Eshin Godfrey and Myorei Zeraffa of Vancouver Zen Centre, happy about the building disposition.
Photos by: Sascha Borree, Daikan Green, Myoshin McCandless, Moe Zakzouk

A year ago, Mountain Rain Zen Community, of Vancouver, British Columbia, had no plans for a residential practice center.

Much as we might have dreamed of buying an urban or rural center, the reality of Vancouver and British Columbia’s sky-high real estate values made this nearly impossible.

The  Zen practice house, formerly Vancouver  Zen Centre.

But over the last year we have received the completely unexpected gift of a Zen practice  house, from Eshin Godfrey, abbot of Vancouver Zen Centre. His was a long-standing Rinzai Zen center, in the lineage of Joshu Sasaki Roshi.

Godfrey initiated this generosity in August of 2022, by contacting Mountain Rain Zen’s guiding teachers, Myoshin Kate McCandless and Shinmon Michael Newton. He shared his plan to retire to a small village an hour away from Montreal, saying that Vancouver Zen Centre was exploring possibilities for continuing. He said if they could not find someone to take over as teacher, one possibility would be to transfer Vancouver Zen Centre’s practice house to Mountain Rain, as one non-profit organization to another.

The practice house’s back garden supports  practice.

Godfrey’s offer seemed such an astonishing and unlikely possibility that Myoshin and Shinmon did not at first even mention it to sangha members. Then in early October Godfrey contacted them again, and said the Vancouver Zen Centre board would like to move forward and discuss the transfer, with the contingency of a retirement allowance for Godfrey.

Godfrey had founded the center in the 1970s and acquired a house then, which was later replaced by another. This one, the third, was mortgage-free.

Mountain Rain Zen Community is a lay practice community in the Soto Zen tradition of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, founder of San Francisco Zen Center. We began in 1987 as a Zen practice group within Karuna Meditation Society, and in 2002 spun off as Mountain Rain Zen Community.

A Buddha  in the garden overlooks practice  there.

For the last 12 years we have rented a storefront practice space in East Vancouver. A year ago we completed a three-year strategic plan that called for building capacity in terms of leadership and teaching; administration; diversity and inclusion; and programming. Although our zendo (meditation hall) had been bursting at the seams before the pandemic, we were still adjusting to gradually changing conditions, and refining our hybrid in-person and online practice offerings.

Godfrey’s second outreach led to a series of membership and board meetings of both sanghas, meetings between the boards, consultations with lawyers and accountants, and with MRZC’s founding teacher Zoketsu Norman Fischer and his Everyday Zen Foundation. All of this took longer than any of us anticipated, but all was accomplished with goodwill and cooperation at every step.

The  Zendo of the Zen practice house, with room for 20.

The remarkable feature of Godfrey’s and Vancouver Zen Centre’s act of generosity, was that it transcended sectarian allegiances, and gave priority to continued support of Zen practice in Vancouver.

On March 31 Mountain Rain Zen Community officially took “possession” of the property, though “responsibility” felt like the more appropriate word. This is responsibility to carry forward the trust that has been given us, and to nourish Zen practice in the Vancouver area and beyond.

The former Vancouver Zen Centre house is spacious and airy, with windows overlooking a lovely garden. Upstairs is a zendo seating about 20, a meeting room, office, a two-room suite for teachers, and a room for short-term residents. Downstairs is a large kitchen and three residents’ rooms.

The zendo is not large enough to replace our rented space, and its location is likely to be less accessible to the diverse demographic our current location serves. But it will offer a more convenient location for others, and a warm and welcoming place for practice, for certain kinds of events.

The Zendo altar.

Also it will offer the opportunity for more intensive long-term urban residential practice for a few committed individuals, as well as short-term possibilities for both local and long-distance sangha members.

For now we are taking things step-by-step, learning as we go. Our first three long-term residents have moved in, and short-term stays are being scheduled. We opened May 5 for the sangha to join the residents, for morning practice Monday through Thursday.

Our regular Wednesday evening and Sunday morning practice sessions are offered concurrently at both locations, with dharma talks streamed alternately from one to the other, thanks to the technological skills we have gained over the pandemic years. Volunteers are coming to work in the garden, others have donated household items, and sangha members are coming to practice in and care for this beautiful space.

The Mountain Rain  Zen  Center  entrance.

We’re happy that we’ve been able to welcome some of the former Vancouver Zen Centre members to join us. We recognize this change could not have been easy for them, and we trust that our shared practice goes beyond any limits of space or time.

As we chant at the beginning of formal Zen meals, “May we with all beings realize the emptiness of the three wheels: giver, receiver and gift.”