Introduction: The Ecumenical Buddhist Society of Little Rock
Located in Little Rock, Arkansas, lies a society of Buddhism that came together in the early 1980s. Groups of people began meeting regularly to hold meditation retreats and sponsor Vipassana retreats at the Unitarian/Universalist Church. Other events being held in Little Rock were retreats led by Tibetan Buddhist Lamas and other Tibet-related. The Tibetan Buddhist Lamas were brought to Arkansas by Anna Cox, who sponsored the events. Within the following ten years, Jay McDaniel began to bring Keido Fukushima Roshi for an annual Zen retreat and lecture at Hendrix College located in Conway. In the 1990s, these groups of people and sponsors began to reach out and interact with one another, forming the Ecumenical Buddhist Society (EBS) and elected a board of Directors. Due to the differences and multiple forms of Buddhism, the name Ecumenical Buddhist Society was chosen to represent all traditions and not just one.
With each previous retreat and lecture being held in different locations, in the early 1990s, Charles Hicks offered a renovated carriage house located behind his Gans Place law firm office to be the location of the EBS meditation center. With a largely growing community of Buddhist practice in Arkansas, EBS outgrew the carriage house and moved to 1016 Second Street in 2005. With numbers continuing to increase, EBS once again moved to their whereabouts to their current location at 2526 W. 3rd Street, Little Rock, Arkansas. To read more information about the history of EBS’s current location, please follow the provided link; .https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54e0d10ee4b00d4519ae7bfe/t/5c40e1317924e8765772ae42/1547755826595/About+The+Historic+Building.pdf.
As of July 30th, 2020, the EBS Board of Directors announced that they have reached an agreement with the owner of the building, which they reside in currently, to purchase the building and make it their own. This allows the EBS community to have a more stabilized control over monthly expenses, eliminating monthly rent. This will also allow the EBS Board of Directors to make decisions regarding the modification of the property for future expansion, projects, or accommodations for its members and guest.
Practices (beliefs and affiliations)
The mission of EBS is “To foster the ecumenical and study and practice of Buddhism, grounded in mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion”. Many of the classes and groups held at EBS are rooted in Vajrayana (Tibetan), Zen, and Theravada traditions. The particular branch of Theravada the EBS community follows is the Thai Forest Tradition, focusing on the simple, psychologically base teachings that have always formed the heart of Theravada Buddhism. Within this tradition of practices, they meet weekly to hold simple and rituals and include silent sitting meditation and discussion. Within the Vajrayana (Tibetan) tradition, the EBS community practices within the following branches: Nyingma, Skaya, and Vajrayana book studies. Additionally, three groups meet under the Zen tradition, including the following: Kwan Um, River Valley Sangha: Mindfulness Group, and Soto.
Programs and Events
Due to COVID, there are currently no classes or meetings being held in person. Programs are being held virtually, including Group Meetings. The group meetings include Mindfulness, Zen, Vajrayana, Vipassana, and Dharmata practices. The majority of the sessions are being held over Zoom, with the exception of a few being held over Skype. To ensure members and participants can successfully join the meetings, EBS provides extensive instructions for joining the Zoom platform. Additionally, select events are held over Facebook Live, and they are sure to provide detailed instructions to join Facebook Live. There are meditations held on Facebook Live every day of the week except Mondays.
Once a year, the EBS community holds an annual meeting to go over the community’s activities and health/status. During this meeting, members also vote to elect next year’s Board of Directors. The next annual meeting is set to be held Sunday, January 16th, 2022 at 3:00 pm. At this meeting, the agenda is set to address the following: how to safely reassemble post-COVID, how people can get more involved with EBS, what people want from the organization, and preliminary plans for the building that EBS has purchased.
Membership and Community
The code of conduct for EBS states the behaviors that all members, practice leaders, and volunteers will personally adopt when participating in programs at EBS. A more extensive look into EBS’s Code of Conduct can be found within the following link: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54e0d10ee4b00d4519ae7bfe/t/5d80f5be65b9236bcde8a80c/1568732607011/EBSCode+of+Ethics3.0.pdf.
EBS is a tax-exempt religious organization supported entirely through donations from people attending their programs and services. Attendees range from elders to toddlers. There are specific meeting groups and meetings that are for various ages.
Contacting EBS
1516 West 3rd Street, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States 72201
Telephone: (501) 376 – 7056
Email: ebbs@aristotle.net
Sources
https://www.ebslr.org/