By Eric Fagan
Background
Located in the Southwest part of Cincinnati, Ohio, the Cincinnati Zen Center is a Buddhist monastery that primarily focuses on Zen meditation and giving it to both consistent members, as well as offering classes to new people interested in Buddhism. Founded in 1994, the Cincinnati Zen Center is part of the greater Furnace Mountain Sangha which is a community taught by Teaching Zen Master Dae Gak. The center takes up a building on Vine street in Cincinnati and is mainly composed of an open meditation space for those to learn and practice their Zen meditation.
As for practice, the Cincinnati Zen Center has a large variety of options for people to engage in. For those who have been practicing for some time now, they offer weekly meditation sessions which serve as regularly scheduled meetings for those individuals who are active in the center’s events. Another key aspect to their temple is their introductory workshops that they offer. If an individual is looking to get into Zen meditation or simply wants to check it out, the Cincinnati Zen Center offers a class called Intro to Zen in which they teach a basic overview of their specific Zen practices. Individuals will come in for their 3 hour course and will be given guidance towards sitting and walking meditation. They are also given an interactive engagement into their traditions. When those individuals are ready to take on the next steps, they offer a series of retreats throughout the year to enhance their practice and experience an intense meditation session to gain a true understanding of their Zen teachings These retreats can either be day-long in person activities or they offer a virtual option for those who wish to practice from the comfort of their own home.
Teachings
As for the specific type of teachings, given the name, they follow typical Zen Buddhism practices while also trying to achieve a large and strong community of those practicing. Everything in house is taught by Myo Wol Soen-sa, also known as Mark Delmar Davis, who is a lay-practitioner that also works as a wellness coach and a musician. He gained Inka, or the ability to teach Zen Buddhism, in 2008 after studying with Zen Master Dae Gak since the center was founded in 1994. Despite being a father of 3 and an entrepreneur, Myo Wol Soen-sa is very dedicated to creating the best experience for all of those who decide to practice with him. One of the biggest teachings that the Cincinnati Zen Center focuses on is their meditation practices. Here they engage in 3 different types of “meditation” which includes seated meditation, walking meditation and then chanting. With their seated meditation practices, they tend to focus on making sure that everyone is focused on their breathing and their presence in the world. The seated meditation is typically accompanied by portions of walking meditation which is used to focus on being mindful while also being mobile. Lastly, they also include chanting different Buddhist texts such as the Heart Sutra. By chanting they are able to keep those practicing focused while also gaining a knowledge of the Buddhist teachings.
Partnership
The Cincinnati Zen Center is an addition to the Furnace Mountain Sangha which is a Zen retreat center located in Clay City, Kentucky. Zen Master Dae Gak is the founding member of Furnace Mountain and gained his Inka in 1986 and his Dharma in 1994 by Zen Master Seung Sahn. On the Cincinnati Zen Center, he is listed as the Guiding teacher and while he doesn’t practice in house, those learning in Cincinnati can gain his teachings through their virtual sessions or by taking part in one of the many retreats that are hosted by Furnace Mountain Sangha throughout the year. These retreats include weekend retreats, week-long retreats, month-long retreats, beginner day and solo retreats. For the weekend retreat, it spans from 7 pm on Thursday to 1:30 pm on Sunday. They do recommend that for those taking part in this retreat that they have already established a personal meditation practice and/or have gone to one of their day long retreats before. They also offer a week-long retreat in the month of October throughout the October month-long retreat. People are encouraged to participate in either a 1 week or can extend it to as long as 4 weeks. Each of these retreats last from Saturday at 7 pm to the next Saturday at 11 am following their dharma talk. Like the weekend retreat, it is recommended that those who would like to attend have prior experience in Zen meditation. For the month-long retreat, they encourage everyone in the Sangha to participate in Heart-Kyol Che throughout the month of October. As described in their website, Kyol Che is a 90 day coming together period and they offer the October session to help support those who do partake in the full 90 days. Lastly, Furnace Mountain offers a completely solo retreat option where individuals can either be placed in a completely solo portion of the property or can do an accommodation in the monk’s cell which is closer to the meditation hall. Participates can choose to attend evening practice in the meditation hall and everyone who partakes must bring their own supply of food. As this is a desirable option for a lot of practitioners, it does require an application to be submitted and the facility is closed from December to March.
Since Furnace Mountain works closely with the Cincinnati Zen Center, the virtual sessions that those in Cincinnati can partake in is usually based out of Furnace Mountain. For their online options they offer daily morning practice, intro to zen meditation classes and day-long retreats. The daily morning practice occurs Monday through Friday from 7 am to 7:55 am and can be accessed through a zoom link. These sessions include 2 rounds of silent practice with a 5 minute period of walking in between. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, one of the teachers gives a brief dharma talk during the first round of meditation or zazen. Every other part of the meditation is silent practice and the website makes it clear that there is no chanting service included in this. They also offer an Intro to Zen meditation course online. Here they teach Zazen and other aspects of Zen meditation such as correct breathing, walking meditation and what individuals should do with their mind whilst engaging in meditation practice. These sessions are led by a Fountain Mountain teacher and the workshop suggests a $30 donation but individuals will not be turned away if they cannot afford to pay. These retreats are limited to just 20 participants at a time. For the day-long retreats, they last from 6 am to 8 pm and are typically scheduled on the last Saturday of each month. They are open to anyone who is interested, regardless of Zen experience and consist of a series of 2 hour practice blocks, each with a different teacher who is giving their own dharma talk.
Schedule
As for the Cincinnati Zen Center schedule, they offer in person meditation on Sundays at 8 am, Mondays at 7 pm, Wednesdays at 5:30 pm and Thursdays at 7 pm. They also offer their own virtual meditation session on Saturdays at 8:30 am. Their resident teacher also offers different events including intro workshops, Day-long retreats, weekend retreats, a Zen reading group and uniquely offers a Yoga for Meditators class. Myo Wol Soen-sa gives Dharma talks and offers Dokusan or individual meetings at regular sessions throughout the month. The Yoga for Meditators class is taught bimonthly on the first Tuesday and the 3rd Saturday of each month. This class lasts for 90 minutes and focuses on physical yoga aspects which can help an individual prepare for sitting practices and relieving any pain that may come as a result of meditation. The participants will learn how to use the props found in Zen centers and go through multiple poses which help work on the 3-planes of motion which includes the shoulders, hips and spine. This class is taught by Abbot Emeritus Annie Weisbrod who is a certified yoga and health coach and it is suggested that participants donate $15 per each of the classes taught. Also some days throughout the month are dedicated to different forms of practice. For example, during the first Sunday session of each month, participants engage in what is called a Precepts Discussion Group where people talk about Zen lineage. On the third Sunday of each month, participants will go through a Special Chanting Service which goes through the chants that aren’t performed during the regularly scheduled sessions.
Conclusion
One of the big pieces that I would like to shed light on is how much the Cincinnati Zen Center costs. Despite everything listed, there is no required cost for any of their services. They are a 501c non-profit organization and therefore rely on the donations from their participants to be sufficient. Therefore, they may list a recommended donation price, but nothing is required of its participants, especially for the intro to Zen classes that are offered. As a result of these intro classes, no defined number of practicioners is mentioned and instead they pride themselves on being a place where anyone can come practice. They also have no explicit ties to any organization in Asia and instead operate on a solely American led tradition with the only trace back to Asia coming from their traditions. Overall, the Cincinnati Zen Center is a great organization that truly does give the residents of Cincinnati a true experience of Zen Buddhism.