– The Rochester Zen Center –
– A Buddhist Community –
The Rochester Zen Center is located in Rochester, New York and is known as one of the oldest Zen centers in the country. It was founded by Philip Kapleau in 1966. Kapleau was a court reporter during the Tokyo War Crimes Trials at the close of World War II. After witnessing the atrocities at the early age of 33, he began a spiritual endeavor that led him to a Japanese Zen Buddhist monastery in 1953. He practiced there for many years under a master named Yasutani. Following his training, he wrote a book called The Three Pillars of Zen and sent copies to friends of his in Rochester, New York. His friends were intrigued by the piece and passed it on to friends of theirs that practiced meditation regularly. Those people, Chester and Dorris Carlson decided to invite Kapleau to Rochester to work with their meditation group. After having a successful gathering, Kapleau decided to stay and establish the Rochester Zen Center with a starting membership of twenty-two people. After many years, Kapleau attempted to pass the temple on to Toni Packer. However, she denied control and the center was instead passed to Bodhin Kjolhede. Kjolhede was a student of Kapleau’s for many years. After twelve years of koan training with Kapleau, Kjolhede left and took a yearlong pilgrimage through Japan, China, India, Tibet, and Taiwan. He officially took over the center in 1986. Kjolhede has sanctioned five students of his own as Zen teachers. They now lead centers all around the world in places including Mexico, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and New Zealand. In conjunction with the main temple in Rochester, the Rochester Zen Center controls a country retreat center called Chapin Mill.
Kapleau himself wrote a multitude of books that led to the culmination of practices at the Rochester Zen Center. Most of his books surround the concept of transferring traditional practices of Zen Buddhism from Japan to the U.S. and presenting the concepts in English. The Three Pillars of Zen was the original piece that led to the formation of the center. It serves as an introduction to Zen Buddhism but in the English language, which was something that hadn’t quite been done up until that point in time. Another important piece written by Kapleau was Zen: Dawn in the West. In this piece, he discusses his teacher, Yasutani Roshi and also bring Zen to the West. He speaks of his teacher’s reluctance to translate the Heart Sutra into English, instead insisting that the sutra be chanted in Japanese. Kapleau deeply regrets that moment because it caused a rift in their relationship. Instead, Kapleau focuses on repaying his masters by spreading the teachings that they taught him. Kapleau says that he never fully received transmission from Yasutani because of this break. This is an important concept because it shows a potential for credibility issues. However, Kapleau’s successor discusses this in his own literature, Roshi and His Teachers, Dharma Transmission and the Rochester Zen Center Lineage. Kjolhede discusses the lineage of the Rochester Zen Center, stating that because Kapleau never fully received transmission, the center is not actually on any lineage papers in Japan, in the Soto or Rinzai or any Zen headquarters. However, he then discusses that in his travels, it became evident that this flaw in their lineage did not actually matter. He then discusses Dharma transmission. He discusses how it began in China, where it was called Ch’an, and poses a challenge to the authenticity of transmission. He cites Yampolsky’s translation of The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch in which he discusses how China seems to have fabricated many of their lineages due to the almost impossible task of tracing back to Indian masters. He discusses that it is almost impossible to have formal Dharma transmission and so it therefore cannot be an absolute requirement. This is an extremely interesting piece because it shows a deviance in tradition from canonical Buddhism.
Although the Rochester Zen Center holds a group of monastic practitioners, the Sangha had to be expanded to include lay practitioners. Because of this, a new center was created that emphasized lay involvement with a head monk or nun. These centers, with masters trained by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, are labeled “Cloud-Water Sangha” centers. Cloud-Water is a literal translation of the Japanese word “unsui” which means novice monk. Bodhin Kjolhede has five disciples that run centers in the Cloud-Water Sangha.
Since 1998, five of Roshi Kjolhede’s disciples have been authorized and are currently functioning as independent teachers in the lineage: pictured from left to right are Gerardo Gally (Mexico), Sante Poromaa, Roshi Kjolhede, Kanja Odland (Stockholm and Finland), Amala Wrightson (New Zealand), and Robert Goldmann (Germany). Together with the Madison Zen Center, which is led by one of Roshi’s senior students, these centers comprise the Cloud-Water Sangha.
