Ritual takes a variety of forms at MBZC. The rhythm of daily life is itself a ritual, as are the special schedules used at particular times of year and other special occasional events. There are also specific rituals that occur at these times. Thus, ritual is an important component of life at MBZC. When the interviews with the various residents of MBZC were compared, there was only a fifteen-minute discrepancy between them related to the schedule which gives form to their daily lives.

Because ritual at MBZC is so tied to daily life and to the way time is measured, time at MBZC cannot be separated from ritual. Thus, moving from large to small divisions, this section will look at the rhythm and ritual of life at MBZC.

The first division of time is the dividing of each year into periods of intense training and periods which are more relaxed. MBZC holds seichu, the extended periods of intense training, in the winter, approximately mid-December to March, and summer, roughly July through mid-September. Each seichu will include at least three sesshins, the most intense of the training periods. Many students will come for a sesshin, and a smaller number will stay for the entire seichu. The Roshi will be in residence during most, if not all, of each seichu. Seikan, or the periods where MBZC functions in a less formal way, occur in the spring and fall. At these times there is zazen in the morning and evening, but the focus is on work-practice and personal relationships, using these activities as a way to express the insight gained from meditation (Brochure 1994). Outside of sesshins, the monks take Tuesday of each week off, although usually at least one person stays on the grounds at all times. The monks may also travel with the Roshi to Los Angeles or other places for sesshins there.

For those who are not ready for more intense study, there are occasional Zen weekends offered, which are designed for beginning students "to gain a firm foundation in the basics of Zen practice" (Brochure 1994). These weekends include meditation, chanting, and silent meals. They introduce Zen Buddhist teaching, via taped teishos among other means, such as informal discussion. Experienced students who cannot come for longer times also attend these weekends.

For the past several years, the MBZC monks, along with other monks and laypeople from this sangha, or community, have gone with the Roshi to a two-week academic seminar which occurs in May in New Mexico. The seminars are co-sponsored by the center there which is a part of Rinzai-ji, along with University of New Mexico, which offers college credits for attending, and others. These seminars are attended by practitioners and scholars of all the branches of Buddhism, including some from Japan. There are approximately three 1 1/2 hour lectures each day along with times of discussion. As a result of these seminars, some Japanese masters have sent their students to visit MBZC.

If the first level of ritual is the rhythm of the year, the next level is the daily schedule within each year. The schedule during Seichu is as follows:

3:00 a.m. Rise

3:30 a.m. Chanting

4:15 a.m. Meditation

6:30 a.m. Breakfast

8:00 a.m. Work-practice

12 noon Lunch

2:00 p.m. Work-practice

5:00 p.m. Showers

5:45 p.m. Dinner

7:00 p.m. Meditation

9:00 p.m. Closing

The monk who is in the role of densu rises earlier than the rest to be sure that the morning tea and juice is ready prior to chanting. The chanting is done in the Sutra Hall, and then everyone, except the tenzo, or cook, goes to the Zendo for meditation. If the Roshi is in residence, there is sanzen going on for various students while the rest are practicing zazen. During seichu, all meals are formal and silent, with a very specific prescribed etiquette, as they are considered a time to meditate; the work periods are also. Silence is also maintained from dinner time until the work bell the next morning.

During Seikan, the schedule is much less rigorous, and is as follows:

4:00 a.m. Rise

4:15 a.m. Chanting

5:00 a.m. Meditation

6:30 a.m. Breakfast

7:00 a.m. Nitten suji

7:15 a.m. Break

8:00 a.m. Work-practice (ten-minute cookie break midway)

12 noon Lunch

12:45p.m. Break

2:15 p.m. Work-practice

4:30 p.m. Showers

5:30 p.m. Dinner

7:00 p.m. Meditation

9:00 p.m. Closing

Seikan has less formal mealtimes, and the monks are more likely to leave MBZC to do work outside the grounds during those periods. Nitten suji is a time of formal cleaning, done in their robes, which the monks actually do daily after breakfast, according to Koshin (1994).

