Blog Archive

During Summer Sesshin, Sayama Roshi gave teisho on Zen Master Hakuin, the 19th Japanese Patriarch who is in Chozen-ji’s lineage.

Hakuin (1685-1768) is known as the Patriarch who Revived Zen in a degenerate age when Zen was in danger of becoming a cultural pastime and losing its spiritual vitality. 

Our recent dai-sesshin was well attended with 15 participants. We were led by returning jiki Andrew Ching and the group included four first time participants who all showed up strong.

The third cohort of Zen & Politics: The Way of Public Leadership; Chozen-ji in Indian and Bhutan, and at May We Gather 2024 and Wisdom 2.0; and a new book from Chozen-ji priest Cristina Moon.

Katy Luo is a pianist and lecturer in music at the University of Hawaii West Oahu who frequently performs with the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. In October, Katy is planning a one-day training event and "un-performance" at Chozen-ji of all 62 of composer Joseph Haydn's piano sonatas.

At the end of his life, Omori Rotaishi’s quest was to create a thought movement to spread the spirit of Universal Brotherhood. He wanted to make intangible peace temples. Perhaps his example will inspire you to make yourself into a temple of peace.

Seventeen people participated in the Winter Sesshin in December, including five students doing sesshin for the first time and Ada Chan, Christine Cordero, and Raul Betancourt who flew in from Oakland, California

Seven time world champion boxer and kickboxer Michele Aboro traveled with her family from Shanghai, China to join Chozen-ji students for three weeks of Zen training.

Yumiko Sayama and Cristina Moon traveled to Madison, Wisconsin to conduct a seminar in Chado (The Way of Tea) with students at Daikozen-ji.

Chozen-ji's Annual Zen Art Show and Sale was held November 3-5 this year, and featured art works by a new generation of artists training at Chozen-ji.

The world premiere of A Musical Journey for Concert Band: Songs from the Eddie Kamae Songbook, and Holomua Collective and Oahu Economic Development Board at Chozen-ji.

At the Dojo, we are enjoying a revival of the arts. The Chado (Way of Tea) and Kado (Way of Flower) have regular students. New students are training in Shodo (Way of Brush) and Todo (Way of Clay).

For three days in July, Daiko Matsuyama Osho, the deputy head priest of Taizo-in at Daihonzan Myoshin-ji, a Rinzai Zen headquarters temple in Kyoto, visited Chozen-ji with his family. While here, Matsuyama Osho joined us for zazen and okyo, sharing some of the commonalities and differences between how we train in Hawaii versus in Japan.

On July 1, Chozen-ji held a small groundbreaking ceremony at the property across the street. The ceremony capped off two years of fundraising and planning to build housing for longterm Dojo residents and teachers.

In December of last year, 13th generation master ceramicist Takashi Nakazato came to visit Chozen-ji for six weeks. Nakazato Sensei is world renowned as one of the last potters making traditional Karatsu-yaki, a distinct style of ceramics established in the 15th century in southern Japan.

Twenty-seven students and teachers participated in sesshin in early July, Li Nishimura shot 1,000 arrows in a single day, and the second iteration of Zen & Politics took place May to June featuring guest speakers Governor John Waihee, Congresswoman Jill Tokuda, City Councilwoman Andria Tupola, and Judge Karen Nakasone.

A new effort to collect Eddie Kamae’s songs into a curriculum for local schools launches at Chozen-ji, and the Dojo hosts two youth outreach programs in partnership with Punahou School and the Hawaii Technology Academy.

In early April, Chozen-ji hosted a group of local bodyworkers for an inaugural Zen & Bodywork training led by Geraldine Abergas and Donna Punzal.

As I write this, I am near the end of a three-week live-in training at Chozen-ji, a Zen temple in the back of  Kalihi Valley.  Chozen-ji sits in a manawa, a mountain of mana (chi, ki, vital energy).  Every morning and evening we did zazen.  We practiced Mui Tai Chi and the Hojo, an old sword form, and learned about breath, posture, and concentration.  I did Chado and Kendo several times and made bowls every day.

2023 is the Year of the Water Rabbit, a once in a 120 to 150-year energy phenomena. It  is extraordinarily unusual for a year to be uniformly “good” for the humans celebrating their birth  cycle, thus interrupting the usual ways in which the year’s energy equally enhances positive and faulty habits.