Interestingly, the Rochester Zen Center has developed strong relationships with many other temples despite their lack of lineage. This can be attributed to the spread of their center’s model through the Cloud-Water Sangha and the open minded adaptation of Zen Buddhism and its practices. In Kjolhede’s Roshi and His Teachers, Dharma Transmission and the Rochester Zen Center Lineage, he discusses relationships with other Buddhist communities. He points out how many Zen teachers are highly critical of other teachers despite the intense loyalty to masters that is displayed throughout Buddhist history. He goes on to say, “certainly the bad-mouthing of other teachers and centers is something we don’t need to perpetuate.” He tells his students to point out if any unjust criticisms are ever made. Being a community that discusses koans, he states that this may be a cause of the uneasiness between teachers, as there are often differences on what teachers believe the answers to the koans are. However, he refutes this by stating that even Hakuin, who is credited with restoring the Koan system in Japan, said at an advanced age that he was still finding new understandings of different Koans. He also discusses how someone who is not a master should never criticize other teachers for their teaching habits because they cannot say if they have or have not received the enlightened eye. However, he then goes on to say that a teacher should always attempt to hold himself in dignity. Even though a mistake may be excused every now and then, they should always try to be a good example.They also uphold many ideals that make this center appealing to a vast population. According to Kjolhede’s Afterword to the Three Pillars of Zen, they are highly accepting of women and want to promote and encourage western individualism.
There are a multitude of practices and traditions that are part of the Rochester Zen Center, many of which differ based on ones role as a practitioner. The center provides many services in their sesshin such as dokusan, teisho, service groups, zazen, chanting, and sometimes koans. Dokusan is similar to a confession in which a student has a one on one meeting with a master. It serves as a means for giving the student individualized instruction and can also serve as a moment to evaluate a student’s understanding of practices such as koans. Teisho is a presentation of dharma by the masters. It serves as an attempt to show his realization to his disciples. Zazen is the main focus at the center. It is seated meditation. They have specialized programs for all-day sitting, meditation workshops, formal morning and evening sits, and informal sitting called zendo. During a meditation session I attended, the master had us meditate for thirty minutes. He had us focus on counting to ten over and over again. The goal was to not lose concentration and forget to count and also to not lose concentration and forget to only count to ten and not over that. Furthermore, koans are utilized by the masters but they don’t seem to be a focus for any of the informal lay people that attend the temple. However, koans are sometimes given to students to meditate upon. Once the student has their understanding, they go to dokusan where the master evaluates the student’s understanding of the koan.
In terms of a typical day at the Rochester Zen Center, there are two very different layouts. Lay people often utilize morning formal sits before they go to work or evening sits starting at 7:00pm on weekdays. These seem to be more geared towards personal development and training your own mind whether it be to relax or gain personal insight. For the monastic type, the day starts at 5:15am. They then do zazen and chanting from 5:45 to 7:00 followed by breakfast. After that, monks do what they call spiritual work. This includes developing concentration and purifying the mind. There is then a tea break which is followed by work around the temple to maintain its appearance. At noon, they begin another session of zazen and then have lunch at 12:30. There is then more spiritual work, followed by a fifteen minute chanting session at 3:30pm to conclude the day.
The temple itself is primarily white in its composition. While spending time there, it seemed that the majority of the people were a bit older (40-60), often utilizing the morning meditation session before heading off to work. The more formal practitioners often wore traditional garb while the lay practitioners who did informal meditation sits tended to wear normal clothes.
The Rochester Zen Center seems to be a highly progressive community. They are accepting and provide a multitude of services that are desirable among western practitioners such as a focus on meditation. They are accepting of women in Buddhism and encourage western individualism. Although their temple has had issues with deviating from traditional lineage rules, their center has shown through other means the validity that its masters hold. They believe in the benefits of meditation and training the mind through koans and concentration exercises.
Works Cited
“Rochester Zen Center.” Rochester Zen Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
Tennant, George. “Lay Person Interview.” Personal interview. 22 Nov. 2015.
Kjolhede, Roshi. “Afterword to The Three Pillars of Zen.” (1996): n. pag.Rochester Zen Center. Web. 25 Nov. 2015.