During a sesshin, the schedule includes four sessions of zazen and sanzen, as well as a teisho. While we were never given the exact schedule followed at a MBZC sesshin, Larry Gallagher described one he attended early in 1994:

The schedule was terrifying in its focus: We sat. For thirteen hours a day, between 3:00 in the morning and 9:00 at night, we sat chanting, sat eating, sat through hour-long discourses by the Roshi. Four times a day, we met privately with the Roshi for koan practice....The old man was working hard, too. For seven straight days he would meet with all forty of his students four times a day, starting at 5:00 in the morning and ending at 9:00 at night. He would also give a lecture every day, an hour-long discourse on Zen scripture. (1994, 258)

Outside of times of chanting and sanzen, and listening to teisho, there is very little verbal communication during a sesshin. It is basically a time of silence, of intense focus. Those who have gone through one describe it as very hard, as a time of mental and physical punishment, but a time that leaves one floating afterwards, that gives new energy (Gallagher 1995, 258).

Within these various times of year, the individual rituals do not vary. The most important and basic is that of zazen. Normally the monks practice sitting for 25 minutes at a time, with walking meditation between sittings; however, when on visitor days, the sessions are only 20 minutes. The first secret to doing zazen is learning to sit, for posture is extremely important.

Participants in zazen sit on a bench padded with a zabuton, a large flat cushioned mat (about 1" thick) with their buttocks on a zafu, or high round cushion, in either full-, half-, or quarter-lotus position. Full-lotus position requires that the legs are crossed in such a way that each foot rests on the opposite thigh, and the left foot uppermost, while both knees rest on the zabuton. In a half-lotus, the left foot is up on the right thigh, while the right foot is under the left thigh. The quarter-lotus leaves the legs uncrossed with one foot in front of the other. In all cases, both knees touch the zabuton (Kapleau 1965, 317-8). While doing zazen the hands form a basket with the left hand resting lightly on the right, palms up. The thumbs arch over the top of the palms to form the handle to the basket. The thumb tips touch one another lightly. This basket then rests in the lap of the participant, with the circle formed by the hands in the area below the belly button. This area, called the hara, or belly, is a center of focus for Zen meditation. The elbows do not rest on the body, but come forward to form a plane with the body. The back is straight with the chin raised slightly so that the head, neck, back, and hips are aligned. The mouth and eyes are not fully closed.

Sitting in this position is physically difficult, although if one finds the balance points of the body, it can become easier.

For the beginner, the ankles, knees, hips and back are likely to be in pain. Even for those more experienced with zazen, the circulation in the feet may stop, particularly if one sleeps all night in the zendo in this position, as is an option during a sesshin. Ingrid broke her toe after a long night of sitting because, having lost the feeling in her feet, she stepped the wrong way on her feet (1994).

Two monks and/or nuns assist in zazen. The first is the jikijitsu, who is in charge of the meditation hall, and is thought of as the strong leader, like a father. The jikijitsu has a two-fold role. First, he or she keeps track of the time spent in the zendo. He or she rings the bells to signal the beginning and the end of each sitting. Secondly, the jikijitsu keeps order in the zendo. If, during zazen, a participant is making noise or moving, the jikijitsu will remind him or her to be still, either with words, or by use of the keisaku, or encourager, a wooden stick used to strike the shoulders, usually at the request of a participant made by bowing to the jikijitsu. The jikijitsu also leads the meditators in and out and leads walking meditation.

The second person who assists in zazen is the shoji, who play a soft, sort of mother role to the jikijitsu's strong father. If a meditator has any sort of need during zazen, the shoji takes care of it. The meditators may speak to no one but the shoji during zazen. The shoji can move a meditator to a different seat, if someone nearby is disturbing his or her concentration, or get a meditator an aspirin, or admit a meditator through the shoji door, if for some reason, a participant is entering the zendo after the start of zazen (Ingrid 1994).

