Buddhist Meditation Center is an oasis of peace next to former Temple Mt. Ski Area

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Hudson, NH (USA) -- Meditation is peaceful and inwardly focused, but occasionally it requires a lot of noise and outward effort, such as when you’re bringing a 4-ton statue of Buddha from Vietnam to the edge of Peterborough.

<< Staff photo by William Wrobel
Kien Tan stands in the meditation temple at Temple Mountain Buddhist Meditation Center in Peterborough, NH where he and other monks meditate three times a day and hold classes for local residents every Saturday.

“This was very difficult to get here,” said Kien Tan, one of two monks in residence at the Temple Mountain Buddhist Meditation Center, on Route 101, as he gazed at the huge seated Buddha. It greets you as you drive up to the house just west of what was once Temple Mountain Ski Area.

This Buddha is one of a number of statues placed along mediation pathways that wind through several acres of the property, depicting Buddha in several stages of his life as well as other figures important in his story. Along with a beautiful, 1-ton gong hanging in a pagoda, and touches of lighting and stonework near a small pond, they help create a space that is unique in the region, where people come each Saturday to learn how to meditate from two monks who have spent their lives at the practice.

The center was founded by Tue Man, 35, who lives at the center with Kien Tan, 75, both of whom originally came from near Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. It follows the teaching of Vietnamese monk Thien Thanh Tu. (Note: The Telegraph’s typography cannot reproduce some punctuation marks used in Vietnamese names.)

The meditation center, which is registered as a nonprofit with the state, has been operating for about three years in a small, one-story house adjacent to what is now the Temple Mountain State Reservation, opposite Miller State Park and Pack Monadnock.

Many people became aware of it only last year when a large, ornate gate was built at the bottom of the driveway, visible to passing cars on Route 101.

When it received permission to operate as a “church/meditation center” from the Peterborough Planning Board in June 2011, the only stipulation was that it could not host overnight retreats.

The center was founded by about 10 Vietnamese families throughout the Boston area and New Hampshire, said Kien Tan, who, like Tue Man, speaks heavily accented and halting English. They came to New Hampshire to be on a mountain and yet still close to Boston, they said. The nearest similar temple is in Braintree, Mass.

The 11-acre property includes a small, one-story house at the end of a steep, 100-yard-long driveway. The house has not been altered from its domestic function except for the former living room, which has been turned into an open meditation center. A ceiling skylight illuminates a large sitting Buddha on an altar, surrounded by fruit and flowers, while the floor is lined with rugs.

The house is surrounded by trees and offers a beautiful view to the west, toward Peterborough and Mount Monadnock. The property is full of winding paths that have been painstakingly created over the years, often with flat stepping-stones that lead to statuary or small grottos.

In winter, after trees have lost their leaves, some traffic noise can be heard from Route 101, but otherwise it is still and quiet – except for when the occasional snowmobiler comes through.

Such peace is key the monk’s daily meditation, from 4-6 a.m. and 7-8 p.m., a practice that is key to their lives.

“It can make my mind awaken, (so) we have to know what we are,” Kien Tan said.

“You can know what is going on inside yourself,” Tue Man said.

Meditation is surprisingly difficult, they say. One of the draws of the center is the guidance that the monks can provide to a loose class that gathers Saturday afternoons.

“In a group it is easier – on your own self, it is not so easy,” Kien Tan said. “We have practiced. We can meditate anywhere and anytime.”

To help others approach this state, the center opens at 2 p.m. Saturdays. The men say various numbers of people show up from week to week for the free sessions, including a few regulars. Practitioners sit on floor rugs, in full-lotus or half-lotus position, or just kneeling if their joints aren’t up to it, for meditation and chanting.

Kien Tan says he came to the U.S. among the “boat people” who fled the Communist takeover at the end of the Vietnam War and has been associated with several Buddhist monasteries on the West Coast, the Southeast and most recently Michigan, before coming to New Hampshire to be part of the Temple Mountain Meditation Center.

Tue Man comes from the same area, although it was known as Ho Chi Minh City by the time he grew up.

“You prepare your mind with a vision of the Buddha,” he said of the work they do. “Those who come to learn, we can help them.”

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Former Abbot of Zen Studies Society sues for "breach of contract"

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New York, USA -- Disgraced former Abbot of Zen Studies Society (ZSS), Eido Shimano and his wife Aiho Shimano, are currently suing ZSS for damages in excess of US$ 2 million. The suit was filed in a New York court. The couple allege that ZSS breached their contract with them and claim that they have not received any retirement payments since August of 2012.

