“In the modern world, and in this city especially, we seem to celebrate distraction. Do you think that makes Las Vegas a difficult place to practice Zen?”
“It makes it a better place to practice…it’s easy for anyone to go to a mountain setting and put a cushion down in nature and become very quiet, but if you can do that practice in the midst of all of these distractions — still body, still breath, still mind — then no matter where you go, your center will not be lost.” – Zen Master Ji Haeng
Introduction
Commonly referred to as “Sin City,” Las Vegas infamously caters to vices including sex, gambling, and drug use. However, travel just ten miles southwest of Sin City’s notoriously nefarious Strip and you’ll find the Zen Center of Las Vegas situated on Virtue Court. While members of the Zen Center of Las Vegas may refrain from indulging in the typical Vegas vices, the grounds of the Zen Center reinforce the Vegas stereotype of eye-catching, opulent designs with an ornately decorated meditation gazebo and a towering golden stupa. Inside the main building, statues of the Buddha line the ornately wallpapered walls. Were it not for the black meditation mats occupying the large open space in the center of the room, one would hardly guess this space would be used for intensive meditative practice. Yet, that is precisely the purpose of this space, as meditation is the primary focus of the Zen Buddhism practiced at this center. In the words of the center’s founder, Zen Master Ji Haeng, “Zen practice is important. It can help us understand and see our situation and life direction” (“What is Zen?”).
History and Founding
The Zen Center of Las Vegas’s founder and current Abbot, Zen Master Ji Haeng, born Thomas Pastor, had little early exposure to Zen or Buddhist practices, as he was raised in the Catholic faith. It was not until his college years in the 1960s at Berklee College of Music that Pastor was introduced to Buddhism during courses in Eastern philosophy and religion. As his fascination with Eastern practices grew, Pastor discovered the benefits of meditation in his career as a professional musician: “I felt that meditation could help me focus on the music and not be distracted about acceptance and how I was playing—to transcend all that and just become the music” (Langdon). Throughout his post-collegiate career as a professional musician, Pastor maintained this casual interest in Buddhism and meditation. It was not until the sudden death of his younger brother in the 1980s that Pastor decided to seriously pursue the study of Zen Buddhism: “I came to see very clearly the genesis of human suffering – the arrogance, the manipulation, the wanting something. I went to the Zen Center of Los Angeles and met Zen Master Seung Sahn” (Peterson).
In the 1980s, Ji Haeng studied under Zen Master Seung Sahn Soen Sa at the Dharma Zen Center in Los Angeles. He then became a Dharma Teacher in 1994, at which time he founded the Zen Center of Las Vegas. Ji Haeng then received inka, or private acknowledgement of dharma transmission, from Seung Sahn in 2002. He was the last person to receive inka from Seung Sahn prior to his death in 2004. Ji Haeng then received transmission, or ceremonial recognition of Dharma transmission, from Zen Master Wu Kwang in 2014, making him one of only eight Kwan Um School of Zen masters in America.
Having spent a significant amount of time studying under Seung Sahn, Ji Haeng models the teachings and practices of the Zen Center of Las Vegas after the teachings and practices of Seung Sahn. Born to Protestant Christian parents in South Korea in 1927, Seung Sahn was enormously influenced by the oppressive rule of the Japanese in Korea during his early life. While studying Western philosophy at Dong Guk University after World War II, Seung Sahn realized that he wouldn’t be able to help people through his philosophical or academic studies, so he shaved his head and went to the mountains, in search of the ultimate truth. After a brief period of unsatisfying study of Confucian scripture, Seung Sahn decided to ordain as a Buddhist monk after hearing the anti-attachment principles put forth in the Diamond Sutra.
After ordaining, Sueng Sahn set out on a 100-day mountain meditation retreat. On the hundredth day, after facing starvation, confrontations with demons, and extreme self-doubt, Sueng Sahn attained enlightenment. Wanting to test his enlightenment, Sueng Sahn sought out Zen Master Ko Bong. Sueng Sahn studied under Ko Bong and received the Transmission of the Dharma from Ko Bong in 1949, thus becoming the seventy-eighth patriarch of the Chogye Order at just twenty-two years old. Sueng Sahn then proceeded to travel to America and Western Europe, introducing Korean Seon (Zen) practices to these regions.
Kwan Um School of Zen
The Zen Center of Las Vegas is connected to over 30 other Zen centers in the United States under the umbrella of the Kwan Um School of Zen. The Kwan Um School of Zen was formally founded in 1983 to unite the numerous Zen communities established by Sueng Sahn in the Americas and Western Europe. The Kwan Um School issues a quarterly journal, Primary Points, to all members across the world, providing a common educational resource for all members. The Kwan Um Zen centers are also connected through their Zen Masters, who will travel to numerous facilities across the country and across the world to present their teachings at other Kwan Um School facilities. The Kwan Um School technically falls under the banner of the Chogye Order of Korean Seon, but the Kwan Um School has several distinctive features, as Sueng Sahn established the school to appeal to Western practices and ideals.
Kwan Um means “perceive world sound,” to hear the suffering sounds of the universe and offer help. The School’s purpose, as stated on their website, “is to make this practice of Zen as accessible as possible. It is our wish to help human beings find their true direction and to help this world” (“Our Organization”). The Kwan Um School blends elements of traditional Korean Seon practice, such as intensive meditation and the use of koans in teaching the Dharma, with practices of other Buddhist traditions and Western ideals, such as community-oriented meditative practice, chanting, and living arrangements.
