| Cold Mountain Sangha | |||||||||||
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Zen meditation at Rutgers is offered by the Cold Mountain Sangha, which is directed by Sensei (teacher) Kurt Spellmeyer. The Cold Mountain lineage belongs to the Japanese Rinzai school of Zen, but it is a rather unusual lineage. It began in the Ming Dynasty—the 17th century--when a group of monks from Mount Huangbo in China came to Japan and founded what is now called Obaku Zen. Obaku became the third Zen tradition in Japan, the other two being Rinzai and Soto Zen. At that time, the monks from China thought they were just bringing the latest form of Rinzai Zen, but in Japan it was treated as a separate school, Obaku. Along with the Huangbo delegation to Japan there was one lone Rinzai monk who came from the Han Shan Si or "Cold Mountain Temple" in Suzhou. He went on to start a new temple in Japan, Kanko-ji, in what is now Kameoka. Since then, there has been an unbroken lineage of priests in this tradition. Learn more about the History of the Cold Mountain Lineage. The Cold Mountain Sangha is a member organization of the Rutgers Buddhist Community, a registered campus ministry. We also meet for meditation in several locations outside of Rutgers University. Please see the Zazen Schedule for information.
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