<< Eido Shimano, former Abbot of Zen Studies Society

Among other matters mentioned in the suit is that the ZSS had withheld a significant collection of spiritual and artistic items which were used to decorate the New York Zendo and DBZ properties and were used in various services at ZSS New York and DBZ Zendos. Shimano claims that these items were purchased using their own funds and sometimes by gift.

Mr. Shimano had been the abbot of the Zen Studies Society (http://www.daibosatsu.org/) since 1965. He resigned in December of 2010 amid a backdrop of allegations about the married abbot’s sexual liaisons with his students and with other women.

The rumors began to unravel when, in 2008, the University of Hawaii at Manoa unsealed some papers donated by Roshi Robert Aitken (1917-2010), a leading American Buddhist and founder of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (http://www.bpf.org/). A large portion of these allegations which have been documented over at the Shimano Archive. Myoshin-ji in Japan also recently announced “no connection” to Shimano or his lineage in December.

As of press time, the ZSS has made no court-legal response. The following is an open letter to the public explaining their position on the matter (issued via via zenstudies.ccsend.com, Jan 31, 2013).

--------------------

Dear Sangha and Dharma Friends,

The Zen Studies Society Board of Directors would like to provide you with an update on several significant issues and challenges currently facing the Zen Studies Society.

As most of you are aware, we asked Eido Shimano Roshi, the Founding Abbot of the Zen Studies Society, to resign from the Board in July of 2010 after a student revealed an affair with him. He acknowledged that breach of our ethical guidelines, and the Board duly reported the sexual misconduct incident to our insurance company. We also asked Eido Roshi to retire as Abbot of the Zen Studies Society; he did so in December 2010, and Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi was appointed Abbot on January 1, 2011.

While we fully acknowledge and are deeply saddened by this incident and allegations of other ethical breaches on Eido Roshi’s part, we do remain grateful for his visionary work in founding New York Zendo and Dai Bosatsu Zendo and for his five decades of inspiring teaching. We wanted to provide appropriate care for our teacher and his wife, Aiho Yasuko Shimano, after their retirement, and we trusted that we could come to a harmonious and reasonable agreement with them on a retirement pension. We have since tried in good faith to negotiate a retirement settlement with a succession of five different attorneys representing the Shimanos. Progress has been quite slow, and we have been required to keep these discussions confidential.

Then on January 3 of this year, through their newest attorney, the Shimanos filed a multi-million-dollar public lawsuit against the ZSS. We are profoundly disappointed in the court suit, but will continue to seek a settlement that supports our non-profit financial responsibilities appropriately. Litigation is a very expensive process; we intend to finance a defense that protects the mission and well-being of the ZSS in a manner guided by Board Best Practices and non-profit standards.

As a result of this filing of a public lawsuit, confidentiality has been lost. We are now able to share more information on how we have moved to address Eido Roshi’s ethical misconduct and negotiate our financial responsibilities to him. The details about the lawsuit and the history of our financial negotiations with the Shimanos are as follows:

The lawsuit filed by the Shimanos in January of this year charges ZSS with discontinuing to pay them according to a Deferred Compensation Agreement (DCA), which Eido Roshi presented to the Board in December 2010, when he was about to retire. Although the DCA had been written in 1995, it wasn’t signed until the year 2000 (by then-Vice Abbot and Board President Jiro Fernando Afable). No financial planning to support the agreement was done, and no funds were ever put aside for it by former Boards that were led by Eido Roshi. The DCA called for a pension of 70 percent of Eido Roshi’s and Aiho-san’s final year of salary, plus ongoing housing costs, life insurance, housing insurance, health insurance, phone, and utilities. The DCA mandated a four percent annual salary increase, and we anticipated that the annual costs other than salary would increase proportionately, if not at a higher rate. One of our projections showed DCA expenses would exceed $1.8 million dollars over the first fifteen years (starting in 2011). The DCA is for life, though, so the duration and total payments could not be known with any degree of certainty. The Board made monthly payments to the Shimanos during 2011 and most of 2012, while attempting to restructure the unfunded DCA into something more manageable. In 2011, direct payments to the Shimanos and other costs associated with support of the DCA totaled $98,534.57. Note: Sangha donations were not used for those payments; they have been used only for operating costs at our two facilities. During this period, we communicated to Eido Roshi on numerous occasions our concern regarding the lack of funding for the DCA.
In addition, there are serious issues concerning both the validity of the DCA and whether it is appropriate to make payments under the DCA when Eido Roshi may be liable to the Society for actions he has taken that have harmed the Society. In August 2012, we were advised to discontinue pension payments to the Shimanos until a settlement could be reached through legal negotiations. We are continuing to pay their health insurance premiums. In December of 2012, the ZSS Board advanced a proposal for binding arbitration to decide a fair settlement. On January 3, 2013, the Shimanos rejected arbitration, and brought a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the Zen Studies Society that includes a demand to pay the DCA in full as well as actual and punitive damages regarding their claim of ownership of buddhas, gongs, scrolls, and other items required for daily practice at the ZSS’s centers.

