Editing Ordination (section)

===Posthumous ordination===
In Medieval [[Sōtō]] [[Zen]], a tradition of posthumous ordination was developed to give the laity access to [[Japanese funeral|Zen funeral rites]]. Chinese Ch’an monastic codes, from which Japanese [[Sōtō]] practices were derived, contain only monastic funeral rites; there were no provisions made for funerals for lay believers. To solve this problem, the Sōtō school developed the practice of ordaining laypeople after death, thus allowing monastic funeral rites to be used for them as well.<ref>[[William M. Bodiford]], ''Soto Zen in Medieval Japan'' (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993), 195–96.</ref>