“To study the way is to study self.  To study the self is to forget the self.  To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.  To be enlightened by all things is to remove the barriers between one’s self and others.” 
                                                         (Zen Master Dogen)  

Seminars and Training Classes

Tanouye Tenshin Rotaishi, Archbishop of Daihonzan Chozen-ji, talks about training in this way: 

Zen training and the Ways aim at the maturity of the human being.  Maturity means being in the state of mind, which can see harmony in disharmony, unity in opposition.  Human life is full of activity which becomes automatic and can only be performed perfectly with practice, but where do we find training aimed at developing the inner life and not particular accomplishments.  Because a person has more or can do more does not mean that he is more.  But in any pursuit, besides the prospect of developing skill, apart from any specific achievement, there is a chance to broaden one’s outlook and attain a greater degree of maturity.  Then a person’s effectiveness comes out of his essential being.  This is not due to the possession of certain abilities but to the releasing and cultivating of his personal nature.  

The Institute, through the Academy of Zen and the Ways, seeks to bring Zen  training and its teaching system to the world.  The Academy takes the training of Chozen-ji and incorporates it into a system through its Foundation Program and teaching method known as Chozen-ji Zen.  In this way, the spread of the Academy’s Chozen-ji Zen is the natural evolution of Zen from its Japanese cultural form to a universal teaching for the 21^st century.

Zen Buddhism is a 2,500 year-old religion which incorporates the cultural and philosophical teachings and practices of Buddhism into a modern-day approach to self-development via the integration of mind and body.  Zen is more than a religion or a philosophy: it is the “unifying principle” that transcends religious dogma, national boundaries, racial or ethnic divisions, and other barriers and causes for differences. 

Zen is a way of life where all ways are one, meaning, no matter who you are, what you do, where you live, what you believe in, there is unity in differentiation because it is based on the belief that we are all one.  And yet, “oneness” does not mean we are the same.  Only by transcending dualism (me/you, self/other, life/death, etc.), lies a true understanding of the self to see that everything in the universe interpenetrates without obstruction because we are all one.  Truly realizing this with the mind and body leads to humanity that is more compassionate and wise.

This understanding is the final end in Zen.  Bringing this message to the world was the mission of Omori Sogen, founder of the Daihonzan Chozen-ji and the Institute of Zen Studies.  Daihonzan Chozen-ji is the main headquarters temple founded outside Japan under Buddhist canon law in 1979.