The Dedication of the Boundless Way Zen Buddhist Temple in Worcester
Diane Fitzgerald, President, Leadership Council
In 2005, the Zen Community of Boston and the Worcester Zen Community joined together to create Boundless Way Zen. Multiple practice centers in Massachusetts and later in Rhode Island and Connecticut formed a network of sanghas supported by our Guiding Teachers, James Ishmael Ford, Melissa Myozen Blacker and David Dae An Rynick. This open and flexible community of practitioners would come together for multi-day retreats at various sites throughout the year in a ritual of packing, unpacking and repacking that served to bind and sustain the fledgling BoWZ community’s practice of Zen. By 2009, many practice centers were thriving and the one in Worcester had outgrown its space to the point where day-long retreats became known as sardine sittings.
In August, 2009, Melissa and David purchased this site, now our Boundless Way Temple (Mugendo-ji), to benefit us and all followers of the Buddha Way. The purchase of the Temple has made it possible to offer daily meditation practice and longer residential retreats such as our three-week Ango this spring. Family sittings, visits from church and school groups interested in Buddhism, book-signings and lectures by contemporary Zen authors, weddings and memorial services have all graced our Temple since its unofficial opening, activities that would not have been possible without this physical space.
Boundless Way Zen is working on a strategic direction for the next five years that envisions even more activity, including BoWZ’s purchase of the Temple and the transition of BoWZ to a national and international Zen school having an important role in the development of American Zen. In contrast to its long history in the East, Zen is just beginning to take shape in the West. Our organization is a living experiment in American Zen. Some of its features are uncommon or even unprecedented in the history of Zen – the collaboration of multiple teachers, the melding of three lineages , the availability of koan and shikantaza practice, lay practitioners’ substantial involvement in governance and an ethics code that members of the mahasangha have cited as a model for Zen communities. We are enthusiastic about the prospects for developing a practice community that is firmly rooted in the ancient traditions and also open to new possibilities for the flowering of Zen in the West. With this Temple we are planting our roots and demonstrating our deep trust in the Dharma transmitted to us by our beloved ancestors in the East.
Our trust in the Dharma frees us to be optimistic. Zen practice is wonderfully optimistic. Zen teaches that the true nature of every person is awakened. From the very beginning, we are already enlightened but unless we realize this for ourselves, we can’t truly appreciate this wondrous truth. This spirit of optimism pervades our venture with this Temple.
Zen also teaches that now is the time to devote ourselves to realizing our true nature – to resolving the Great Matter of birth and death. We must not pass our lives in vain. This spirit of urgency born of our deep appreciation of the brevity of our lives also pervades our venture with this Temple. The Temple is a place where we can gather to practice together and can support each other on this challenging and mysterious path.
In the Zen tradition, we have a conscious gratitude toward our spiritual ancestors – the countless women and men in the still halls throughout the ages who practiced with great determination and passion – and cared for the Dharma treasure so that we too might come to know it for ourselves. We are immensely grateful for this Way that has been handed down to us through our teachers’ teachers – Roshi John Tarrant and Zen Master George Bowman – who are here with us today and so pleased they could be here to see this Temple, which we establish in recognition of their work and the work of all the teachers before them – that we might follow in their footsteps – giving our lives to the project of awakening and passing this Dharma treasure on to those who will come after us.
Our Boddhisattva vows include the intention to free all beings. We dedicate this Temple and our practice here to the liberation of all beings. May our work here – the work of meditation and the work of caring for this beautiful building and these lovely grounds – be of value to those who may never have the opportunity to see or know of the Temple. Through our practice here, may we come to see that we are not fundamentally separate from any other human being, and may our hearts be opened to the suffering of the world, wherever we encounter it. And may our practice here in the silence of the meditation hall empower us to go into the world and to devote our lives to alleviating suffering wherever we encounter it.
With humility we commit ourselves to this great venture of awakening. We are committed to make this Temple a place of authentic Zen practice and also a community welcoming to all sincere seekers. A place that encourages human beings to encounter the deep and mysterious silence of unknowing as well as a place of warmth and love and laughter. We commit ourselves to this Temple for our own training and as a spiritual resource for everyone seeking a deeper encounter with the practice and traditions of Zen Buddhism.
Zen temples are said to have begun with Bodhidharma living at Shaolin Temple, after which others sprouted up across China. Perhaps a mother temple is needed to demonstrate what is possible. In asking what the Boundless Way Temple means to members of our sangha, I heard:
• The Temple provides a supportive home for my practice.
• It is a place of refuge and stillness in a busy and sometimes painful world.
• A vibrant practice center for our entire community that honors and supports the facts of householder life as we engage in the world of family, work and citizenship.
• A visible hand reaching out to the community to offer the Dharma.
• A place of beauty where people can gather to practice.
• A magnet for gathering sangha.
• A place that allows us to smooth our rough edges like rocks tumbling at the bottom of a stream.
• A place for training programs that shape healthy and whole Zen teachers and practitioners.
No matter what words may be used, we feel a deep appreciation for and attachment to this place of beauty and practice. And so today we honor this place for gathering sangha, devoted to the practice that sustains our lives and dedicate ourselves anew to our bodhisattva vows. To paraphrase the words of our great ancestor Zen Master Hongzhi — having turned ourselves around, accepting our situation, setting foot on the path, spiritual energy marvelously transports us in this great venture along the Great Way.
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