By Andrew Amelinckx
Appeared in The Register-Star, October 8, 2007
“Illuminate your corner of the world,” said the translation next to the large calligraphic hanging scroll by Gyokan Hayashida, a Tendai Buddhist monk. It was an apt inscription for this work made of ink on paper, along with the 36 others by well-known Japanese Tendai masters which are currently hanging in the Tendai Buddhist Institute off of Route 295 in East Chatham, and serve to enlighten and illuminate the ancient art and spiritual practice known as “Shodo” or “the way of writing.”
According to Mushin Sam Press, a Buddhist monk and psychiatrist who lives in Chatham, all the work is contemporary and made by the heads of major temples in Japan, including the spiritual head of Tendai-shu, or as the religion is known in Japan — Tendai Zasu. According to a press release, this is the largest showing ever of this kind of work in the region.
“It’s a ritual and meditation ...
They have a certain way of breathing when they work,” said the Ven. Monshin Paul Naamon, the head of the Institute, and only non-Japanese to be a Jushoku, or abbot, of a Tendai Temple, at the opening on Saturday. He went on to say that the act of producing the works is meant to embody the words that are written.
The work was done specifically for the Tendai Buddhist Institute. Naamon said that 23 of the scrolls would remain in the care of the temple and the other 14 were for sale. “All the money will go back into the temple” he said, adding that there were discussions with several national and international museums for a traveling exhibition.
Naamon, who is originally from Albany, is a professor at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, Mass.. He teaches Asian studies, human biology and biological anthropology and he founded the Institute in 1995 after studying in Japan for seven years and becoming a Tendai monk. His wife, Shumon Tamami Naamon, who also received ordination in Japan, is the managing director. Naamon said that they could have located anywhere in the world, but chose this area for the Institute because of both the natural beauty of the area and “the openness of the people. They are friendly to people with different beliefs. The town has been very supportive of us.”
The Institute includes 32 acres of land and three buildings. The temple, called a hondo, in which the scrolls hang, was consecrated in 2005 and brought together over 30 monks from Japan for the ceremony. The exhibit is open for viewing Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 4 from 1 to 4 p.m. or by appointment.
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