By: Knox Dendy
Ekoji Buddhist Sangha in Richmond is a space for a multitude of Buddhist practices, including Zen, Pure Land, and Vipassana or Insight meditation. Richmond has a small percentage of people who practice Buddhism, which is right around 3,000 people. Due to the small percentage of practicing Buddhists, spaces like Ekoji Buddhist Sangha often have to serve as a place for multiple forms of Buddhist practices and traditions. Ekoji Buddhist Sangha was founded in 1986 with the purpose of bringing a space to Richmond where Pure Land Buddhists could practice. As time went on, the founder, Reverend Kennryu Tsuji, started to offer these spaces to other Buddhist practices with the goal of spreading all forms of Buddhism throughout Richmond, serving for these people to practice.
The Founder of the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha, Reverend Kennryu Tsuji, started to practice Buddhism in 1941 at the University of Kyoto. During World War II, he was taken into an internment camp and as a prisoner. There, he taught elementary school and Buddhist practices to the children. After the war, he decided to resettle in Toronto, Canada, where he decided to eventually help build the Toronto Buddhist Church into one of the largest congregations in Canada. Due to this, in 1958, Tsuji moved to California to become the National Director of the Buddhist Churches of America. During this time, he played a huge role in expanding Pure Land Buddhism. After his tenure was over, he founded two large Ekoji Buddhist temples in Virginia with the aim of capturing all forms of Buddhism that he could accommodate.
In 1991, a Zen group started to practice, making them the first of many to join Reverend Tsuji in using the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha to try to spread Buddhism in Richmond more successfully. Eventually, it grew to the capacity of the space, having eight different practicing Buddhist groups. The eight Buddhist practices at the ekoji are Pure Land, Zen, Insight Meditation, Integral Meditation, Ligmincha, Palpung Shenpen Tharchin, Meditative Inquiry, and Nyama. Due to the number of groups that practice at the facility, the diversity of people who come in is completely different. Across the board, when emailing the IMCR, there are around 200 active members who actively practice at the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha; however, all together, by the end of the year, around 1000 people come to either visit or practice once. These communities build religious practices for people in Richmond who would not have had a place to practice their religion without the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha.
Additionally, Reverend Kennryu Tsuji’s goal to bring Buddhism to Richmond has been quite successful, despite the lack of facilities. Even though the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha has eight groups, I will only be focussing on one group, the Insight meditation group of Richmond, which uses Vipassana Meditation or Insight Meditation, which has been rooted in Buddhist tradition and sutras since the beginning of Buddha’s teachings. This group puts a special emphasis on the Sutras that help with insight meditations and reading dharma to further help people understand the nature of life.
The Insight Meditation Community of Richmond
The Insight Meditation Community of Richmond, or the IMCR, was founded in November of 1994 and started weekly meetings on March 3, 1995, to study the teachings of Buddha due to the fact that there was no real Insight Meditation group in Richmond. One specific person did not find the IMCR. It was established under the name “The Vipassana Group.” When I emailed the community, I found out that three of these individuals were practicing monks who wished to bring the Theravada Tradition to Richmond; however, only one ordained monk is used now. Primarily, they started by holding regular Dharma readings and meditation sessions once a week. However, as the community grew, they also grew, adding a meditation a week, and now they hold celebrations for high holidays in the Theravada tradition.
Due to the fact that so many groups use their facilities, they suggest that some members go to other societies to grow in their faith as a Buddhist. When I emailed asking about the group and how the IMCR works, one of the responses to the email was to practice at a retreat with the Bhavana Society in High View, WV. I thought that this was a bit strange at first because I was asking about seeing their facilities. They, however, only meet in the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha in Richmond twice a week. He went on to explain that the Bhavana Society has helped the IMCR with donations, retreats, and materials. When the Bhavana Society have large celebrations, around 10 of the members of the IMCR will travel to West Virginia. The person who emailed me also said that this was funded mostly by the Reverend Kennryu Tsuji fund and donations from members. Even though the IMCR has good relations with Buddhist temples in the United States, it does not often send people to international insight meditation retreats.
Additionally, he mentioned one of their teachers, Marjolein Janssen, that I should include in the project. Marjolein Janssen is an ordained Buddhist nun who left the US to practice in Eastern Europe and Myanmar. When Janssen was in Myanmar, she got ordained, and then she made it her lifelong mission to help bring Insight Meditation to the United States. Janssen leads most if not all of the Insight retreats that the IMCR holds because she is the best practiced on the Dharma in their group. The group meetings consist of the readings from the Dharma, followed by a discussion on what the Dharma actually meant, led by Janssen. After that, they meditate until the end of their session.
Due to the fact that Janssen was a Buddhist Nun studying Insight Meditation, the community of IMCR believes in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. The primary teacher of the IMCR, Janssen, says on her website, “May the wisdom of the Dharma guide you through life’s challenges, supporting you to find peace and happiness.” This is where some of the traditional Buddhist traditions and the IMCR traditions differ because the IMCR don’t practice week long or even day long when meditating. The IMCR uses insight meditation as a guide for their life, while in the Theravada tradition, it would only be one step in one’s journey to Nirvana.
Times that the IMCR practice
These meditative sessions happen at the following times:
Tuesdays | 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Fridays | 5:45 pm – 7:30 pm
Second Saturday of the month | 5:30 am – 10:00 am
Vipassana meditation
Vipassana meditation, or Insight meditation, is one of the oldest practices of Buddhism. On the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha welcome page for Vipassana meditation, they quote Buddha, saying, “Doing no evil, undertaking the good, purifying one’s mind: this is the teaching of the Buddhas.” The focus of this quote is to show what Insight Meditation truly is. Inherently, Vipassana is a Theravada tradition that aims to understand the nature of reality by specifically focusing on mindfulness while trying to figure out the three kinds of suffering: impermanence, dissatisfaction with life, and the selfless nature of life. The Theravada tradition says that practicing insight meditation is done by first observing the center of attention with the natural breath; the second one is supposed to develop awareness in the body and mind by scanning the body for sensation. Finally, one is supposed to realize one’s thoughts, throwing out any judgment one has on others with the purpose of being set free.
Conclusion:
Although the IMCR, that meets at the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha in Richmond, community is built up of mostly converted Buddhist, they use Theravada tradition, the oldest branch of Buddhist, to practice meditation very diligently. The IMCR has built up an abide community of people who practice under the Theravada tradition actively representing a group across the United States of practicing white Converted Buddhists. This community in Richmond continues and will continue to grow throughout the area.
Sources:
SFGATE. (n.d.). Buddhist bishop Kenryu Tsuji. Retrieved December 1, 2024, from https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Buddhist-bishop-Kenryu-Tsuji-2813503
Ekoji Buddhist Temple. (n.d.). Ekoji history. Retrieved December 1, 2024, from https://www.ekoji.org/ekoji-history
Orion Philosophy. (n.d.). Vipassana meditation. Retrieved December 1, 2024, from https://orionphilosophy.com/vipassana-meditation
Insight Meditation Community of Richmond. (n.d.). About. Retrieved December 1, 2024, from https://imcrva.org/about/