Affiliation Rinzai Completed July 4, 1976 | Opened 4 July 1976 | |
 | ||
Similar Zen Studies Society, Zen Center of Syracuse, Kanzeon Zen Center, Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji, Zen Center of Los Angeles | ||
Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji, or International Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji, is a Rinzai monastery and retreat center located in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. Maintained by the Zen Studies Society, Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji is led by Shinge-Shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat.
Activities
The site offers daily services which include zazen, chanting and samu (work). Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji also offers traditional ango — "a three-month period of intensive spiritual training in a Zen monastery during the rainy season in summer" — in addition to weeklong sesshins and weekend retreats throughout the year. Those students who wish to ordain with Shinge-Shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat must live at the monastery for 1,000 days, after which they have the option of staying or going back out into the secular world.
Location
Located on 1,400 acres (5.7 km2) near Beecher Lake in a deciduous forest region, Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji was established on July 4, 1976. The monastery site is located atop a 2-mile (3.2 km) drive that passes through "Sangha Meadow", a cemetery for housing the cremated remains of deceased sangha members (including a portion of the ashes of Soen Nakagawa).
Controversy
In July 2010, Eido Shimano, co-founder of Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji and an abbot for over three decades, resigned from the Zen Studies Society Board of Directors after a relationship between Shimano and one of his female students became a subject of controversy, amid accusations that this was only the latest in a series of affairs spanning several decades. A committee of Zen teachers formed in November 2011 found that the sexual acts were often initiated during formal private sanzen interactions between Zen teacher and student. The board was aware of the situation for decades, but was unsure how to respond."
In December, 2012, Myoshinji, the headquarters of Shimano's claimed lineage sect, issued a public statement responding to the controversies surrounding Shimano and the Zen Studies Society; they state they have
...no connection with Eidō Shimano, his activities or organizations, including Dai Bosatsu Zendo and all affiliated Zen Studies Society institutions, nor is Eidō Shimano or any of his successors certified as priests of the Myōshin-ji branch of Zen or recognized as qualified teachers."