Cedar Rapids Zen Center

I had the privilege recently of spending one-on-one time with Zuiko Redding, the Teacher at the Cedar Rapids Zen Center. The Center is housed in a lovely home on Bever Avenue, and is only six years old. The community comprises between 30 and 35 people. And, while Zuiko and I were together, a call came in from someone who wanted information on zazen (meditation) times, a welcome call any time, in any faith community!

Most of our time was spent with Zuiko telling me about Buddhism and the Buddha. We shared tea as the afternoon sun cast long shadows through the discussion room. The large, sturdy wooden table was a hospitable place to share our tea and conversation. And throughout the room were plants of every type and size, all of them thriving on the energy of the Zen community and their Teacher.

Upon entering the center, I was asked to remove my shoes and place them in the shoe rack and then slide my feet into the softest blue slippers I had ever enjoyed. The coat rack is ample for the center’s community and Zuiko first led me into the kitchen to put on water for tea, and then into the discussion room for our conversation.

Zuiko’s knowledge and wisdom really came through as I listened to her. Her love for Buddhism was apparent. I learned, for instance, that Zen Buddhism is a branch of Buddhism which focuses on the meditation portion of the Eightfold Noble Path.  The Eightfold Noble Path is the last of the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha, and it describes the way in which his followers should lead their lives.  Zen Buddhism began in India, spread to China Korea, Viet Nam and then to Japan and now into the West.  Other Buddhist traditions also spread to these countries as well as the rest of Southeast Asia and Tibet.

Zuiko left her career as a college professor to study for six years in Japan, and spends a lot of her time being there with parishioners: listening, sharing and interpreting the teachings and precepts, helping them deal with the problems every one of us experience from time to time – depression, parenting, marriage issues, and the like – in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings.  She also leads morning and evening zazen during the week and gives dharma talks (sermons) on Sundays.  She also leads special ceremonies from time to time.

Buddhism focuses on the teachings of the Buddha, who lived and taught in India 2,500 years ago and who, as a young boy named Siddartha Gautama, sat under a tree watching his father plow the fields. What he experienced in that place was peace – no longing for something more, no sense that something was missing. As a young adult Siddartha had questions about our relationship to life and existence that trouble us all.  At the age of twenty-nine, he left his family and his inheritance to seek answers as a mendicant religious wanderer.  After six years of religious practice, he understood that, just as he had experienced as a child watching his father plow, the answers to our questions come when we drop our agendas and our self-centered thoughts and are truly present with our lives just as they are.  At this time he became the “Buddha,” the “Awakened One.” 

To a Buddhist, “God” does not exist as a conscious being, but as the ongoing processes of change and interdependence, of elements and energies coming together and drifting apart, which create the reality of life in each moment.  Buddhists call this “Emptiness” or “The Ground of Being.”  Buddhists feel that our problems arise when we compare our ideas about how we want our lives to be with the reality of existence.  Since reality is about the whole universe, it often does not go according to our ideas.  Problems and dissatisfactions arise when we cling to our ideas rather than putting them aside and doing what reality is asking of us.  For the Buddhist, salvation lies in meeting Reality fully and completely. The mind’s ego games are set aside so that the individual can focus on the fact that every one of us is connected to everything on the earth – plants, rocks, trees, other people – and that everything is in a constant state of change from one moment to the next as energy and matter are received and dispersed, received and dispersed. When we die, for instance, our lives continue in those whose lives we have touched, as our bodies change to become part of something new.

This is only touching the surface of an understanding of Buddhism, to be sure, an understanding of someone who knew very, very little about the faith and needs much further study. On Sundays, Zuiko does a sermon for the community to help them grow in their knowledge and understanding of their faith and practice. An example would be a talk “the Middle Way.” This is not about finding the middle point between two extremes. Rather, it is a process of negotiation which allows for graciousness and tact in all things. If, as a vegetarian, for example, a Buddhist were invited to another’s home and roast beef was served, the guest would take a small portion, eat it and thank the host for the offering, being flexible in order to honor hospitality of the other.

After our conversation, Zuiko took me to the meditation hall, called the “zendo.” She showed me the proper way to enter and greet the room; how to move about in the room; she even had a chair set up for me so that with my bad knees I didn’t have to sit on the floor!  She explained the greeting of others at the beginning of zazen and then how to sit and how to hold my hands.

When she asked if I would like to do a short meditation time with her, I was ready! It began with her ringing a bell, the tone of which was spiritual ecstasy in itself. As my own meditation practice isn’t what it ought to be, I spent most of my time noticing the thoughts that would pass through my mind, as if I were to somehow keep a journal of them. But I soon let that idea go, as I let the thoughts go, and focused on my breath in order to enjoy the peace. Ten minutes was much too short a time, but Zuiko and I needed to bring our time together to an end.

I will be back for longer zazen periods and take advantage of the center’s regular meditation times for improving my own practice. The New Year’s Eve festivities sound inviting: a sitting from 7:30 to 10 p.m. and then sharing noodles while greeting the New Year. The Greater Cedar Rapids area is truly enriched by the center and the dedicated Teacher who serves there.

To discover more about the Center, you can go to http://www.avalon.net/~crzc.  People of all faiths are welcome. Those who have not done zazen before should attend an introductory evening before coming to their first zazen. Introductory evenings are held on the third Wednesday evening of each month.