We wish to share additional information about how the ZSS Board has addressed Eido Roshi’s ethical misconduct:

In September 2010, the ZSS Board turned to the Faith/Trust Institute (FTI) for professional guidance in responding to Eido Roshi’s sexual misconduct. In early September of that year, FTI led a meeting with Eido Roshi and the Board, as well as with the Sangha and the Board, at New York Zendo Shobo-ji. Their recommendations were: 1) that Eido Roshi end his tenure as Abbot; 2) that any students who wished to study with him could do so, but not under ZSS auspices; 3) that he make a public apology acknowledging his misconduct and his regret for harm done to ZSS; 4) that a formal financial audit for ZSS be undertaken; 5) that new ZSS leadership consult with Zen colleagues who had gone through similar restructuring to address misconduct issues; and 6) that the Board read Marilyn R. Peterson’s At Personal Risk: Boundary Violations in Professional-Client Relationships. All of these recommendations were followed (see below for a progress report on the audit process). Regarding Point 3, Eido Roshi did send an open letter of apology to the Sangha following the FTI meetings in September. However, many members had left after the 2010 announcement of the teacher-student affair, never to return. ZSS fundraising and sesshin attendance were badly affected by the negative publicity involving that most recent incident and the accompanying renewed attention to past allegations of sexual misconduct. In December 2010, Eido Roshi wrote a letter to The New York Times that accused Mark Oppenheimer, the journalist who wrote an article about the teacher-student affair that Eido Roshi himself had previously openly acknowledged, of “obtaining his information from second and third-hand sources.” In this letter, Eido Roshi stated, “the opinions expressed therein are neither factual nor backed up by proof,” adding, “I have not resigned because of these false accusations.” His letter to the Times, while not published there, found its way to the Internet, resulting in a further deterioration of the ZSS’s reputation in the Buddhist community at large and in a huge wave of letters to the ZSS Board (many in the form of open letters published on the Internet) calling for Eido Roshi’s immediate removal. As a result of these developments, Eido Roshi was asked not to participate in sesshins at DBZ or Shobo-ji, and the Board established a restricted access policy for him: visits were to be made only when necessary, and required a formal request and approval as well as supervision by a Board member or designated person. We did not wish to put any student at risk, and furthermore we had been advised that his unsupervised presence would be an insurance liability for the Society. In May 2011, Board members held a meeting with Eido Roshi mediated by the founder of An Olive Branch to discuss allegations of sexual misconduct and a way forward. The Board wished to acknowledge problems and address them. Eido Roshi refused to work further with the Board on this topic. At the end of August 2011, Shinge Roshi hosted an Open Sangha meeting, facilitated by An Olive Branch, at Dai Bosatsu Zendo. The goal was to address openly all concerns and issues, acknowledge past failures, and to seek Sangha feedback on how best to move forward. A historical timeline of ZSS events was presented, developed, and discussed. Attendees had the opportunity to bring up any and all issues of ethical misconduct. During his meeting many instances of affairs between Eido Roshi and his students over the years were referenced. In October 2011, Shinge Roshi wrote an open letter of apology, saying, “In the weeks since our Sangha Weekend facilitated by An Olive Branch, I know we have been feeling deeply saddened by what we heard. I want to express my sorrow for those harmed by affairs with their teacher, for the many who have suffered feelings of betrayal and disillusionment, and for the ensuing bitterness and divisiveness that have occurred”. In January 2012, new members with professional non-profit experience joined the ZSS Board. Three facilitators from An Olive Branch led the Board in a Non-Profit Best Practices weekend retreat at Dai Bosatsu Zendo in August 2012, and in an all-day Mission, Vision, Values retreat at New York Zendo in October 2012.

