Hello,

The men I've been working with have suggested that they would like to have an all-day sitting that includes a ritual that incorporates healing for their victims and for the wounds they've endured because of the act(s) they've committed. The man who suggested this is in prison for homicide, and has many more years before he's even eligible for parole. He also realizes that not all of the sangha would want to participate fully in such a service.

We are planning to do an O-Bon service in August, but this does not seem exactly the right place for something such as he suggests (of course, they may want to include the names of one or more victims in the list of those who are to be remembered), and I don't know of anything in my Rinzai Zen tradition that would fit. I know that Thich Nhat Hanh has led many services for veterans whose war experiences have included killings that torment them. Does anyone here have suggestions?

We had thought that the men might write names or descriptions on soluble rice paper, and of using fire (don't know whether the prison would allow this, in a protected gravel-floored yard) or dissolving the paper in water, along with the ceremony, to symbolize the letting-go aspect of healing. That's all we have discussed up to this point.

Thank you much,
Jikyo Bonnie Shoultz