The Toledo Zen Center is adding another name: The Buddhist Temple of Toledo

The Toledo Zen Center is adding another name:

The Buddhist Temple of Toledo

As you may have noticed, as time goes on in life and in the practice of the Dharma we tend to acquire new names and titles. Married names, Buddhist names, new job descriptions, etc... The same is true for institutions as well. And the Toledo Zen Center will be adding another name - The Buddhist Temple of Toledo. The Toledo Zen Center is still very much the Toledo Zen Center. And it is also ‘The Buddhist Temple of Toledo.’

There are several reasons that an additional title be added to the leaky warehouse space we’ve come to know as our spiritual home. The first of which is that we have been thinking about formally dedicating it as a Temple since our ordinations 2 years ago. After all, where there are ordained Priests and a Sangha gathering regularly in a dedicated space that is open to the public you have a Temple.

Easy enough.

But we delayed in taking on this title as we were looking to make sure that the location we had was really where we would be, and after much consternation and riding of roller coasters down false roads we have landed right where we were to begin with.

Ironic, no?

And there is another reason as well, which has to do with perceptions in the culture within which we live and practice. Much to our regret, the word Zen has been co-opted and exploited for commercial gain. The term ‘Zen’ has become a well accepted brand used for selling anything relaxing or new-age like to the ill-informed. In fact, there is a Yoga studio in downtown Toledo that goes by the name ‘Zen in the District,’ and we saw an add for a local massage therapist who would ‘bring Zen to your home’ with their mobile massage table.

How odd. And yet, there it is.

And so we have people inquiring about how much the massages cost at the Toledo Zen Center, if we carry those little plug-in waterfall things, and what time the Yoga classes are.

Nothing wrong with massages or yoga, or even those waterfall things we suppose, but in the hope of clarifying who we are as a community and what the family business is that we are really about in the world, it is time that we take on the ancient marker of ‘Temple.’ A Buddhist Temple, to be precise, where a Sangha practices the BuddhaDharma for the sake of all beings. And as will be the case in our generations time, there is also in this new label an honoring of the whole of the Buddhas teaching and the many lines of traditional and authentic practice that exist - all of which are most welcome at the Buddhist Temple of Toledo.

With Palms Together, - Rev. Rinsen and Do-on Weik.