Chobo-Ji: More Than Just Meditation
Chobo-Ji is a diverse community doing deep spiritual inquiry through silent meditation and caring action for the benefit of all beings, great and small, animate and inanimate. They have also been monthly doners since 2020 and have been an integral part of the Seattle community, offering various meditations and practices to the community since their founding. We had the fortune of speaking with them and getting to know them a bit better.
Why did your organization start donating to the food bank, and what keeps you engaged with us?
We've been solid fans of RVFB and donors for decades, giving money, groceries, and sandwiches over the years. As for what keeps us donating to you, one of our principle Buddhist commandments is to ‘be a servant of all that is good.’ That's YOU! So we keep our donations coming. We do this as an organization, and we talk about your good work to our sangha, several members of which donate both money and time to you. Our e-newsletter goes to 300 - 400 people, so our word-of-mouth support for you spreads far and wide.
When the Pandemic curtailed our in-person, zendo-cooked donation power, we heard that you were packing sacks of groceries for folks all over Seattle and delivering them to people's doors!!! We felt this was HEROIC and much needed, so we upped our donation level to you.
How has embracing the diversity of our neighborhood shaped your community and your connection to our neighborhood?
As for embracing the diversity of our neighborhood, our sangha (Buddhist community of monks, nuns, novices, and laity) is rich with diverse folk, many of whom likely do not feel welcome or even safe in our country. Genjo Roshi teaches that Zen is not about eliminating anything within us or in our world, but rather it's about cultivating bigger and bigger hearts that embrace everything and everyone. This is both our practice and our joy! The loneliness endemic in our world takes flight up and away when breaking bread together with dear new friends and cherished colleagues.
What has been a meaningful experience or story you’ve had during your time at Chobo-Ji?
Our temple sangha (community) has really diversified, which deeply gladdens my heart. We have a great mix of young and old, straight and LGBT, and BIPOC membership. We sit in meditation together every day and have four-weeklong silent retreats. We are actively involved in the community, through neighborhood clean-up, block parties, immigration support, feeding those who are hungry by making at least 100 sandwiches per month, weekly peace vigils at the Beacon Hill light rail station, and some prison work. In addition, our temple is a member of the Faith Action Network, which works primarily at the state level to make Washington a better place to live for everyone.
What do you hope to accomplish with your teachings, specifically for the Seattle community you serve?
We have turned our back lot into a temple garden that attracts neighbors from far and wide. We provide a place for anyone to come and meditate daily. Meditation is a practice that helps us sit in the ground of being. When we allow ourselves to be rooted in Mother Earth, we are better able to face the complexities of this life and death journey with more equanimity.
What's the value of your garden?
Our garden is BEAUTIFUL!!! and shines with the love of our many sangha people who devotedly work on it. From the beginning, we've welcomed neighbors to walk through it and enjoy. They do! It's an oasis for city folk who have no gardens themselves.
During a week-long silent meditation retreat when our people were doing work practice in the garden, a young woman and her friend came over from the next door apartment building. She asked me if she and her friend could sit quietly in the garden for a few minutes. I welcomed her. They sat while sangha folk silently weeded and clipped all around them. Before departing, she told me she had lived in that apartment building next door while going through a very rough time in her life. Sitting in our garden had saved her life, she told me. She'd since moved away, but her friend had moved in and was facing her own challenges, so she wanted to pass the garden on to her dear friend as a place to heal.
That is the value of our garden.
Is there anything new you have learned from teaching such a diverse community in the PNW?
Diversity is GRAND! There is such a range of human condition and sitting together we more deeply feel and celebrate our diversity, while at the same time celebrating our common reality as human beings. I’m so glad everyone reports feeling welcome here, and that our transgender and gender-fluid members feel safe.
If you are interested in learning more or donating to the organization, you can visit their website https://choboji.org or view their event schedule at https://choboji.org/schdule/