Like other Zen traditions, the Kwan Um School emphasizes meditation as a tool to unlock one’s “true nature,” or “Buddha nature.” While formally, the school believes in traditional Buddhist concepts such as karma and samsara, members of the Kwan Um School typically focus on meditation to uncover their true nature in this life instead of trying to generate good karma for a positive rebirth. The goal of their meditative practice is not the achievement of enlightenment, for in the words of Sueng Sah “That mind is already enlightenment, what we call Great Love, Great Compassion, the Great Bodhisattva Way” (“What is Zen?”).
Given the emphasis on meditation and the Bodhisattva Way, as opposed to the ritual and formal instruction found in other Buddhist traditions, laypeople, not monastics, feature prominently in the Kwan Um School, taking on the role of enlightened masters and teachers. Although the founder of the school, Seung Sah, was ordained, most Kwan Um School teachers and Zen Masters today are laypeople. Founder of the Zen Center of Las Vegas, Ji Haeng, for example, is an influential Zen Master in the Kwan Um School and has received formal Zen education but is not an ordained Buddhist monk. The accessibility of Kwan Um Zen practice is attractive to laypeople looking to practice Zen Buddhism, drawing more followers than any other Zen school in the western world.
Community Practices
In accordance with the Kwan Um School’s mission and teachings, the primary emphasis of the Zen Center of Las Vegas is meditation. During two evening practice sessions and one morning practice session per week, the community’s forty regular members gather together for 30-minute meditation sessions. Additionally, the center holds a beginner’s night once a month to provide introductory instruction to those who are new to Zen practice. The Zen Center of Las Vegas emphasizes three main methods of meditative practice – chanting, sitting, and bowing meditation. The large, open room in the center’s main building provides ample space for seated meditation, while a peaceful, winding outdoor meditation path provides a place for walking meditation. The center also hosts Dharma lectures and 2-3 day meditation retreats, but these events are held only once every month or so. The primary emphasis of the center is gathering together as a community in weekly practice to steadily develop strong Zen meditative practice.
The Zen Center of Las Vegas also provides opportunities for members to grow in their commitment to the community and to Zen Buddhism with the taking of precepts. All committed Buddhists take five precepts – abstaining from taking life, taking things not given, sexual misconduct, lying, and intoxicants. The center emphasizes the importance and implications of taking the five precepts: “Taking the five precepts means recognizing the importance of practicing, and making it part of your everyday life. It means joining a family of other people who have made the same decision, practicing with them when you can. The precepts are like a simple road map of a path we already know. By keeping them we can access these simple instructions on leading a correct life whenever we lose our direction” (“Taking of Precepts”). If one wishes to become a teacher in the Kwan Um School of Zen, the center offers opportunities to advance through two levels of the school’s teaching hierarchy. After four years of training, one can obtain the robes of a Dharma teacher by taking five additional precepts. With more training and practice, one can advance to the level of senior Dharma teacher by taking six more precepts, for a total of sixteen. The center does not provide opportunities for members to become Dharma Masters or Zen masters, as these are more advanced levels of training, which would not be feasible at such a small center.
Weekly meditation practices are open to anyone who wishes to join in, free of charge (though a $10 donation for each session is recommended). The center’s emphasis on meditation attracts many individuals seeking out the psychological or health benefits of meditation rather than true Zen practice. As one member says “When I first got here I had an agenda, I wanted to get rid of my anxiety, get rid of depression or whatever, but Zen Master Ji Haeng reminded me that if you’re trying to attain something, you might even get farther and farther away from it” (Brown). While some people come simply to experience the peace of meditation, most who remain as committed members are drawn in by the deeper meaning of the Zen meditative practices. Pictures from the center’s Facebook page indicate the majority of the center’s members are Caucasian, though the community appears to have a fairly equal gender distribution and a variety of age groups. Together, they form a community focused on mindful meditative practice to uncover their true underlying Buddha nature, wherein lies perfect wisdom and compassion.
Report by Katie Webb
Sources
Brown, Kailyn. “Las Vegas Zen center helps attendees clear their minds and focus on the present.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, 3 January 2017.
Langdon, Joseph. “We Just Had to Ask: The Zen Teacher.” Dearest Companion. Nevada Public Radio, 1 January 2013.
Mitchell, Stephen. Dropping Ashes on the Buddha: The Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn. Grove Atlantic, Inc., 1994.
“Our Organization.” Kwan Um School of Zen. Kwan Um School of Zen, 2017, https://kwanumzen.org/about. Accessed 28 November 2017.
Peterson, Kristen. “Founder of the Zen Center of Las Vegas Shares His Journey.” Las Vegas Sun, 3 October 2011.
“Taking of Precepts.” Zen Center of Las Vegas. Zen Center of Las Vegas, 2015, http://www.zenlasvegas.com/services/taking-of-precepts/. Accessed 28 November 2017.
“What is Zen?” Zen Center of Las Vegas. Zen Center of Las Vegas, 2015, http://www.zenlasvegas.com/what-is-zen/. Accessed 28 November 2017.
All images taken from the Zen Center of Las Vegas Facebook page.
Video retrieved from the Zen Center of Las Vegas website.