By Theodore Gernhart
The Center
The Lincoln Zen Buddhist Center is a, “non-profit organization that offers resources and instruction on Zen Buddhism”, located in Lincoln, Nebraska. Using the Center’s website, it appears the community was founded either in 2014 or 2016, by Mike Mattison, its ordained leader. The Center is specifically located at 3701 O St #204 in Lincoln, based out of a commercial building on the east side of town.
The Center is open three days a week, Sunday from 10:30am to 12:00pm, Monday from 5:30pm to 6:45pm, and Wednesday from 10:30am to 11:45am. These time frames line up exactly with when the center holds its weekly classes. These classes are free for any who attend, with an in person and an online zoom option being offered for them. These classes primarily are focused on group meditation, but can also involve chanting and recitation. The Monday time slot also has a thirty minute period which is dedicated to the instruction of those who are beginners to the practices of the Center.
But what are those practices?
As stated in the name of the center, the Lincoln Zen Buddhist center is affiliated with Zen Buddhism, and sees its duty in the community as to provide instruction, guidance, and fellowship amongst its members in the Zen tradition. Specifically the Center aligns itself with the Soto Zen tradition, including a two paragraph explanation of what Soto Zen Buddhism is in their website’s “About” section. This explanation is attributed to the Soto Zen Buddhist Association. These two paragraphs emphasize that the heart of Zen practice is meditation. This focus on meditation according to the paragraphs will lead to a reduction in stress and a gaining of confidence and an attitude of equanimity and care. This selection about Soto Zen very much gives the idea to any reader that the practices engaged in by the Center are very much centered on improving the life of the individual, expanding the minds of the practitioners in their awareness as well as in their degree of compassion, generosity, and wisdom. Nothing is mentioned in this introduction to Soto Zen about the ideas of awakening, enlightenment, reincarnation, or even the Buddha himself. A further inclusion as to how the Lincoln Zen Center practices follows up this discussion of Soto Zen. This addition by the Center itself continues to make clear that the practitioners at the Center intend to reform their minds, manners, and actions through the practice of meditating. Or at the very least, these are believed to be the side effects of the practices engaged in at the Center, as this addition also supplies the idea that those practicing at the Center are not meditating for any one purpose but are simply doing so to meditate. The Center sees the goal of its practice as letting go of thought and allowing the natural wisdom of the mind and body to speak through. Again in this section, nothing is mentioned of reincarnation, the Buddha, or awakening. Several pictures supplied by the Center’s website give a solid notion of how these practices are carried out. Some of the first pictures provided on the website show off the space in which the Center practices, which on the whole is exceedingly minimalist. There is minimal furniture, with several mats and meditation pillows around the room, with a drawer that has a Buddha statue atop it. Other pictures demonstrate the members of the Center at practice, with some showing the community standing around a meditation leader with sheets of paper at hand for chanting. In this picture titled “New Zendo Opening Ceremony”, another small table is pictured with small Buddha statues, and the ceremony leader is shown to be sitting with a meditation bowl in front of him. Again though, these decorations are limited, likely to decrease the number of potential distractions to practitioners during their seated meditation sessions. Further pictures on the website demonstrate that the Center doesn’t limit itself to meditation practice in bringing its community together, as several pictures show that group outings, dinners, concerts, and jam sessions have been held for the members of the Center community.
Something else provided by the Center for its members as well as for those interested in the practice of Zen Buddhism is the Resources page on its website. The page begins by providing basic instructions for those who are attending the Center for the first time, even providing two videos on basic Zen meditation instruction. Below these instructions and videos the Center provides an extended reading list for visitors to the site, primarily focusing on literature written from a Zen perspective. At the very bottom of the page the Center also provides further resources including FAQ’s, information on the structure of the Zen priesthood and lineage, and further general information on Buddhism and Zen practice. In one of these resources titled “Buddhism in a nutshell”, the provided document does detail information that was not present in the About section of the Center’s website, including both the history of Buddhism as it originated in India, as well as the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold path. The explanations of these aspects of Buddhism are given in more modern language and terms. At the beginning of this document however, it should be noted that the writer states that Buddhism is not a religion, but rather a spiritual practice.
One additional avenue of information that can be found on the Lincoln Zen Center is its organization Facebook page. The page contains links to the Center’s website and links to the calendar displaying the meditation schedules laid out during the weeks and months to come. Also contained in the page is a brief description of what Zen is to the Center, stating, “Zen is not a religion, but can be a spiritual path for those seeking answers to a more fulfilling life and personal growth”. This statement from the Center continues to put its mission and practices into context, as it again offers itself as a method of individual improvement and satisfaction, while at the same time going so far as to state that Zen Buddhism is not actually a religion.
So who are the practitioners at the Lincoln Zen Center?
Located on the About page of the Center’s website, some information about the leadership of the community is provided. Three brief profiles are provided, including Mike Mattison the Center’s ‘Upasaka’ who serves on its board of directors, Joyce Chao who serves on its board, and Jason Padilla who is a meditation instructor and graduate student in divinity studies at Naropa University, as well as a member of the board. According to additional information provided in the Website’s resources page, an ‘Upasaka’ is a student who has achieved enough realization to commit time and energy to further methods of practice as well as leadership in the community. Stepping back from this leadership team, the broader community of the Lincoln Zen Center appears to be overwhelmingly of European origin, with several photographs on the website serving as the main reference for this conclusion. The majority of members in the community also appear to be men who are middle aged or older, roughly between the years of forty and sixty. An important thing to note about these photographs provided by the Lincoln Zen Center is that they stretch back considerably in time, with some being from 2018, and others being from more recent times. Using all these photographs together however, it would appear that the Center on average has roughly eight or so members present for in person activities. Since the Center does provide online instruction at the time of this writing, total participation in the Center’s classes may be higher than these pictures depict. One exception to the overall demographic trend of participants at the Lincoln Zen center is the second member of its leadership team I mentioned, Joyce Chao. Chao, a native of Taiwan, was brought up in a Buddhist household. During her time in Taiwan she even began studying with a Chinese Chan master, Shen Yeng, beginning in 1999. She began attending the Zen center in 2015, and began leading meditation sessions in 2017.
How is the Center run?
One final aspect of the Lincoln Zen Center is how it goes about funding itself. The Center, according to its website, runs entirely on donations provided by its community and is a non-profit organization. These donations are requested either monthly or after each session held by the community, with a suggested amount of five to ten dollars. The Center’s website does provide a brief explanation as to why it functions in this manner, namely the principle of ‘The Paramita of Dana’. The Center believes that its teachings as provided to its community members are priceless in and of themselves, but also that the practicing of generosity amongst the community is a virtue. These donations as such are given not necessarily in the idea that doing so will generate merit for those giving, but rather it is the right thing to do in order to sustain the community.
Sources Used
https://www.lincolnzencenter.org/
https://www.lincolnzencenter.org/about