The ritual of zazen begins with removing one's shoes at the door to the zendo. At the threshhold, participants bow once and then step in, following the person in front of them and taking the next available place on a bench. Once all are seated in a lotus position, the jikijitsu rings the bell indicating the sitting has begun, and that silence is in order. During the next 25 minutes, uninterrupted meditation is to occur, with slow, focused breathing rising from the belly. In addition to the concentration on breathing, those who have begun sanzen will work on the koan they have been given, seeking the insight that the Roshi desires for them. LaVon Gentry describes what happens like this:

Little mini-insights, if you will. Like you might get when you've been studying on a problem and you can't figure it out, or you've been worrying about an issue in your life that you can't deal with or you don't know how to deal with and you leave it and you grapple with it, you worry about it, you dream about it, and you have nightmares about it and then all of the sudden when you're doing something else, or thinking about something else, [clap], the insight hits you: this is what I need to do. Well, that also comes through Zen practice. (1994)

Even years of practice do not guarantee that this happens however.

Koshin, one of the monks, confessed that he did not think he had ever really passed a koan, only that the Roshi had moved him on to others (1994).

After sitting the prescribed length of time, the jikijitsu rings the bell either once or twice. If bell rings once, five minutes of relaxed sitting follows; if twice, ten minutes of kinhin, or walking meditation, follows. In preparation for kinhin, participants stand up, bow once, and then follow the line out to the porch where everyone puts his or her shoes back on. Participants then line up and, when the jikijitsu strikes a pair of clappers, walk in a circle along a path around a stand of pines. Hands are held left over right, with palms on the chest facing the body and elbows sticking out to the side, while the participants walk in step. At the end of ten minutes, the clappers are again sounded and all return to the zendo for the next session of zazen, having removed their shoes before re-entering.

On a normal day, after three or four 25 minute sessions of zazen, the jikijitsu rings the bell and stands up. He bows, walks to the butsudan, or altar, and chants a sutra. He returns to his place and rings the bell again, at which time the participants all chant the Heart Sutra in a rhythmic unison. For those who have not memorized it, the printed transliteration is provided. During the chanting, the jikijitsu rings the bell in time to it. After the chanting is complete, the jikijitsu rings the bell once more, and everyone does three sampei, or great bows.

Sampei begin with the person standing. To do the bow, first the person kneels, bowing so that the forehead touches the ground, with arms stretched out in front of the head, palms up. While the forehead remains on the ground, the person raises his or her palms off the ground. Then the person stands back up. At the end of the three sampei after zazen, the jikijitsu rings the bell a final time and everyone leaves the zendo.

In the morning, prior to the first zazen of the day, all those at MBZC gather in the sutra hall, which is adjacent to the dining room, and chant. The chanting is done while in a lotus position on the carpeted floor, with a zafu for support, and is accompanied by various Asian drums and rhythm instruments. The writings that are chanted during this time have been discussed above.

Another weekly ritual is carried out by a single person, the monk or nun who is serving as tenzo, or cook, for that period of time. The ritual is known as takahatsu, or ritualized begging. Every Friday the tenzo goes down to the Los Angeles produce district and begs for food. There is a standard list of "about nine or ten different places that we'll stop and they'll give us food" (Kido 1994). Regular robes plus an extra bib are worn during this silent begging. Kido explains,

You don't say thank you, you just simply bow. You go and you stand there in silence. When they bring you the food, you don't shake hands, you just bow. So there's none of the closeness or warmth of the exchange of goodwill that you would expect in other circumstances. (1994)

Ingrid notes that no response can be given other than a bow. The food must be accepted exactly as offered: the monks and nuns are not allowed to remove anything from the box or bag. The food received from this begging is the food that the monks eat. During seichu, this food meets only part of their needs, but during seikan, when there are fewer people present, this food is sufficient for all their needs.