In addition, regarding current ZSS finances, ZSS board representatives met with Citrin Cooperman, an audit firm, in October 2012 to review ZSS financial procedures for 2011 to ensure that ZSS employs Best Practices in its accounting processes. We have retained Citrin Cooperman to conduct an audit of the 2012 books. We are also working closely with Veris Consulting, a specialist in non-profit accounting, on improving our system and procedures. Additionally, during the past two years the Board has engaged Goetz Fitzpatrick, LLC and the Law Offices of Eric Grannis to ensure that the Board maintains the highest fiduciary standards.

The events of these past few years have caused serious blows to our ability to raise the funds necessary for the continued operation of our temples. As a result, even discounting the financial liability of having to defend the Society from the Shimanos’ litigation, we are now considering whether the sale of assets may be necessary. Please be assured, however, that we are doing everything possible to insure that our centers will weather these challenges and go on to a bright and vibrant future.

Despite our present difficulties, there is great enthusiasm for the practice at both New York Zendo Shobo-ji and Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji. We just finished a dynamic and restorative Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend Sesshin at Shobo-ji, with 30 participants. Many of the 33 students who participated in December’s Rohatsu Sesshin at DBZ said it was one of the best they had ever attended. We had an excellent group of fifteen residents during our last training period at DBZ, with three ordinations; nine students will be receiving the Precepts on the last day of Holy Days Sesshin this April.

We humbly request the continuing support and counsel of the Sangha. We will keep you updated as we continue to do our best to uphold our ethical, administrative, and fiduciary responsibilities to the Zen Studies Society.We wish you good health and happiness in the New Year. May 2013 bring a peaceful resolution and ever-deepening practice.

Let True Dharma Continue!

Gassho,

The Zen Studies Society Board of Directors:
Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat, Abbot

Soun Joe Dowling, President

Shoteki Chris Phelan, Vice President

Shinkon Peter Glynn, Treasurer

Jikyo Bonnie Shoultz, Secretary

Hokuto Dan Diffin

Tamon Jeff Hovden

Genno Linda King

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Former US president Bill Clinton turns to Buddhism

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San Francisco, CA (USA) -- According to thebuddhism.net news site, in an article dated January 10th, 2013, former US president Bill Clinton has hired his own personal Buddhist monk to teach him how to properly meditate.

Bill is learning to meditate and has reportedly turned to a vegan diet as well. All this change has apparently been influenced by his recent heart scare where in February 2004 when he was rushed to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City because he started experiencing some awful chest pains.

At that time, he had to have two coronary stints put into his heart and a few months later, in September, he had to undergo quadruple bypass heart surgery. In 2010 he then had a clogged artery that the surgeons had to reopen which was his second heart operation in five years.

He says that learning meditation helps him to relax, which apparently stress is supposedly one of the biggest contributors to this heart condition. He travels a lot and his job is highly stressful, learning to meditate he learns to relax and says he is doing much better after his two life changing decisions.

He reportedly also has a favorite mantra that he loves to chant when things get hectic and says that is really does help him to relax and think more clearer. He used to eat a lot of fast food apparently according to the news reports, but now he has decided to give up all that and replace it with a lot of fruits and vegetables with the occasional fish! Outstanding I say, we need more govt. officials turning to healthy ways of life and Buddhist meditations to relax and maybe our country would start looking up.

As 2010 and 2011 taught us, Buddhist meditation and healthier diets are starting to make a trend with everyone. More and more people are seeing the benefits that come from a life of relaxing meditation and eating healthier and changing their lives.

From Tiger Woods to Steve Jobs (RIP) Buddhism is beginning to be seen in some very high places. It is true meditation has a lifetime of relaxation and peace as well as health with it. Everyone could benefit from the changes that Mr. Clinton has made, and good for him.

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Buddhists hope to build facility on former landfill site

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Portland, Oregon (USA) -- For years, Siskiyou Square, a 27-acre site at Northeast 82nd Avenue and Siskiyou Street, has languished as one of the largest undeveloped land parcels in Portland.

<< Gyokuko Carlson, left, an abbot with the Dharma Rain Zen Center, and Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, its development director, stand on a Northeast Portland site where the organization is hoping to build a facility. (Photo by Sam Tenney/DJC)

Developers resisted its potential because parts of the former landfill site are seismically unstable, and a methane distribution pipeline lies underground. In 2006, a Canadian real estate firm proposed to build a big-box store, but residents thwarted the bid when they discovered it might be a Walmart.

But the Dharma Rain Zen Center, a Soto Zen Buddhist organization running out of space in Southeast Portland, is looking to build a new facility on 13 acres of the square. Members of the organization said a proposed light footprint would suit the site and that the development would be better than a larger one because water runoff and trees could be preserved.

