by David Runkle
History
Broke, Ridge Temple, or Mu-Ryang Sa in Korean, was built in 1980, although their had been plans for its construction since 1975, on the island of O’ahu. It was constructed by the Jogye monastic order, the largest Son (Korean Zen/Chan) order in Korea. In 1996 the current abbot, Do Hyun, began his stewardship which he continues to this day. It was originally named Dae-Won Sa, which means Great Origin Temple. However, it was forced to lower its roof to comply with city building ordinances in 2001 after a years-long legal battle with its neighbors. For this it was renamed Mu-Ryang Sa, meaning broken ridge temple, a name it proudly goes by to this day.
the temple roof being lowered in 2001
Abbot Do-Hyun
Mu-Ryang temple today
Currently, Mu-Ryang Sa is the largest Korean Buddhist temple outside of Korea. In addition to that, it is in posession of what is claimed to be genuine relics form the Buddhas body, which were gifted to it by a Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka and are held within the temples central world peace pagoda.
To the wider Monastic community, Mu-Ryang serves as a location for monks of the Jogye order to spend their rains retreats. Monks in residence at the temple start there day with two hours of meditation at 4 AM. They then have two hours of chanting at 6:30 AM, followed by two-hour meditations throughout the day until 9 PM.
To the lay Buddhists and non Buddhists of O’ahu, it offers classes on insight meditation led by meditation master Dr. Gregory Pai. After these classes, Dr. Pai or any guest instructors that might be at the temple for the day give a short 15 minute dharma reading, followed by a question and answer style dharma talk. These talks can also be found for free as audio files on the temples website. The Temples meditation hall is also open at all hours to non-residents. In addition to this, the temple offers meditation retreats every month for non-residents, where they can learn about insight meditation and live at the temple for up to five days. Attendees are not charged for these classes.
photo from the most recent meditation retreat. Gregory Pai is to the right of the computer in the black shirt.
Aside from religious matters, Mu-Ryang also strives to serve as a cultural center of the Korean community on O’ahu. The temple hosts Korean cultural performances such as dances and celebrations of Buddhist holidays and festivals, as well as running the Palolo Choi-Jung Korean senior living/hospice facility. Mu-Ryang also holds Korean dance & drum lessons, traditional Korean tea ceremonies, and Korean language classes. These classes are held once a week and do charge tutition, ranging from 40 to 60 dollars a month. Although there are no guided tours, the temple grounds are open for people in the local community to quietly walk through during daylight hours in the summer and winter.
Aside from its Korean culture classes, Mu-Ryang is supported by donations like a traditional Buddhist temple. These donations come from the local community, but the temple also gets a signifigant amount of funding from back in Korea.
sources
https://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/08/07/news/story2.html https://brokenridgetemple.com/dana/ https://muryangsatemple.com/about/ https://jokb.org/bbs/content.php?co_id=1010 https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/find-quietude-at-honolulus-mu-ryang-sa-korean-buddhist-temple/