Abbot Shinge Roshi from the Syracuse Zen Center held a dedication ceremony at the Japanese Meditation Garden in Chapel House during a visit to Colgate University on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
The first portion of the ceremony was held outdoors in the Chapel House garden, where Shinge offered informal comments and formal rites for the garden’s dedication. Attendees were next directed to Chapel House’s meditation hall for a 20-minute sitting meditation guided by Shinge and three other Zen monks. Following the meditation, attendees then participated in a dinner discussion in the Chapel House dining room for a meal supplied by Royal India Grill.
During the dedication, Shinge commented on the significance of meditation gardens to both Zen Buddhist philosophy and the modern technological world. Mixing anecdotes from her time in Japan and pertinent quotes from the major Zen-adjacent author D.T. Suzuki, Shinge interpreted the tending of Zen gardens as a metaphor for the management of daily life.
“That’s what we saw all throughout Japan,” Shinge said. “Being in Kyoto for any period of time, you become very familiar with what it means to be a Zen garden, to be constantly tending these gardens to make them look untended. The more effort you put into your life, the more unnatural you become.”
Reflecting on the growing prevalence of technology during visits to Kyoto’s Ryoanji rock garden in 2003 and 2017, Shinge also offered attendees the suggestion that the Chapel House garden might serve as a place to reset their focus in turbulent times.
“I want to recommend to you that — even though we are in the midst of this technological wave — when you come here, you just let it all go,” Shinge said. “The real understanding of a meditation garden is no longer something we have a concept about, but feel deeply, allow into our hearts and are transformed by.”
Following short readings and commentary, Shinge led monks and attendees in official dedication proceedings. These included an invocation of the Buddha, a chanting of the Heart Sutra — a significant text in Zen Buddhism — and the offering of incense at the stone structure in the center of the Chapel House garden. She closed with further comments about Zen, inspired by the “Ensō,” a piece of Japanese calligraphy displayed in Chapel House.
“As many of you know, one of the most important things about Zen practice is that we must go beyond dualities,” Shinge said. “Can I speak? No. Can I not speak? No. No. Beyond – this ‘no’ embraces everything, and that’s the feeling of this [calligraphic work].”
After the formal dedication, Shinge instructed any interested attendees in the posture and practice of Zen sitting meditation during a 20-minute session in Chapel House’s meditation hall. Shinge also fielded questions concerning flexibility, Zen and the relationship between daily life and meditation.
Shinge, the first American woman to receive official Rinzai Zen Dharma transmission, has been an abbot of the Syracuse Zen Center since 1996, when she was installed by Eido Roshi, a teacher with whom she initiated Zen practice in 1967.
Her visit to Colgate was organized by Chapel House Program Coordinator Jeff McArn, whose relationship with Shinge and the Zen Center began during his time as Chaplain of Hamilton College, where the Zen Center directed some meditation programming.
“I’ve known Shinge Roshi for years. When I was a chaplain at Hamilton College, Zen Center was a regular part of our meditation offerings there,” McArn said. “Then coming to Chapel House, which is all about meditation, [Shinge’s visit] seemed like a perfect way to reconnect with the Zen Center.”
McArn hoped that Shinge Roshi’s visit could expose community members to Zen sitting, an often intimidating style of meditation, in a comfortable way. More concretely, he believed that a renewed relationship with Shinge and the Zen Center would pave the way for regular Zen meditations at Chapel House.
“One of our hopes out of this event is that we can have a regular member of the Zen Center come and lead meditation on a regular basis at Chapel House,” McArn said.
Beyond new programming, McArn also hoped that the dedication ceremony would expose current students to flagship events that already occur regularly at Chapel House. McArn highlighted walking meditations and ‘Chili with Lily,’ an event hosted with the Chapel House dog, Lily, on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. in the Dining Room with free bowls of vegetarian chili.
Although he acknowledged Chapel House’s secluded location as a barrier to entry for some students, he stated that its offerings remain relevant to student life. Overnight retreats for students, for example, are now available free of charge to a select number of students following an alumni donation.
“From a strategic perspective, we’re also trying to make students more aware that we have an overnight retreat possibility,” McArn said. “They can come for a 24-hour period where they don’t have classes, don’t have work to kind of step out of their Colgate life to reassess, rebalance, reorient.”
Sophomore Nell Droege, a Chapel House associate, attended the dedication ceremony and echoed McArn’s feelings about the event, hoping that it might expose the Colgate community to Chapel House’s diverse and valuable resources.
“I think the ceremony helps Colgate in providing some exposure to students about the Zen Garden at Chapel House,” Droege said. “Hopefully, hearing about the ceremony will inspire some students to take advantage of this amazing space.”
