Back from Ann Arbor Buddhist Temple

Last updated on: February 9, 2009 at 10:55 am by Dosho Port

Back from Ann Arbor Buddhist Temple 2009-02-09T10:55:00-06:00 Dosho Port

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I returned last night from the trip to Ann Arbor where I led a Saturday workshop for the seminary students on dharma study and gave the talk on Sunday for about 70 people. Our very gracious hosts video taped the talk and I’ll see if I can post it here sometime.

Above is Haju Sunim with the “Buddha” calligraphy of her grandfather teacher, Kusan Sunim, a very important Korean master (click here for his brief biography).

I had a lovely time hanging out with Haju (a delightfully tender and pithy iron woman of the dharma) and joining in with the practice of the seminary students.

The role of the teacher at the Ann Arbor center combines the Soto roles of head monk and work leader and teacher. In other words, Haju’s energy is clearly the driving force behind all that happens. At the same time, Haju is skilled at delegating – for example, asking the students what needed to be done on Sunday morning rather than assigning jobs.

Another difference I noticed between their practice and Soto Zen was in the diversity of practices to which they are devoted – in what seemed to be a balanced way. Now this short weekend was my most significant contact with Korean Zen so take my thoughts here lightly as very provisional. I won’t hold back, however, because noticing the differences and sameness between traditions is one source of the big fun I get from traveling around.

At the seminary meeting on Friday night, for example, the seminarians discussed how their practices were going – sitting, chanting, memorizing, art work, study, bowing, reciting Buddha’s name, etc. And the morning practice on Saturday included 108 bows (taking about 15 minutes with the minutes toward the end of the 15 seeming rather long!), about 30 minutes of sitting, and about 30 minutes of chanting.

Soto Zen, and perhaps Japanese Zen more generally, has a sense of exclusive focus on sitting with the other practices in a supporting role. This may come from the developments in Japanese Zen that differentiated it from the broader field of dharma practice. Historically, the big reformers in the 1100s and 1200s came to advocate a single practice – reciting Buddha’s name, homage to the Lotus Sutra, or sitting (in Dogen’s case).

In any event, by Sunday I had a feel (and deep respect) for the dharma-flavor flow within their forms.

I’m enjoying traveling around and teaching. In early April I’ll be at several centers in the New York City area (see the right sidebar for more information) but after that I don’t have anything scheduled. If you are a member of a group that would be interested in what I regard as “my hinky Soto perspective” (or a teacher looking for a little break), let’s talk. Just covering my expenses is enough.

Oh, and thanks to those of you who offered comments about chickens and ducks, keeping the blog alive while I was out of the coop.

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