Hossenshiki

Often called ‘the shuso ceremony’, is a traditional rite of passage in Soto Zen. It is the culmination of a practice period (Ango) in which the “Shuso” (首座 Head Seat) shares the responsibility of an Abbot or Guiding Teacher to lead the sangha. This year, for the first time since 2014, we have had a Shuso at Austin Zen Center, Anzan Chris Azbill. The Shuso may be either a priest or a layperson; the ceremony is the same.

Hossenshiki (法戦式) means “Dharma Combat Ceremony,” although it is often translated as “Dharma Inquiry” because of the mutual call and response between the sangha and the Shuso expressed in bows and questions. The Shuso temporarily receives a special bamboo staff, the “shippei”, which is often given to a transmitted teacher when they receive teaching authorization from their teacher to guide others and to ordain practitioners. The Shuso temporarily assumes the role of teacher from that point in the ceremony. 

In our way of enacting Hossenshiki, some of the statements in the ceremony are scripted, but the questions and responses of the sangha and Shuso arise in the moment and express a spontaneous heart to heart encounter. Participants are encouraged not to come to the ceremony with a question in mind (or written down). The question should be short, direct, and less about doctrine than about the heart of practice for that person, informed by their experience of practicing with the Shuso over the weeks of the Ango. At the end of the ceremony, the Shuso returns the shippei to the teacher and returns to his seat, where he accepts congratulations from selected representatives of the sangha and invited guests.