Other rituals and celebrations that occur at MBZC are occasional, occurring only as needed, or in some cases, annually, such as the celebration of the Roshi's anniversary of coming to America. Other such occasions are mainly Japanese Buddhist holidays, but include weddings; the New Year; the Enlightenment of the Buddha, which, while traditionally December 8, is celebrated at MBZC after the December Rohatsu, or the most intense dai-sesshin of the year; the Birthday of the Buddha, celebrated on the weekend nearest April 8, the Buddha's traditional birthday; Nirvana Day, or the celebration of the Buddha's death, which happens in the winter; Daruma-ki, which celebrates the death of Bodhidharma, the mythical 29th patriarch of Buddhism; and Rinzai-ki, or the ceremony honoring Rinzai's death with a funeral service, which is usually held in the spring following a dai-sesshin. The monks also have a "Harmony Dinner" twice a year on a Tuesday, when they all go into town and enjoy themselves. Though they often end up at odds with one another, one way or another they come up with a place to eat and a movie to see. Another celebration, while not directly related to MBZC, is one in which they play an important part, and that is the Mount Baldy Steak Dinner, which is held to raise money for the volunteer Fire Department. The monks wash dishes for the event and, since they are offered meat and alcoholic beverages, they accept it with gratitude, as Zen tells them to do. They are allowed to eat the meat, as long as it is seikan. While all of these are times of celebration, the most important occasional ritual at MBZC, in terms of Zen itself, is the ordination ceremony (Gentry 1/19/96; Kido 1996).

Ordination, or tokudoshiki, happens whenever a person who has formally applied to be ordained has been accepted by the Roshi and has completed a time of preparation. During this time, the person to be ordained must hand-sew their own monastic robes. The ceremony itself is public, and is usually attended the parents or other family of the person(s) being ordained. At ordination, the monks and nuns receive their Japanese names, so that Ingrid, who was ordained in the summer of 1995, is now known as Myokyo. This service marks a renunciation of all worldly attachments, which is symbolized by taking the robes, and by the shaving of the head. Prior to the ceremony, the head of the person to be ordained is shaved completely, except for one tiny patch, which the Roshi "shaves symbolically during the ceremony in his role as teacher and guide through renunciation" (Kido 1994b). Koshin noted that ordination is a "nice ceremony, in that it's the only ceremony I know of where...Roshi actually, within the context of the ceremony talks a lot in English" (Koshin 1994).

At the ordination, parents and guests are first seated. The monk to be ordained is led in by an osho, or monk who has advanced in rank. They offer incense on the altar, and do three sampei. Then they sit down seiza, the traditional Japanese way of sitting with their legs folded under them. The Roshi enters led by the shika, the monk currently serving as administrator of MBZC, and the Roshi lights incense and sounds three gongs. While the Roshi does sampei, the Heart Sutra is chanted, but slower than usual. Next the densu, or shika's assistant, chants. The leading osho present then reads, after which the Roshi claps sticks together and invokes the ten names of the Buddha. Everyone puts their hands together in prayer posture, while the Roshi chants and the students echo the chant. Next, the Roshi speaks to those about to be ordained, who then prostrate themselves before their parents and then before the Roshi, finally returning to a prayer posture. The Roshi rings a bell, speaks, and then does the ceremonial head shaving. After having his or her head shaved, each person being ordained bows to Roshi, returning again to a prayer posture. At this point, the Roshi gives each new monastic the ammyo, or paper with his or her new name and acknowledgement that the Roshi is taking responsibility for his or her training. Now the koromo, or robes of the new monk or nun are presented, along with the kesa, or overcloth used for ceremonies and chanting, and he or she goes to change into them while the rest of those at the ceremony chant. When the newly ordained monk or nun returns, the chanting continues with precepts to which the newly ordained must consent. At the completion of the chanting, the Roshi announces the end of the ceremony, which closes with bows and a final chant. Another monk or nun has been ordained.