Bringing the Path Back Home: Residential Zen Center Planned for Seattle

Bringing Zen training and practice into daily life is the vision for a unique new residential center tentatively slated to open in September 2012 in Seattle's North Beacon Hill neighborhood.

Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji—or “The Listening to the Dharma Zen Temple on Great Plum Mountain”—is remodeling an apartment building at 1727 South Horton Street based on a co-housing model. Adults who want to step up their practice without entering a monastery will find a supportive environment with a balance of privacy and community. Residents will have their own apartments but also share in meals, chores, and formal practice such as chanting and walking meditation.

"Being able to offer affordable housing for people who want to train but who still need to hold down a job" is key, says Chobo-Ji Abbot Genjo Marinello Osho. He likens monastic life to graduate school, quipping, "it's good to do it when you're young." While the Zen path often leads to the monastery, Genjo Osho notes that it comes full circle, requiring that one bring the gifts of training back into family and society. "It's bringing the path back home," he says.

As a part of that path, residents will share their learning with non-resident members of Chobo-Ji and the larger community, teaching classes in basic Buddhism and Zen arts such as flower arranging, poetry, and calligraphy. A guest program might even come to fruition, providing opportunities for people from outside the local community to stay and practice at the center. If that happens, the long-term residents would help to organize and run the program.

The center—a block-long brick affair at 1727 South Horton Street—was built in the 1920’s and overlooks a quiet, tree-lined street. Behind it, a generous yard will eventually be transformed into a Zen garden. The daylight basement will become a zendo (meditation hall) accommodating forty people, with an adjacent kitchen, multipurpose room, and bathrooms.

Above, Chobo-Ji now occupies two of eight apartments, and will take over the rest mostly through attrition of the current residents. Chobo-Ji has helped some of the residents transition to new housing, as the intention is not to displace anyone. In addition, Genjo Osho has already "knocked on every door within a two-block radius" to introduce himself and the center. The neighborhood's response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Several different changes provided the impetus behind the project. The Chobo-Ji sangha has outgrown its current space on Capitol Hill, and members want more training options. In addition, Genjo Osho's focus as a teacher shifted two years ago, when he became a dharma heir in the Rinzai - Hakuin Ekaku Zenji lineage. This qualified him to propagate the lineage, which he describes as a mandate to “requite” or “gift back” the training he has received.

Chobo-Ji has raised funds for the project and will sell its current property to pay off the loans for the new center. Remodeling efforts should begin in late fall or early winter of this year.

For more information about Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji, please visit: www.choboji.org.