Ever since my teacher, the late Gudo Wafu Nishijima made me
the head of the Buddhist order he established in Japan, it has been my dream to
establish a center in the tradition I learned from him. This is a unique and
powerful stream of Zen practice, one that truly represents the Middle Way that
is neither religion nor atheism, neither dogmatic nor indifferent. Nishijima
Roshi taught a welcoming attitude of tolerance and acceptance for all and yet
he was very committed to the way he learned when he was ordained by the abbot
of Eihei-ji, the head temple of the Soto school of Zen. I have decided to
establish a Zen space in Los Angeles, California and later one in Akron, Ohio.
In 2003, my first book Hardcore Zen, was published by Wisdom
Publications. Since then I have published four more Zen books and toured the
United States and Europe leading retreats and speaking about meditation to all
sorts of people in all sorts of places. It’s fun but it’s a lot of traveling.
The first center I want to open will be in Los Angeles. It
would provide the following to the community:
• Every Saturday or Sunday morning there would be a long-ish
sitting (two 30 or 40 minute periods) followed by a full-scale Zen morning
service consisting of chants (Heart Sutra etc.), bows, incense offerings with
all the appropriate bells and bonky percussion things, then a
lecture/discussion, with tea and snacks at the end.
• One or more weekday evenings each week (Thursdays at 7pm
or that sort of thing) there would be a shorter, less formal zazen (one 30 – 40
minute sitting with no chanting, no bells, nothing that looks “religious”)
followed by an informal discussion session with tea and snacks.
• Three days or so per week there would be a morning zazen
held at a time such that ordinary working folks who wanted to could sit zazen
with the group before going to work. There would be no service, lecture or
discussion after this one. It would all be done in silence. Maybe we’d serve
coffee.
• Annual multi-day Zen retreats. These could be held at the
spaces themselves but more likely would be held at other locations, since I
want to establish these places in fairly dense urban areas.
• Monthly day-long micro-retreats. These would be
low-intensity affairs at the Zen center lasting from, say, 10am until 3 or 4pm.
Just a lot of sitting and staring at walls together with very little formality.
• Weekly classes in Zen or related topics, such as Dogen’s
Shobogenzo, or Japanese lessons, Sanskrit lessons or things along those lines.
• Yoga classes.
• Non-Zen related classes taught by members with an
expertise in some subject such as music classes, filmmaking classes, writing
classes, etc.
• Frequent community events. These would not have to be
necessarily related to Zen or spirituality. If there’s space we could host
things like improv comedy nights, movie screenings, musical performances, art
shows, vegetarian cook-outs etc. I’d like for people who are planning their
nights out to say, “Let’s see what’s going on at the Zen Center.” Though these events
would not have to be “spiritual” in any direct sense, they would all be alcohol
and drug free. They’d be fun, social events but all fairly low key, not wild
party type things.
• Community artistic projects such as putting together a
Zen-oriented zombie movie and filming it. Maybe getting a play together and
putting it on.
Although the orientation of our formal services would be
Soto-style Zen Buddhism, these centers would be open to anyone of any religious
affiliation as well as to atheists, agnostics and everything in between. We
would promote interfaith events (and inter non-faith events) and partner up
with like-minded churches, synagogues, mosques, atheist clubs and other such
organizations who wanted to establish mutual understanding and respect. I want
them to be the kind of places where born-again Christian Republicans can hang
out with gay atheist cross-dressers and have a good time together.
Although the Zen sittings and ceremonies at these places
would be quiet and meditative, I want to keep the atmosphere light and fun and
avoid any sense of stodginess or excessive formality. I do not want them to
be religious places. I want people to go there because they enjoy and
benefit from the practices or just like hanging out in a supportive environment
with good people.
It’s a pretty big idea, made even more complex by the fact
that I want there to be two of them. But lesser people have had more grandiose
plans than this and made them work.
I now have a team of committed people in Los Angeles who are
ready and able to start making this grand scheme a reality. We are poised to
make this happen. All we need is your support.
If you’re broke, we don’t want your money, but we could
use your support in many other ways. Just ask. If you’re rich, we want as much
of your money as you’d like to give us (it’s tax-deductible!). If you’re
somewhere in between and you like what we do, please consider contributing.