“It’s not a simple piece of land to work with, but we are thrilled to find it,” said Sallie Jiko Tisdale, a teacher at the center and a member of its development committee. “Buddhists believe how they live today affects tomorrow, so we practice a kind of carefulness of how we behave. In that, how we build and how we live on that land is going to be a direct religious expression.”

Preliminary designs for the project, which will go before the Bureau of Development Services during a pre-application conference early next month, show that the new facility would include a temple, a large vegetable garden, a playground for children and multiple residential units. All of the single-level buildings would be composed of wood.

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, the organization’s development director, said the buildings could be constructed more easily and for less money than larger ones because of small foundations.

“The bigger the building, the more expensive the foundation is necessary to hold it in place as the land settles around it,” Lowe-Charde said. “We are going to have really light buildings, and we can do a much simpler foundation that adapts to the landfill that doesn’t necessitate putting 80-foot piles through the solid rock below.”

To meet environmental quality standards, gas barriers would be installed below the buildings to prevent methane from reaching interiors. Additionally, perforated horizontal pipes would be placed beneath the buildings to ventilate accumulated gas and prevent gas pressures from elevating.

Seismic instability, however, is a real hindrance, Tisdale said.

“You can only do certain kinds of construction on the property and you can only put weight on certain parts of the property; it limits the kind of building that can be done,” she said. “People get scared from something like methane pumps, but if you know what you’re doing and go through 30 years of (U.S. Environmental Agency) reports like we are, everything should be green-lighted.”

Tisdale added that the organization would try to preserve the open green spaces of the square, which is near Rocky Butte.

“We really like the land as it is in its native state and space,” she said. “We believe we are not separated or disconnected from our environment or each other.”

The center has engaged in multiple meetings with neighborhood groups. The South Madison Neighborhood Association, which opposed the big-box store proposal in 2006, believes the project will be a positive contribution to the area.

“The vision they have would blend nicely with that piece of land,” said Dave Smith, the association’s chairman. “Putting in low buildings, plantings and walkways would be a more positive use than the proposed previous use for it.”

Both Tisdale and Lowe-Charde said the center’s existing facilities, on Southeast Madison Street between 25th and 26th avenues, are too small. They believe the proposed project would provide the appropriate amount of space for the center’s diverse set of programs – ranging from seminary training to children’s classes. The square also would provide space for residential units, so that the center’s members could live closely together.

“We have all this energy and we’ve been waiting for a space to put it in,” Lowe-Charde said. “This gives us room to continue growing and diversifying.”

If the $3 million to $4 million project were approved by the city, Lowe-Charde said it would be broken down into phases, with construction starting in summer 2014. He also believes more development would occur after its completion.

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Former head of the Jogye Order Venerable Ji-kwan Passes Away At the Age of 79

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Seoul, South Korea -- A revered Buddhist monk here in Korea, the Venerable Ji-kwan, has passed away at the age of 79 after battling chronic asthma for many years.

A former chief executive of the largest Buddhist sect in the country, the Jogye Order, Venerable Ji-kwan died late Monday evening at Gyeongguk temple in Seoul.

The Buddhist monk had been under medical treatment since September as his health rapidly deteriorated with age.

Venerable Ji-kwan was known as a studying monk in Korean Buddhism who founded the Kasan Institute of Buddhist Culture, a research institute dedicated to the study of Buddhism and devoting most of his life to publishing Buddhist books.

A memorial altar will be set up at the Haeinsa temple in South Gyeongsang province later this morning and a cremation rite will be held on the 8th of this month.

About Ven Ji Kwan

Ven. Ji-Kwan was born Dec. 9, 1932 and entered into the priesthood at Haein-sa Temple in South Gyeongsang Province in 1947. He served as head monk at the temple from 1970 to 1972 and has worked as a professor of Dongguk University. He was also president of the university for four years from 1986.

Ven. Ji Kwan became the 32nd top administrator of the Jogye Order, Korea's biggest Buddhist order in 2005, winning a majority 165 votes out of the order's 320 representatives.

Ven. Ji Kwan led the Jogye Order for the next four years, following his predecessor Ven. Bub Jang, who died of heart attack in September 2005.

The nation's largest religious sect runs 2,000 temples, with 15,000 Buddhist monks and nuns and around 8 million followers, making it the nation's largest religious sect. Buddhism is the biggest religion in Korea.

Related article: Buddhist Leader Stressed Simpler Lifestyle, Mind

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