by artist Mayumi Oda
Jizo Ceremony at Green Gulch Farm
Offered Yearly in the Spring and Fall
In times of difficulty and uncertainty, the archetype of Jizo Bodhisattva, an embodiment of fearlessness and great persistence, is a profound resource.
Jizo Bodhisattva brings forward the archetypal qualities of compassion, fearlessness and optimism. Our hope is that these offerings will cultivate our individual and collective capacity to accept and engage with what is painful and difficult.
A Ceremony for Those Who Have Died
Sunday, November 1, 2026
2:00 - 5:00
Green Gulch Farm
In this afternoon event, people of all walks of life and loss gather to acknowledge and mourn the death of those who have died. We first create handmade offerings in the Japanese Buddhist tradition of Jizo Bodhisattva, and then say goodbye in a ceremony of remembrance and letting go. Our time together ends with a procession to the garden, where we tie paper prayers on the memorial cherry tree with the intention of nurturing the beings who have died and the beings who continue to live.
About Jizo Ceremonies and Buddhist Chaplaincy
talk given by Jennifer Block at Dharma Heart Zen
Jizo Ceremony at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
(held during Sangha Week, June 2026)
A strong and moving Jizo ceremony was held with the Tassajara community.
Chris Fortin of Dharma Heart Zen, Vinny Ferraro of Big Heart City Sangha, and Meg Levie of SFZC gave dharma statements for the ceremony. See bottom of page for slideshow of images from ceremony.
Listen to the dharma talk given by Chris Fortin on fearlessness
The following dharma statement was shared by Vinny Ferarro:
Most of my life of service has not happened in temples. It has unfolded in prisons, with people struggling with addiction, on sidewalks, and alongside young people who already believed they were too damaged, too lost, or beyond the reach of care.
What I have seen, again and again, is this: the moment we decide that anyone, or any part of ourselves, is beyond mercy, suffering deepens. But when someone is met with dignity, with tenderness, with even a little faithful presence, something sacred begins to stir.
So when I hear the name Jizo, this is what I hear: the one who doesn’t turn away. The vow that no being is outside the circle of care. Nor the one list in fear, caught in shame, or hardened by anger. No one gets thrown out of the heart.
And perhaps that matters especially n ow, because this is a hard time to stay open. The world keeps teaching us hardness. It teaches us to divide, to defend, and to look away from what hurts, especially when what hurts feels immense. But Jizo points us in another directions: to stay close, to bow toward what is broken, to let the heart be touched, and to let grief deepen us rather than shut us down.
So as we make these offerings, I am holding in my heart all those who have been lost, all those who are suffering, and al those who fear they have been forgotten. May this ceremony reach them.
May the grieving be accompanied. May the dead be blessed. May those who feel cast out know, somehow, that they have not been abandoned.
May this moment strengthen in us the courage to remain human, to stay near what is painful, and to remember that no being is too broken or too far gone to deserve love.
And may we grow, little by little, into that fearless compassion Jizo embodies.
~ Vinny Ferraro, Guiding Teacher Big Heart City Sangha, Santa Cruz
Tassajara Jizo Ceremony, June 2026
