May 19th of 2022, a day prior to the large commencement ceremony for all graduating students of Union Theological Seminary, our Buddhist Collective and the Department leaders of the BIE program hosted a special ritual of Going Forth for our Buddhist grads. This was a more intimate and contemplative ritual than the thunderously joyful ceremony that would follow. Friends, fellow students, alumni and family came to support the cohort of 2022 in its Going Forth.
A couple of months earlier, prospective grads had privately gathered with Rev. Kosen Greg Snyder and Peace Twesigye to check-in and “take the pulse” of how we all felt about our immanent departure from Union.
As we sat in a circle that early Spring, we discovered much grief and heaviness among us, both for very personal and shared collective reasons. These years of the pandemic, racist violence, climate collapse, and the rise of authoritarianism have all taken a toll. What is this burning world that we are going forth into? How would we ever possibly meet so much suffering without collapsing ourselves? We sat in silence, sometimes weeping and sometimes laughing, listening to one another, tenderly.
Left to right (back): Upayadhi, Alexandra, Andrea, and Thomas; (front) Emily, Weishin, and James.
It’s impossible really name all that we have been through personally and collectively, and how the experience of Union has impacted us, and continues to. Only a ritual could hold the magnitude of it all, and provide a kind of spiritual fortitude to “leave the nest.” So we were delighted when our Director of Buddhist Studies and teacher to many, Kosen, offered to officiate a ritual of Going Forth.
That day came on May 19th. Rev. Kosen Greg Snyder held a strong container, supported by two returning MDiv BIE alums who are also ordained Buddhist priests, Inzan and Ian. We sat together, and reaffirmed our commitment to the practice, and to this community — alums, graduates and current students held through links of solidarity. It so happened that all but one student graduating were Zen Buddhists, so the style of ritual was steeped in this beautiful tradition. It involved invoking ancestors, confessing “twisted karma,” and renewing our commitment to practicing the Buddhist ethical precepts, even in the event of becoming fully awakened into Buddhahood, as our guide was keen to soberly remind us.
Our cohort had chosen Buddhist malas to symbolically mark our time together, made of black vulcanic rock and red beads from Nepal — in harmony with the colors of Union, but also symbolizing the cremation grounds we had traversed on our academic and spiritual journeys. The malas was ceremoniously incensed and Kosen placed each one of them around our necks, after having blessed us with water drippings from a branch of pine.
“I vow to refrain from all harmful activity.
I vow to embrace and sustain all harmonious activity.
I vow to live and be lived for the benefit of all beings.”
Alex, Nathan and Emma — all MDiv BIE ‘24.
Waves of grief and trepidation gave way to joy, gratitude and love for one another, as the formal part of the ritual came to a close. More malas were then incensed and gifted, to the surprise of their recipients. Upayadhi, as Co-Chair of the Buddhist Alumni Collective, rejoiced in the merits of the three Student Co-Chairs, Alex, Nathan and Emma, and gifted them with special malas with skeleton heads and bodhi seeds (seeds of the tree under which the Buddha awakened). The skeletons marked the “spiritual death” required of leadership, Upayadhi explained, particularly for Buddhists in the often charged and complex Union context.
Then Eric, also Co-Chair of the Buddhist Alumni Collective, rose to celebrate Peace Twesigye, tearfully evoking her many qualities, her strength of practice, and all that she drives behind the scenes to make the BIE program what is is.
Much to his surprise, Kosen was in turn presented with a mala by Alexandra Gekas on behalf of the graduating cohort, rejoicing in him and ritually placing it around his neck. Alexandra also happens to be a personal Zen student to Kosen, so this gesture was particularly meaningful and symbolic, a tender moment of reciprocity. Eric and Upayadhi then acknowledged each-other with what they thought would be a last offering of malas, but Kosen had an additional surprise up his sleeve. He gifted a mala to Dr. Su Yon Pak ’99, Associate Professor of Integrative and Field-Based Education and long time supporter of the BIE program. That very morning her promotion to Vice President and Academic Dean had been announced.
Alexandra offers a mala to Kosen on behalf of the 2022 graduating cohort.
Eric (left).
Peace (right).
After these heartfelt acknowledgements, Upayadhi offered to bring in a flavor of her tradition by leading the assembly in a communal chant of the Prajñāpāramitā mantra, GATE GATE PĀRAGATE PĀRASAṂGATE BODHI SVĀHĀ, no less than 108 times, in order to “charge up” the malas. Symbolically, she asked the most senior Buddhist alum of Union Theological who was present, Dr. Lucinda Ramberg, to hold one of her two malas during this process, yet again signaling to the chain of friendships across generations among the Buddhists of Union. Forming a circle, everyone partook in the chant, with the hope that those on the very top of the tower newly constructed could hear us! Upayadhi explained that the mantra could be translated in various ways. One way to understand it is “Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond, Gone Altogether Beyond, Oh What an Awakening, All Hail!" Another cherished translation is “Falling Apart, Falling Apart, Everything is Always Falling Apart, and There Is Nothing You Can Do About It!” Either way, both interpretations seemed most appropriate to the moment…
“Beings are numberless, I vow to free them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them.
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them.
Buddha’s way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it.”
